To Go Where Needed

from (2022) SISID: A Special Issue

Ang Pabago-bagong Puwang sa Pagtanglaw ng Matanglawin

Jerome Agpalza Radyo Katipunan

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there was a time for most Atenean students when Radyo Katipunan could only be heard in the e-jeeps if traveling inside the campus, or when heading out or commuting home. The audio would run in-between chatter, and nothing would ever register except the jingle. It was only a name in a banner one could chance upon the grounds, and for those who couldn’t tune in, noise. It wasn’t a visible presence in the students’ lives, but it was there. Then the pandemic happened, and the station announced its arrival at last.

It’s easy to have an impression that Radyo Katipunan (RK) is exclusively run by Jesuit priests. Even before, the station ran programs that were spiritual, with other talk shows featuring the priests on campus. As it seemed, the appeal to the Atenean student was that the station was an extension of what they were already doing in classrooms. This is plainly wrong. What’s unfortunate is that it took a global pandemic for the community to realize what it was. Through this difficult time, RK revealed itself to be a vital pillar in the community when they went all out to connect where they were needed the most.

Persevering through the Pandemic

When time stopped in Ateneo de Manila University, the station continued to produce content on its pages. “People were thirsty for spiritual nourishment,” Justin Pontino, RK’s Station Chief, shared with the group. “And, of course, the source of that—for most of them—is attending a Liturgical Mass. We stopped operations only for a few days, and that’s where we decided: “Okay…trip lang, mag Misa [tayo]!” So, they did; and it was anything but easy.

During the Holy Week of 2020, with the solemnity coinciding with the first waves of ECQ, everyone was lost. The team couldn’t be physically present on campus to set up the live streams, so they

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taught the priests—the only people left on campus—to do so. Some of them were technologically challenged. They could only operate the easier devices, like the webcams, which were humble but just enough to livestream the Masses. This meant that they had to settle for the Celebration to happen in small rooms. The truth is, RK’s people were also as lost as everyone is in dealing with everything else. But the show continued. “The pandemic never stopped us from being creative, being productive.” Jennifer Chua, RK’s Administration Manager, proudly notes. The beginning of the pandemic challenged RK’s determined and courageous volunteers.

Later on, the station started streaming daily Masses (see Keep the Faith: Daily Mass for Hope and Healing). It was in this development that RK found its footing in the digital space. The community started to notice the station’s presence as all were, indeed, thirsty for spiritual nourishment. Thousands of viewers flocked to tune in to the Holy Mass in the comfort of their homes. Ateneo’s alumni, faculty, and students from all parts of the globe populated the station’s livestream on their Facebook and Youtube pages. The breakthrough was mostly due to the fact that the decision to hold the program is true to RK’s mission. Even before the pandemic, their programs have been pointed and purposeful. The audiences could simply feel good, relieved. It just so happens that, in isolation, it was the Word of the Lord that the community terribly needed.

When the quarantine restrictions gradually eased, the capacity for production also got better. The station thrived even more. As time went by, RK began to cover masses inside the church. One could even recall that it was RK who streamed the Requiem Mass for the late President Noynoy Aquino for the Filipinos (see Hindi

Ka Nag-iisa: Requiem Masses for Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III).

RK’s newfound shine happened as if the station never tried to connect to the people in these spaces, when they have been since the beginning.

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The station’s success resulted in more programs produced for the community. “They are clustered in four kinds,” Justin says. There are, of course, the spiritual and inspirational programs, the core of the part where the organization is Jesuit. It involves the campus ministry service of the station, as well as the shows hosted by Jesuit priests and fathers. Then there are the educational programs. They are run by different schools in the Loyola Schools, mostly the Humanities and Social Sciences schools. There are also public service activities wherein Radyo is enjoined with other units of the Ateneo. These programs and activities are centered on community building. Lastly, there are the entertainment segments, which is where one could find all things fun.

The pandemic posed enough logistical issues for a lot of industries in the world, but radio production could be challenging as it is. Bianca Orenciana, one of RK’s volunteers, narrates how difficult the station’s process could be. In other campus radio stations, production is managed by different departments. “Dito, we only really have one station manager who ties all of the programs together,” she laments. “It’s easy when you’re just watching it from Facebook or YouTube, but what happens before that is a different world.”

RK is managed by the Jesuit Communications Foundation (JesCom), and the team poured in fond stories of how the organization could be “lagari.” They all agreed that this spirit of ever-ready volunteerism is what keeps the airwaves filled after all this time. “Kung hindi siguro nag-pursige si Fr. Nono, walang nangyari,” Jennifer adds to their initial struggles of the pandemic. She recalls how Fr. Nono Alfonso, the Executive Director of JesCom Philippines, urged the team. “He kept asking everyone: What can we do? What can we do? Sabi niya lagi sa amin. Buti Justin and I could continue [working].” It turns out that Fr. Nono was the one who persevered and led RK’s determined and courageous volunteers. That same perseverance is what conceived Radyo Katipunan.

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Beginnings

JesCom’s banner film, Ignacio de Loyola, was first screened for Filipinos at the Solaire Theater in Parañaque. It was hosted by Ateneo’s alumni; and as fate would have it, one Atenean in that batch is Lito Yabut, the Secretary of KBP (Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas). “He [Yabut] has the means to do broadcasting,” Jennifer fondly recalls the night. “When Fr. Nono and Lito Yabut were on the same ride home, he kept asking; what can they do to help JesCom more?” That’s when the two discussed how Fr. Jett Villarin, SJ, Ateneo’s University President at that time, was keen to establish a community radio station for Ateneo. The team reveal how the university’s Communication Department was supposed to handle the project, but in the end was suggested to be left to JesCom. Mr. Yabut became instrumental with the station's inception: he assisted the station in securing its radio license, and with the same generosity, he provided the team with some equipment they needed to begin.

Beginnings always entail some birthing pains. RK, for all that it is now, experienced this pang from all directions. From hurdling the institution’s bureaucracies in procuring additional equipment, to setting up shop in a minuscule 3x3 meter room, to figuring out the intricacies of running a station themselves, the stories from JesCom’s team were nothing short of wonderful. However, their biggest challenge then, they all agreed, wasn’t radio’s technicalities. It was how they were going to reach their audiences. Lester Mendiola, Jesuit Music Ministry’s Director, chimes in. “If I remember it right, we tried to put ourselves in the PA system. Nag-materialize ba doon?” Jennifer recalls that there were a lot of restrictions. “Even for the E-Jeeps, we hoped that they played our station, but they weren’t really on board.”

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What is a community radio that couldn’t connect to its community? Before they set-up their franchise and touch the airwaves, the team sought the help of the late Ka Louie Tabing, a friend from DZMM. “He was a community radio expert,” Bianca says. Ka Louie had apparently set up various community radio stations from the country’s rural areas, even in neighboring East Timor. The man wrote the manual How To Do Community Radio and the team studied all the details they had to remember. “Okay, so kailangan may franchise ka; you need all of these permits, tapos kumbaga ito talaga ang radius ng community radio para ma-consider siya as a community radio,” she explains. “We really explored the PA system, but there were many restrictions.”

The station began its test broadcast on Ash Wednesday of 2017. By August 2018, against all odds, they were up and running at 87.9 FM. The early days saw the Jesuits in the campus chip in to create and host their own programs; admins and a few faculty volunteered too, and RK was merely a small team of volunteers. Since then, the station has seen changes. More students joined JesCom in manning the station’s departments, and programs got bigger and better. The pandemic came, and it reinforced the need for the station’s production to lean on social media channels. The success it gathered allowed the team to imagine RK beyond what it is now—plans for the station to deliver content on-demand, like podcasts. Averaging a few thousand hits for their current programs, and their livestream Masses, it could be said that RK found the “kiliti” of the community they’re trying to reach. Yet the question remains hanging above their heads.

Going Where Needed

RK’s struggle to connect to the Ateneo community remains to look a long way ahead. It is true that they have found their audience

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during the pandemic, but the station’s total livestream hits only indicate that their shows are needed, and indeed enjoyed. What of the people’s pulse? The Voice of the Blue Eagle—that is RK’s motto. There still remains an acknowledged gap between the project and the Ateneo community at large. As it was revealed, this gap takes root even before the station’s existence. “Non-existent!” Bianca exclaims. “We were not really recognized as an official institution on the Ateneo. Ang nag recognize lang talaga sa amin si Fr. Jett.”

“When we started there in Sonolux [building], we were the ones trying to bring ourselves out there in the community, so that we can be part of their history.” Justin recalls. “But then again, it wasn’t the case that time, and the only [ways] that we are somehow connected to Ateneo is, of course, the same values that we espouse, bilang we are also a Jesuit institution… That’s the common ground that we have.” Justin has been Radyo Katipunan’s coordinator since the middle of 2019, but he was one of the first ones to witness the station’s struggle to tether its first links to the community. To think about it, how could a radio station, initiated and tended for by affiliates outside Ateneo, be the voice of the blue eagle? The answer is in its values.

This proud station, which until today is composed only of volunteers, carries its ethos to every show they produce. Ateneo’s admin, alumni, Jesuit priests, and affiliates, all work together to produce RK’s shows. From the spiritual programs to the entertainment segments, everything is rooted and guided by Ignatian values and spirituality. And behind the scenes, the people forming the group are moved by it. Anthony Perez, JesCom’s resident writer, shares:

Ang naalala ko dito is St. Ignatius’s Prayer of Generosity. To serve without asking for a reward…Radyo Katipunan, we don’t get support from the macro level, pero among ourselves—all of us know that the services we’re putting in here, even if it’s

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not making so much noise, but what we get out of it, can you imagine?…You’re not receiving extra centavos or extra pesos here, but how come it’s still going on for the past four years? It’s the values Radyo Katipunan espouses.

Despite the station’s tireless perseverance to engage with the community—producing a variety of programs to cater to all its audience—there is still an unnamed force that distances RK to the community. Until today, the team still recounts stories of the station’s difficulty to pull support from various departments in Ateneo. “Our initial expectation is sana that there could be more integration, and not just us serving,” says Bianca. “I guess it’s really more of the ma-tap na sana yung untapped platform, where [they] see the value of paano nila gagamitin talaga yung Radyo.” The nagging problem to connect starts at the core of the community, nearest to the station. Against the conversation, Chua declares:

If you don’t get support, do you just sit there? Maghihintay ka na lang ba ng grasya? You make miracles. When we started, it was just a storage room with a webcam…But now it’s ‘more than.’ If we set boundaries on ourselves and on what we feel that the university is giving us, hindi mo maibibigay yung tamang service to all—the community, worldwide.

More than the communities in Katipunan, Ateneans, and alumni, RK’s presence in the digital space allows them to reach strangers from all over the world. Once again, the team stress how enormous and important that responsibility is. As Justin sums it up, “Radyo Katipunan as [a] service is doing good for the greater good. Doing more for the better more.”

In a poignant turn, at the end of the discussion, the team imagined a simple question: Where do you see RK in the future? Everyone shared their wonderful visions for the organization.

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Perhaps Bianca puts it best, “Where it’s headed and where it has been significantly relied on how the Ateneo is structured: Ano ba ang pangangailangan ng community that we serve?” This could be what Fr. Jett wanted, and what Fr. Nono could possibly be persevering to attain all this time. A community radio station, not situated in the center to be heard, but in the periphery to listen. “The Ignatian value to go where you are needed,” she adds.

RK has been doing their due diligence—going where needed— and they continue to outdo themselves. The only step that remains is if the community decides to come closer instead.

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