“Playing you more rock music than deemed legal by local authorities,” said a voice on a radio station ID. Her voice was sure, slightly arrogant even. I mean, with that kind of claim, who wouldn’t be? It’s only one of the several stingers that this station has, some of which sound as though they are spitting on people’s faces to assert that if they can’t handle the kind of “pure rock” music it plays, then they should “get the f—out of here!” Immediately after the station ID ended though, My Life Would Suck without You by Kelly Clarkson played. Later that day, other songs such as Barely Breathing by Duncan Sheik, and Summer Sunshine by the Corrs were also played—not exactly the kind of music you’d expect from a radio station that touts itself as the place “where everything rocks,” isn’t it? Now, the station really does play a lot of modern and classic rock as well as alternative music, but obvious pop tunes like the ones I’ve mentioned occasionally show up in the playlist, which makes me wonder: what’s up with Jam 88.3?
Jam 88.3 wasn’t always like this. The frequency has been home to several formats over the years: from being a jazz station, to a soft rock/acoustic chill one, and finally a rock/alternative station. Since then, it had been my go-to place to get my fix of contemporary and indie rock music from both foreign and local sources. I was exposed to 88.3 as early as its jazzy days, but I was too young to appreciate it fully. During the mid-noughties, I began to listen to it more frequently, and finally setting the dial on it permanently after the demise of NU107. Everything had been all fun and good for me until 2020 hit.
As all things in 2020, Jam underwent some drastic changes. It shortened its operating hours, signing off at 8 P.M. instead of at midnight, most probably to comply with curfew rules. Its DJs also started working from home, which really wasn’t a great surprise as many people did so as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns happening all over the world. With the easing of lockdown policies later on, some of the DJs were able to actually board at the station but also returned to the work from home set up. As time passed, the DJs became less and less present until a year later, most of them were no longer heard from ever again.
Apart from the loss of the majority of its DJs, it also aired fewer and fewer ads until there was almost none. From a listener’s perspective, that was great because it meant that there was more time for music. But of course, business-wise, that was a huge sign that it was in trouble. I remember hearing an ad sometime in December 2021, which promoted a politician instead of some product. It was a Christmas message coming from someone running in the 2022 national elections, which got me thinking if the owners of the station had become that desperate to accept an ad coming from that politician of all people! Honestly, it was disappointing, but I guess for Jam, it was a “golden” opportunity that was hard to say no to.
Sometime in 2021, the station also went black. Initially, I thought this was because of a renewed lockdown policy that year and that it would be back when the lockdown period ended, but it took several weeks of static later before it went back on the airwaves. Since there wasn’t any advisory at all whatsoever even on their social media page (that had become less active too) people were simply left in the dark.
Changes eventually affected the programming. Initially, everything remained the same. However, sometime late 2021 (or early 2022, I cannot clearly remember now), I noticed that Jam started playing more old songs, and the playlist became repetitive at times. It came to the point when it would air the same tune after having it played just several minutes ago or play two songs coming from the same artist within a span of only ten minutes or so. For instance, it would play Chvrches’ He Said She Said twice just a couple of songs apart or Sana by UDD immediately after Oo had ended. There were also a few other things that made me wonder if Jam thought that nobody was listening to it anymore: a song overlapping with a station ID or another song, or curses no longer being censored; it seemed like it didn’t care at all anymore. By early 2022, Jam started removing many of its different programs, such as Passport Approved, an international syndicated radio show; Balian ng Leeg, a program for metalheads; and even Adults Only, a show that featured glam rock, and if I’m not mistaken, the sole remaining program at that time that had DJs. Although the station was dishing out uninterrupted music, it had never felt so lifeless to me.
I think it was mid-2022 (?) when I heard something on the grapevine regarding the future of Jam. One was that it would cease operations by January of 2023; the other was that it had already been bought by the Villars, a huge name in business and politics. Whatever was brewing, again the listeners, were kept in the dark. By October, a new kind of Jam was introduced. Everything was just old tunes, many of which were glam rock, classic rock, and metal. It also indulged in playing songs that went beyond the usual three-to-five-minute frame. I particularly remember hearing Master of Puppets by Metallica played in its full more than 8-minute glory a few times—something that couldn’t happen in their regular everyday pre-pandemic programming.
Aside from rock and alternative music, it also curiously inserted pop tunes in the mix every now and then. For instance, on the first few days since the launch of the new programming, artists such as Vanessa Carlton, The Corrs, Michelle Branch, Kelly Clarkson, and Jason Mraz were played. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with these artists, but hearing them on a “pure rock” station jumbles its identity. Hearing Breathe by Michelle Branch immediately after a death metal tune is just odd. Once I heard Jason Mraz playing, and I remembered one of the DJs before (pre-pandemic) saying that the only song he’d play from Mraz was I Melt with You, a cover of the Modern English original, but here it was being played before some grunge tune. It was as though Jam wanted to have its early soft rock / pop acoustic and NU107 formats combined. When I visited the station’s Facebook page once, I saw a poll involving local bands MYMP and Side A, pop/acoustic artists who were popular in the 90s and early 2000s.
Despite the changes, I still continued to listen, but no longer as often as I used to. Sometimes, I hoped that by some miracle, the Jam that I used to enjoy would come back. Maybe it would slowly reintroduce the current tracks in the playlist. Maybe it hadn’t bounced back yet from the losses it had incurred and couldn’t pay the royalties of the newer songs yet? (Is that even part of how a radio works? I don’t know!)
Fast forward to the second of half of 2023, I once heard Welcome to the DCC* by Nothing But Thieves, and honestly, I got a bit excited not because it was from a band I listen to but because the track was released just earlier that year! I thought it was the start of the station finally playing current tunes, but it seemed like a fluke, and I didn’t hear any new song after that. Before the year ended, it released a new song from OPM band SOS, but I don’t know how often it was aired because every time I listened to Jam, all I heard were still old stuff. By December, one former DJ finally returned to do some live boarding. One.
The station occasionally injecting a few pop tunes isn’t really such a massive deal. If it wants to play Lany’s 13, Gayle’s viral abcdefu, Layla Kaylif’s Shakespeare in Love, or even Hanson’s Penny and Me (which it all did quite recently!), then go. I wouldn’t mind listening to them. Yes, doing so confuses its image and identity especially since it always presents itself as a pure rock station, but there is a far bigger issue for me here, and that is it has stunted itself by concentrating on old materials. I’m assuming that the new format may be a hit for many. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be reminded of the good old days, right? Just a few days ago, I heard the 19-year-old track Hard to Beat, one of my favorite Hard-Fi songs, which I haven’t listened to in an awfully long time. It really felt good to hear it again as it brought back some wonderful memories! But you see, it’s one thing to reminisce and another to be stuck in the past all the time. There is no growth; all there is now is just a huge dose of nostalgia. And I just find it ironic that the launch of the new programming was called The Awakening—only to fall asleep on the current musical landscape.
Sticking to old music can also be disadvantageous for the OPM industry. Unlike in the past when it even had a dedicated program to current and emerging Filipino indie acts, now Jam can no longer fully support new acts because again, it is more focused on old tunes. It may release some new OPM singles released here and there (just like in the case of SOS), but they may only likely to be drowned out in the end.
You might think that if I dislike the new format so much, why don’t I just listen to another station. That’s the thing: Many of the local stations these days also play old songs. There are those that don’t, but they don’t play the music I like. While there is a classical radio station that I listen to, it’s not something that I would like to consume on a daily basis. Online streaming platforms offer oceans of new music from every corner of the globe, but there are a few things that YouTube or Spotify cannot give: a sense of community, freedom, and even an element of unpredictability. (I will not elaborate on these, however, as now is not the time to discuss them.)
I have just finished listening to Chantal Krevaziuk’s Feels Like Home, which played after a station ID announcing that Jam plays “louder, faster, harder” rock music—I just can’t help but shake my head a little and let out a chuckle, honestly. Jam still feels like home to me, but a home I’ll probably visit just once in a while now.
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*Tomorrow is Closed and Overcome, a couple of other NBT track also aired a while back. It’s curious that Jam play tracks from this single recent album. And why only Nothing But Thieves??
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