History
DYLA-FM, the predecessor of DYWF, was established by Vimcontu Broadcasting Corporation on May 1, 1976, as the FM counterpart to its existing AM station DYLA in Cebu City. VBC served as the media arm of the Visayas-Mindanao Confederation of Trade Unions, a labor organization founded in 1967 to advocate for workers' rights in the region.
The station operated on 93.1 MHz under the call sign DYLA-FM, adopted the branding LA 93.1 with the slogan Your Lovely Alternative. It primarily aired an easy listening format, featuring soft adult contemporary music aimed at a broad, middle-aged audience in Cebu and surrounding areas. The station's programming emphasized mellow tracks, light news updates, and occasional public service announcements aligned with the union's labor-focused mission, though commercial music dominated the schedule.
LA 93.1 maintained a consistent easy listening approach without major format shifts, positioning itself as one of Cebu's early FM outlets during a period when FM radio was expanding in the Philippines to complement AM's talk and news dominance. The station's operations were based in Cebu City, broadcasting at a power sufficient to cover Metro Cebu, and it catered to listeners seeking relaxed, non-intrusive entertainment amid the martial law era's media restrictions under President Ferdinand Marcos.
Launch of Smash FM and initial music programming (1992—1997)
In 1992, Vimcontu relaunched the station under the new callsign DYWF, rebranded it as 93.1 Smash FM with a Modern Rock format designed to appeal to younger audiences. This shift marked the station's entry into contemporary music broadcasting.
The initial programming emphasized alternative and modern rock tracks, alongside pop selections to broaden listenership among Cebuano youth during the early 1990s. Smash FM's playlist drew from international and emerging local rock influences, positioning it as a vibrant alternative in Cebu's FM landscape, which at the time featured limited rock-oriented outlets. The station operated from facilities owned by Vimcontu, maintaining a focus on high-energy music blocks without extensive talk segments, fostering a niche for rock enthusiasts in a market dominated by pop and OPM-heavy formats.
By mid-decade, Smash FM had established a loyal following through consistent rock and pop rotations, though specific airplay data from this era remains undocumented in available records.
Transition to Crossover and adult contemporary focus (1997—2003)
In September 1997, DYWF entered an airtime lease agreement with Mareco Broadcasting Network, leading to the station's rebranded to 93.1 Crossover. This transition marked a deliberate pivot toward a smooth adult contemporary focus, featuring playlists dominated by smooth jazz, R&B, soul, and select pop tracks with Latin influences.
The new format aimed at sophisticated, adult listeners preferring mellow, instrumental-heavy content over the high-energy rock that had defined the station since 1992, reflecting MBNI's strategy to import its national Crossover network—known for blending jazz fusion, rhythm and blues, and easy-listening pop—to Cebu City's market. Programming emphasized non-vocal tracks like bossa nova and blues-infused selections during daytime slots, with occasional vocal R&B and soul hits in evenings to maintain broad appeal without aggressive promotion. Under this arrangement, DYWF's studios in Cebu handled local production while adhering to MBNI's curated network standards, prioritizing audio quality and minimal commercial interruptions.
The Crossover era on this frequency endured through 2003, sustaining listener engagement among urban professionals and older demographics amid competition from pop-oriented stations, before Vimcontu terminated the lease. This shift prompted MBNI to relocate the Crossover brand to 90.7 FM, formerly occupied by another licensee, allowing DYWF to realign with its origins while the adult contemporary niche persisted elsewhere in the market.
Revival of Smash FM and rock-oriented content (2003—2009)
In 2003, Vimcontu Broadcasting Corporation assumed full operational control of DYWF, prompting a reversion to the Smash FM branding, and reinstating a modern rock format aimed at youth demographics in Cebu. This revival emphasized alternative and rock genres, including both international acts and emerging local Bisaya rock (bisrock) artists.
The station's programming highlighted high-energy rock playlists, with DJs such as Ramil Dizon (known on-air as DJ Ram) hosting segments that promoted listener interaction and bisrock talent, contributing to its identity as "Cebu's Rock Fortress". Reception logs from the period confirm broadcasts featuring classic and contemporary rock tracks, such as those by John Parr and Peter Gabriel, alongside local content.
Club Radio era and dance music emphasis (2009—2013)
On September 1, 2009, DYWF rebranded as Club Radio 93.1, marking a deliberate shift toward an all-dance music emphasis. This reformat positioned the station as Cebu City's inaugural FM outlet dedicated exclusively to dance genres, including house music, filling a niche absent from local competitors at the time. The change was managed under Vimcontu Broadcasting Corporation ownership, aiming to capture a younger, nightlife-oriented audience through continuous playback of contemporary dance tracks.
The Club Radio era emphasized high-energy dance programming, featuring the latest international and local hits in electronic dance music (EDM) and house subgenres to appeal to club-goers and urban listeners in Metro Cebu. Unlike broader contemporary hits stations, its playlist prioritized rhythmic, beat-driven content without significant integration of non-dance elements, which differentiated it in the Visayas market. This focus aligned with global trends in electronic music rising in popularity during the late 2000s, though specific listener metrics or ratings data for the period remain undocumented in available records. The station's on-air identity promoted itself as the "hippest" and "sexiest" dance outlet, underscoring a vibrant, party-centric vibe. [4]
By early 2013, the station's format waned amid ownership and market shifts, leading to a brief reversion to Smash FM in February before a full pivot away from music programming later that year. The four-year Club Radio stint thus represented a targeted experiment in genre-specific broadcasting for DYWF, contrasting its prior rock and contemporary phases while highlighting evolving listener preferences in Cebu.
Brigada News FM period and shift to news-talk (2013—2023)
In July 2013, Brigada Mass Media Corporation, owner of Brigada Newspaper & its flagship station in General Santos, secured an airtime lease with Vimcontu to operate DYWF, rebranded the station as 93.1 Brigada News FM under the helm of former RMN Cebu and DYKC radio announcer, station manager of the station, current Area Manager for Visayas and founder of ANAKK Inc., Raul del Prado. This transition aligned with Brigada's broader expansion strategy, which began acquiring and reformatting stations across the Philippines earlier that year to prioritize public service-oriented broadcasting over entertainment-focused content. The rebranding emphasized hard news delivery, public affairs discussions, traffic reporting, and listener-driven segments addressing community issues.
Brigada News FM Cebu was officially launched on October 1, 2013, featuring programming such as morning drive-time shows with legal consultations, midday news blocks, and evening talk segments on local governance and social concerns, consistent with Brigada's network-wide model of rapid-response journalism and advocacy. For over the decade, the station built a reputation for on-the-ground reporting during events like typhoons and elections, often outperforming competitors in audience share by focusing on verifiable local developments rather than national syndication. Nielsen ratings data from 2023 confirmed its position as the leading FM station in Cebu, the sole news-talk outlet in the top 10, reflecting sustained listener engagement through interactive formats that prioritized empirical updates over opinion-heavy commentary.
On December 16, 2021, DYWF was amongst the station went off the air following the aftermath of Typhoon "Rai" (Odette) in the evening, damage to electrical lines affecting the station's building and transmitter. It resumed operations at the end of the year just before the New Year's Day 2022.
DYWF temporarily off the air to give way to the transfer and upgraded of its transmitter site to Mt. Busay from September 27 to October 8, 2022.
On May 15, 2023, Brigada News FM Cebu simulcast portions of its content on 90.7 FM during the afternoon and overnight shifts as a preparatory move, fully transition operations to that frequency in June to continue the news-talk format as part of its airtime lease agreement with Mareco Broadcasting Network, which BMMC assumed operations of the 90.7 MHz frequency earlier that month. This period solidified Brigada's footprint in Cebu media, emphasizing causal links between timely information dissemination and community resilience, though reliant on lease arrangements that introduced operational dependencies on the underlying licensee.
On June 18, 2023, the station was downgraded to a repeater of 90.7 Brigada News FM Cebu following the expiration of its airtime lease agreement with BMMC. DYWF went off the air for the second time on August 14, 2023, ending its period focused on news, public affairs, commentary, and limited music playback.
FM Radio relaunch and return to music (2024—present)
In January 2024, the Philippine Collective Media Corporation took over the station's operations. On January 13, DYWF was relaunched as Favorite Music Radio 93.1 with a concert held at Gaisano Mall of Cebu. This marked the station's return to entertainment programming, emphasizing diverse genres including rock, pop, jazz, blues, country, and folk across various areas. [5]
The Favorite Music Radio format incorporated segments on Philippine culture, history, and lifestyle, differentiating it from pure contemporary hits stations while prioritizing musical content over talk. PCMC integrated the station into its expanding FM Radio Network, which operates similar music-focused outlets in other regions.
On May 6, 2024, ABS-CBN's flagship newscast TV Patrol begin airing on this station, along with other selected Favorite Music Radio stations nationwide. [6]
On June 3, 2024, after months of test broadcast, FM Radio Cebu began its own local programming.
