My History with NU

Written Nov. 8, 2013 10:56AM

In the early 2000s I was in my teens. Like any other teenager, the journey of self actualization starts. I tried lots of new things. I discovered I'm actually good with pencils and colors, what more, I was also making up my own stories, stories I wished I had finished while I was younger. It's a different mindset once you're older. Bitterly, I admit that the magic I once felt when all those stories were swirling in my mind is now gone. I just can't get myself to finish any of the stories I had started, not that I'm trying very hard here. It just feels off to be doing these kinds of stuff, when every dang day I'm dealing with fugging mature things.

Part of the journey was finding the music that my heart would sing to. It was a great time for music, internationally that is. Britney, Christina, boy bands and especially rock bands were everywhere! This was the MTV that I remembered, none of those reality shows, before they were playing actual music, great music. Music that is still being played on the radio, and what other artists still do covers of, and reunion concerts are sort of the thing right now.

One music changed everything for me. Puddle of Mudd's Blurry just spoke to me, it just made me emotional every time I hear the song. It was constantly played on MTV and that local music channel, but I still wanted more! I started surfing the air waves, every few minutes switching radio station, hoping I'd chance upon Blurry. And I did! At the very end of the dial, just before you hit the 108...

One radio station changed it ALL for me. What I was, what I am, what I will be will always have something to do with this particular radio station- NU 107.

There I was listening to this great song by this great band, played by this awesome radio station; even after the song finished I kept listening, it was part of a count down and so I kept coming back! From then on I was hooked. It became a lifestyle. Every morning I am woken up by the voices of Zach and Joey in their show "Zach and Joey in the Morning," mostly by Joey's shrill laughter. I am forever haunted by their show's chant! Before their show ends, I am already at school. In free times at school I listen to music by local bands I discovered through NU such as Urbandub, Kamikazee, Chicosci, Greyhoundz, Sugarfree etc. Weekends were never boring because of Remote Control Weekends. The listeners get to choose what they wanna hear, and it always seemed to me that we NU listeners are like minded, a lot of times I don't need to text in my request 'cause someone has already asked for it!

I remember when Urbandub was featured in Francis Brew's In the Raw, I instantly fell inlove with their music and I just knew then they'd be big someday, and just look at where they are now! In the Raw became an avenue for me of bands to look out for. Murder of Crows. Daydream Cycle. and. more. bands. that. I. fuggin'. forgot. but. their. music. I'm. sure. I'll. remember.

Rock Ed Radio hosted by my hero, Gang Badoy and my idol Lourd de Veyra, woke up the patriotic side in me. I would have killed to come to events organized the RockEd, like Rock the Riles. It's a very nice feeling to know more about your society and what is actually happening in our country. It is an alternative education in FM, after all. I hope RockEd Radio gets back on air soon.

The episode I remember most in Against the Flow was when Jordan, with that weird voice of his, compared Superman to Jesus. In the movie Superman Returns, Superman says to Lois Lane, "You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one." Rock with Faith.

Stairway to Seven and The Midnight Countdowns were cool, sometimes they have bands over and play! Rock jocks and the bands just chillin'. Trivia: Chicosci's Paris holds the record for a song to be in the countdown for 52 weeks!

NU107 never ever failed to entertain me on holidays and there's no school and you're not with friends. There was that time on April Fool's when NU107 totally flipped and for a day became a novelty-format radio station! It was the most hilarious thing! They played Sexbomb Dancer songs and other fuggin' novelty hits! Other listeners texted in and kept cussin', askin' what the fug happened to NU, and Zach kept patronizing them in his most stupid DJ voice mimicking those other DJs in novelty/pop radio stations, I literally ROFLed 'cause those dude just didn't get that it was April Fool's day! Other rock jocks did the same but no one quite like Zach hit the nail so fuggin' hard! Oh, and Francis Brew, was talking malandi like a gay who works in a parlor! He made a recording of himself saying in the most maldita way possible of "malanding 'to!!!!" (pitch getting higher on 'to!) On Independence day they play OPM all day long!!! That's fuggin' awesome.

Christmas and New Year was also pretty sweet in NU.  They also play christmasy songs, and on the eve of New Year is their countdown to the year's best songs! One time I made a bet on what that year's number one song would be and I lost! I kept shouting and my mama was like "what's the matter with you?" Hahaha! The countdown starts at 6am and ends exactly at 12 midnight, and all the DJs are present and most of them are piss drunk, when clearly they were not suppose to be drinking inside the booth but it was always fun and always crazy. For a couple of years it was like that, my family would be outside making hella noise as hard as they can with the calderos and what not, and I'd be in my bed, my ear phones plugged in anticipating for the number one song. Imagine a whole day listening to the best of that year's songs! It's just so fuggin' great and you don't know how I ache right now that none of it will be happening this New Year!!! Fug.

My favorite rock jock, obviously is Zach and Joey. Their show always made my day sunny! Francis Brew is the most hilarious guy ever, then I saw him on TV and I was so shocked that he's so small! You can't tell from the voice, haha! Myrene was always so soothing to listen to on the radio. She had a distinct way of saying  "the home of new rock." and Rus because he's hot, and Dylan is also!

It sucked that here in Davao we only get broadcast until 10pm, fun starts at those times! It always gave a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach every time the voices or the music faded away. I never turn the radio off, which is on the foot of my bed, so the next day in exactly 6am I am woken up by the ever awesome Zach & Joey in the Morning! I get up and go out of my room, turn on the stereo in the living room and it's already tuned in to NU107, cause apparently the other people in the house don't bother arguing with me anymore, blare it loud enough to hear in the bathroom when I take a bath. That was my morning routine in highschool. Every fuggin' day except on weekends where I just lie in my bed until 11am and just listen to NU107.

I'm not shittin' you when I say the whole waking day of my life in the house was spent listening to NU107, and when I was not, I was reading Harry Potter or any book or watching Gilmore Girls. The only other station that I also listen to was a local radio station that played alternative pinoy rock every Fridays.

Then college happened and I got me some great friends and had great many adventures outside the house, and life inside the house became shitty and you know how it goes. I rarely listened to NU and I don't really know when it happened but one night I wanted to listen to NU107 but they weren't there on the last part of the tuner, at the end of the dial. It was just static. Not the kind of noise I wanted. I checked on the web, thank God for internet, and listened to their streams and relief washed over me. It still sucked though that they stopped broadcasting in Davao.

Everything just turned alien to me. I don't know the new DJs, I missed the old ones, they were like old friends, you knowm, I felt I kinda knew them. Everything turned hazy after that, one thing I knew though was that bands were doing great, the local music scene was doing great. Every year there are festivals that showcase the top bands and they go around different parts of the country, and it made me relieved, in a way, but not completely. I can't ignore the feeling that they've sold out... that's pretty judgmental of me, when I should understand that they are also trying to make a living. A lot of the bands that were loud and strong at the time I started listening to them are mostly now disbanded, just tears my heart apart, but not so much as when I was sitting in the office and I just read on the news that NU107, the home of new rock will become the home of NO rock. They made the official announcement in their last Rock Awards. Fug. Now I can never ever attend a Rock Award.

On their last day on air, I listened online. Tears kept falling, nose was runnin', it just felt like I didn't know what to do with my life. The last of the rock jocks were all present, headlined by Francis Brew, as well some past jocks. Some people made their last closing remarks, then the national anthem went on, which I sang to and then they played the last song they will ever play under that band width, and most appropriately, Eraserheads' Huling El Bimbo... and I just lost it... crying and singing along, and the song finally finished, followed by a long stretch of silence, then I really lost it...