Homegrown artists Juanita Romualdez, Jude Pastor and Emmy
Corpus gave a taste of their
music during the press con.
CEBU’S homegrown music has found a new home in the airwaves.
This as Viva Communications, Inc. launched its new radio station dedicated to the Cebuanos’ vibrant music scene, giving homegrown artists an avenue to play their songs on air all day, at HaloHalo 105.1 Cebu.
“Halohalo” is a Tagalog term which means mix in English.
It also refers to the popular Filipino dessert that is simple mix of shaved ice, milk and various ingredients such as boiled sweet beans and coconut meat.
Twenty-five-year-old Vicente Eduardo “Verb” del Rosario is at the helm of this exciting development as he is now handling Viva South as vice president for operations.
He said “halohalo” perfectly fits as the name of the radio station as it refers to something very Pinoy.
“It’s a mix of everything that is Pinoy,” said del Rosario, in a press conference held at Cebu City Sports Club last Thursday.
With Viva South (covering the Visayas and Mindanao), it is a platform to play original compositions of artists not just in Cebu with Halo-Halo 105.1
Cebu (formerly known as Oomph Radio), but as well as in Davao with DYUR 97.1 and DYUE 103.5 in Zamboanga.
It will give artists a chance to have their music heard without being pitted against international artists such as Justin Bieber, Adele and Taylor Swift.
The playlist will cover old songs as well as today’s hits.
Viva South has already signed in homegrown artists such as singer Juanita Romualdez, and online sensation Raphiel Shannon, to name a few.
“This station is whole backed up by the whole Viva family. We believe on the concept so much that we are actually putting up a state-of-the-art recording studio in Cebu. The artists don’t have to fly to Manila to record their songs,” added del Rosario.
Part of the move is to make Cebu as the regional entertainment hub in the South—to go beyond supporting local artists but as well as make regional films, TV shows, books and eventually, stars that can be at par with the national artists.
And to be able to do that, del Rosario is starting it slowly through music.
“Before the movies and the megastars, there was music and we are starting there,” he added.
HUMBLE START
Before it became the Viva that it is now, the entertainment company was built around the dreams of then 20-year-old Vic del Rosario (Verb’s grandfather) in the 1960s, a college drop-out who made a P2,000 loan from his mother in order to start building his own name in the music industry.
With his loan, he would go around record bars with his musician-cousin named Orly to listen to foreign music and would ask the latter to do covers of the songs and release them locally.
After five years of partnership, the duo got separated.
The breakup would later led to Vic’s discovery of some of the pillars of OPM music in the country, namely Pilita Corales and Freddie Aguilar, a major step towards creating the artist management division of Viva Entertainment.
Playing an important role in the Viva story is the discovery of a young Sharon Cuneta—now known in showbiz as The Megastar—who made a breakthrough hit with the song, Mr. DJ in the 1980s.
For 35 years, Viva Films has produced the big stars such as as Sharon, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Sarah Geronimo, Anne Curtis and Nadine Lustre, among many others.
“Before we can produce big stars in the region, we are going back to where it all started—music. We will start by introducing 100
percent OPM radio station in Visayas and Mindanao through the HaloHalo radio,” said del Rosario.
Catch the official grand launch of HaloHalo Cebu happening at SM City Cebu on June 3, with performances by Donnalyn Bartolome, Julian Trono, Ella Cruz, The Juans and Cebu’s Monica Cuenco and Raphiel Shannon.
