Becoming a priest was all that Jimmy Blancia ever thought about while growing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have been a pari [priest]. But instead, I became padre de pamilya,\u201d quipped Blancia, who is more popularly known as DJ Jimmy B. of Magic 100.3FM.<\/p>\n
Blancia, 38, was born in the town of Bula in Camarines Sur province in the Philippines and was raised in Naga City.<\/p>\n
According to Blancia, he went as far as enrolling in a minor seminary in his hometown. \u201cI was enrolled there for a year then I eventually left and continued my studies at the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blancia, who took up political science in college, said it was his father, a retired Philippine Constabulary officer, who advised him that he should consider taking up a \u201cradio course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in third year high school when he retired and told me, \u2018Son, you should take up a course in radio,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Little did Blancia realize that his father was referring to the field of general radio communications operation, not broadcasting or being a DJ.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when he first heard me on the radio, he was really surprised and asked me what I was doing,\u201d Blancia chuckled.<\/p>\n
[B]Radio career [\/B]<\/p>\n
Blancia began his career in broadcasting back in the Philippines, when he was just a sophomore in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a friend who worked as a reporter at an AM radio station, DWMP, which was owned by then governor Luis Villafuerte,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
Blancia said his reporter friend, who was also studying at the University of Nueva Caceres, encouraged him to work at the radio station while in college. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw my potential and asked me to try and become a working student,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune. \u201cHe introduced me to the station manager, Gil Basmayor, Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blancia got on board as a volunteer reporter in Basmayor\u2019s morning show and received an allowance every 15th and 30th of the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first beat was the Naga Police Station. I would wake up at 5am, go to the police station to check police blotters,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
When the radio station shut down, Blancia transferred to DWRN where he met production director Joel Buena and station manager Celso Baguio.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy assignment was to cover the Army Press Corps and the PNP Provincial Command. I worked there for one and a half years and received a monthly compensation of P2,500,\u201d he disclosed.<\/p>\n
According to Blancia, he worked at another radio station in Naga city, DWNW, before flying out to Saipan in 1997.<\/p>\n
[B]Radio life on Saipan[\/B]<\/p>\n
Blancia said his older brother was already working as a salesman on island before he got here to work as a merchandiser at Yun\u2019s Corp. \u201cI worked for them for six months,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
It was in 2000 when Blancia started working for KWAW Magic 100.3FM, the radio station established in October 1999 and located on the ground floor of the then Nauru Building (now Marianas Business Plaza) in Susupe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was one of the first two DJs of the station, along with Rolly Mamuntag,\u201d he said. \u201cMy initial time slot was from 8pm to midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blancia recalled how challenging their operation began, when they would get requested songs only through fax since they didn\u2019t have a landline yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was difficult then. Good thing we\u2019ve upgraded our music software and recording system now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
These days, radio listeners can hear Blancia from 6pm to 10pm hosting Metro Manila news, Greetings and Requests, Payong Kapatid, and Public Service.<\/p>\n
Blancia disclosed that most of his listeners who have yet to meet him think that he is a big guy. \u201cThey think that way because of my voice.\u201d <\/p>\n
Blancia believes that being a DJ is more than just being on air. \u201cAs I go along, I\u2019ve learned that I have the ability to help others. That\u2019s what my mission is all about, to serve others by being a radio personality.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Blancia, his 11-year-old son has already expressed an interest in the field of broadcasting. \u201cHe really likes it. I would bring him to the studio and he has shown a lot of potential in his voice recordings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Blancia advised that broadcasting is a profession that should come from the heart. \u201cJust like me, I never thought I\u2019d be in this field. You don\u2019t need to be a graduate of broadcasting communication or related field. You should just put your heart into it and you can never go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Becoming a priest was all that Jimmy Blancia ever thought about while growing up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}