My maternal grandmother loved her radio and turn table more than our television. She loved waltz, “kundiman,” and soap operas. When it is a Sunday and radio stations only air commentaries and public services, she would turn on our turn table. Ours is not the usual one. Like an old television set, it has a wooden, sturdy case.
Except for some good books like the ones about the childhood of Dr Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal y Alonzo Realonda, the national hero of the country, and other children's books, I learned how to appreciate Philippine literature written in Filipino and in Ilocano more than fairy tales. I remember that my mother would not allow us to open our television in the morning, and that, we could only open it after lunch during “Eat Bulaga” and old Tagalog movies and after dinner during prime time shows. I basically grew up with “Verdadero,” “Newswatch,” “Flor de Luna,” “Agos ng Palad,” “Ang Bagong Champion,” and numerous Chinese movies.
My family acquired a beta player in the early 80s and being the first in the community, our house was turned into a theater every night except only when my father was not able to rent tapes. In latter years, the beta player was changed into VHS player and into a VCD player though DVD player was already available in the market.
While I learned to read magazines at the early age, and we were required to read newspapers for our history class in high school, I thought that reading newspapers, especially broadsheets, except tabloids, which my uncle used to buy, was boring. It was only when I was in college when I learned to love and to appreciate them as a good source of news and information.
My normal day starts at 6 o'clock in the morning over a mug of Nescafe 3 in 1 coffee sans the bread and omelet or the usual “hotsilog,” “longsilog,” or “tapsilog.” At 6:30 a.m., I am already attuned with GMA-7's “Unang Hirit” while preparing for my class to begin at 7 a.m. I am the adviser of The Makati Science Vision, the official student publication of the Makati Science High School, and I stay at the editorial office, rather than at the English and Filipino Faculty Room, with a multi media set.
I would normally teach Basic English III from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and Journalism and Print Media from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. After which, I would normally retire from my three hour a day teaching job. Exhausted and while eating the usual ham or tuna sandwich and orange or pineapple juice snack, I would normally try to regain my lost energy while watching the repeat telecast of “Marimar,” a Mexican telenovela starring Ariadna Sodi y Miranda that was originally aired in the late 1990s, when I was still a college student. And, because I was not able to watch the said telenovela, because during those days, I was so busy as a regular student, student journalist, and student leader, I found it, with its gorgeous characters, past-faced setting, and well-written plot of love and vengeance, amusing. I would normally continue working at 10:30 a.m., while “Sis,” the talk show of the De Belen sisters, Janice and Gelli, was aired. The show, intended for housewives and house maids, featured local artists and celebrities who talked about famous people, human interest, show business, fashion and trends, food and drinks, among others.
My favorite among these shows last year was “Betty La Fea,” GMA-7's morning telenovela about an ugly, lowly, and awkward accountant who metamorphosed into a beautiful and sophisticated woman and even became the president of the company that once kicked her out. Defying the odds, the telenovela is being talked about everywhere-from public buses and canteens, to beauty parlors and barbershops, and even posh pubs and hotels. At 11:30 a.m., housewives stopped doing their chores just to catch the show. Some office workers even asked their house maids to tape each episode. A jeepney driver said he went home at 11 a.m. just to watch his favorite telenovela. On a world-wide level, the telenovela's popularity had risen to stratospheric heights, reaching some 80 million viewers across Israel, Hungary, Latin America, and among other countries. In the Internet, there are more than 30 000 links to various Betty La Fea websites-fans clubs, chat rooms, digital photos, and countless articles. There was even an e-forum of avid television viewers who speculated on how the whole story will end.
A website was also designed that showed a photo gallery of how the Colombian actress Ana Maria Orozco, who played the lead role of Beatrice Pinzon Solano, was able to transform her television character from an ugly and insecure office worker to a woman of grace, substance, and pulchritude. So successful has the telenovela been that, an internet entry said, “It almost single-handedly rescued from financial ruin the Colombian TV network that created it.” The show has folded up in Colombia after one and half-years of airing and according to a Spanish publication, “millions of Colombians today are planning their lives in the post-Betty era.”
It should be noted however, that I do not treat a television as a television, but rather a radio. The set is open while I am working, while I am writing lesson plans, while I am preparing activity sheets for the next day, or while I am eating my lunch that normally delivered by a helper from the school canteen. Because I am a full time school teacher and part time graduate student, I could not really afford to waste time. I would normally work until 2 p.m. while the television is open for the country's longest running noon time show-“Eat Bulaga.” After which, I would normally nap for an hour and at 3 o'clock, I would normally grab the “Philippine Daily Inquirer” and read its interesting articles over a mug of instant coffee or a bowl of instant noodles. An avid reader of the “Philippine Daily Inquirer,” an opposition newspaper published by Eugenia Apostol and Leticia Magsanoc and first edited by Luis Beltran on December 2, 1985, I would say that I do not know how to read any other newspaper.
During Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I would normally surf the Internet to check my e-mails and to research online grammar lessons, which I would not normally do during Thursday and Friday, because I have classes from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the University of the Philippines. I used to watch “Bubble Gang,” a gag show starring Ara Mina, Michael V, Ogie Alcasid, Wendell Ramos, Antonio Aquitana, Ruffa Mae Quinto, and Diego, “ang pambansang bading,” during Fridays from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., because I have my History of Broadcasting class.
Lastly, I could claim that I am a more media literate person who could control his mass media experiences over and above the changing time and information and communication technology.
