Ramon Jacinto

Ramon Pereyra Jacinto (born June 3, 1945) is a Filipino musician and entrepreneur. He is more commonly referred as RJ Jacinto. He is the founder of the legendary radio station, DZRJ and the proprietor of the Rajah Broadcasting Network.

Education

Jacinto attended the Ateneo de Manila University and graduated with honors in Economics. To further his studies, he took up law at the University of Sto. Tomas while working for his father's steel company, Iligan Integrated Steel Mills, Inc.

Career

Jacinto has always tried to put music and business together. He started entrepreneuring at the young age of 15. He set up his first enterprise called RJ Enterprises, a company which dealt with producing and releasing records. RJ Enterprises pioneered multi-track recording in the country and eventually became the primary studio choice for many artists and advertising agencies at that time. Two years later, Jacinto ventured to establish what would become a legendary radio station in the Philippine broadcasting industry – DZRJ. It served as a venue for on-air experiments of radio concepts which were never heard before in Philippine entertainment history. Manned by students, mostly coming from Jacinto's high school class, the radio station introduced alternative music to the Filipino youth. It was the first station to play songs from rock legends such as the Beatles, the Ventures and the Beach Boys. The radio station also gave emphasis on playing the music of local talent. Apart from DZRJ, Jacinto also established the now defunct, DZUW.

RJ Radio

While manning his own radio station, Jacinto was also the Senior Vice-President of their family business, with 2,500 employees reporting to him. During the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, the Jacinto family's assets were forcibly seized and placed under military control and executives of the company were jailed with no charges filed. The sequestered assets included Jacinto's two radio stations. At that time, Jacinto was in the United States and opted to stay there in exile for 14 years to save himself from being jailed. During his exile, Jacinto recorded songs together with other Filipinos and secretly sent them to the Philippines for airplay. The songs "Muli" and "Don't Let Go" became hits but the composers and singers were not named in order to avoid military sanctions.

On March 5, 1986, Juan Ponce Enrile, who was then the Defense Minister, returned the radio stations and some of their family's steel mills to the Jacintos. DZRJ was finally transferred from military administration on June 1986 and Jacinto began to make DZRJ, the leader in retro wave by playing music from the '50s, '60s and '70s.

Bistro RJ

On July 25, 1986, Jacinto set up Bistro RJ, a rock and roll music lounge and restaurant which became famous for those who were into singing and dancing. At that time, live bands traveled abroad to make a living and the night circuit in Manila depended on piano bars and discos. Jacinto decided to hire live bands to provide financial opportunities as well as to revive the night life in the Philippines through live music.

RJ Guitars

Jacinto developed an interest in music and he was particularly inclined to one instrument – the guitar. RJ Guitars Store was launched in 1987 or 1988 in Glorietta Mall (formerly Quad Mall), Makati City. While performing in his bistro, Jacinto felt exasperated about switching between a Fender Jazzmaster and a Gibson Les Paul. He decided to approach Rudy Discipulo to make a guitar versatile enough to produce all the sounds he needed. Impressed by Discipulo's workmanship, Jacinto embarked on putting up a guitar manufacturing business. At present, there are 10 RJ Guitar Centers in the Philippines, providing world-class RJ Guitar models and distributing Taylor guitars and Belcat products from abroad.

Television show appearances

• GMA Supershow (GMA 7; 1989-1997)
• RJ Sunday Jam (formerly known as RJ Online) (2nd Avenue; 2003–present) (simulcast on RJ 100)
• Thank God It's RJ (2nd Avenue, 1993–present)
• ASAP (ABS-CBN 2; 1995-2000, 2005, 2010)
• Sharon Talk Show (ABS-CBN 2; 2008)
• Powerhouse With Mel Tiangco (GMA News TV 11; 2013)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Live albums

Collaborations

References

• "Philippine radio's top innovators honored." Inquirer, 1 January 2000. http://www.inquirer.net/saturday/jan2000wk1/spc_main.htm (accessed on August 9, 2007).
• "Who's Who of the Philippines". Philippine Tatler. 2009.
• "Biography" Rjplanet.com (Accessed on 18 August 2009).