DWWX-TV

"ABS-CBN 2" redirects here. For the mother company, see ABS-CBN Corporation.
DWWX-TV
Metro Manila
City of license Quezon City
Branding ABS-CBN TV 2 Manila
Slogan In The Service of The Filipino Worldwide
Channels Analog: 2 (VHF)
Digital: 43 (UHF) (ISDB-T)
Virtual: 11.16 (LCN)
Subchannels 11.16: ABS-CBN 2
11.17: ABS-CBN Sports and Action (DWAC-TV)
11.18: CINEMO!
11.21: YEY!
11.22: Knowledge Channel
11.23: DZMM TeleRadyo
11:25 ABS-CBN one seg (1seg)
Translators D12ZT 12 Olongapo City
D13ZA 13 Botolan, Zambales
Affiliations ABS-CBN (O&O)
Owner ABS-CBN Corporation
First air date October 23, 1953
Call letters' meaning DWWX
Sister station(s) DWAC-TV (ABS-CBN Sports and Action)
Former callsigns DZAQ-TV (1953-1972)
Former channel number(s) 3 (1953-1969)
Former affiliations BBC/City2 (1973-1986)
Transmitter power 60 kW TPO
(346.2 kW ERP)
Transmitter coordinates 14°38′26″N 121°2′12″E / 14.64056°N 121.03667°E / 14.64056; 121.03667
Website www.abs-cbn.com

DWWX-TV, channel 2, is the flagship VHF station of Philippine television network ABS-CBN Corporation. Its studios and transmitter are located at the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center at Sgt. Esguerra Ave., Mother Ignacia St., Diliman, Quezon City. It is the first and oldest station of ABS-CBN, and the very first and oldest television station in the Philippines.

History

Beginnings (1953–1972)

DWWX-TV traces its history to the first Philippine television station DZAQ-TV, owned by Bolinao Electronics Corporation later renamed Alto Broadcasting System.

James Lindenberg, owner of BEC, was first to apply for a license to the Philippine Congress to establish a television station in 1949. His request was granted on June 14, 1950. Because of the strict import controls and the lack of raw materials needed to open a TV station during those days, Lindenberg branched to radio broadcasting instead.

Judge Antonio Quirino, brother of then President Elpidio Quirino, also tried to apply for a license to Congress, but was denied. He later bought stocks from BEC and later gained the controlling stock and renamed the company from BEC to Alto Broadcasting System (ABS).

DZAQ-TV began commercial television operations on October 23, 1953, the first fully licensed commercial television station in the Philippines. The first program that aired was a garden party at the Quirino residence in Sitio Alto, San Juan. After the premiere telecast, the station followed a four-hour-a-day schedule, from six to ten in the evening.

In 1955, Manila Chronicle owner Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and Fernando Lopez acquired a radio-TV franchise from Congress and immediately established Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN) in 1956. On February 24, 1957 Lopez called Judge Quirino to his house for breakfast and ABS was bought under a contract written on a table napkin. The corporate name was reverted to Bolinao Electronics Corporation immediately after the purchase of ABS.

With the establishment of DZXL-TV 9 of CBN in 1956, the Lopez brothers controlled both television channels in the archipelago, and plans were underway to build a new headquarters for the network in Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, which was officially opened in 1958, and later became the official studios for Channels 3 and 9. The monopoly in television was broken in 1961 when DZBB-TV 7 was established by Republic Broadcasting System (now GMA Network, Inc.) (RBS), then owned by Robert "Uncle Bob" Stewart. By 1961, with the official launch of the first Philippine drama program, Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato, the ABS-CBN brand was officially used for the first time on the station.

Channel 3 started test color broadcasts in 1963.

In 1967, the company was renamed ABS–CBN Broadcasting Corporation. This company became the formal merger of the two stations DZAQ-TV 3 (ABS) and DZXL-TV 9 (CBN).

In 1966, ABS-CBN became the first TV station to broadcast selected shows in color and by December 18, 1968, ABS-CBN opened its present-day Broadcast Center complex in Bohol Avenue, Quezon City; it was then the second most advanced broadcasting facility of its kind during its time in Asia after Japan.

In 1969, DZAQ-TV transferred to channel 2, the current and permanent positioning frequency of the station, while its sister station DZXL-TV transferred to channel 4. This was in response to frequency adjustments, so that the television station of the Kanlaon Broadcasting System (now Radio Philippines Network) can occupy the Channel 9 frequency.

BBC-2 (1972–1986)

When then President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, the station was forced to shut down. The company was seized from the Lopezes and its newly built Broadcast Center became the home of state-run TV stations Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Channel 2, with call sign changed to DWWX-TV), Government Television (GTV Channel 4, with call sign changed to DWGT-TV and later renamed MBS-4) and Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS Channel 9) from late 1973 onward. BBC 2 and KBS 9 later relocated to the Broadcast City complex in 1977, which is also where the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation is today currently headquartered.

As the People Power Revolution broke out and the dictator's grip on power crumbled, the reformists in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (who were also Corazon Aquino supporters) saw that TV would be a vital asset for victory. Thus, at 10 AM on February 24, they attacked and took the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center that was then the home of MBS-4. The station later became PTV-4 that afternoon, with the broadcasts spearheaded by former ABS-CBN talents and newsreaders.

Revival of ABS-CBN and Star Network (1986–present)

When Marcos was deposed, the network was sequestered and returned Channel 2 to the Lopezes but not Channel 4. On September 14, 1986, ABS-CBN TV went back on the air, broadcasting from what used to be their main garage at Broadcast Center in the pre-Martial Law days. President Corazon Aquino together with the staff managed to re-open its facilities after the revolution. Back then they had to share space in the building that was rightfully their own, which was then occupied for the most part by the government TV station Channel 4.

Cash was low and resources stretched to the limit, with offices being made to double as dressing rooms and basics such as chairs, tables and phones in short supply during the months ABS-CBN stayed at the old Chronicle Building in Pasig.

By late 1986, the network was faltering, ranking last among the five stations and suffering heavy losses. Eugenio "Geny" Lopez Jr. by early 1987 brought in programming whiz and ABS-CBN veteran Freddie Garcia, then working for GMA Network, and set him loose to work his magic touch.

At first, the channel 2 logo is introduced into ABS-CBN, after the dissolution of BBC in July. The features of the first channel 2 logo is a wing-shaped blue crest with a white curve at the top and a white line as a tail, the broadway 2 logo was used from 1986 to 1987. It had a slogan name Watch Us Do It Again! as the station ID aired since the network's revival.

Six months later on March 1, 1987, Channel 2 was relaunched with the live musical special, "The Star Network: Ang Pagbabalik Ng Bituin" (The Return of the Star) which noted for the famous numerical white tri-ribbon channel 2 logo laced with a white rhombidal star (from 1988-1992 the ribbons were tri-colored in red, green and blue) as a centerpiece of the network's revival to return its glory days when the station ID was first aired during the relaunch. By 1988, ABS-CBN was topping the ratings, a position it had never relinquished for 16 years. Channel 4 would later move out of the complex in 1992.

Later that year, it launched nationwide domestic satellite programming in 1989 and by 1994, expanded its operations worldwide. In 1999, Eugenio Lopez Jr. died of cancer in Quezon City. Channel 2 launched its 120-kilowatt Millennium Transmitter, resulting in improved signal quality throughout Mega Manila.

In 2005, ABS-CBN re-upgraded its transmission capacity into a very high capacity of 346.2 kilowatts (60 kW TPO), resulting in an even clearer signal in Metro Manila.

In 2015, ABS-CBN launched its digital broadcast on ISDB-T.

Digital television

Digital channels

UHF Channel 43 (647.143 MHz)

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming Note
11.16 H.264 4:3 ABS-CBN ABS-CBN
11.17 SPORTS+ACTION ABS-CBN Sports+Action 23
11.18 CINEMO! Cine Mo! Test Broadcast
11.21 YEY! Yey!
11.22 Knowledge Channel Knowledge Channel
11.23 DZMM Teleradyo DZMM TeleRadyo
11.24 ABS-CBN Oneseg ABS-CBN Oneseg 1seg

CINEMO!, YEY!, Knowledge Channel, and DZMM Teleradyo are exclusive channels to TV Plus, a digital set-top box manufactured by the network.

See also

References

    Preceded by
    DZAQ-TV
    (1953–1972)    		 DWWX-TV
    (1973–present)     		Succeeded by
    Incumbent
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