''RPN NewsWatch'' is a Philippine flagship
television news
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...
program that aired on
Radio Philippines Network
Radio Philippines Network, Inc. (RPN) is a Philippine television and radio company based in Quezon City. It is the flagship media property of Nine Media Corporation of the ALC Group of Companies; along with the Office of the Press Secreta ...
(RPN) from June 1, 1970, until October 29, 2012. It was the
longest-running English-language newscast of RPN. The program had a complicated history, undergoing many name changes, until it was cancelled in 2012 upon Solar Entertainment Corporation's consummation of RPN's majority stake.
Its reportorial teams were tasked to gather news from every major beat in the Greater Manila Area as well as nearby provinces.
Broadcast chronology
Launched on June 1, 1970, it became one of the highly watched English newscasts on Philippine TV alongside ''
The World Tonight
''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domes ...
'' of ABS-CBN and ''
The Big News'' of ABC 5 (now TV5). It is dubbed as the "First TV Newspaper" in the Philippines. Prior to 2008, it produced some spin-offs and like:
* ''RPN NewsWatch Balita Ngayon,'' a Filipino-language early evening newscast.
* ''RPN NewsWatch sa Umaga'', morning spin-off of the newscast.
* ''RPN NewsWatch sa Tanghali'', noontime spin-off of the newscast.
* ''RPN NewsWatch Kids Edition'', first youth spin-off of the newscast that aired from 1979 to 1993.
* ''RPN NewsWatch Evening Cast,'' first English-language early evening newscast anchored by Cathy Santillan, then it was anchored by Cielo Villaluna, Rolly ''Lakay'' Gonzalo and Cristina Pecson; later with Buddy Lopa. It was also the first newscast from 1970 to 1999. From 1999 to 2000, it was named as ''RPN NewsWatch Primetime Edition''.
* ''RPN NewsWatch Prime Cast,'' a late night edition also anchored by
Harry Gasser, Cathy Santillan, Dodi Lacuna, Lulu Pascual, Mike Toledo and Coco Quisumbing and later, Eric Eloriaga (Eloriaga, who is known for his very strong American English accent, also anchored rival newscast ''The Big News'' on ABC 5).
* ''RPN NewsWatch Now'', replacement of ''Primetime Balita'' aired from August 13, 2001, to March 9, 2007.
* ''RPN Jr. NewsWatch'', second youth spin-off that aired in 2005.
* ''RPN Aksyon Balita'', later ''NewsWatch Aksyon Balita'', successor of ''NewsWatch'' from April 17, 2006, to January 4, 2008, first anchored by
Erwin Tulfo
Erwin Teshiba Tulfo () is a Filipino news anchor, broadcaster, and columnist who was the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development from June 30, 2022, under the presidency of Bongbong Marcos until December 27, 2022 due to his appointment be ...
,
Connie Sison
Maria Perpetua Concepcion Del Rosario-Escudero (born December 8, 1975), professionally known as Connie Sison (), is a Filipino broadcast journalist, reporter, host and news anchor. She is best known for being the news anchor of '' Balitanghali'' ...
,
Aljo Bendijo
Aljo Bendijo (; born Alexes Joseph Rubia Bendijo; February 6, 1974) is a Filipino broadcast journalist. He anchored ABS-CBN's flagship newscast '' TV Patrol'' from 2001 to 2003 with Korina Sanchez and Henry Omaga-Diaz and ''Batingaw'' (whic ...
, Jake Morales, Vikki Sambilay and Bobby Yan.
* ''
RPN i-Watch News'', replacement of ''NewsWatch Now'' anchored by former
103.5 K-Lite disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobil ...
Carlo Tirona, and Aryana Lim, who was replaced by Lexi Schulze after a few months. It aired from March 12, 2007, to January 11, 2008.
On July 3, 2000, ''NewsWatch'' made its one-year absence on television due to low ratings because of the premiere of the network's only Filipino-language late-afternoon newscasts ''RPN Arangkada Xtra Balita'' and late-night newscast ''
Primetime Balita
''Primetime Balita'' ({{Literal translation, Primetime News) was a late evening news broadcast of Radio Philippines Network (RPN), aired from July 3, 2000 to August 10, 2001. It was RPN's first and only late-night news program in Filipino langua ...
''. It was during that time, that some television networks start airing late-night newscasts in Filipino-language from the last year of the 20th century. But ''Primetime Balita'' was replaced by ''RPN NewsWatch Now'' and returning its English-language news reporting on August 13, 2001, until its final broadcast on March 9, 2007. On January 7, 2008, when Solar Entertainment channel
C/S started to air on free-TV, it went back on the air replacing ''RPN NewsWatch Aksyon Balita''. It was anchored by the network's president and Chief Executive Officer, former
Defense secretary
The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The se ...
and senator
Orly Mercado and the News and Public Affairs department head Marigold Haber-Dunca. Because of Mercado's advocacy on being an environmentalist, the background are all adorned with plants On January 14, 2008, its late-night spin-off was aired as ''RPN NewsWatch Second Edition''. This broadcast was anchored by Jay Esteban and Queen Sebastian. It also started to air on cable on all frequencies occupying
C/S. The network's hourly news updates was renamed as ''NewsWatch Update'' until February 25, 2011.
The show was reformatted into a reality show between June 7, 2008, and August 16, 2008. On October 11, 2008, another version was premiered, entitled ''
RPN NewsWatch Junior Edition
''RPN NewsWatch Junior Edition'' is another installation to the longest-running news program NewsWatch aired on Radio Philippines Network in the Philippines and the first reality-based TV workshop for future journalists from June 7, 2008 to Augus ...
'' with the contestants of the show anchoring it. This was the third youth spin-off of the ''RPN NewsWatch''; the previous two were ''RPN NewsWatch Kids Edition'' (1979 to 1993) and ''RPN Jr. NewsWatch'' (2005).
On October 8, 2008, broadcasts covering of the games of the
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
(PBA) was started. These were broadcast to coincide with the second half of the game on Wednesday and Friday. This coverage had ended since 2011 when RPN lost its PBA broadcasting rights to
Studio 23 (and later to
TV5).
On February 16, 2009, former
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...
news anchor and beauty queen Joyce Burton-Titular replaced Orly Mercado as anchor. Mercado was then able to focus on his duties as the network's president and CEO.
On November 30, 2009, Radio Philippines Network (RPN) relaunched as
Solar TV
Solar TV (stylized as SOLARtv) was the flagship television network of Solar Entertainment Corporation's television arm subsidiary Solar TV Network, Inc., which is the replacement of C/S 9. This was the revival of the former Solar channel Sol ...
. Broadcast times were changed from 30 minutes to 60 minutes duration. From the usual twice a day times of 5:30 pm and 11:00 pm, it became once a day at 5:30 pm and Reema Chanco was engaged as an additional anchor. ''
RPN NewsCap
''RPN NewsCap'' is the flagship English late-evening news program of RPN. which was aired from November 30, 2009, to October 29, 2012, replacing '' NewsWatch: Second Edition''. This serves as a spin-off RPN NewsWatch. until it was axed in 2012 ...
'' replaced ''RPN NewsWatch Second Edition'' and started airing at midnight. In 2010, the timeslot was moved to 11:30 in the evening. It also continued to air on both free TV and on cable until February 25, 2011.
On March 2, 2011, after
Solar Entertainment bought 34% stake in RPN, RPN relaunched as
ETC. Alongside ''RPN NewsCap'', ''RPN NewsWatch'' started to air only on
free TV on that date at 5 pm as
ETC had occupied the RPN frequency on all cable providers nationwide. But, it is still being managed to air only through Global Destiny Cable (now
Destiny Cable
Destiny Cable (formerly Global Destiny Cable and stylized as DESTINY CABLE) was a direct-to-home cable television subscription service based in Quezon City. Destiny Cable was the 2nd largest cable TV provider in the Philippines. It was owned b ...
, owned by
SkyCable
Sky Cable (stylized as SKYcable) is a cable television service of Sky Cable Corporation in the Philippines. It covers areas across the country with both digital and analog cable services, and it has 700,000 subscribers, controlling 45% of ...
) on channel 116, which was the frequency occupied by
The Game Channel, a channel of
Solar TV Network
Nine Media Corporation (formerly known as Solar Television Network, Inc. or STVNI) is a Filipino-based media company. Formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Solar Entertainment Corporation (SEC), a multimedia television and film company of the ...
, occupying the 5:00 pm timeslot. On August 15, 2011, the two newscasts began to air on
BEAM TV Channel 31 as
The Game Channel was simulcast on that channel. Its simulcast on that channel stopped in October 2011.
On October 29, 2012, after 42 years on the airwaves, ''RPN NewsWatch'' and ''RPN NewsCap'' were axed due to the impending privatization of the network and the controversial retrenchment of some employees of the network. However, ''RPN NewsWatch'' is still used by RPN's provincial AM radio arm Radyo Ronda for its newscasts.
Past anchors
Past news reporters
See also
*
Solar Network News
CNN Philippines Network News, (titled as CNN Philippines Network News with Pia Hontiveros for its weekday broadcasts) or simply Network News was the first flagship evening newscast of CNN Philippines. It aired seven days a week at 6:00pm PST.
...
* RPN iWatch News
*
RPN NewsCap
''RPN NewsCap'' is the flagship English late-evening news program of RPN. which was aired from November 30, 2009, to October 29, 2012, replacing '' NewsWatch: Second Edition''. This serves as a spin-off RPN NewsWatch. until it was axed in 2012 ...
* RPN News Update
*
RPN News and Public Affairs
Radio Philippines Network, Inc. (RPN) is a Philippine television and radio company based in Quezon City. It is the flagship media property of Nine Media Corporation of the ALC Group of Companies; along with the Office of the Press Secret ...
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newswatch (Philippine Tv program)
1970s Philippine television series
1980s Philippine television series
1990s Philippine television series
2000s Philippine television series
1970 Philippine television series debuts
2012 Philippine television series endings
English-language television shows
Philippine television news shows
Radio Philippines Network news shows
RPN News and Public Affairs shows
Flagship evening news shows
Children's news shows