Does Truth Telling No Place at Bloc Time Radio?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

As the start of the 60 days campaign period for the May 13, 2019 election for local candidates will be on March 29, elective candidates are sizing if not buying their selected bloc time radio slot in the six A.M or (amplitude modulation)  radios and several F.M or (frequency modulation) in my city.

Bloc time rental can be cheap or very expensive. A premier A.M radio station bills a candidate almost half a million pesos in 30 minutes morning program a day for four weekdays or a month while those who were cellar dwellers in the poll of Kantar collect P120,000 to P180, 000 in a one hour a day Monday to Friday morning program for month, too.

One of the bloc time commentators told me that he will be inviting me to do analysis on his program about the gubernatorial and congressional rivals for the coming May 13, 2019 election.

He used the word “analysis” for me to do because he saw how I analyzed and predicted the winners in the past national polls by citing my data on two credible scientific surveys done by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia, how I predicted that Manny Pacquiao would lose to Floyd Mayweather in their mega fight in May 2015 and how Pacquiao will lose big time in their future fight because of data I have about the strengths and weaknesses of both pugs.

Okay, let’s cut the chase tee he he.

This what  I asked him in the vernacular:

“Kung gawin mo akong political analyst, I will tell the truth” I told him.

“Ya, you tell what you know about those candidates,” he retorted.

“Sasabihin ko na pag ang election to be held today, iyong manok ninyo sa provincial poll tatalunin ng rival niya sa 70 percent versus 30 percent equation. Iyong congressman ninyo na isa 70 – 30 din ang odds favoring the seasoned politician na kalaban, at iyong ….” I expounded but he frantically stopped me.

He backtracked.

He said he will still mull if he will invite me so he will not compromise his twenty thousand pesos a month pay from his patron that will be offended by my telling the truth ha ha ha!

Gee whiz, that’s bloc time. Being objective and truthful have no place in that kind of program because it promotes with partiality a candidate to win the hearts and minds of the listeners especially the gullible and the nincompoops.

The downside of bloc time, I told him, he would have less listeners that will patronize his or other bloc time programs.

“Dapat sa isang oras, 20 minutes ang promo ninyo sa kandi-lako este kandidato. 40 minutes you emphatically disccussed pressing current issues na may halong banat para marami ang makikinig sa A-B-C-D listeners”.

I told him that his boss that pays the bloc timer should search for a commentator who has charisma, sense of humor like Mike Enriquez (top national radio man) and intelligence like Solita Monsod, Louie Beltran, others to discuss the issues.

“Maraming bloc timers at announcers dito sa Pangasinan parang nagbabasa ng  Pasyon sa Mahal na Araw. Kaya ang sabi ni Commentator X, si Commentator Y kahit umaga ang programa pag nadinig iyong boses niya nakakatulog iyong mga nakikinig. E paano na lang iyan pag nagda-drive iyong listener, baka makabangga at makapatay pa ng tao?” I posed to him.  

Ito pa ang isang downside, I told Commentator X about how "stupid" was one of the commentators of a radio station.

“Noong sinabi ng city mayor at legal officer niya na si Cashiers 1, 2, and 3 ni file na ng kaso ng malversation sa Fiscal kasi may Prima Facie bawat isa sa kanila, nagalit siya sa mayor at legal officer, bakit daw may double standard bakit sila Cashiers 1, 2, 3 lang ni kasuhan bakit hindi si Prima Facie, bakit anong merong connectionn si Prima Facie”.

Many media men who were there nodded their heads son of a gun in agreement  with the patent disgust of the commentator to the brass of a city local government in excluding Prima Facie in the charged sheet.

 “Oo nga ano, bakit hindi sinali si Prima Facie. Kamag anak ba siya ni mayor at na double standard ang pag file ng kaso? a thin and tall radio woman asked a news writer”

The mayor, the legal officer, a lawyer of course, and I guffawed on that query from an announcer who had a baritone voice but with a brain as small as a pin.

As what former Fox TV premier anchor Bill O’Reilly described some stupid U.S congressmen and senators: “These pinhead politicians!

 Prima Facie, to those who did not yet know, means an adjective and Latin for "at first look," or "on its face," referring to a lawsuit or criminal prosecution in which the evidence before trial is sufficient to prove the case unless there is substantial contradictory evidence presented at trial.

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)