There’s still a kind of magic in hearing your song on the radio. Not as a link on Messenger, not as a clip you scroll past on TikTok, but as part of a broadcast. It plays after a DJ’s intro, maybe right after a traffic update or before the next round of requests. And there you are — your own song, cutting through static, alive on the airwaves.
That’s how my band, The Qings, chose to launch “Samantha,” our newest single, and the first one we’ve written and recorded in Bisaya. Instead of rushing to the usual digital platforms, we went old-school. We made the rounds — Y101FM (101.1), TMC (105.1) and Monster BT (105.9). We also dropped by MyTV for a performance.
Technically, these stations are online too. But there’s a difference between clicking on your own track and catching it in your car, announced by a voice you’ve grown up with. It feels earned in a way, like the song belongs to a larger rhythm of community, not just the curated playlists of the internet. It’s slower, yes, but that’s exactly what made it refreshing.
These days, most singles go straight to Spotify or YouTube the moment they’re mastered. That’s the standard play. By starting with radio, we hoped to connect with people who still keep the FM dial on as part of their day. Jeepneys, sari-sari stores, kitchens, offices, cars — it’s in those places that “Samantha” first lived. That made it feel less like content and more like a shared moment.
And that’s where radio still wins. It’s not about numbers anymore. It’s about touchpoints — voices carrying songs to people who stumble on them by chance, not by search. Younger listeners find it novel, older ones find it familiar. It’s just right.
For us, putting “Samantha” on radio first wasn’t just a launch strategy. It was a way of saying this song is for Cebu before it goes anywhere else. Our thanks go to MyTV, Y101FM, TMC and Monster BT for giving us the space to share it locally before it’s uploaded on the internet.