“Radyo Na, TV Pa.”
That is the tagline of ‘Dobol B TV’, then known as ‘Dobol B sa News TV’, when it went back on air exactly six years ago today, on April 24, 2017. Initially, the block aired from 6:00 am to 11:00 am, with personalities Mike Enriquez, Arnold Clavio, Ali Sotto, and Joel Reyes Zobel having their respective programs during the 5-hour-long block, each weekday morning.
The block’s pillar show ‘Saksi sa Dobol B’ with Mike Enriquez and Joel Reyes Zobel aired from 6:00 to 7:00, and again from 8:00 to 9:00 am. ‘Super Balita sa Umaga Nationwide’ was an hour-long newscast from 7:00 to 8:00 am. ‘Sino?’ brought together Mike Enriquez, Arnold Clavio, and Ali Sotto for the jeng-jengan segment. The final hour of the block was for Clavio and Sotto’s standalone show ‘Dobol A sa Dobol B’.
Five years before that, the original run of ‘Dobol B sa News TV’ block actually began in conjunction with the channel’s first day of broadcasts on February 28, 2011. During the first incarnation of the show, the block only aired from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, with only ‘Saksi sa Dobol B’ and ‘Super Balita sa Umaga Nationwide’ being carried. The DZBB simulcast on GMA News TV ended in 2012.
With the block’s relaunch on then-GMA News TV, it seemed like the channel renewed its commitment to news and public affairs programming.
Two years after that, in 2019, the block expanded to six hours and to the weekends. ‘Kay Susan Tayo sa Radyo’ aired in the 11:00 am to 12:00 nn hour of the weekday block. Meanwhile, ‘I M Ready sa Dobol B’, ‘Pinoy MD sa Dobol B’, ‘MMDA sa GMA’, among others, formed the weekend line-up. The expansion coincides with GMA News TV’s transfer from ZOE TV channel 11 to GMA’s own UHF channel 27 on June 4, 2019.
Months after that, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country and news, more than ever, became vital to Filipinos. Thus, the ‘Dobol B’ simulcasts were modified to fit the times.
When Metro Manila was placed under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the Dobol B block was temporarily added to GMA’s schedule, replacing the hours of the then-on-hiatus ‘Unang Hirit’ for more than two weeks.
As for the GMA News TV block, it was expanded to air from the network’s sign on from 6:00 am to the end of ’24 Oras’ at 8:30 pm on weekdays, with the block’s weekend edition airing through the afternoons, . That arrangement lasted until September 2020.
With the resumption of GMA News TV’s original programming, the Dobol B block was retained in the morning and selected hours in the afternoons, before eventually moving back exclusively to mornings-only towards the end of 2020. Moreover, it was also when the block was reduced to air only from 5:30 to 9:00 am or 10:00 am, only 30 to 90 minutes longer than its original 2011 runtime.
When the local GMA News TV channel rebranded to GTV in February 2021, it also meant that the block had to renamed to reflect the changes. Hence, it was shortened to ‘Dobol B TV’. By October 2021, the block’s Sunday simulcasts were dropped altogether from GTV’s schedule. In its place, a kids-oriented morning block that still airs every Sunday from 6:00 am to 12:00 nn.
Currently, ‘Dobol B TV’ still airs as the de-facto morning news program of GTV from Monday to Saturday. Since January, some of its programs are also seen on the Pinoy Hits channel on digital terrestrial television.
Happy anniversary, ‘Dobol B TV’!