A week after the official announcement, the move materialized early Monday morning.
Before the clock struck midnight on Sunday, November 3, True FM signed off for the final time on its original home at DWFM 92.3.
A pre-recorded station message read by manager Cherry Bayle was also played before the national anthem, with her thanking 92.3 on behalf of NBC and Radyo5 for “more than 10 years of making beautiful radio together.”
Hours after that, at 3:00 am on Monday, November 4, Mediaquest Holdings’ flagship radio station True FM officially began emanating from Mega Manila’s 105.9 frequency.
During its sign-on notice, it was made clear that True FM merely took over the airtime of the said station, which continues to be owned by Brightstar Broadcasting Network Corporation, which used to be NEORETRO 1059 prior to the shake-up.
The callsign DWLA-FM was also kept, which dates back to the frequency’s days as the LA in the 1990s.
After an hour of music, new early morning newscast ‘Good Morning, Bayan!’ anchored by Ruth Cabal became the first show on the newly-transferred True FM.
Following that, familiar programs and voices remained on the True FM line-up, led by ‘Ted Failon and DJ Chacha,’ ‘Sana Lourd’ with Lourd de Veyra, ‘Heart 2 Heart’ with Kuya Poy, ‘Wanted Sa Radyo’ with Sen. Raffy Tulfo, and ‘Sagot Kita!’ with Cheryl Cosim.
Alongside that, the station is now part of the True Network and a new complementary television and online channel named True TV was also launched Cignal TV channel 19 and the Cignal Play app.
True TV carries the video simulcast of the live radio shows broadcast over the new 105.9 FM.
AM RADIO ON FM
“Iwanan mo na ang lumang tunog ng AM.”
That was the very first tagline of what was then-known as the Radyo5 92.3 News FM when it pioneered the 24/7 news-and-talk format heavily associated with the AM band on the FM spectrum on November 8, 2010.
From the get-go, Radyo5 assembled some of the biggest names in local news and radio like retired News5 chief Luchi Cruz-Valdes, Erwin Tulfo, Cheryl Cosim, Paolo Bediones, Amy Perez, and Cristy Fermin.
Although, due to internal changes within TV5 and mounting losses of the company, the station saw many rises and falls throughout its time at 92.3.
The list included the axing of its 24/7 broadcasts and the rebrand of its complementary free-to-air channel AksyonTV to the sports channel 5Plus.
In 2019, the station saw a resurgence after One PH was launched on Cignal TV, which ushered in new programs for the station like ‘One Balita,’ ‘Sa Totoo Lang,’ and ‘Wag Po!’
At one point during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cignal TV’s One PH entire line-up was simulcasted and integrated into News FM’s grid, but that was later stopped as Radyo5 introduced more music-based programming especially on weekends.
Addressing the shift to more non-news content, Radyo5 then reinvented itself as True FM in March 2023 and added more original programs that were not seen on its supposed television counterpart One PH, like ‘Sana Lourd,’ ‘Heart 2 Heart,’ ‘Shout Out,’ and ‘Dr. Love.’
Thus, earlier this year, the radio network finally launched its own dedicated full-time tele-radio service tentatively named True FM TV (now True TV) to broadcast its entire schedule.
True FM is now on 105.9 in Mega Manila, its provincial stations in Cebu, Ormoc, Tacloban, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro, True TV on Cignal TV channel 19 and Cignal Play, and on social media.