Tiffany Liong-Gabuya
Contact information:
Station Manager
98.7 DZFE The Master’s Touch
Far East Broadcasting Company
46th floor, One Corporate Center
Doña Julia Vargas cor. Meralco Ave.
Pasig City 1605, Philippines
Trunkline: 654 3322 lol. 301
tiffany.liong@dzfe.febc.ph
“ 98.7 DZFE has been fostering a joint appreciation of classical music and biblical truth since 1954.”
HISTORY of DZFE
DZFE was the 2nd radio station established by American missionaries following the 1st radio station (DZAS) of Far East Broadcasting Company in 1948. The mission of FEBC was to bring “Christ to the World by Radio.”
In the 1970’s FEBC took DZFE off air due to the government’s restriction to having only one AM station per week. However, not long after, DZFE was brought back to life, but this time on FM radio due to the appeals from the public.
In the year of 2005, DZFE transferred their transmitting facility to a leased site in Antipolo and also downgraded from 20kW to a 5kW leased transmitter to control power costs.
In ’10, DZFE got to return to a daily 18-hour broadcast after previous years of difficulty with attaining a strong signal; they were able to purchase a Nautel NV20 transmitter in ‘09 which was fully funded by local and international supporters of the station.
They finally relocated for the last time to a studio in Ortigas in June of 2013 and “after years of working through several backroom issues” DZFE was able to broadcast outside the Greater Metro with a 21-hour-a-day daily broadcast which is the longest schedule that DZFE has maintained in history.
TIFFANY LIONG-GABUYA
Tiffany Liong- Gabuya is the current station manager, producer and presenter of DZFE. She has been devoted to this job ever since she graduated from the Ateneo (Comm ’98). She was born in Manila but spent most of her childhood in Bangkok due to her father’s occupation. For Tiffany, working in DZFE wasn’t her dream job per se but one she was called to.
Tiffany found her love for classical music ever since she started playing the piano as a child; she loves the sounds that it makes. “The music I was learning brought out its best qualities”… Tiffany enjoyed the complexity and richness of classical music.
Surprisingly enough, no one in her immediate family enjoyed and appreciated classical music as much as she did. Her favourite piano composers were Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin.It came to a point where she started listening to records and became a die -hard fan of Mendelssohn, Grieg Rachmaninov and Vaughan Williams.
Tiffany came to love Bach because his art is profoundly rooted in his protestant theology and she especially loves his vocal music as well .Despite the fact that she grew up in a non-western country, she came across one of the recordings of a tape of Andre Previn directing Vaughan Williams’ Symphony no. 5. She loved the transcendence in the music because of the modal language and the irenic transparency that it has. Rachmaninov also caught Tiffany’s attention because of the slide-slipping chromaticism that is so typical of his language, his way with melody and his complexity.
Despite the fact that the Philippines isn’t very exposed to the classical arts, the audience of DZFE is limited, thus providing challenges not only for Tiffany but for DZFE as well. The biggest challenge that they face is the amount of work that has to be done given the very limited staff that they have. There are only two permanent in-house presenters/ producers, Tiffany being one of them. It is also difficult for them to get new people because of the “Protestant theological context of the network, possesses the skills necessary for radio work, and be amenable to very modest non- profit pay.”
Given all the challenges Tiffany encounters she copes with them through prayers, national and international partnerships and workflow strategies. Having the passion and love for music also plays a big role in getting through day-to-day struggles.
Not everyone can do what Tiffany can do given the unique requirements for the job. She has temperament, inclinations and skills for her specific job. All these show what a good leader Tiffany is. However, a good leader also admits her flaws in order to grow, learn and be better. For Tiffany, she admits that she is shackled to daily operations, making it very difficult to go out and meet new people in the local music community. She also stated the she is ”no longer a spring chicken.”
