The Real Height of the DZLB Tower
by Oliver Carlos
One of the many things that my hometown Los Banos is famous for is its radio station, DZLB. It’s owned by UPLB, with its studios inside the College of Development Communication building, and its transmitter tower located just beside the UPLB gate. Its frequency is 1116 kHz on the AM band. Later, it also had an FM station, DZLB-FM, on 97.4 MHz. The DZLB tower is the tallest man-made structure in town.
I was blessed to be a Devcom student in the mid-1990s. That was the time when DZLB had just won its KBP Golden Dove award. That’s the highest award in the field of broadcasting in the Philippines. My teachers were the actual broadcasters who were key players in notching the award.
When I became a Devcom faculty in the early 2000s, DZLB was at an impasse. I think the tower needed some repair due to its age, or some other technical issue only engineers would understand. At that time, the station’s airing hours were limited, and also its geographical reach. Only the FM station was in operation, during those years. The station could only reach no farther beyond the campus vicinity. It was sad that the prowess of the once-mighty radio station had diminished significantly.
Somebody also told me that the previous height of the DZLB tower was way taller than what I can see. “What you see is just 2/3 of its original height,” said an old officemate. “Actually, DZLB had its golden years in the 1970s, when it can be heard as far as Bulacan in the north, and Mindoro in the south,” another colleague added. So many farmers, housewives, and rural folks were helped by DZLB. That’s why it had the nickname, “Ang Tinig ng Kaunlaran.”
Those were the days when radio broadcasting was popular. Today, I observe that most people get their news and information from the internet. I myself, get to listen to the radio only when I’m driving in my car.
It’s always fascinating to look up that DZLB tower every time I pass by it. I would always imagine invisible soundwaves radiating from the top of the tower and then making their way in the transistor radios in the homes of people. Those soundwaves carry development-related messages that would bless its listeners. In the past many decades, I’m sure so many people’s lives improved because of the “Tinig ng Kaunlaran.” I hope it has regained its old strength these days.
In Isaiah 55:10–11 (ICB), God mentioned something that works similarly like the broadcast soundwaves. He pointed out the water cycle. Let’s read that passage:
“Rain and snow fall from the sky. They don’t return without watering the ground. They cause the plants to sprout and grow. And the plants make seeds for the farmer. And from these seeds people have bread to eat.
The words I say do the same thing. They will not return to me empty.
They make the things happen that I want to happen. They succeed in doing what I send them to do.”
It says here that God sends water from the sky, and that water won’t come back to the sky without fulfilling its purpose, which is to help the farmer in his work of producing a harvest for the people. Similarly, God’s words are dispensed from him, and they will also not return to him void. His words are so powerful and relevant that they would touch people’s hearts and change their lives.
If he wanted to send you a message of hope and encouragement for today, that message will come to you and would bring you delight. God’s messages are just there around you, he’s constantly sending you his words, like a broadcast tower. You just have to be sensitive and pick them up so you can enjoy the benefit they bring; you just have to “tune-in.” Go and read your Bible daily. If you don’t have a physical Bible, you can use the internet to view its pages online.
God wants to bless you today. He has special words of love, joy, and wisdom for you. Tune-in and receive that message.
