I DO!!! I listen to RUN Radio regularly since it started airing on the last Friday of July this year. I heard about this project/program at least a month before it was launched from no less than its Executive Producer, Ms Marga Deona.

The RUN RADIO is being hosted by Jaymie Pizarro aka The Bull Runner & publisher of TBR Magazine and Jay Nacino aka Prometheus Cometh. The program is regularly aired at FM Radio NU107 every 9:00PM to 10:00PM on Fridays.

It was funny that I had to look for my National/Panasonic transistor radio (battery-operated only) which I bought in 1995 before I was designated as the Battalion Commander of the 60th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army based in Ilocos Norte and later transfered to Ilocos Sur and then to Abra. I missed the first 10 minutes of the initial airing because I found out that the batteries were not working and had to buy a new set.

Well, the first airing was not perfect as expected but it was a learning experience for the announcers, producer/director, and guests. But in the later editions, the program had improved and it had served its purpose as the radio program for runners. But I never encountered or read any post from any of the running blogs discussing on their observations about RUN RADIO, other than the presence of a dedicated website for the said program where anybody could browse and hear its past editions.

However, I have the following observations and/or questions to be answered. Let these questions serve as “guides” for the people behind this program.

1) Who are the target audience? Having a Radio Program on the FM Radio limits the projection or signal reception to a limited area. I really do not know if FM NU107’s signal is being transmitted nationwide. When I was on my way back from Calamba, Laguna after a Running Clinic in one Friday evening, I tried to get the reception of the said radio station while we were on traffic but I was not able to get any signal. I missed the said program where Senator Pia Cayetano was the guest. If the target audience is for the people of Metro Manila, then fine! How I wish the runners in the provinces would also benefit from this running program. How about looking for an AM radio station with Nationawide Coverage that could air such program so that more people would listen to it? I am sure the runners in Cebu City, Laoag City, Baguio City, Davao City and other runners in key cities in the country would be happy to interact in the said program. With the presence of a dedicated website, anybody who has an access to the Internet would listen to the past editions of the radio program.

2) Why Do the Announcers Have to Speak In English? I believe that running is a “mass-based” sports and for us to promote running to everybody, the running program’s messages/information should be delivered in a dialect/language that could be understood by everybody or majority of the people. Why not speak in Tagalog or “Taglish”? This is the reason why popular & famous TV and Radio news programs and other informative programs are delivered in Tagalog, in order to reach more audience to the “grassroots” level. If we want to encourage more runners, then we have to communicate easily to them through the local dialect. With the presence of technical and scientific terms in running like, “fartlek”; glucose; calories; stride frequency; footstrike; names of running-related injuries; pronation; supination; parts and types of running shoes, and others, I think there is no need to look for translations for these terms in the Tagalog dialect. Speaking in “Taglish” with these terms is acceptable.

3) Is there anybody trying to find out the History of Running in the country? Research, research, and research. How I wish that somebody should be doing the research about the history of running in the country and reminding the younger audience about how running was conducted during those days. My blog would be a good source for such information and I really don’t have the intention of being a guest or resource person in this program as I would like to give way to more popular and authorities/experts in running as guests like the President of PATAFA, our Race Organizers, our past athletes/runners who gave glory & pride to the country (the likes of Lydia De Vega, Elma Murros, Isidro Del Prado, Roy Vence, Rey Antoque, and other past Champions of prestigious Marathon Races) in past International Games.  It would be nice to invite Mr Rudy Biscocho for him to share to us the history of running in the country, too. (Note: After saying “No” or looking for alibis for me to be excused as guest for the radio program, Marga had consistently talked to me and invited me whenever I met her in my workouts and during races. Finally, I was out of reasons not to visit the station. Thus, I was the guest on last week’s 10th edition of the program).

4) Why don’t they try to  invite the Running Clubs in the 70’s and 80’s who have survived through the years? The RUNNEX, CAMANAVA, Sta Rosa (Laguna) Runners and RUNCPI Running Clubs or maybe, the HING’s Running Club are the “old ones” whose experiences in the past years in running are good source of running information due to their experiences and exposures in road races in the past.

5) Why is it that this program does not give any critique to previous road race/s for the week? There should be a way to give feedback on previous road races for the weekend, whether positive or negative, so that Road Organizers or Events Managers would be able to improve the way they conduct their road races. It is in this forum that runners would be able to expose “problems/concerns” during the said race and for the Race Organizer to have also an air time to explain his/her side. Writing a post on blogs in order to criticize or give feedback is not enough as the Race Organizer do not have a chance or opportunity to explain his/her side. At this point, it would be a nice suggestion for Ian Alacar, the takbo.ph people, and the Rotary group to be the next guests for them to explain to the runner-listeners about their side on the last race’s problems/concerns ( like the short distances, limited parking areas, thefts in parking areas, etc.).

6) Did you know that the MILO Marathon Finals in the 90’s were broadcasted “LIVE” on DZFM SPORTS RADIO 738 AM BAND? How I wish the RUN RADIO could have this capability in the future.

7) How much do the sponsors pay for the one-hour air time on the said FM Station? I observed that the announcers kept on repeating Advertisements of this and that running store and business facility during the program.

8) Why is RUNRadio selective in promoting road races? I hope that all road races published at takbo.ph and/or at philrunners.com would be advertised or announced during the airing of the radio program. It would be good if the Race Organizer of each running event would be invited to talk about their race in the said program. Whether it is MILO Marathon or Pasig River Marathon, everybody must be equally treated to announce their Road Race.

9) Invite Sports Editors of our daily newspapers and appeal to them to reserve a space for a Running News & Photo Section in their Sports Section. We should not be reading about the conduct of a road race in the Lifestyle Section of the newspapers. Sports writers/reporters who cover running events & road races should also be invited to this program. At least, these newspapers are widely distributed throughout the country.

I know this post will raise “eyebrows” again and hope to receive comments from my readers who have different views from what I’ve written. But at the end of the day, we are all runners who would like to spread the benefits of running and be able to enjoy and have fun in this sports that we love.

I’ve written the abovementioned post a few days after the conduct of the ROTARun last month but I did not publish it due to other stories.

Well, I finally had a chance to be the guest in last Friday’s edition (October 9, 2009) with the condition that the interaction will be in Tagalog or Taglish and the “script”/guide questions be given to me thru my e-mail at least two days before the day of interview. And so, Marga did a wonderful job of sending me the list of questions in Tagalog and I immediately answered them with sentence outline as my “guide” during the interview.

Minutes before my interview started, Marga, the Executive Producer of the Program and I had a serious conversation about my suggestions & feedbacks about the program. I mentioned to her the items that I discussed in this post plus my “honest-to-goodness” impression about the program. I emphasized to her that running is a “mass-based” sports that even the “poorest” class of our society should be able to do and this is where the future elite runners come from. I have the impression that “Run Radio” is a running program for the elite class of the society and this is the reason why I suggested to Marga to invite runners in the past and ordinary people and persons who run as part of their daily lives. 

For the details of my interview with the Run Radio, please visit the blogsite at www.runradio.wordpress.com.

Overall, this is a commendable project/program where our running community could interact and share information with one another. My congratulations to Marga, Vimz, Jaymie, Jay, and Bards for their unselfish acts of promoting running in the country. Keep up the good work!

(Note: Please provide a chair for the older runner-guests in this program. Runners have strong legs but they could not withstand their legs standing for a long period of time. If you invite Mr Amado Castro, Jr, Kim Ong, Rudy Biscocho, Victor Ting or Norio Tanaka, I think they need a chair)