Aircheck: DWCT--City Lite 88.3 MHz Manila, The Philippines 9 May 1997

The very first internet stream I ever listened to was "City Lite" (DWCT 88.3 MHz) from Manila, The Philippines. It was just after Christmas, 1996. This was back in the days of Windows 95, and modems with speeds like 14.4 and 28.8 kbps.

Being a longtime shortwave listener, it amazed me that one could be able to listen to a radio station from anywhere by way of a computer.

There were flaws back then. The stream quality wasn't always great, nor was the internet connection. Nevertheless, I rolled tape on some of the stations that interested me.

Recently I found a recording I made from City Lite from 9 May 1997, and digitized it. For some of you, this may not be an easy listen. The original recording had buffering issues--I rejoined the stream to remove the breaks. The stream also stuttered and the audio would also 'skip' in a way similar to an LP. That said, I wanted to post this for those who might have an interest in how the station sounded, audio flaws and all.

On a personal note, I called the station in 1997 to let them know I was listening to their stream online, and they offered to send me a few station items. They did not disappoint me. I received a hat, a key chain, and several CD's. I have enclosed a photo attachment of the station logo that came from the keychain.

The link to the aircheck from 9 May 1997, encoded at 192/44.1 can be found here:

http://www.4shared.com/mp3/40LkMiLQba/01-DWCT_City_Lite_883_9_May_19.html
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/mSssnhxuba/02-DWCT_City_Lite_883_9_May_19.html

Nice find, unfortunately already Manila lost 3 jazz stations (DWCT 88.3, DZRU 92.3, DWET 106.3) only DWBM 105.9 survives mostly playing r&b and few instrumentals per day. DZLL 107.1 (Baguio) plays smooth jazz and few others like DWFX 89.9 throws a Smooth AC flavor to its playlist.