K-Lite and Little David

It’s been 3 months since 103.5 K-Lite aired it’s final broadcast but I’m still getting hits from various search engines. Search terms such as “klite 1035 fm,” “nitelite 103.5,” and “alternative station to klite 103.5” are still bringing hits to this post. It seems that the K-lite fans are still looking for answers on why K-lite died. Or maybe, they can’t still accept the fact that their favorite radio frequency is now Heart FM and playing mushy easy music all day long.

I decided to google those terms and it points me to different blogs ranting about K-lite’s fall and the rise of Heart FM. Reading the comments, you’ll get the drift that a lot of people are still upset while some of them are still hoping that the great old K-lite would come back. But all our (listeners) collective rants are nothing compared to the sadness by the guy who started the “right kind of lite” 12 years ago.

Last week, Adel Gabot aka Little David, found this blog and left a lengthy comment on one of my post:

Hi, insomnity.

I guess you should hear it from the horse’s mouth.

I feel bad more than anyone about K-Lite’s demise. Because I was the one who started it in 1995. I created the programming, the format back then; I made up, and named the talkshows. I hired the original jocks. I thought up and created all the musical programs, I produced most of the plugs, and voiced them too. I was the one who thought up “The Right Kind of Lite” slogan.

I co-hosted Twisted with Jess Zafra. I co-hosted Nitelite with The Blade and Monica. I did Talkback every now and then. And more.

After seven years being station manager, and general manager of the network, I quit.

Then he made a clarification that everyone of us, especially me who chose to believe that he was thrown out, should know:

I was not thrown out, as you chose to believe, Insomnity. In fact, hearing that sort of talk hurts me still, because it’s untrue, and unfair. People will never know what we went through that time. Which is what prompted me to write a comment here.

I left because of differences with the owners, partly personal, and partly work-related. I’ve never spoken of it in a public forum because it was a difficult, personal decision. But I couldn’t stay. If you really what to know the full, sordid story of what caused us to leave a place we loved, write me and I’ll tell you.

Then he fearlessly stated his opinions on why his radio station died:

And the people who took over botched it. They misread the listeners, they didn’t understand the market, they took out the good jocks, the talk shows, the good music. So the station died a slow lingering death.

It’s just a memory now. I loved my station, but that’s life.

I wrote him and ask him directly on why he left K-lite. His reply surprised me in many ways. First, I didn’t expect that he will tell me everything that transpired in 2002. Everything, as in everything! Second, his story is quite sad that it can easily pass up as a teleserye script. And lastly, because I cannot tell anyone about it. Sayang! He said clearly that if I tell anyone, He would hunt me down, shave my head and write bad things on it with a permanent marker. Even without that threat, I’m sure that I will not publish his email here.

But I’m putting some bits of it here to let his fans know that he, along with his wife, DJ Monica, and The Blade are happy now.

But at least Monica and I are happy. I like my job at the Inquirer, and I love doing PWiT. After almost 20 years in radio, I’ve managed to create a second career for myself, which I am so thankful to God for.

Sayang lang talaga si K-Lite. We both miss radio.

As for The Blade, he has made a career out of being an event host and emcee, a commercial voice talent, and an anime and teleserye dubber. And as of Feb.1, he is now the pinch-hitter DJ for Dream FM, I’m happy to say.

I’m also happy for the chance just to be able to do what we did, and I’d just like to stay with the happy memories than dwell on the sordid past. If anything, we were able to make a little difference in the radio scene during our time. And if there was something good to come out of it, I met my wife there.

Thank you so much Little David and God bless.