The Tower of Power is a , 120,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

radio tower owned by the

GMA Network GMA Network (an acronym of its legal name, Global Media Arts and commonly known as GMA) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine commercial broadcast network, serving as the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network (company), ...

located in Tandang Sora, Barangay Culiat,

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

. It serves as a transmitter facility for GMA's flagship stations, including DZBB-TV 7 (digital UHF 15), GTV's DWDB-TV 27, and Barangay FM's DWLS 97.1 MHz.Pres. Aquino switched GMA-7's 'Power Tower
Manila Standard, November 7, 1988

History

The ''Tower of Power'' was constructed on a huge vacant lot in the 3rd Quarter of 1987, as a new edifice for the network and for the preparation for Rainbow Satellite broadcast to replace an old surplus 50-

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

transmitter located at the old RBS building (now known as

GMA Network Center The GMA Network Center is the headquarters and broadcast complex of GMA Network, a major radio and television network in the Philippines. It is located at EDSA corner Timog Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City. It is the network's main television and ...

) along

EDSA Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA (), is a major Ring road, circumferential road around Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. It passes through 6 of Metro Manila's 17 local government units or citi ...

, and to provide clearer TV and FM reception. The tower's construction uses of steel from a local steel mill and construction costed . Antennas are also provided to enhance signal strength. After several months of planning, the tower was completed in October 1988 and on November 7 the tower was opened by then-President

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

and the GMA Network board of directors. A TV special was started after the inauguration. The slogan ''GMA-7-POWER'' was used from November 7 to December 1 of that year as the station ID. During its first decade of operations, GMA operated with 50,000 watts of transmitter power output, until in 1998 when GMA upgraded to its current 120-kilowatt capacity, which broadcasts at 100,000 watts of transmitter power output. In 2005, following its signing of a channel lease agreement with

ZOE Broadcasting Network ZOE Broadcasting Network, Inc. (ZOE TV or ZBNI) is a Philippine broadcast media arm of the Jesus Is Lord Church. Based in Ortigas Center, Pasig, it operates a network of television and radio stations in Mega Manila, Baguio, Bacolod, Cala ...

's flagship DZOE-TV 11, GMA replaced channel 11's decommissioned 40-kilowatt transmitter in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

with a newly purchased 100 kW transmitter system built and installed by GMA. Since channel 7's technical staff is prohibited by law from operating channel 11 due to the fact that both stations are in the same VHF channel band, the Tower of Power site leased portions of its space to Zoe for its own technical team to operate and maintain channel 11's signal. ZOE's 14-year lease in the site ended in mid-2019 following GMA's decision not to renew the agreement amid the company's increasing lease payment obligations to channel 11's owners. ZOE's 100 kW transmitter equipment was later transferred to its own compound in

Antipolo Antipolo, officially the City of Antipolo (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Rizal (province), Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, ...

, which was eventually reused when channel 11 was relaunched as A2Z Channel 11 under a blocktime agreement with erstwhile rival network

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

on October 10, 2020.

Features

The tower

The ''Tower of Power'' uses a high-gain corner reflector antennas and UHF panel antennas to produce a wide coverage of Analog (VHF TV and UHF TV, using the NTSC format) and Digital (ISDB-T) TV reception in

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

, Region 3 (

Central Luzon Central Luzon (; ; ; ; ), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines. The region comprises seven provinces: Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga (with its capital, San Fernando City serving as the re ...

) and 4-A ( Calabarzon). It is including

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (; ; ), is a province in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, ...

Zambales Zambales, officially the Province of Zambales (; ; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is Iba, Zambales, Iba, which is located in t ...

Tarlac Tarlac, officially the Province of Tarlac (; ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. It had a population of 1,503,456 people according to ...

Bataan Bataan (, , , ; ) , officially the Province of Bataan, is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entire Bataan Peninsula ...

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( ; ; ; ), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Palayan, while Cabanatuan, its former capital, is the largest Local gove ...

, Laguna,

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( ), is a first class province of the Philippines located in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Calabarzon region. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,908,494 people, making ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

and Rizal in both grades A and B for the broadcasts of

DZBB-TV DZBB-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Metro Manila, Philippines, serving as the flagship of the GMA television network. The digital service is known as DZBB-DTV by only a few people. It is owned and operated by the network's namesa ...

and DWDB-TV. For FM radio, DWLS's signal strength, utilized by a circular bay Jampro FM antenna, provides listeners with clear FM reception of 25 kilowatts which spreads out in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. It also serves as a repeater of GTV for transmissions in

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

and Davao to relay Channel 27's programs.

The transmitter facility

The transmitter facility houses television and FM radio transmitters for

, DWDB-TV and DWLS containing sets of transmitter equipment imported by Harris and

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. At the same time, the satellite downlink facility housed all satellite broadcasts directly to the United States and other countries to produce foreign programs.

History

Features

The tower

The transmitter facility

Frequencies

Radio stations

FM stations

Analog television

Digital television

References

See also