Skip to main content

A Veteran Broadcast Journalist I've Just Known Recently

   Last April 5, Maundy Thursday, I found out a breaking news on the Internet. It was shocking enough, unexpected.Angelo Castro Jr., one of the Philippines' well-known news anchors, died of lung cancer. He was 67. Wow, I thought. It was sad news for the people in broadcast journalism,especially his fellow broadcasters in ABS-CBN.
 
   Angelo Castro Jr., known to many as ACJ, was known as a great newscaster. As spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said, he was "a calm and reassuring presence in the late evening news". He anchored The World Tonight long before I was born. He is very known in the late night newscast, which was transferred to ABS-CBN News Channel(ANC) in 1999.
 
   Yes. I haven't watched him since he anchored the show in the 80's. But just this year, he returned hosting the newscast after he left the news desk since 2009. And so I finally saw the man. It was nice to see the ACJ who first worked as a film actor, then as ABS-CBN's news manager when it reopened after Marcos' regime. He created the longest-running Filipino newscast in the country, TV Patrol(Ti-veeeey....Patrooool), now on it's 25th year. It's good to see the broadcaster who pioneered on "gentlemanly broadcasting", delivering the news to the viewers in a smooth and cool way; the broadcaster that was watched by lots of viewers on The World Tonight when I wasn't yet conceived. I think I saw him in just one newscast. Then, when I watched the program after many days, it seemed that ACJ is not present.
 
   So that was he, I thought, one of the greatest anchors of The World Tonight. Old, yet resilient.
 
   Then at that calm Thursday, where there were ample newscasts(only short-time news updates) on ANC and even on other channels,I came to know that he succumbed to his long-time complication--lung cancer. I came to know it through reading a news report I've found on Facebook. It was a Filipino news report from the website of ABS-CBN's AM radio station, DZMM, which was off-air during the next 3 days of Holy Week. Then, I also sought articles from abs-cbnnews.com and interaksyon.com. And I watched the video clip from ANC. A man on the desk, telling the sad news in a soft and serious tone. Clips of him appearing as the news anchor continued speaking what looks to be a eulogy. It was sad news.
 
   Nevertheless, it was good to know an anchorman like ACJ. I have neither known him for a lot, nor seen him as a young newscaster. But at that time I saw a video on FB of his comeback on The World Tonight, and when I saw him in the newscast on ANC, I was informed. It was good to know that he came back. I thought before that he was really gone in the wind.

   As a man who likes journalism and broadcast journalism, I admire ACJ. I read articles on newspapers giving their thoughts, praises, and thanks to him; and they told me of how great he was.

   And all I could say is that I appreciate a man like him.A man with "class". A man with expertise on his field.I hope the "era of gentlemanly broadcasting" doesn't end here.May it be a reminder for other anchormen to remain credible in their newscasts, to deliver the news to the people in a well-mannered and gentlemanly way.

   He'll be truly missed.
"Move on.It is just a chapter in the past.But don't close the book.Just turn the page."--ACJ's "final word" in his last appearance on The World Tonight

Learn more in the life of ACJ in this video narrated by his friend and co-anchor in The World Tonight,Tina Monzon-Palma:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbbVjtpDSQg&feature=share

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Share your thoughts. Go ahead and comment!

Popular posts from this blog

The Rhythms of Me

As a young boy, I'll usually get to listen to RJ 100 , an adult contemporary--that's the genre of the music they're playing--radio station in the Philippines. Also, I'll listen to songs from CDs containing mostly 80s music. And as I grew up, my interest in old school music went on. As a freshman, I listened to such stations like 99.5 RT , Magic 89.9 , 96.3 Easy Rock and 105.1 Crossover for nice old school music. I listened and searched for music from bands like Men Without Hats, Fra Lippo Lippi, V.S.T and Co., Bee Gees, Naked Eyes, Eurythmics, Industry, JoBoxers, The Go Go's, Nena, Toto, Huey Lewis and The News, Hall and Oates; and artists like Rick Astley, Phil Collins, and Michael Jackson on the Internet. But most of all, my interest for old school music grew during this recent summer and as a sophomore. As I spent my sweet summer before I went on 2nd year in high school, I learned about Tears for Fears, China Crisis,Level 42,our very own bands here like The Daw...
5 comments
Read more

Adrian The Silent

Source: http://www.katarinaforss.com/img/silence.jpg I know it in myself. I cannot deny it. Many people, especially very close friends in high school, see me as a talkative (at the least) and engaging guy. By timing and exposure, I get to speak and talk and converse among people. Yet, many still have an impression of me as the opposite, and I don't deny that. At many circumstances, I'm silent. Quiet. Static. Loner. But, silent is the best term I'll accept. Perhaps this is one of my marks of being a writer; a mark making my desire for writing really fit to me; perhaps the reason why I'm inclined to make my voice heard through written words rather than spoken ones. But, believe me, I want to break that silence. I've already did that before, but I want to do it again. I seek to break the barriers that are still there, and have more connections while still being myself. I've recently heard and learned that it is said that there are 4 personalities in general: sangui...
5 comments
Read more

Adrian's Mid-Year Melodies: 2024

Last year, before we welcomed the present year, I recalled 2023 in ten songs (and some more), which I labelled "My Tracks of the Year," after a well-known BBC Radio 2 fixture in weekday mornings. And now that we have gone fairly midway through 2024, I want to share this time the songs I've enjoyed in the past months, most of which have been soundtracking all that I've been through: the small wins, the crushing setbacks, the weight of work being alleviated by music, the roller-coaster of feelings being diagnosed by lyrics. I call this my "Mid-Year Melodies." On the Spotify / YouTube playlist there are 40 songs, but for this blog I'll highlight ten songs, with some special mentions.  Let's get right into it. 1. The Lovers - Alexander O' Neal (1987) After appreciating RnB/soul artist Alexander O'Neal with his classic "Criticize" during Christmas season, in January I've loved his album Hearsay , with its cool narrative of a party w...
Post a Comment
Read more