Voice of inspiration across the airwaves

The Life: Amorsolo Dagdag, the station director of Tunog Pinoy radio channel in Dubai, is also a full-time partner at an architecture firm. He speaks about juggling both gigs during a typical day in his life.

"Tunog Pinoy aims to be a source of motivation for expatriate FIlipinos to lead a balanced life," says Amorsolo Dagdag. Courtesy Amorsolo Dagdag

Amorsolo Dagdag is the station director and founder of Tunog Pinoy, a radio channel he helped launch in 2004 in Dubai. The station, which has 17,000 registered listeners in the emirate, is part of a 24-hour global online radio presence with DJs in Jordan, the US, the UK, the Philippines and Australia.

Here, Mr Dagdag talks about his typical day - he is both a full-time partner in an architecture firm as well as a radio host.

6am

Wake up time. I go to the gym and try to have a holistic morning with an energy drink and a newspaper. Usually I have hundreds of emails in the morning, mostly from listeners of the radio channel. It was launched in Dubai primarily as a source of inspiration for the expatriate Filipino community. Many Filipinos before they come to Dubai have a lot of dreams. But then they start going to nightclubs, spend a lot of money and go into debt. So, the radio station aims to be a source of motivation for them to lead a balanced life. It is also the home of the best western classical music and original Filipino music.

9am

If I am not visiting sites or our warehouses in Al Quoz as an interior designer, I work on my drawing board from home.

Lunch

I read newspapers or motivational books online or [by] Dale Carnegie. For lunch I have rice, vegetable and Pinakbet - all Filipino food - that is home cooked.

1.30pm

I go back to my computer if I work on my own at home. Radio station work also includes paying all the bills for the remote radio server, internet and licences.

Mid-afternoon

I do remote radio broadcasting from 2pm to 4pm from a soundproof room at home. Although the radio station has an office on Sheikh Zayed Road, I don't need to go there. I mix talking and playing songs that listeners request online. I also interact with them via Yahoo Messenger. It's funny and emotional. I hear love stories and sad stories of Filipinos away from their loved ones at home.

6pm

It's when I socialise with friends. I like talking to people and when I go back to broadcasting, I refer to the people I had met that day. Some days, like today, I met Filipino acoustic singers Jimmy Bondoc and Princess. I recorded their voices during a meeting with them for broadcasting on radio.

10pm

Have my dinner - mostly salads. No rice.

11pm

It's time to head home to get ready for another round of broadcasting. I start from midnight and continue until 3 am. I actually talk until 1am and the rest is recorded.