Thursday, October 18, 2012

Project 52 (42/52): On The End Of The Disenchanted Kingdom

.:Project 52 (42/52): On The End Of The Disenchanted Kingdom:.

For a show called "The Disenchanted Kingdom," we sure had a lot of good vibes.

Well, damn.

It was 2009. I was at a point in my life where things were so down and out for me, and all I had to look forward to was the Bound And Gagged Kel and Jay show. It was why I actually went on a radio tour to promote my show, and when I ended up in RT, it was King DJ Logan's timeslot. He was back on radio, with 99.5RT, and he has a new team for his show, The Disenchanted Kingdom. They weren't around for a full month by then, really. I went sometime in October while their first show was in late September, at the height of Ondoy.

I've known Logan for years, since his KCFM days. I know he didn't really remember me much, but I certainly remembered him. I also got to know Marf and Cleo, his other two co-hosts, and I guested on their show, where I demonstrated to them my metal-bending act, which impressed them so much that KDL actually asked me to just keep on dropping by the show whenever I could.

For the next three years, that was exactly what I did, and I was pretty much an unofficial part of the DK team until the very end. 

And I mean until the very end, because last Tuesday, in what I thought was just another routine visit by me to the show, King DJ Logan announced that it was officially the final episode of the Disenchanted Kingdom. Marf, Cleo, Ana Q5, Maui, and Lu Skywalker weren't there to take a bow, but they definitely were part of the inspiration for that night's seemingly mundane show that ended somberly, but sentimentally.

I don't really know what their plans are for 99.5, and I'd feel bad that another legendary station is going the way of the dodo, but we've lost so many stations already, I'm beginning to feel numb when it comes to that. But yeah, don't ask me what they plan to do with 99.5 next. I have no idea.

We didn't have that month-long preparation NU had. We didn't have that candle vigil where people mourned our loss but were ready for it. People who cared were saddened profoundly because it all came with little fanfare. We went gently into that good night. We didn't go out in a blaze of glory. It was so quiet, and it was so hard to stifle a tear as it just ended right before my very eyes without us even having a chance to invite everyone by our side as we said goodbye.

But you know what? The Disenchanted Kingdom was a big part of the last three years, and it made a huge difference in my life, knowing how it kept me sane during some of the darkest times of my life. When I was miserable, The DK was there to ignore how I was feeling and force me to throw barbs back and forth with them. It was just like standup comedy, except things fell into place a lot more naturally. It felt like a family to me: y'know, the kind of family where you wanna strangle each other every other day, but you undeniably love each other? The kind of family where you will pick on each other, but if anyone else so much as tried to pick on your family, you'll give 'em hell? Yeah, that kind of family. I had one of those in radio, and I couldn't have been happier that I did.

When I saw that there were people saddened that the Disenchanted Kingdom closed up shop, I couldn't help but feel consoled in knowing that the joy and changes the DK instilled in me were paid forward to everyone who was listening to us. I couldn't ask for anything more, really: to be a part of a show that really just knew how to have fun, and to make those listening to us feel like they're part of that fun. I think my life would be radically different, and all for the worse, if I never chanced upon KDL, Marf, and Cleo way back in 2009. 

I am a better person today because of the Disenchanted Kingdom. And for that, I can never be more grateful than I already am. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know we will see each other again soon, but for now, I raise my glass to the Disenchanted Kingdom and to everyone who was part of our crazy and dysfunctional family for the past three years. It was a beautiful ride, and I wouldn't have traded any of it for the world.

Closing time. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

- Semisonic

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello. I am and will always will be a big fan of the DK even if it's now..well, gone. The airwaves are now sadder, especially when we're but left to deal with 3 manyaks, a korean and a dude, bunch of hip-hop wannabes and then those in between. DK made sense, and was the only down-to-earth show out there every weekday night. Young and old can relate because they talk anything under the sun, and what they talk about are what can be seen, felt and experienced by the average Filipino. Love the spontaneity of KDL and Marf. Till next time, I guess. Hope they'll be back.

Coach Randy Esguerra said...

I drive home every night listening to the DK! The great King from Boogie Nights to Uncle Brando Braganza! That made the green road rage tamed for until I got home. Who do we listen to now? The only choice I got is 92.3's news and that ain't a whole lotta lovin' if you get my drift.

Dammit guys come back!

Kel Fabie said...

The Disenchanted Kingdom, in my mind, stood out because it wasn't trying to be the next BNO, or the next Spooky Nights, or the next Love Clinic, or the next ANYTHING.

It was just trying to be the first Disenchanted Kingdom, and that's what made it so different.

SlickMaster said...

I used to be a habitual listener of this program during the summer of 2012. KDL's at his usual self - a package which a radio DJ should have aside from being slapstick, witty, and has that "say" on a lot of different then-current issues. Marf, more than just being Mr. ODK and being a butt of Logan's jokes, was one heck of a jock whose sometimes has gimmicks to make his name, and Cleo was... damn! a standout amongst other female radio DJs in her era.

Perhaps a good laugh for a nighttime after a stressful day. We barely need programs like this. Good thing there are still existing, including the Rowdy Empire which KDL also hosts on WAVE.

I'm no media critic, but I can only tell this: It was indeed, one of the best radio primetime shows in the recent years.