There was a time when TV stations, like government offices, rested on weekends. In short, the news and public affairs departments were nowhere in the programming grid of the channels. It seems with the advent of specialized broadcasting and news channels on satellite and cable channels, free TV stations felt the pressure to adapt to the evolving TV audience.
And, that was how 24 Oras Weekend came about. It started as a special news program when there was important news the station needed to convey to the audience until such time the management decided to establish the newscast as part of the programming grid on Saturday and Sunday.
The newscast is GMA Network’s flagship primetime newscast on Saturday and Sunday, and it remains the top news source of Filipino viewers nationwide every weekend.
Data from the industry’s widely-trusted ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement show that from Aug.1 to Sept. 10, 2 (with Sept. 3 to 10 based on overnight data), 24 Oras Weekend topped the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM) with an average people rating of 8.4 percent. It beat TV Patrol Weekend’s average people rating of 5.5 percent.
In Urban Luzon, 24 Oras Weekend toppled competition with an average people rating of 9 percent. TV Patrol Weekend only managed to get 4.1 percent. 24 Oras Weekend posted an even bigger margin in Mega Manila (based on official data as of Sept. 2) with an impressive 9.2 percent average people rating versus TV Patrol Weekend’s 3.4 percent.
This comes on the heels of a consistently strong ratings performance this year, with the Kapuso weekend newscast averaging a 7.8 percent people rating in NUTAM from January to September 10. TV Patrol Weekend trails behind with 5.3 percent.
The newscast has been consistently part of the list of GMA’s top-rating weekend programs.
Manicad has been in broadcast journalism for two decades, anchoring as well f GMA News TV’s afternoon newscast Quick Response Team (QRT). A hardcore news guy, Jiggy’s work reflects QRT’s tagline “Sumusugod kahit saan, sa ngalan ng katotohanan”.
He has gained the public’s admiration and respect through his coverage of various national and international events. Some of these include being caught in between opposing parties during the EDSA People Power 3, reporting on the tragic story of marine corporal Angelo Abeto (which won a Gold World Medal at the 2009 New York Festivals), and covering the conflicts in Mindanao and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was also a member of GMA Team Everest, which reported on the historic climb of mountaineer Romi Garduce. It was the first time that a Philippine news organization broadcast live from the base camp of Mount Everest.
In 2014, GMA News and Public Affairs won its fourth George Foster Peabody award for its coverage of Super Typhoon Yolanda. Manicad was at the forefront of that award-winning coverage – and was the first reporter to go live on Philippine television, reported the team’s first-hand experience, and showed videos of Yolanda’s wrath. Together with Jessica Soho.
Also, Manicad and Arcangel co-anchored a special edition of 24 Oras Weekend showing the aftermath and the start of rescue and relief operations.
Arcangel started with GMA News in 2002 as a field correspondent and has been the anchor of 24 Oras Weekend since 2010. She started covering the police beat on the graveyard shift before she was assigned to cover Congress. Since then, Pia has covered a wide range of beats as a broadcast journalist—from politics, to human interest, and even sports.
She was part of the GMA News team that covered the funeral of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 2005.
She also covered the Manny Pacquiao – Oscar dela Hoya match in 2008, and the first fight between Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley in 2012.
As a news anchor, Arcangel is known for her clear and concise delivery of the news and strong interview skills. Together with Arnold Clavio, she also co-anchors GMA’s late night newscast Saksi.
Both Manicad and Arcangel have a passion for imparting lessons to the youth. As his way of giving back, he conducts “Jiggy Manicad Stories,” a free journalism lecture/workshop for students. Arcangle, meanwhile, teaches at Assumption College.
★★★★★
There is more to look forward to in GMA Network’s primetime series Alyas Robin Hood after Solenn Heussaff made her debut appearance on the show.
In an interview, Solenn said how happy and overwhelmed she is to be part of the sequel. When asked about what she’s most excited about, fight scenes is her quick answer and attributed her yearlong training from her previous series, Encantadia.
This time around, Solenn says she is ready for more daring action stunts and has been preparing for months.
She breathes life to the character of Iris Lizeralde, a wealthy and carefree high society ‘it’ girl who will later fall in love with Robin Hood (Dingdong Dantes).
The wait was worth it as Iris’ hot and sultry entrance to the series wowed viewers and caught the attention of netizens. After an intense car chase, she bumps into Pepe but the two are off to a not-so-good start. Soon, Iris and Venus (Andrea Torres) will face each other and fans are already avidly waiting for this showdown to happen.
Two beautiful and both remarkable women will be involved with the same man. Pepe is once again caught in the middle. Will he commit to the decision he already made or will his heart tell him otherwise?
(Isah V. Red, MS)