By Eric S. Caruncho, Staff Writer
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

PIONEERING radio disc jockey Dante David, better known by his on-air monicker Howlin’ Dave, died last May 26 after suffering multiple organ failure. He was 52.

David was best known for having championed Pinoy rock on “Pinoy Rock and Rhythm,” his radio program on DZRJ, in the 1970s.

It was on this program that local audiences first heard the music of the Juan de la Cruz Band, Anakbayan, Mike Hanopol, Sampaguita, Asin, Heber Bartolome and the other acknowledged greats of Pinoy rock’s first flowering, in between Howlin’ Dave’s inimitable free-associating spiels.

David is also acknowledged by most informed sources as being the first DJ to play punk rock on local radio in the late 1970s and early 1980s, also on DZRJ. It was on his program that the future members of the Wuds, Betrayed, George Imbecile and the Idiots and the first Pinoy punk generation were introduced to the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees: influences that would change the course of Pinoy rock forever.

Above all, David was a true believer in the music. As hard as it might be to imagine today, 30 years after its birth, punk was considered too radical (and unmusical) by many of David’s fellow rock jocks — most of whom were into the mellow sounds of Firefall, the Marshall Tucker Band and Fleetwood Mac. It is thanks to Howlin’ Dave’s stubborn persistence that the local punk and hardcore scene was jump-started.

As he once lamented: “Lagi na lang ba ganito? Palagi akong kailangang makipaglaban para sa music ko? (Does it always have to be like this? Do I always have to fight for the music I like?)”

But he also added, with some satisfaction:

“What we fought for, at least ngayon cool na. Kahit na baduy yung Parokya ni Edgar at Kamikazee, yung style nila na-a-appreciate na ng maraming tao. Naisip ko: eto yung efforts namin noon, ngayon mainstream na.”

Eventually, David got his due when NU 107 FM gave him a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his contributions to the local rock scene.

David had been in poor health after surgery for a brain tumor in the late 1980s. By his own admission, he suffered from diabetes, hypertension, rheumatism and arthritis — “Pare, AIDS na lang ang kulang (except AIDS)!” he would joke. He also suffered long periods of unemployment, unable to fit into the new radio environment with its tightly-regimented playlists and strict music formatting. In 2006, after a long hiatus, he shared a stint on the short-lived AM station Rock 990 with fellow RJ veterans. More recently, he was on the RJ-owned UR 105.9 FM station, until he walked out of the booth and his job due to musical differences with the station management.

That was typical of Howlin’ Dave: putting the music first above his own job security. Apparently he was still too underground for the self-proclaimed “Underground Radio” station.

For more on the life and checkered career of radio maverick Howlin’ Dave, check out “The Last of the Singing Cowboys,” which came out in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine’s March 4, 2007 issue.