Rey Langit (Reynante Magat langit)
Langit, Rey
Rey Langit (Reynante Magat langit)
Rey Langit (Reynante Magat langit) is a broadcast journalist. He was born in Tondo, Manila on 20 September 1948 to Vidal Calilung Langit and Esperanza Magat Langit. He is married to businesswoman Estrellita Dino Langit, with whom he has two sons, Reyster, who was also a broadcast journalist, and Reynante Jr. He earned a bachelor of science in commerce degree from Far Eastern University in 1968 and took two years of Law in the same university.
Langit was pursuing his college degree when he began his radio career in 1967 as news announcer on ABS-CBN radio stations DZAQ and DZXL. He became part of the news team called Radyo Patrol on DZAQ, which pioneered the radio format of round-the-clock live field news reports. Following the declaration of martial rule by then President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, which closed ABS-CBN, he moved to Manila Broadcasting Company’s DZRH in 1973 where he served as news anchor and rose to the position of news director, station manager, and vice president. While with DZRH, he began hosting in 1992 the public service television program Action 9 on RPN 9. This program lasted until 1998. In 1993 he left DZRH and served as station manager and vice president of DWIZ 882 of Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, which adopted the tagline Radyo Dyaryo (Newspaper Radio). He left the station in 2008. In 2000, he produced and hosted with Reyster the television program Biyaheng Langit (Voyage to Heaven/Travels with Langit) on RPN 9, which moved to IBC 13 in 2007, PTV 4 in 2013, and RJDigiTV Channel 29 in 2019 where it continues to air.
Langit’s groundbreaking radio program To Saudi With Love, which he began hosting on DZRH in 1975 and continued on DWIZ, became immensely popular when he connected Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), many of whom were in Saudi Arabia, with their families in the Philippines. He sponsored free overseas telephone calls between the OFWs and their families conducted live on the air. He received multiple awards for the program, including recognition from Pope John Paul II when the latter visited the Philippines in 1980. The program format survives in the shows Biyaheng Langit and Kasangga Mo ang Langit (Heaven/Langit Is on Your Side), which both air on radio and TV, with online streaming. His other son Reynante Jr hosts with him.
A live radio coverage that earned Langit several awards was of the most serious military coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino in early December 1989. Following Marcos’s ouster in 1986 through the peaceful demonstration of millions on EDSA, President Corazon Aquino’s term was marred by several coup attempts. Staged in the business center of Makati City, the December 1989 putschists held hostage dozens of civilians and foreign tourists. Almost all radio stations were covering the event live. On DZRH, Langit successfully negotiated with the rebels, who had stationed snipers on top of several high-rise buildings, for a ceasefire to allow then Department of Tourism Secretary Rafael Alunan to escort the hostages out of the battle zone. The negotiation was conducted live on the air. The standoff was resolved and Langit’s efforts were recognized by both the Senate and the Lower House of Congress.
Langit unsuccessfully ran three times for the Senate national elections, in 1998 under the Partido ng Demokratikong Reporma–Lapiang Manggagawa (Reporma–LM), in 2010 under the Lakas Kampi–CMD, and in 2016 under the United Nationalist Alliance. Apart from broadcasting on radio, television, and online, he wrote columns for People’s Tonight, JOBFinder Magazine, Balita, Tempo, Pinoy Chronicle New York, and Philippine Journal Canada. He also appeared in the movies To Saudi With Love, the Movie, 1997, Ang Padrino (The Godfather), 1984, and Muslim Magnum 357, 1986.
He has been the chair of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas [KBP] (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines) Metro Manila chapter since 1994. He and his programs received various recognition, including several KBP Golden Dove Awards, Rotary Club of Manila Journalism Awards, Catholic Mass Media Awards, and Philippine Movie Press Club Awards.
