Howlin' Dave

Dante David (July 16, 1955 – May 26, 2008) was a Filipino radio disc jockey. Better known by his stage name Howlin' Dave, he is credited with introducing Filipino radio listeners to Pinoy (Filipino) rock music[1] in the early 1970s, and to new wave and punk rock in the 1980s.[2]

Howlin' Dave grew up in Pasay and dropped out of high school.[3] While enrolled in a Fine Arts course at the Philippine Women's University, he was hired as a radio announcer on DZRJ-AM in 1974.[3] He adopted the name "Howlin' Dave" after the American blues singer Howlin' Wolf.[3] He soon became the host of Pinoy Rock and Rhythm, a weekend thirty-minute radio program that featured the then-nascent Pinoy rock music. The program was credited with popularizing such Filipino rock acts as the Juan Dela Cruz Band, Asin and the singer Sampaguita.[2] Howlin' Dave himself became known for his trademark mangled grammar and syntax, his atypical on-air use of the Tagalog language, and for his passionate and excitable delivery in his big booming voice.[3][4] The drummer Pepe Smith called him "the best rock DJ the Philippines ever had.”[4]

Howlin' Dave was also credited with introducing Filipino radio listeners to punk rock and new wave music beginning in the late 1970s, through his program New Wave Nights.[2][3] His choice to promote punk music was controversial among his fellow deejays and with his station, but his program developed a following, with spikey-haired teens soon showing up at the radio station, drinking gin and breaking bottles.[3] Between 1980 and 1985, Howlin' Dave hosted the annual 'Brave New World' punk concert, which he closed with his take on Sid Vicious's version of "My Way".[3]

In the late 1980s, Howlin' Dave was diagnosed with a brain tumor, as well as several other health problems that left him house-bound for several years. In his later years, he hosted radio programs with DZRJ, ROCK 990, and NU 107. In 2001, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the NU Rock Awards. He died in May 2008, two days after collapsing at home following a stroke.[4]