Robert Stewart

Robert Clarence Stewart (November 19, 1918 – April 6, 2006), popularly known in the Philippines as "Uncle Bob", was an American entrepreneur, TV personality, radio and TV producer in the Philippines. He founded GMA Network on June 14, 1950. Stewart came to the Philippines in 1943 as a war correspondent for United Press (UP). He fell in love with the country and after the war ended, he decided to stay. In 1948, he met and fell in love with Loreto Feliciano, a widow from Pampanga with three children, and married her the following year. Republic Broadcasting System On March 1, 1950, Stewart established Loreto F. de Hemedes, Inc. (later renamed Republic Broadcasting System, Inc. in 1963). On June 14, 1950, AM radio station DZBB began broadcasting from a makeshift studio on the 4th floor of Calvo Bldg in Escolta, which was then the business district of Manila. In 1955, the company launched DZXX, another AM radio station devoted to music, the first pop music station in the country.