Joe D’Mango revives Love Notes on YouTube

Almost in every country where there are Filipinos, there is undoubtedly a fan of Joe D’Mango’s popular radio program, Love Notes. Then a widely-followed show that debuted on DWTM in 1989, it ran on local radio for more than two decades.

Love Notes eventually spawned a movie directed by Maryo J. de los Reyes in 1995, a TV series, a weekly column, a pocketbook and an album series. It ended sometime in 2012.

Despite the multi-media success enjoyed by Love Notes then, Joe was compelled to leave everything behind and dauntlessly migrate to Australia, an “uncharted and unknown territory” for him.

“Our family had a calling to move to Australia,” Joe shares. “That meant I had to make a choice between staying and continuing my career in Manila or leaving everything behind to start a new one in Australia. It was an act of obedience and a leap of faith.”

His family settled in the country’s capital, Canberra, in 2013. Two years later, Joe was compelled to revive Love Notes this time on YouTube via his own exclusive channel Dear Joe TV.

“I have had the channel active since 2015 with five old videos that had been sitting there for the last six years,” Joe grants. “In spite of just having five videos, the subscribers had been steadily growing until there was a clamor for me to come back sometime early this year.

“So when I finally mustered the courage to commit to producing a YouTube version of the program, I didn’t wait until I was ready because I knew that I wouldn’t be. I got my gear and started recording and posting videos.”

Last April 27, Joe launched the first official Love Notes video on Dear Joe TV on YouTube. “I wasn’t expecting anything fancy,” he offers. “But when the first two introductory videos appeared and the first official Love Notes episode was aired, I was flooded with hundreds of comments and encouragement from many of the original listeners of Love Notes. They were ecstatic about the return of the program that has been part of their growing up years.”

Netizens were immediately excited upon learning that Love Notes is back with weekly episodes on YouTube. Apparently, the program has been embraced again by listeners this time in a different medium. In no time, Love Notes digital edition subsequently attracted fans from different parts of the globe.

Majority of the viewers are still from the Philippines. “About 65 percent,” asserts Joe. “That was followed by viewers from the US, UAE, Australia and some are scattered from almost every country where there are Filipinos.”

Curve Entertainment recently reconnected with Joe to start a partnership and provide the music to Love Notes online. The themes will play a very important role in the storylines being featured weekly. It helped that Joe has maintained a long-standing relationship with Curve Entertainment executives Narciso Chan and Mario Joson. All it took was a Zoom meeting and the partnership was readily finalized.

Love Notes can be streamed on Tuesday nights at 8 on Joe D’Mango’s YouTube channel, Dear Joe TV.

Curve Entertainment will also release a Love Notes digital album, featuring tracks of their artists that will be promoted alongside the Love Notes brand. “I believe this endeavor is going to be mutually beneficial and will be warmly welcomed both by Curve Entertainment and Love Notes supporters,” Joe says.

Nasser is one artist who will grace the Love Notes digital album. His single, I Honestly Love You, is one of the tracks featured. “I feel nostalgic,” Nasser says. “My grandma, who is in the US, is really happy because she loves Joe D’Mango.

“As a kid, I always got to listen to Love Notes because my grandma would increase the radio volume and would ask us to listen also. It became part of our routine to hear the stories and the advice that Joe was imparting to his listeners.”

The acoustic duo, BOU (Both Of Us), contributes the cut, Let Me Be the One, to the digital compilation. “During our teen years, we always looked forward to Friday mornings to listen to Love Notes on DWTM,” recall Natasia and Sherman.

“We are so excited and at the same time honored to be part of Joe D’Mango’s popular program. Our heartfelt gratitude to our management company, Curve Entertainment, and of course to Joe D’Mango for letting us be a part of Love Notes history.”

Other artists appearing in the Love Notes digital album and in the YouTube series are Emmy Cayabyab, with a track produced by National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, as well as alternative rock band Kilos, whose songs became perfect fit for two of the most followed episodes in the series.

Aside from his YouTube channel, Joe is also running a small, family-owned café and doing some design work on the side in Australia. He is also a pastor on Every Nation Victory Church in Canberra.