Balitang Bisdak
Balitang Bisdak is a Philippine television news broadcasting show broadcast by GMA Cebu. Originally anchored by Bobby Nalzaro, it premiered on October 4, 1999. Alan Domingo and Cecille Quibod-Castro currently serve as the anchors. Overview. Presented from the studios of GMA TV Cebu, it provides news and features around Cebu City and province of the same name and the rest of Central Visayas including Negros Oriental, Bohol, and Siquijor; as well as Eastern Visayas (including Northern Samar, Western Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran and Leyte where interviewees speak Waray while Southern Leyte also uses Cebuano, which is spoken  by them), through the station's news teams and stringers across the two regions. The newscast airs every Monday to Friday from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM on GMA Cebu (TV-7) and via satellite on relay stations GMA TV-10 Tacloban, GMA TV-11 Bohol, GMA TV-5 Dumaguete, GMA TV-5 Calbayog, GMA TV-8 Borongan and GMA TV-12 Ormoc. It is also aired on a slightly-delayed basis over radio station DYSS 999 AM at 6:00 PM. Balitang Bisdak is also re-aired for national viewers under GTV’s late night block "Regional TV Strip" on a weekly basis. It airs every Tuesday  at 11:50 PM since May 19, 2020. The program also airs worldwide on GMA News TV International. History. The newscast was first aired on Channel 7 in Cebu on October 4, 1999, two years after Bobby Nalzaro left Bombo Radyo Cebu in 1997 and transfers to GMA Cebu to be a regional news anchor and became a solo anchor of the newscast until 2005 when Cecille Quibod-Castro became anchor with Nalzaro, and in 2009 when Atty. Rose Versoza joined in the newscast and stayed until 2015. To strengthen its commitment of bringing the latest, most credible and most comprehensive  news from the region, in July 2013, the newscast started its international broadcast on GMA News TV International alongside other regional newscasts "Balitang Amianan" (formerly "24 Oras North Central Luzon" and "24 Oras Amianan") and "One Mindanao" (formerly "Testigo", "24 Oras Southern Mindanao" and "24 Oras Davao"). Balitang Bisdak ended its 15th year run on November 7, 2014 as it adopts the branding of its now-main newscast 24 Oras into 24 Oras Central Visayas effective November 10. However, on February 1, 2016, "24 Oras Central Visayas" reverted its branding back to "Balitang Bisdak", after more than a year hiatus  opposite GMA Dagupan's "Balitang Amianan". On November 13, 2017, Balitang Bisdak was relaunched similar to sister newscasts "Balitang Amianan" and "One Mindanao", and it is now available in major parts of Central and Eastern Visayas, by simulcasting the program through its relay stations in Tacloban, Bohol and Ormoc. Veteran reporter Alan Domingo joined Nalzaro and Quibod-Castro in the anchor team. Two days after the launch of "GMA Regional TV Weekend News" (now "Regional TV Weekend News"), on July 29, 2019, Balitang Bisdak updated their graphics and introduced a modified logo and new opening titles patterned with its co -produced national newscast (featuring the sceneries of the program's coverage area). For the first time, the newscast had a more relaxed set-up with couches instead of the tables and chairs that viewers usually see on typical newscasts intending to be an extension of viewers' living room, further connecting the news anchors and the viewers. In addition to the new studio set, Balitang Bisdak opens its doors to the public as it invites viewers to participate as live studio audience every Friday. On June 29, 2020, the program merged with GMA Iloilo's "One Western Visayas" due to GMA  Regional TV's decision to suspend GMA Cebu's program production due to the increasingly intense situation in Cebu City caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With that, reports from the newscast delivered in the Cebuano language are then transmitted to the Iloilo station and will be broadcast in the network's regional stations in Western, Central and Eastern Visayas. In interim, the program is "de facto" named as "GMA Regional TV One Western Visayas-Balitang Bisdak newscast". Aside from Cebuano and Waray, the program now uses Filipino on studio presentation alongside Hiligaynon reports from "One Western Visayas". This marks the  return of a multilingual newscast of the network since GMA Davao's "One Mindanao" which used Cebuano and Filipino before switching to full Cebuano. On July 2, 2020, Bobby Nalzaro returned as co-anchor. The merger ended on July 10, 2020, when the program returned on July 13 due to the resumption of GMA Cebu's program production. The program also reverted its overall medium of delivery in the Cebuano language On May 3, 2021, the program added Samar to its coverage area. And with it, comes a new opening billboard. From March 17 to 21, 2022, the newscast held  a tribute for main anchor Nalzaro, who passed away at the age of 58. He was last seen anchoring the newscast last December 23 of the previous year, leaving Domingo and Quibod-Castro as anchors.