Playlist of a DJ: A Ryan Orlanda original soundtrack

As he sits down in the radio booth, sets up the equipment, untangles and plugs in his headphones—all ears are on him as he starts to talk and play the first song to kick off the hour. If you have ever wondered, this is what it feels like to be on air but there’s more than that. Many of us have already heard the playlist of the world through radio, but not many of us have listened to the tracks a disc jockey (DJ) has on his playlist. Let’s all ignore the world for a little while, plug in our earphones, turn up the volume, and jam with Ryan Orlanda a.k.a “DJ Ryan Pepper” as he shares his playlist to the world.

Rewind: Life in the Philippines

Born and raised in Quezon City, Ryan and his three brothers were under the care of his parents. Loving the magnificent beauty of nature and the overwhelming perfection of it, Ryan’s father chose to stay in Bicol after he worked overseas.

“My father worked in Saudi Arabia before. He’s now staying in Bicol to take care of a land. Both my father and I are nature lovers; my dad really wants to stay in the province because he feels bored every time he is in the city. He wants to be in the province where he is close to nature and everything is fresh.”

While his father enjoys all-natural-scenery, his mother, on the other hand, loves doing voluntary work which includes community service at church.

“She really enjoys doing community service, doing feeding programs on the streets, sometimes they even go to jails and mental hospitals to feed people there. Aside from that, she’s also anchoring a radio program in the Philippines.”

Ryan is the second-born child in siblings of four. He shared that his oldest brother is also living in Canada and has his own physical therapy clinic, the third-born is a call center agent in Mandaluyong, and the youngest works as an information technology (IT) hardware support engineer in Ortigas.

Ryan grew up in a family of music lovers. With his parents being singers and vocal trainers, Ryan’s voice was already honed at the age of six. He shared that his mother built up his confidence as she taught him to declaim as he eventually bested his contender who was from a family of “champions.” His father, who is eager to make his son an enormously talented and skilled singer at a young age, forced him to sing songs of Tom Jones.

“I really had a hard time hitting low notes since I had a thin singing voice. During that time, I can only sing songs of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Debbie Gibson.”

Ryan wanted to enhance his singing skills so he exposed himself to different genres such as classical and ballad and made various artists his inspirations. He also joined chorales to improve his classical voice and dabbled in wedding singing while attending high school.

Being much inclined to entertainment, singing is not the only thing Ryan can do. He learned to play musical instruments such as drums, keyboard, and guitar. He continued honing his talent by attending piano lessons in Yamaha and took up classes for vocals. As someone who has an insatiable thirst for learning new skills, Ryan challenged himself to learn more about these instruments, even imagining himself playing drums as he produces sounds by tapping his pen.

“Nothing’s hard if you really have to work for it. There’s nothing you can’t do if you really want it. Work hard for it, you will achieve it. Before I don’t want to play guitar, but when I saw my brother playing that instrument, I became interested and tried to learn how to play it. Until one day, I can finally strum the guitar just like my brother and can even play instruments without reading chords in the music sheet.”

As he grew older, Ryan said that living in the Philippines had brought joy to him as he can spend a lot of time with his family and friends to unwind. If there are things he misses in the Philippines, it would be Christmas and summer. For Ryan, nothing beats the Filipinos’ unique way of celebrating Christmas. Filipinos can already feel the spirit of Christmas on the first day of ‘ber’ month with people starting to put colorful lights all over the place, putting up parols, and playing Christmas carols.

“Here in Canada, when you start putting up Christmas lights on September, people will laugh at you. They will only start playing Christmas songs on the first day of December, but right after Christmas, they will return to playing love songs in most radio stations.”

“Aside from Christmas, I also miss summer in the Philippines. Before I migrated here in Canada, my wife and I brought our family to Coron, Palawan. If I were to describe the place, it was a heaven-like island; everything about it was so relaxing. We tried island hopping wherein we were able to see different kind of fish on every island that we visited.”

Pause: First step to success

Ryan first took BS Electronic Communication Engineering (ECE) in Novaliches, Quezon City as his first program. At some point in the past, during his third year in college, someone offered him a chance to be a DJ in Batangas. Not wasting any opportunity that knocked on his door, he did not reject the offer as he really wanted to give it a try. Ryan said he has always wanted to take Mass Communication in college as his dream job is to become a radio DJ someday.

While he was imagining himself as a disc jockey, his mother, however, had her own reasons for not letting her son do what he always wanted to pursue.

“I really wanted to do it but my mom did not allow me. I was really upset to the point that I stopped studying ECE and chose to work full-time in PhilHealth. After that, I studied again and took up Business Management in Makati and later took Public Administration in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. I graduated there in 2006.”

After graduation, he continued to work in the government. But not being able to visualize his future in PhilHealth in the long run, even though he loves the company and his colleagues, Ryan had to say goodbye to his career since he wanted to walk on another career path.

Ryan did a part-time job in acting where he was given small roles in television shows and documentaries at the two biggest broadcast networks in the Philippines—GMA and ABS-CBN. His acting career began when he was in high school and continued it in college as he joined theatre clubs. He admitted that he got himself involved in various things; from singing and playing musical instruments, Ryan made his way to dancing and acting career.

“My interest in acting started when I was just walking along ABC 5 and then someone approached me saying, ‘Can you act?’ and I answered, ‘Why?’ He told me if I want to be paid 500 pesos, I said, ‘Why not?’ since I have a background in acting. That’s where it all started. I started doing small roles in some of their documentaries. I was also given a chance to act in television programs such as TV Patrol, Umagang Kay Ganda, and 700 Club Asia. I experienced staying in our shooting site for two days when I only had a few lines to say. Although it was a bit stressful, I had fun because you get to know more people and it was really nice seeing yourself in the screen.”

“I am beyond grateful and happy when I was given a chance to be the lead role in one of the reenactments of Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho wherein I played the role of the 14-million lotto winner who squanders his prize for only 3 months.”

Ryan did not just appear on national television but also in movie houses as he was given small roles in several local movies where he was able to work with famous celebrities today like Coco Martin and Piolo Pascual.

He also served as a talent caster and was interviewed along with prominent personalities like German Moreno, Jose Javier Reyes, Arsi Baltazar and Maryo J. Delos Reyes in a documentary about aspirant artists which aired in GMA 7.

Aside from acting, Ryan also did some part-time jobs as a host and a singer in various events.

“I started as wedding singer when I was in high school and they paid me 50 pesos that time. After that, I was able to sing with other professional musicians in our country. Every time I went to an event, I don’t only sing but I also observe the works of coordinators, videographers, host, and even catering staff.”

Ryan shared that every time there is an event, he handles most of the responsibilities until one day, he had an argument with his coordinator.

“They treat their musicians as if they can’t live without them; I pity our musicians whose life depends on playing instruments. The only thing they do for a living is to play musical instruments to support their family, adding the fact that most of them are old enough.”

“Come to think of it, from Quezon City, your coordinator will send you a message saying that you have to set-up in Batangas and you don’t have any company service to fetch you. Imagine, you have to bring keyboard, guitars, cellos, and other musical instruments and then you will go to that place on your own and be paid for only P3,000? It’s really hard, so what I did was I fetched each of them since I have my own car.”

He also recalled the time when he had a squabble with one of their clients where the list of songs, which was supposed to be given to the musicians before the event, was just handed out to them on that very day.

“We’re not prepared; we did not practice the songs they just gave during the event. That’s when I told myself ‘This is enough, I’ll create my own company.’”

From all the experiences and challenges that he encountered as he walks through his chosen career path, Ryan decided to put up a business—The R String Ensemble.

In R String Ensemble, Ryan does not only handle wedding singers and musicians, but also events coordinators. Currently, they continuously receive performance offers for special musical concerts and community events.

Play: Across the pond

Just eleven months after he tied the knot, Ryan bravely packed his life in a travel bag, bought a plane ticket, and followed his wife to Canada.

When he first stepped in the Great White North on November 14, 2012, the first thing he did was capture sceneries in Toronto. It fed his soul to spend time walking along the streets, with a camera on hand. Ryan started to look for beauty and noticed things he hadn’t noticed before. His awareness also expanded as he took a closer look at patterns and textures, big-picture views, landscape, abstracts, and even dimension from many angles in downtown.

“I explored everything and enjoyed nature because once you started working, you will never appreciate the beauty of Canada.”

While capturing and admiring the dazzling beauty of Canada, Ryan said he is ready to batten down the hatches as he now lives in a foreign state that he knows little of. He admitted that it was hard for him to find a job that aligned with his professional background since they do not accept someone who does not have any experience working in Canada. Due to this, Ryan decided to start from the bottom.

“I started working as maintenance in McDonald’s. One year had passed, I feel like I was overused since I was the only one doing all the work. There’s nothing inside the store that I did not touch or swept. I had to sweep the entire floor, clean the playground inside the McDonald’s, and plow snow outside the fast food chain.”

Ryan’s hard work suddenly paid off when he was immediately promoted to night branch manager.

“When I was still in maintenance before, we had a conference. The owner of the eight franchise branches of McDonald’s went up to the stage and suddenly asked me, ‘Yo, come up on stage.’ From there, he acknowledged my hard work in front of hundreds of employees and said being in the business for 25 years, it was his first time to see a maintenance worker that’s very diligent and works neatly.”

While he may have faced difficulties in his first job, Ryan was able to conquer it all. Due to his perseverance and hard work, Ryan and his family continue to survive living in Canada.

Unlike other immigrants who had to leave their children in their home country for them to work in another state, Ryan was fortunate enough to have been able to migrate and be with his own family.

“The best thing living here in Canada is that I have my family here with me. If you go alone here, you might feel depressed or homesick. Many migrants don’t survive living in Canada because it’s very depressing. Good thing I have my family with me. Aside from that, I can also enjoy a healthy lifestyle in Canada; when you go out of your house you can relax, you can jog and even go fishing.”

“Above all, the best thing here in Canada is that I can witness my kids grow up with a Filipino heart. They can still understand and speak ‘Tagalog’; their love and respect for their parents are still there.”

Flying to another country changed his life a lot — everything went back to zero. He studied again taking Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM). Ryan said that it’s better to go back to school and earn a diploma in Canada as the competition there gets even tighter.

Comparing his life when he was still in the Philippines, Ryan said he can do anything he wished to do, however in Canada, every second is important and that one should do something beneficial.

While crossing to the other side of the world, Ryan said that leaving his motherland does not mean that he is abandoning his Filipino identity.

“Nothing has changed. We are still Filipinos and I’m proud of it.”

Ryan said he is still a fan of teleseryes, he passed down Filipino manners to his children such as “po” and “opo.” Since Ryan is someone who has a deep affection for Original Pinoy Music (OPM) and who’s very proud of his mother tongue, he became a radio DJ in PinoyRadio Toronto.

Forward: The Radio DJ

To make changes in his life was his reason for migrating to Canada. Who would have thought that one day, his dream of becoming a radio DJ will come true? Ryan never thought that flying to the Great White North will serve as his ticket to fame.

Ryan became known as “DJ Ryan Pepper” in PinoyRadio after its owner offered him to be part of their team during the concert of Side A band in Canada where he performed as the opening act. Every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Ryan serves as the ‘controller’ inside the radio booth where he is tasked to handle the shows as well as manage all the broadcasting equipment. Once the clock hits 1 p.m., Ryan will take over the seat of the host as he kicks off his program called PinoyRadio Centre Stage — a segment in which he features talented Filipino singers and artists, making them sing live on air.

Fulfilling his dreams and doing what he loves, Ryan never felt like he is performing work but simply enjoying his passion in life.

“I love music, I love to sing. For me, if there’s no music I can’t live because that’s the way I can communicate. I can share my message effectively through singing rather than speaking.”

Although he enjoys his work, Ryan admitted that his job requires him to multitask. If you think his only responsibility is to sit in a booth with his feet up, play music and do some talking — then you should rethink carefully about it. Managing and hosting programs for nine hours is not as easy as it seems to be.

As a known singer in his community who was able to perform as a front act in several concerts of well-known artists such as David Pomeranz, Joey Albert, and Jose Marie Chan, among others, Ryan shares his talent and knowledge in singing to kids, teens, and even adults in Canada and in the Philippines as a vocal coach.

To gain more experience outside the entertainment universe, Ryan also helped his older brother in his clinic as a physical therapist assistant.

Looking into the future, Ryan sees himself having a business in the Philippines. Although he loves and enjoys his career as DJ, Ryan’s thirst for new adventure can’t be quenched. In the future, he hopes to enter the food industry with friends to offer variety to Filipino foodies.

For someone who has already achieved his dream to connect with people through the radio, Ryan said being successful does not mean living in a well-developed country or having a higher job position, but to have a simple and happy family.

“They say that if you have male and female children, you are already a millionaire and I felt that. That’s why my wife and I raised a family full of love and God-fearing.”

Repeat: Life Pro Tips by DJ Ryan Pepper

As many listeners seek for life tips from a DJ, Ryan shares a piece of advice to the world:

“Don’t stop reaching your dreams because once you stop, you’ll stay from where you are right now and you’ll be afraid to get out of the box to take another opportunity. There are a lot of opportunities; don’t be afraid to grab it as it knocks on your door only once.”

For his fellow Filipino-Canadians and to those who are planning to move to Canada, Ryan said that they must learn to overcome depression and sadness especially if you are the only one migrating. Think of your family’s future and do your best to laugh in a sea of sadness.

“When you go here in Canada, you have to fight depression; you came here to give brighter future for your family. You have to endure loneliness because that will only put you in danger. It is okay for you to cry because once you bottle up your feelings, you will erupt like a volcano. That’s how severe depression is here in Canada especially when you don’t have someone to talk to. So don’t be depressed; just enjoy living in one of the best countries in the world.”