MANILA, Philippines?Peals of laughter fill the rehearsal room as Joey ?Pepe? Smith cracks one joke after another.

Soon enough he settles down in front of the mic, as Ramon Jacinto twiddles the knobs of his amp, getting ready to play guitar with his house band.

More musicians walk into the room ? Louie Talan of Razorback and Pinikpikan, Cowboy Santos of the Blue Rats, Zach Lucero of Imago, Nicole Asencio and Bea Lao of Crowjane, and Wendell Garcia of Pupil. They?re part of dozens of artists rounded up to help Jacinto celebrate radio station DZRJ?s 45th anniversary with a concert dubbed ?Super Session? to be held Oct. 25 at the A-Venue on Makati Avenue.

?Five years ago we paid tribute to pop music,? Jacinto tells Inquirer Entertainment. We performed with the likes of Pilita Corrales. This time we?re going rock.?

That sounds like an understatement. At its peak in the late 1970s till the early ?80s, RJ (?The Rock of Manila?) was the AM station known for having popularized rock ?n? roll (with its FM counterpart, ?The Source,? throwing in some jazz in the late hours) to at least two generations of Filipino teenagers.

They learned about the music and its lifestyle by tuning in to the shows of ?rock jocks? who went by such names as The Madman, The Unicorn, The Spirit, The Mole, Stoney Burke, Bob Magoo, Howlin? Dave, Lil? Rock, Sneakers, Ralph Ding, among others.

In the ?60s the DJs who broke ground included Jimmy Labrador, Steel Banana and Double A ? all of whom, incidentally, were Jacinto?s schoolmates at Ateneo de Manila. ?I was in third year high school when we thought of putting up a station so we could play what we wanted to hear,? says Jacinto, who also had a band at the time, RJ & the Riots.

The radio station?s greatest legacy was its unconditional support of local artists. In the early ?70s it premiered a show, ?Pinoy Rock and Rhythm? ? which played original songs by unknown bands and gave birth to the most pervasive local music genre at present. Pinoy rock was said to have been coined by another RJ deejay named Charlie Brown.

At the rehearsals for the anniversary concert, Smith relives his days as the Mick Jagger of RP, aside from preparing to reprise Pinoy rock?s anthems that he first recorded as one-third of the Juan de la Cruz Band.

The others on the artists? roster should likewise whet one?s appetite to party with some of the country?s best: Kevin Roy, Jett Pangan, Marc Abaya, Joey Puyat, Johnny Alegre, Tirso Ripoll, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, Simon Tan, Cookie Chua, Kat Agarrado, Noli Aurillo, Niño Avenido, Chickoy Pura, among others, including a special appearance by Sampaguita.