DWFO

Prior to the PBS's acquisition, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to reserve the said frequency for local campuses (including Angelicum College, where they own the said frequency under the call letters DWAC-FM) due to multiple reports that some others will use the latter frequency for commercial purposes.[2] Also, a few religious and community groups (such as Jehovah's Witnesses) operated the frequency with a low-powered signal enough to cover its main target area.

Radio veteran Rizal "Bong" Aportadera, Jr. (Sonny B) was appointed by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Sec. Martin Andanar as the Director General of the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) in July 2016. A month later, Carlo Villo (Carlo José) was then appointed by Aportadera as the agency's Deputy Director and head of the new FM division. Villo serves as the program director for FM1, as well as its sister station 104.3 FM2.

In an official statement by Andanar, PBS acquired the 87.5 MHz frequency and was later approved by the NTC.[1][3][4]

On November 1, 2017, FM1 began its test broadcast at 1:00 am. A few days later, the station's DJs (mostly poached from Mellow 947 and Tiger22's stations 99.5 Play FM, Wave 89.1, Jam 88.3, Magic 89.9 and 103.5 K-Lite) identified the frequency under the call sign DWFO, subject to approval from the NTC.

Since November 1, 2017, the station's initial 1 kW power increases in two phases: an increase to 10 kW by December 28, 2017, then upgraded to 25 kW (the maximum licensed nominal power for an FM station) on January 1, 2018. The power increase makes FM1 able to cover Mega Manila and some surrounding provinces, though the ERP power is currently not at par with FM2 as well as the orientation of the new antenna expected to adjust to provide stable coverage.

FM1 have bared plans for nationwide expansion by launching provincial stations, including FM1 Davao which was launched on August 1, 2018 (later moved to 87.9 MHz in February 2020), with plans of establishing more stations on Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio, Bohol, Boracay, General Santos, Laoag, Legazpi, Butuan, and Zamboanga.

On January 8, 2020, however, FM1 began to phase out its regular programs (except for its news bulletin) following the resignation of Villo from PBS. Since March 2020, the station began to streamlining its operations by launching new programs and segments, including an all-day weekly indie/chill music block Sunday Slaps.

On June 12, 2020 in the day of the Philippine independence at 12:00 nn, FM1 enhanced its branding as Republ1ka FM1, with the slogan Radio Republic of the Youth. The rebranding went same for its station in Davao.