MANILA, Philippines — Moving past traditional broadcast barriers to pioneer an intimate new format for raw, storytelling media, one of the country’s most enduring icons is stepping behind the microphone. Veteran performer Gary Valenciano is officially launching his brand-new talk show platform, “Unshaken: Stories of Grit and Grace.”
The highly anticipated audio series is scheduled to debut on Monday, May 25, 2026, at exactly 12:00 PM (Noon) PHT, introducing listeners to a raw, conversational look at personal resilience.
The rollout marks a major new chapter for the artist popularly known as “Mr. Pure Energy,” shifting his focus from high-voltage stadium stages to stripped-down, face-to-face studio dialogue:
[Official Series Premiere: May 25 @ 12:00 NN] ──► Distributed Internationally Across Major Audio Networks │ ▼ (The Pilot Episode Profile)[First Guest: "Kuya" Kim Atienza] ◄── Sit-Down Focuses on Weathering Life's Shaking Seasons
“Excited to share this journey with all of you. Moments of grit, grace, faith, and hope through life’s shaking seasons,” Valenciano shared in an advance statement across his verified social channels. Rather than building a generic celebrity promotional junket, the singer confirmed that the podcast will lean directly into the vulnerabilities, internal crises, and unexpected breakthroughs of its guest roster.
Valenciano admitted that when the concept was first proposed, he harbored serious professional doubts regarding his capabilities to operate cleanly as a traditional, hard-nosed media interviewer:
“My first reaction was, can I actually do it? Being the host of a talk show is something you need to be made of, and I felt that I was not sure if I had it in me… I know a little bit about the [guests], I do some research but I don’t like to spend time [solely] researching about that person. I like to know what is prominent about that person and what the person does… It is just [about] me going into the heart.” — Gary Valenciano
[ UNSHAKEN SEASON 1 CONFIRMED GUESTS ]
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[ MAINSTAGE SHOWBIZ TITANS ] [ POP CULTURE & CREATIVE STARS ]
• **Coco Martin** & **Julia Montes** • **Michael V.**
• **Martin Nievera** & **Zsa Zsa Padilla** • Digital food creator **Abi Marquez**
• **Toni Gonzaga** & **James Reid** • Choreographer **Jay Joseph Roncesvalles**
Note: Additional confirmed sit-downs include conversations with Bianca Gonzalez, Robi Domingo, Ice Seguerra, Alessandra de Rossi, Gloc-9, AC Bonifacio, Gab Valenciano, and Senator Kiko Pangilinan.
Beyond its immediate cultural footprint within the local entertainment landscape, the show achieves a massive global distribution milestone, establishing an unprecedented international pathway for domestic content creators:
| Global Network Anchor | International Broadcast Scope & Scale | Corporate Milestone Context |
| iHeartMedia Integration | Marks the first time a Filipino artist has been signed to host an original podcast platform under the global iHeartRadio brand. | Serves as the flagship launch vehicle for iHeartMedia’s planned corporate expansion into the broader Asia-Pacific media sector. |
The creative project serves double-duty as a focal milestone for the upcoming yearlong 40th-anniversary celebration of Manila Genesis Entertainment and Management, Inc., the prominent entertainment and talent management agency founded by Valenciano alongside his wife, Angeli Pangilinan.
By drawing directly from his own historic survival battles with Type 1 diabetes and a past bout with kidney cancer, Valenciano aims to position the show as a safe space for high-profile figures to completely drop their carefully managed public facades—reassuring listeners that temporary brokenness is never the final chapter of a person’s life story.