Kuya Kim reveals ‘Ano Ba Talaga?’ podcast originally planned to be with daughter Emman

Kuya Kim Atienza opens up about what could have been with his daughter’s podcast dream.

“Let’s do a father-daughter podcast.”

Kuya Kim Atienza smiled as he recalled the idea he and his daughter, Emman, once tossed around so casually, yet with so much excitement. Now, three months after her passing, the veteran broadcaster finds himself revisiting conversations that were had and what-ifs that never quite made it to air.

“Around November 2024, my daughter started her TikTok journey, and I saw just how talented she was,” said Kim Atienza, reflecting during “Press Play,” a media event organized by The Pod Network on Feb. 9. “She spoke so well. She would yap spontaneously, and she was so good.”

The idea of a joint podcast felt like a natural next step. Kuya Kim and Emman pitched the concept to The Pod Network, home to his podcast “Ano Ba Talaga?” It was quickly greenlit, buoyed by their combined appeal and Emman’s near-million followers on TikTok.

It wouldn’t have been their first time behind the mic together. Back in May 2022, the father-daughter duo had already given audiences a glimpse of their easy rapport with a podcast-style episode on Kuya Kim’s YouTube channel, titled “Kuwentuhan with Kuya Kim and Emman Atienza.”

Negating the ‘nepo-baby’

A few weeks after their pitch, the “Matanglawin” host shared how her daughter felt about being branded as a “nepo-baby” by netizens, revealing her wish to have a podcast of her own, before her heartbreaking departure last October.

“My daughter told me, ‘Papa, they call me a nepo baby. If they say that I’m a nepo baby, if we do a podcast together, then I’ll really be a nepo baby. I’d rather do a podcast on my own,’” Kim recalled, “So, I went back to Pod Network, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll just do the podcast alone for now,’ and that is the beginning of my podcast.” 

Faith and what-could-have-beens

“50 percent is missing the child and the next 50 percent is ‘what if.’ That’s why it’s hard to lose a child, because ‘What if I said more I love you?’ [or] ‘What if I did this? She might still be alive.’”

Kim mourns the heartbreaking loss of his daughter Emman, who passed away on October 22, 2025, at 19 while abroad, and prays through an unpredictable time of his life.

“At the end of the day, mabuti na lang there is the Lord. Because without the Lord, oh my gosh, mahirap ito. ‘Di ko alam saan ako pupulutin dito. Buti na lang.”

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50 percent is missing the child and the next 50 percent is ‘what if.’ That’s why it’s hard to lose a child, because ‘What if I said more I love you?’ [or] ‘What if I did this? She might still be alive.’

Kim Atienza

 

 

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