When the years go by / and we already feel old, / the complexes / that hurt us are not worth it, / we continue to climb seats. / always happy, without showing off, / with a love that is kept, / as all love deserves / in a garden that blooms, / because it will never be too late.

Thus, with this advice in the form of a tenth that offers youth an unmistakable radio voice, my conversation began with José Aurelio Martínez Estévez, or better, with Pepe Martínez, as this man who has dedicated 55 years of his life to almost all the specialties of that means of communication.

The station where he has left his dreams, creations and love, Radio Cadena Agramonte, celebrated a new anniversary and I see no better way to exalt it than by getting closer to the makers of it.

Pepe

He started very young in this exciting world of sounds of which he is very proud. He defines himself as a poet and crazy musician, since he has done almost everything in the Radio, except repairing equipment, which is already something very specific to engineers.

If something is clear to him, it is that we radio operators work for our listeners and not to please our own taste, because the public gives you their time and deserves respect.

In 1968 he did a voice and diction test reading Mío Cid, with the demands of Nino Moncada (an actor who gives his name to the Camagüey dramatic group) he was approved. Since then he began to walk with firm steps and delve into other specialties such as journalism, direction, sound and advice for radio programs.

With great pride today he tells us about his masterpiece, the En Ambiente Juvenil program, which filled the afternoons on Saturdays to educate the young people of Camagüey in an entertaining and musical way. But many dramatized spaces also came out under the baton of Pepe.

En Ambiente Juvenil

In 1983 Josefa Bracero, the director of Radio Camagüey in those years, proposed the challenge of creating a space to attract adolescents to listen to the radio with a balance that would provide them with knowledge while they enjoyed themselves in a fun way.

This is how the legendary program arose where each broadcast was different and a challenge to creativity, since everyone in the group was inexperienced, they were starting out in the medium and were learning, but it had to be colloquial, with up-to-date music and attractive themes for that audience that it required dramatizations, contests and of course the most hit songs on the charts.

He approached his listeners starting with an informal presentation: introducing the theme to “hook” and then the usual presentation and soundtrack that characterized the space for more than 20 years.

Although he assures that complete satisfaction does not exist, since every work is perfectible, he feels great joy when remembering each broadcast. There he gives me some advice, I am his eternal disciple, he was my teacher when I became director of radio programs: as a journalist he defends the immediacy and depth of each piece of news and insists on the need to work, not with schedules, but with dedication.

He recommends to all the directors of the guild not to miss their own spaces if they are recorded because when listening to them on the air we detect errors and new ways of doing things and renewed ideas emerge.

Home of Radio hosts

I must make a parenthesis to tell you that his wife for 35 years is María Dolores Albín Valdés, known in the radio world as Loly. When I began my work at the station watching her direct her programs, always dancing, she inspired me to bring that good harmony that makes the group more fraternal and committed.

Therefore, when the three of us met in the pleasant living room of his home, after some time without seeing each other, it was a pleasure since those of us who love this media agree on something: doing radio is an art and talking about what we each do it is a pride that gives much pleasure.

Despite the threat of rain, the afternoon was special and the farewell with “Long live the radio, my eternal girlfriend”, I think it says it all.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García