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El Macropana contributed considerably to the development of radio in Venezuela from the 70’s until his death with his particular and original self-taught style of communication to the public.

Héctor Castillo, one of the main diffusers of Afro-Caribbean music in Venezuela, died on June 5, 2012.

He was especially remembered for the conduction of the radio program “Caribe Son”, he also worked as a producer of musical shows and TV programs specialized in salsa, becoming a pioneer in this type of TV programs.

He was in Radio Nacional de Venezuela in the production of diverse musical programs in several frequencies, as well as in many other radio stations that allowed him to become one of the most important and great connoisseurs of the Salsa broadcasting in our country together with Lil Rodríguez, Henrique Bolívar Navas, and Phidias Danilo Escalona, among others.

More than 30 years ago, when the salsa genre was at its peak, a kind of “boom” emerged in Venezuelan radio that led some radio broadcasters to take the risk of transmitting the genre that Phidias Danilo Escalona had baptized “salsa”.

Thus, a radio station located in La Florida, Radio Aeropuerto, took the first step. Spaces like Bachata, directed by César Miguel Rondón were born and the programming went from soft music to hard salsa, with the appearance of Rafael Rivas “El Tigre” and Luis Calzadilla “El Villano”.

The above mentioned combination had a very particular way of addressing the audience. Calzadilla emigrated and a young bisoño was hired who had another conception in the way of dialoguing with the public. A passionate of the rumba, but respectful of the public to which he was addressing. Over the years, he became an obligatory reference when talking about salsa on the radio, his name: Hector Castillo.

Hector Castillo, “El macropana”, died on June 5, 2012 at 10:00 pm. The salseros of the mata dawned with the sad news of his death, already expected because his illness was known. Hector himself said goodbye to his friends a month before with this message sent from his cell phone:

“Greetings little brothers, tomorrow I will have my third operation and I am very delicate, I love you”.

In addition to being a researcher and scriptwriter, after Radio Aeropuerto, Castillo maintained the program Esencia Latina on VTV. Héctor was a producer on Tves and also had his own space as an independent national producer. His program Caribe Son, was broadcast, among other stations, by RNV.

Radio in Venezuela

Radio broadcasting in Venezuela began in 1926, during the government of General Juan Vicente Gómez, thanks to the technical knowledge of Luis Roberto Scholtz and Alfredo Moller, and the political influence of Colonel Arturo Santana, aide to General José Vicente Gómez, son of the President of the Republic.

Under the name of AYRE, they obtained official permission on September 25, 1925, which not only granted them exclusive rights to the transmissions, but also to sell the receivers. In May 1926 the transmissions began with a Western Electric of 1 kw and an antenna supported by towers of 65 m in height. Luis Roberto Sholtz was the managing director of the radio station and Alfredo Moller was the official announcer.

The plant was installed on the land now occupied by the New Circus and the passenger terminal, and the studios in a house on the corner of El Tejar. They transmitted news from the newspapers and variety shows, within an area of 3,200 km. When the political events of 1928 took place, the AYRE radio station was officially closed.

Two years later, on December 9, 1930, Broadcasting Caracas was inaugurated, founded by William H. Phelps, owner of the American store, a business specialized in the import and sale of electric devices. Edgar J. Anzola and Ricardo Espina were Phelps’ immediate collaborators. And in the technical management of the station, Alberto López. Within the International Broadcasting Agreement, Venezuela had been given the YV code. That is why in the acronym of the new plant the identification YVIBC appears in long wave and YV2BC in short wave.

The BC corresponds to the nominal syntagma Broadcasting Caracas, which from 1935, after the death of General Gómez, will simply become Radio Caracas. The initial equipment of 1BC was RCA brand with a power of only 100 watts. The radiating antenna worked on 2 old windmills. This was the first time it went on the air, on the occasion of the remote transmission from Henry Clay Square, about the inauguration of a statue of the famous American politician.

That same year of 1930, on December 17, from the Campo de Carabobo, Broadcasting Caracas also broadcasts the inauguration of an allegorical monument of the Battle of Carabobo, to commemorate the first centenary of the death of the Liberator Simon Bolivar.

A whole elite of figures from the world of communication, music and the Venezuelan intelligentsia is beginning to form around Radio Caracas.

And its programming goes from the news to the official speech, from popular music to cultured music and from the funny sketch to the radio melodrama. “El Diario Hablado”, founded by Mario García Arocha, was for many years an informative tribune of national and international events. And the presence of musicians like Carlos Bonet and Eduardo Serrano, as conductors, anticipated the participation of artists like Fedora Aleman, Angel Sauce, Pedro Antonio Rios Reyna and Antonio Estevez. After the creation of 1BC (Radio Caracas), the voices of Radiodifusora deVenezuela (29.5.1932), La Voz de Carabobo (6.7.1934), La Voz del Táchira (4.7.1935), Emisoras Unidas (16.2.1935), Ondas Populares (10.2. 1935), Ecos del Zulia (1.4.1936), Ondas del Lago (12.10.1936), Radio Popular (15.10.1936), La Voz de la Esfera (27.4.1937), Ecos del Orinoco (6.6.1938), Emisora Vargas (6.8.1938), Radio Puerto Cabello (20.9.1938) and La Voz de la Fe (15.9.1940).

The boom of radio broadcasting, after the death of General Gómez and during the governments of Eleazar López Contreras and Isaías Medina Angarita, gave rise to legislation on the use of radio electric media. This is how the Law of Telecommunications appeared, approved by the National Congress on July 12, 1940, repealing the previous law of July 27, 1936; and the Regulations of Radio Communication, promulgated on February 7, 1941.

With these legal instruments, the State governs radio communication, with a more modern sense of equity and justice. As a means of communication, radio has had a singular importance in the country’s political history.

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