February 13, is World Radio Day, so proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012. Radio is the most widespread and widely used means of communication in the world despite the advances and new communication systems that have appeared in the last century. It has the advantage of reaching remote places and all social classes, which is not always possible through the use of other more modern technologies.
There are so many people who have offered their knowledge and creativity to make it possible for the radio signal to reach our homes 24 hours a day, with accurate information, timely guidance and the necessary recreation, that it would not be possible to mention their names in a single journalistic material.
I am very pleased to talk with one of those personalities who deserve unlimited recognition for his talent, for his commitment and dedication for many years to radio creation, very knowledgeable of the medium and exponent of the values of Cuban music of all times. I am referring to Francisco Miranda Tasé: broadcaster, writer and director of radio programs, founder of the radio station Grito de Baire. The Radio man, affectionately known as Paco Miranda, who gives us a tour through the history of the medium from its beginnings, evolution and significance, to the present day.
“Since this means of communication was founded, from the first transmissions that were produced in countries of Europe and North America with what was called wireless telegraphy, the inventions of Marconi, fundamentally, the radio began to have a great value for this type of media and for human knowledge, how the message that was received was multiplied and reached many people, in many parts of the world. Over the years this has become evident and in the case of Cuba, especially since the first radio station was founded in 1922, although long before there were some attempts, as in the case of the great musician and Mambi general Luis Casa Romero.
The radio began to make its way to anyone who understood and could receive its message with that quality that was so much needed, that is to say that over the years, the evolution that this medium had in the case of Cuba, from then until today it is evident how many beautiful things can be done, regardless of the fact that it is also very valuable the use of media such as television, the current digital media.
But none has surpassed radio, which is such a necessary medium. In the case of Contramaestre, there is evidence of how the radio has penetrated deep into the people, people look for it because they need its company, to feel that what it transmits, it has to guide them, it has to provide a benefit to all who listen to it because they love it and feel it.
The radio has a great importance because it is a means of easy communication among human beings and allows us to transmit an artistic, informative, cultural message that satisfies them”.
On August 22, 1922, Luis Casas Romero, a notable Cuban musician and patriot, and his son Luis Casas Rodríguez, started radio transmissions in the Greater of the Antilles. This is the date on which Cuban Radio Day is celebrated in our country.
Over the years, radio expanded its frontiers and even reached municipalities and towns all over the country. Santiago de Cuba was no stranger to this development and managed to establish a radio system that currently has 11 radio stations. Ten of them are municipal and one provincial. Radio also arrived in Contramaestre, a fact that had its antecedents and Paco Miranda makes reference to it.
When did the radio come to Contramaestre, did it have its antecedents? Tell me about that experience.
The radio in Contramaestre had very interesting antecedents, one night they were transmitting from the Rodriguez building, something that was a surprise for me and I said to myself: “Wow, the radio has already arrived in Contramaestre?
I’m talking about 1972, more than half a century ago and this certainly caught my attention because I have always been at the radio station house, I was looking for a signal at night that would allow me to be entertained, orient myself and enjoy. It was an attempt of a group of people who had created a radio transmitter equipment with a small console and a handmade recorder playing music, the announcer was called Bersaida De La Vega.
Later, it was considered that it was necessary to go in other ways and wait for better times so that a medium like this could have a definite place in this locality. It was in 1984 when it was decided by the party that Contramaestre should have a radio station to disseminate its activities, inform the people and highlight its artistic and cultural values.
In 1989, when this building, currently occupied by our radio station, was already built, and although it was not yet ready, it was not yet possible to build a radio station in the town.
On February 23, 1990, the signal began to be broadcast with better quality, which allowed Grito de Baire to be officially launched on February 24 of that year and by then there was a team of technicians, artists and announcers ready. This was the most important step for this radio station to reach and interest the public”.
In the beginning, the radio programming was eminently musical. Little by little, new contents and other sound resources were introduced in radio production, capable of creating images through sounds.
The radio, through its programming, fulfills several functions, among them to inform, guide, educate, divulge and recreate through the musical diffusion, fundamentally. In our radio station a high percentage of the programs are musical.
What does it mean for Paco Miranda, as a producer of programs, mainly musical, to be able to count on those listeners who follow him every Sunday, every day in his programs?
“It was simply an old dream, to be able to work in a radio station. I was given this possibility here at Contramaestre and as such I continue to devote myself to this work with all the enthusiasm that still characterizes me. As for music, it is my forte. I enjoy music. The music that is proposed to the listener must be of interest to him and must be of quality, as it has been done. I am very interested in spreading the values that this municipality has.
Here we like popular music, songs, boleros, ballads, rock, dance music, Caribbean music. We try to spread this music to the public that tunes in. Besides the fact that there is a very rich musical past, I am constantly fighting for that music to be made known, because Cuban music has enormous values that cannot be lost.
It is good that the present is spread but we cannot forget the past and the radio is to give it the promotion it deserves, the radio is so that those melodies and that great cultural and musical baggage, that own label of the Contramaestrians do not stop being offered.
And this radio station is called to fulfill this important role”.
For the pride of the people of Contramaestre we have a radio station that transmits 12 hours daily, with a programming that responds to the most varied tastes and interests of our listeners, because they are our reason to exist.
