Matanzas in Radio Festival: “we maintain the premise of raising our quality standards”.

From June 3rd to 8th, the XXXVI National Cuban Radio Festival is being held in this city. We interviewed the provincial director about the results of the Matanzas delegation.

Camagüey welcomed nearly 200 delegates from almost all the provinces of the country on June 3r. The professionals who are here for the celebration of the XXXVI National Radio Festival are distinguished by their passion for a medium that accumulates more than one hundred years of history.

Ten radio broadcasters make up the delegation of Matanzas in the event that becomes an opportunity for exchange, learning and socialization.

On the occasion of its meritorious results, the best of the last three editions (since the Festival was retaken), we talked to the director of the provincial system, journalist, broadcaster, director and advisor Odalys Miranda Suárez.

Odalys, during the last three editions, Matanzas has conquered little by little the attention within the most important contest of the radio at national level.

Our awards and mentions ponder the work of different creators of our media, in different spaces and genres, in the midst of so many difficulties to transmit with the deficit in the generation of electricity, with mobility difficulties for our correspondents, journalists and creators.

Undoubtedly, obtaining this number of recognitions is proof that our artists and communication professionals make good radio, that they are connected with the audiences and are committed to inform, persuade, entertain and amuse.

In addition to the pride they generate, all these awards do not imply anything else but to do better, setting our sights on the next Festival, in 2026, the year Radio 26 will celebrate its 66th anniversary.

I think it is also a good stimulus to prepare for the new edition and Matanzas could be a good candidate to opt for the headquarters. This time with 13 awards between prizes and mentions and a grand prize.

-Does this respond to an intentional realization, motivated by the call of the Festival or is it a product of the day to day work in the Matanzas radio stations?

I am very pleased with the awards obtained by Radio 26 and Radio Varadero. This is also a commitment for the other radio stations of the provincial system to bet on delivering radio proposals that connect with their closest space and captivate audiences, giving them voices and sounds to their daily routine.

This, together with the talent and dedication of our media workers, is the most direct way to achieve our social purpose.

The awards only serve to reinforce the importance of what our radio stations do on a daily basis.

I would like to highlight the Grand Prize awarded to the website of the provincial plant, as well as the awards to the YouTube channel of Regla Llorente, on Radio Varadero, to her interview, to the program Conexión that she hosts and to the podcast she dedicates to show what lies beyond the most important sun and beach destination of the island.

I would also like to make an aside for the news magazine De primera mano, which I know how much sacrifice it implies for its collective producers to get up at dawn, to move by their own means, to obtain a series of information to keep the audiences updated during two hours of transmission from Monday to Saturday; it is a recognition to all those creators, especially to David Zamora, its director, and to those of us who contribute to keep it connected with the public.

We would not have wanted an event of the nature of pepper spray at the Pre-University of Matanzas to happen, but that coverage, with the contributions of journalists Pedro Rizo, Yunielys Moliner, José Miguel Solís and Dunia Bermúdez, both on the traditional platform and on social networks, won the award in its category.

We applaud the recognition for our cultural program Íntimamente público. I am very pleased with the results of 360 grados and Carrusel de fantasías, because of their target audience, children, adolescents and young people.

These two programs can achieve much higher recognition because they are sensitive enough to address issues that are of interest to these audiences.

We are proud of the mention achieved by our drama group with a play that touches on current issues such as violence against women, which makes us think that we still have potential to exploit.

These results are nothing more than a commitment to make a better radio, an objective for which we strive because we still feel indebted to the people of Matanzas, with our social objective of getting closer to the problems that affect them and offer possible solutions from our field, communication in its multiple radio expressions.

Cuban radio is called today to be more like the audiences, each day more segmented and in need of diversity of cultural consumption.

We maintain the premise of raising our quality standards, both in the thematic diversity and in the ways and approaches of production in order to have a radio that is more excellent.

-How much does these achievements imply and mean for Matanzas radio broadcasters?

I know that for the whole group of radio broadcasters in Matanzas this Festival is a source of inspiration. For three consecutive years we have been placing the name of our province, of our creators in the public agenda of the National Radio Festival.

I think this also honors all those who came before us, the masters who gave so many awards to the Matanzas radio in other editions of the festival that had a stop from 2010 to 2023 that is rescued.

That year we won several awards and mentions; the following year we also won and in this year we are here convinced that we could achieve better results.

The 2026 will also be a challenge for us and we will work to continue making a better radio and to conquer new awards for our province.

Many thanks to the people of Matanzas who listen to us because every day they are a source of inspiration to make radio, to investigate issues on the public agenda which, ultimately, reflect the feelings of our people.

Camagüeyans have warmly welcomed participants from all over the country and representatives from nations such as Colombia, El Salvador and Argentina.

It is a great pleasure to be in my homeland, where there is an experience of radio creation of many years and with many results. That is why it is the venue for this festival.

Written by Jessica Mesa.