‘Hola Guyana,’ the sole Spanish/Latin radio programme on the local airwaves, on Wednesday marked a year since it first aired in Guyana.
The two-hour programme, which is aired on MEGA 102.1 FM from Monday to Friday, utilises its air time playing both Latin and Guyanese music as well as sharing news. Since its debut, the two-hour programme has been become a platform for thousands of Latin people living in Guyana as well as Guyanese to connect, to be entertained and be updated on all that’s happening around them.
“The most spectacular thing that [has] happened [throughout] the programme is when Guyanese people and not only Latin people reach out to say how much they are enjoying the programme. They are usually the taxi drivers and the bus drivers who are listening to the programme. They love the songs,” said an ecstatic Alfredo Ballesteros, who spoke to this newspaper through his translator, Oscander Rodrigues.
While Ballesteros knew that ‘Hola Guyana’ would have brought much entertainment, he could not foresee at the start of the programme the important role it would play in informing the Latin people about the COVID-19 guidelines and measures.
The pandemic, he noted, brought its own challenges but one year into the show, he couldn’t be happier with the goal he has so far achieved and the many lives ‘Hola Guyana’ has become a part of. Aside from his professional achievement, Ballesteros said the programme brought about self-awareness and self-improvement.
“I am grateful to MEGA 102.1 FM for this opportunity. My heart has only love and gratitude for Guyana and its people. This year in Guyana has really been wonderful—to be able to contribute to the cultural, social and communicational life of the country through a programme that has never existed before is something wonderful,” said Ballesteros.
To celebrate the occasion, several fans of ‘Hola Guyana’ were invited onto the programme as guest speakers this past Wednesday.
Ballesteros, a Cuban national, first came to Guyana as a visitor in February of 2019. Impressed with the Guyanese culture, he returned last December, this time with a proposal to have a Latin/Spanish programme that would cater for the many Spanish-speaking immigrants residing in Guyana as well as nationals of Spanish-speaking countries living outside of Guyana. MEGA 102.1 FM jumped at the idea and shortly after his arrival here, he was hosting his very own programme.
Prior to coming to Guyana, he worked in the media as a radio broadcaster and wrote for the digital and print media also.
