It was 7:00 p.m. on November 19, 1949 when a radio plant was inaugurated in Morón in a small place on Calle Serafín Sánchez number 48, between Martí and Callejas.
Its first workers were José Luís Taboada and Salvador Vila (operators), José Armando Reynal, Gustavo Mazorra and Rafael (Chicho) Morales, announcers. As journalists Silvio Rodríguez Acosta and Emiliano Rodríguez Toscazo, as technician José Otelo and director Dr. Segismundo Cervantes.
It began broadcasting at 8:00 a.m. at 10:00 p.m., but was subsequently extended with uninterrupted live and recorded programming. The first one consisted of a recreational proposal aimed at the population, which packed the studio-theater with the purpose of applauding the artists in the courtyard. It is said that in the street there were queues to access the small study of the plant.
Fifteen days before the official inauguration, the CMJX signal began to go on the air under the supervision of the engineer from Camagüey Toto Otelo. From the editorial point of view and from the air, Radio Morón did a critical and sensationalist journalism; even the 12:30 p.m. newscast. it became the station’s most listened to space. In this initial stage, the chronicles “Del Morón Antiguo” by Dr. Benito Llanes Recino, the police news section written by journalist Emiliano Rodríguez Toscazo and the daily 30-minute sports space written by Silvio Rodríguez Acosta were highlighted.
The testimony of Edel Fernández Venegas, who was an announcer at CMJU, Radio Cuba de Morón, and Radio Morón after January 1959 is interesting.
Edel, one of the first delegates of the Cuban Institute of Broadcasting, (ICR), in the old province of Camagüey, with his proverbial memory, recalls the characteristics of the station in the years of neocolonial Cuba when he narrated: At that time Radio Morón It was a local station like all those of that time; of a purely commercial nature, operated under the direction of the lawyer and professor of the Institute of Second Education Dr. Pablo Castellanos Caballero, in partnership with Eliseo López, who put the capital to acquire the equipment and the premises.
From a technical point of view, it had a 250-watt transmitter, a console, two turntables, and two hanging RCA-Victor microphones. It was transmitting on the frequency of 1 230 kHz; it had a studio-theater with sixty lunettes, an audio booth and a voice-over booth, a disco and a reception. Its antenna was a clothesline and it was in the courtyard of the Canarian Delegation.
Since it went on the air, Radio Morón began a campaign in favor of local development. Every time the plant was identified, it was said “from Morón, a municipality without roads or neighborhood roads”, something like that. That drew the attention of the population, it fell very well, because it was demanding that the road from Morón to Ciego be built and the non-existent neighborhood roads at that time.
He had another mention that said “we are not villagers, we want automatic telephones” and all that series of things. Thus he was winning over his listeners. It really achieved a tremendous audience.
After some time the plant was acquiring a lot of propaganda and got good profits, however its owners paid a pittance to their workers. But Castellanos began to do shady deals, extorting and blackmailing.
On one occasion, to give an example, he wanted the Santiago-Habana buses, which were stationed in front of Radio Morón, to be advertised on the station and the company refused. He then began a campaign against this bus line, he called it “the route of death.” That was terrible, and that’s how he did with different merchants who did not put propaganda on the station.
The advertising done on Radio Morón at that time was similar to that done on the other stations, with the difference that in Morón Pablo Castellanos blackmailed the various advertisers. There were cases in which those affected went to the fists such as Frutico Oria, agent of the soft drink brand “Kawy”. By not accepting to put out propaganda, he started a campaign where he said “it is not true how it is said that the soda“ Kawy ”has intoxicated a number of children”, which immediately put the management of the sale of that drink in crisis. It turned out that Oria confronted him in the middle of Calle Martí and beat him up.
Both the programming of Radio Cuba, as that of Radio Morón, was fundamentally musical, between album and album there was some commercial mention; some programs were performed live with soloists or musical groups, sponsored by breweries or advertisers who had sufficient capital to pay. There was no great music library. What there was was a small disco with plates of 33, 45 and 78 revolutions per minute.
The news highlighted the social: some lady of society who had a birthday and they were celebrating