Juan Carlos Hidalgo recounts in
Between Two Lands (
Ordinal, 2022
)
the origin of the word cácaro, as the cinema projectionists were called in Mexico.
The word, this successful Latin radio broadcaster and businessman in the United States writes in his biography, originated in Guadalajara at the beginning of the 20th century.
A local merchant hired Rafael González for a room, who wore on his face the marks left by smallpox when he was young.
“The word cácaro comes from the Purépecha word
cacarani
, which means burst sore, and this resulted in cácaro,” writes Hidalgo, born 57 years ago on the small ranch of Tariácuri, in northwestern Michoacán.
Hildago grew up listening to that word.
His father, named Miguel Hidalgo, asked for a loan at the factory where he worked and set up a cinema in an open-air still life, where he showed
The Guns of Navarone
and
The Invisible Assassin
, starring Santo, the silver masked man, on nights moonless and on a screen made of sheets sewn by his mother, Sara.
It was
Cinema Paradiso
in Purépecha lands.
Despite bringing the magic of cinema to the residents of a town of less than a thousand inhabitants, her father felt dissatisfied.
Like tens of thousands of Michoacanos, he migrated to the United States to become a bracero, a seasonal agricultural worker.
Eleven-year-old Juan Carlos stayed in Mexico.
From those times of the improvised Cine Hidalgo, he confesses to having been enchanted by the microphone that his father used in the performances.
His father began a journey through the North Country, which took him to Alaska, where they paid much more per hour than in the rest of the states.
In his hometown, Juan Carlos, who dropped out of school, decided to continue with the family tradition and continue with the cinema.
Later he too followed in his father's footsteps to the north.
The first time he crossed as an undocumented person through Tijuana, but later it was easier for him, since his father obtained the long-awaited green card, the residence.
“When I first took the microphone I was shaking, nervous.
Not knowing what to say.
It was an RCA microphone, I remember it well”, says Hidalgo in an interview on that occasion, the first time he heard his voice enhanced by the device.
Perhaps without knowing it, that moment was decisive.
Today he adds a long career of 30 years in the radio in Spanish in the United States, a path he has made together with the music of his country, the love for the family and the effort of the migrants who leave their homes to go to work in the north.
Hidalgo will present his book this Saturday at noon at LéaLa, the Literary Festival in Spanish organized in Los Angeles by the University of Guadalajara Foundation.
The event, which takes place free of charge in the city center from Thursday afternoon to this Sunday.
Also present at the fair will be Cuban interviewer Ismael Cala, poet David Huerta, FIL 2019 awardee, Carmen Boullosa, Xavier Velasco, Julián Herbert and young authors Isabel Zapata and Jazmina Barrera, among several other authors.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo, on the left, in his youth, accompanied by a young man dressed as Cantinflas.
Poncho Lizárraga, one of the musicians of the family that is part of El Recodo, the very popular band from Sinaloa (Mexico), will accompany Hidalgo in the presentation.
Likewise, the announcer Alberto Vera, known as
Brown Bear
, will be present , who made his way in reverse on Latin radio in the US, he had to learn Spanish to be able to communicate with his audience.
In his biography, Hidalgo recalls his beginnings at a small AM station in San Francisco, where he was hired in 1991 by an American despite having little experience.
“How are we going to attract listeners?” one of the programmers asked him.
His response: “Let's pretend that every Latino in this city has a sign that says 'Make me feel important.'
You will see that by giving them special attention and playing the music they like, in a short time we won over the audience”, replied Hidalgo.
The formula was a success.
Six months later, an invitation arrived to work in Los Angeles at an FM station, Klax 97.9, Equis or La Raza, which was a phenomenon for five years.
Genres such as rock and pop ceased to be heard and the airwaves occupied themselves with the so-called “regional music”: Joan Sebastian, Ramón Ayala, Bronco, Los Bukis, Selena, Vicente Fernández, Los Temerarios and Antonio Aguilar.
Over the years, these artists discovered the importance of Hispanic audiences in the United States, a market that they would firmly exploit in the future.
In the process, many of these artists became close friends of Hidalgo.
One of his most treasured experiences was the invitation made by Vicente Fernández to visit his VFG arena, located in Chapala (Jalisco).
“We did the tour and we were talking for many hours.
We talked about many things, but above all, I told him that in my father's cinema we showed his films, which were very successful.
He spoke with great emotion about his career as an actor and about the actresses in his films, ”says Hidalgo, who has hosted a morning program about the Fernández family for years on La Raza station.
Today Hidalgo programs and directs the Mega 96.3 station.
In addition, he is president of MonitorLATINO, which he founded with friends to track the most popular Spanish-language songs and singers on a network of more than 300 stations.
The industry has changed and its entrepreneurs too.
For 15 years he has organized Calibash, an event that began at the Forum in Los Angeles and today is a festival with several stops throughout the country.
This year it was celebrated in three days.
The January 2023 edition has idols like Farruko and Becky G as headliners.
“What I like to see the most is the impact of the public at concerts.
The emotion of all of them”, says Hidalgo.
He was one of the promoters of Los Bukis' historic 2021 concert at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, a stadium with a capacity of more than 60,000 people.
Hidalgo was the architect of the return of the Mexican team headed by Marco Antonio Solís, which materialized due to the hard time that some of his former teammates were experiencing.
“Eusebio Cortez, El Chivo, was in the Uber;
Joel had a health problem that required a transplant.
Marco Antonio Solís decided to do it when the divine moment arrived,” says Hidalgo, who had proposed to Buki to return four times.
The Bukis captivated the Los Angeles temple.
Many years ago, they were a band that played on the radio.