Julio Muñoz, the 'Rancio' who leads 'the radio that is seen'

Julio Muñoz Gijón (Seville, 42 years old) believes he is “just a part of Rancio”, and not the other way around.

His more

than

100,000

followers

on

2011, when the bell tower of the municipality's church literally collapsed next to him—he was one of the first to understand the potential of social networks.

In that universe of few characters but maximum interaction, he appeared for the first time as @Rancio in 2012, an irreverent and biting alter ego for which he continues to be known today, and even revered, with a legion of fans that grows exponentially.

Humor has allowed him to place the iron idiosyncrasy of the traditional Sevillian, guardian of the essences, before the mirror of his contradictions -read: from Holy Week and orthodoxy in traditions, to his most unique characters: José Manuel Soto, Lopera... no one has escaped Rancio's tweets—and he has been the seed of everything that has come after: writer of novels of great popular reception—with more than 100,000 copies sold—, scriptwriter of documentaries for different television platforms, contestant in a

reality show

and even a beer entrepreneur—he created Rancia beer, to the delight of his followers—Julio Muñoz also worked for eight years as head of digital communication for the Spanish Soccer Team (“I never thought that being fired by Rubiales would be a merit to put on your resume,” he jokes).

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It was during the years he lived in Madrid when @Rancio was born in response to an increasingly accentuated homesickness for his homeland.

Back in Seville, Julio Muñoz is now celebrating four years as a reference for programming dedicated to humor and current affairs on Cadena SER Andalucía.

At the helm of the daily program

La Cámara de los Balones,

a review of current sports news told in a hilarious tone, and of the newly created magazine

No puede SER

(on Cadena SER+), where he puts into practice everything that combination has taught him. of social networks and humor, Muñoz is clear when talking about his relationship with the airwaves: “Radio is probably what I enjoy most of all: it generates a complicity with whoever is listening to you that cannot be achieved with a book, nor with television," acknowledges this all-terrain journalist who has a lot of "Clark Kent: I get into the cabin and quickly change my suit."

Julio Muñoz during the interview with EL PAÍS.

PACO PUENTES

“Welcome to the radio that can be seen, the radio of laughter.

Today we want to share with you three objectives: to have a good time, to meet interesting people and to learn things, because when we learn something, the day has already been worth it.”

This is how Rancio enters, every day from Monday to Thursday, the program

No puede SER

, “a space of freedom that Cadena SER Andalucía has given us where we deal in an entertaining way with topics that have no reason to be,” says the journalist, who He goes further when he tries to explain the content that underpins his program: “We simply make the program that we would like to listen to.”

Muñoz speaks in plural because on the radio he has found himself in the company of the comedian and monologist Juan Amodeo (1.1 million Instagram followers) and the journalists Luis Márquez and Rocío Vicente, from the audiovisual field, a quartet that has connected the Cadena SER Andalucía with new audiences, a segment of society that was separating from the airwaves as they have been known until now: the followers of

No Podemos SER

are, for the most part, young people between 18 and 35 years old who have become closer to the program through social networks and digital platforms.

La Cámara de los Balones,

the most listened to program in its time slot in Andalusia, has more than 30,000 monthly downloads and No puede SER, an average of 12,000.

“Radio is very Martian, when it is done it seems that no one hears you, you are alone in a studio talking to no one knows who.

But if I suddenly say something funny live and it works, my phone lights up 17 times with notifications from WhatsApp or from having mentioned us on social media.

It's

crazy

.

That is the best EGM that exists,” Muñoz reflects.

Within that space of freedom, which has allowed him to reinterpret the most classic traditions and turn them into discourses of modernity, Julio Muñoz is clear about his red lines: “Treat any topic from humor, but without leaving victims.”

And he explains: “For me it is a pride to be able to talk to a kid who suffers from achondroplasia dying of laughter and making jokes, and the next day receive congratulations from the Achondroplasia Association of Andalusia.

To be funny you don't have to offend anyone, that's the limit of humor."

The journalist also assures that the radio has become the vehicle that connects his followers with his novels.

Julio Muñoz Rancio became a publishing phenomenon since he published in 2012

El assassina de la regañá

, the first title in a trilogy that is completed with

The crime of Palodú

and

The prisoner of Seville Este

, a mixture of humor and crime novel starring the police couple Jiménez and Villanueva, who despite making a hilarious review of the most established local clichés, “where it has sold the most is in Barcelona,” says the author.

To date, it has 14 titles in black on white if we add the novel that has just been published and represents a change in record:

True Crime

(El Paseo Editorial), a

thriller

where the perfect crime, television

true crime

and twists so surprising as well as documented real cases: “It was a whim that the publishers allowed me because I was able to sell a lot of the previous books,” Muñoz laughs.

This crime novel returns the most journalistic profile to its author, since it is a fiction built after his time as a scriptwriter for a television production company that was preparing a series of documentaries about criminals—drugs, murderers, high-profile thieves... — who shamelessly confess their crimes on camera.

“I am not the best crime novel writer in this country, but my material is unique, first-hand,” explains who also boasts of having recruited with his novels “many non-reading people: for me, another great prize is that "A father tells me during a signing that he has gotten his children to read thanks to my books."

And at the center of everything, social networks continue, “without a doubt the most epicentric of everything I do” and what gives harmony to this disaster drawer that houses the unbridled creativity of Julio Muñoz: wherever there is Andalusianism, humor and a story to tell, he will find this journalist: “I do many things, there are those who tell me that it is too crazy, but I don't live it like that: I only get involved in what I think I can do well,” he confesses.

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