Héctor Cavallero's management as executive director of Radio Nacional began this week with high-impact decisions, since
100 journalists, producers and administrative employees
received document letters informing them that their contracts that expired between the end of February and the end of March will not be renewed.
In addition, they asked the directors of the 48 provincial branches of Radio Nacional who
had not yet resigned,
such as Eduardo Astorga, from San Juan, among others, to resign.
About 100 employees received document letters, notifying them
of the end of "the employment relationship"
with the company Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA), which is the company that manages Radio Nacional throughout the country.
"Once it is concluded, within the legal period, the final settlement and work certificate and documented proof of contributions and remuneration will be made available to you," says the document letter sent to an employee by Mario Fernando
Viera,
RTA Personnel Management Manager. , to which
Clarín
agreed .
For example, one of the people who ended her job at Radio Nacional was
the producer of the program "La Vuelta a Casa"
, which is broadcast every afternoon on LRA 7 Córdoba, where its hosts lamented the situation on air.
"Our producer Valentina Vica stopped working yesterday, as a result of the cuts that are being applied throughout the country and in all organizations, she was left out. A real shame, which marks
the injustice of this type of measures
, which does not measure capabilities nor commitment to work. This situation was really very unfair. The team is reduced again, it is the two of us, nothing more, and this marks the time we are living in Argentina," said Raúl Viarruel, host of the Córdoba program, while the host Judith Gerbaldo agreed.
When
Clarín
consulted official sources about this situation, the response was that "this is not a transition between one administration and another. Here we need to make a cultural change, for
the public media to stop losing so much money,
in addition to being plural and with quality content".
The new director of Radio Nacional, Héctor Cavallero, plans for provincial stations
to retransmit the first and second morning programs of the Buenos Aires subsidiary
, as well as some afternoon programs.
"It is an idea that we are planning, to present a competitive programming.
We are going to add journalists to relaunch the programming,
although we are in a difficult economic situation, since there is no money," an official source told
Clarín.
And he added: "In addition,
we are going to start selling advertising,
as all radio stations have. The Lufrano management had decided that Radio Nacional could not have advertising, something unusual for a radio station that needs to generate income."
The 500 layoffs in January
Radio Nacional had already fired 500 employees at the beginning of the year, when it did not renew most of the contracts that expired on December 31, as part of the adjustment plan that
the radical Javier Monte's management faced at that time.
This caused the lifting of most of the Radio Nacional programs, some that came from the management headed by Rosario Lufrano, but also others that came from the macrista management of Ana Gerschenson, such as
Soy Nacional, by Sandra Mihanovich,
which had celebrated the 300 programs in 2023 and were broadcast in duplex on AM 870 and FM Folklorica.
Some of the journalists whose contracts were not renewed on that occasion were
Víctor Hugo Morales
, who hosted "Estación Piazzola";
Sandra Russo
, who hosted "Calandrias";
and
Lautaro Maislin
, who during the week was in charge of "Rosca and Roll 937", on FM Nacional Rock.
They also did not renew other contracts that expired on December 31, such as those of
Oscar Gómez Castañón, Mex Urtizberea, Alejandro Apo
and
Jorge Dorio
, among others.
They also dropped the contracts of journalists who last year hosted the main programs of the week on Radio Nacional:
Darío Villarruel
, from "Pase lo que paso", on the first morning;
Federica Pais
, with "Radio País", from 13 to 15;
Luisa Valmaggia,
who was in charge from 5 to 7 p.m., "National Meeting";
and
Horacio Embón
, who closed the evening's programming with "Embón en cuerpo y alma."
In any case, some journalists whose contract was not renewed stated that their desire was not to continue there in 2024, such as Lautaro Maislin, who told Clarín
that
"I had already said that I was leaving the program, regardless of who won." , because I couldn't keep up with the schedule anymore because of my other job.
Víctor Hugo Morales assured on social networks that the problem was not only budgetary, but that
there was political persecution
, since his work in the Estación Piazzola program was ad honorem, free, as "a cultural contribution."
And
Gisela Busaniche
clarified on social networks that she was the one who terminated her contract at Radio Nacional on November 30, where she hosted the program "Ahí Vamos", to leave before President Javier Milei took office.