Orlando Castellanos Molina

An interviewer par excellence and fundamentally a man of radio. Founder of Radio Habana Cuba. He was director of Radio Taino.

In Ciego de Ávila he did radio for the first time at nine years old, because his father "had a very big vision of what radio broadcasting and commercial radio of the time were, and he bought a radio plant for his boy just like someone who buys his son an electric train". Thus, little by little, he caught the radio bug.

As an interviewer he started in 1959 and, without knowing it, he entered into that world which, as he himself said, "I don't know because it is always new". Few years would pass before he mastered the craft that allowed him to become friends with his interviewees.

All those who knew him affirm that he was an avid reader; the best gift that could be given to him was a book; he mastered all subjects, possessed vast culture despite having obtained only a high school diploma and a broadcasting degree of that era.

From 1971 to 1986 he broadcast on Radio Habana Cuba the program Formalmente Informal, interviewing outstanding personalities, a selection of which he collected in a book. He was director of Radio Taino.

His wife, Virgen Gutiérrez, has dedicated the last ten years to recapitulating and making Castellanos' dreams a reality: "The Orlando I knew is not different from the one his friends knew, he was a very open person, with an incredible love for life, passionate in his work, a human being, above all, very fraternal.

An interviewer par excellence, the best of the 20th century in Latin America, he was a master of journalism and of journalists. "In radio I've done everything, I've even swept the plant, dusted the controls, polished the microphones, been an operator-announcer simultaneously (…)", Castellanos explained in an interview given to Rafael Alcides.

He created and produced Formalmente Informal, a space that gave him international renown, as it conquered more than 20 million radio listeners throughout the world, according to a survey conducted at that time by the station. The title was accepted in such a way that it was one of the most widely distributed programs that Cuban radio has had.

In an interview conducted by Rodolfo Mignini, he stated: "Formalmente Informal was a dream of many years that I had been carrying since Ciego de Ávila and which I could only realize exactly in 1971, on Radio Habana Cuba (…), I presented the project that synthesized that old dream of something that would be different every day, that wouldn't resemble anything, (…) that would be totally informal but with a certain formality, I didn't want to tie myself to a square, that I wouldn't get bored doing the same thing always (…)".

The program had a lot to do with Orlando's personality, he was a restless man, he hated routine, he liked to vary, to create, and Formalmente Informal gave him that possibility.

A journalist of name and success, he treasured more than 5 thousand interviews, conducted with almost all the most important personalities of literature and the arts of these times, as well as the humble and interesting characters he found in his journey through life, which he knew how to enjoy until the last minute.

He interviewed figures of the stature of García Márquez, Carpentier, Dulce María Loynaz, Julio Cortázar, Nicolás Guillén, Bola de Nieve, René Portocarrero, Carilda Oliver Labra, Alicia Alonso, Roberto Fernández Retamar and many more, who have come to be inscribed alongside him in the history of Latin American culture.

Nevertheless, during his journalistic career and after gathering so many experiences, he confessed that his greatest longing was a conversation with the poet Lezama Lima and he catalogued it his lost interview.

Castellanos, in the effort that his work not remain in words, published several books, to extend his immense wealth of ideas and thoughts to the generations to come; the extensive published material treasures a forge of experiences and anecdotes from the interviewees. They constitute imperishable work.

He is the genesis of one of the great examples of how to make true radio. "Let people think that I am as I believe I am", this is what this man said, he who lived for his profession and was always satisfied with the work accomplished.

Numerous awards in journalistic competitions. Distinction for National Culture.