Ivón Albelo Medina: I don’t get tired

With over twenty years of experience at the station and 15 as head of the reporters and correspondents, she refers to Radio Rebelde as her second home, Although this job has taken the time she should dedicate to her family, the truth is that Radio Rebelde has kept her company and has been part of her own family.

“Rebelde gives me the chance to contribute to the Cuban radio with the knowledge acquired in the station”, she said, adding that from the personal viewpoint she has learned a lot about interpersonal relations, since these are the basis for a good relation with the source which will be the contributor to the veracity of the journalism you practice, it will make easier to be in tune with the most important, with the coverage, with the news and with the intention to gain confidence as a professional and as institution.

“It is not about having many friends, but to know how to treat the people around; that is very important nowadays. Even that is included in the concept of Revolution Fidel instructed and I have learned that through Rebelde.

This radio station has not only been a school for life, but a place where you can grow as a professional. The interaction with the youth has been enriching for me, as I have learned from them the things I was unable to learn because life did not make it possible or because the social conditions were not favorable then. “The exchange with the youth is fabulous, that has allowed me to go to the School of Communication and assist the students who come to Radio Rebelde as part of their professional preparation, I have been doing this for many years that comforts me much since it helps open my vision to do new things in the radio and because doing so we secure the relay and the future of radio broadcasting.

Ivón Albelo has been involved in first level coverage since 2003 and especially in last 5 years, she said that Radio Rebelde staff is made up by dreamers, from technicians to reporters, the service personnel and the managing staff are mainly focused on making people turn on their radios and tune in to that slogan which identified the radio station back in the Sierra Maestra “…because  we are the ones who tell the truth, because we communicate, because we are a symbol of the Revolution, which will always be side by side with Fidel, Raúl, Almeida and Che. This is the most encouraging, the social commitment we have as journalists alongside the staff of Radio Rebelde.

The also Doctor in Communication Sciences said that the big challenge of Rebelde is to better itself and that is very hard. For that reason, we have implemented an integrated newsroom work in which journalists have to split into audio and videos for the website, using Twitter and Facebook to post our ideas about what is happening and to create news contents.

ITs in Radio Rebelde

About the impact of information and communication technologies and their use in the radio station, Ivón stated that a radio is open for different mediations among them technologic mediation which has great importance, since without technology we are not able to advance.

However, she stressed that the most important is human creativity and the capacity to learn new things in order to dominate technology. We’ll have a new radio inasmuch as the knowledge of technology allows to do new things to produce impact, and gain popularity.

Implementing that has not been easy, she said, because here we have people of different ages, different cultural levels, with different academic experiences and not all the capacities are the same, but we are guided by a common denominator.

When you find journalists like 71 year-old Margarita Torres, trying to find the clearest sound and the best picture for the website or when you see a reporter like Mirta Guerra, who among other things is in charge of the design of audio reports which are applied overseas, then something is happening in Radio Rebelde.

The people’s thinking is renewing like the executive boards and that is happening. With a Head of Editorial Policy like Demetrio Villaurrutia, a Chief Editor like Pablo Rafael Fuentes, and our Director Mabel Manso, who has a key role in that, since she has been permanently the person who has supported the intiative of the integrated newsroom and its fulfilment, the change is possible. In Rebelde the challenge is self-directed. Ivón also talks about her family. She confesses her endless gratitude for the support at home, for the help which has made possible her dedication to Radio Rebelde. About it she said that it is Cuba’s most important radio station and I am committed with it; to carry out that mission, that’s why I am working and organizing for long hours…and I don’t get tired.”

Translated by ESTI

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