He has just turned 35 and is already the director of a radio program that has been a reference on Cadena SER for half a century. Aimar Bretos (San Sebastian, 1986) took over the controls of Hora 25 this season, when Pepa Bueno became director of El Pais. And he did it, he says, with enthusiasm and also with great responsibility. He assures that he wants to seat before his microphones the voices that are not usually heard in other programs. Perhaps one of them could be his father’s. “I think he has a brutal interview, but that will never happen. Out of modesty, neither of us will let it happen,” he says.
How does it feel to be the interviewee
-It’s a very strange experience, really. All defenses are turned on. Now I understand how many times the interviewees react, wanting to defend more than deliver.
–When you were offered to direct Hora 25, was there more fear than satisfaction in your first thoughts
–It’s not fear either, but a lot of responsibility. Hora 25 is one of the general radio programs that I began to listen to and admire. The fact of appearing on the list of directors as one more, alongside names like Inaki Gabilondo, Manuel Campo Vidal, Carlos Llamas, Angels Barcelo or Pepa Bueno is an enormous privilege. But it is also a brutal responsibility. I am very aware of the dimension of the project that I inherit and it must be done well.
–Carlos Llamas, Angels Barcelo, Pepa Bueno… are the standards too high
–They are goals to look at, I don’t consider if I am up to them because it would be absolutely pretentious on my part. They are my elders, they are my teachers and I have to learn from them and I have been doing it for a long time. With Inaki, with Angels and, above all, with Pepa I have been working for many years, I have seen how they make decisions, how they prioritize, how they rank and I have been learning from that.
-His commitment, he said, is to work hard to provide the most honest analysis possible of what happens to us as a society. Is the fundamental role of the journalist
-Yes, definitely. And especially in a program like Hora 25, which is a nightly analysis, when the day begins to fade and you have to do a good job of sorting out what is important and what is not, what is an accessory, what are news fireworks, yes It will have real significance for our lives in a while or not, no matter how much noise is made. Our role is to take a good look, to know how to make this sieve quickly and without making mistakes, to analyze it and present it in all its possible derivations so that the listener can make up his or her place.
–Is there a lot of noise around us that takes us away from what is important
-There is a lot of noise, especially in politics. But the noise should not be ignored, but explained, who generates it and why. And that says a lot about the politics of a country. The same is someone who is generating the noise to be able to fish later in a troubled river, because it is good for his political tactics.
–Is the health of journalism affected
–The business model of journalism is what is evolving, mutating. I believe that excellent journalism is being carried out in Spain, of extraordinary quality. What we all have to achieve is to find viable and profitable business models that allow the best journalism to continue to be done. One of the current priorities is to get a good foundation for business models applied to 2021 and what is to come in a market in which practically everything is on demand. We have to be ready to give these new consumers a product that suits their needs.
-Where are we going
-I think we are going towards a mixed scenario, neither radio nor live TV is going to disappear, as a society we continue to demand it. But that is going to be complemented by an ever-increasing and higher-quality offer of content designed for on-demand consumption. The format will not matter, the important thing is that the listener listens to the radio, whatever it may be.
–You have been at the controls of the ship for a short time, how was the beginning
-Thrilling. I wanted the listeners of Hora 25 to continue to identify perfectly with the program, not to make any radical changes, because it makes no sense to touch what works well. We have to update it and we are going to do that little by little. I think we are already putting a stamp on this new stage. I’m very happy. We have added new sections, such as a very in-depth interview on a daily basis and it is working very well. Also the Monday Agora with these three titans of politics, Calvo, Iglesias and Margallo.
–Update by adding…
–The formula works very well and is more alive than ever. It is the nightly news that is mutating into an analysis table. What needs to be added are new voices that we don’t usually hear. I want to seat people at the table that we usually don’t listen to in other places.
–What has been the most difficult interview of your life
–An interview that left me very touched was the one I did with the mother of David Beriain , the journalist who was murdered in Burkina Faso. We were at his house, he overwhelmed us with his generosity and his way of seeing life. She had just killed a son for doing the bravest journalism of all and she said that he was like that, free, and that he would always have let him be. The whole team ended up crying, it was a tough moment.