Winning a podcast contest at 70 years old: "The best part is knowing that I do it because I feel like it"

They say the best part of retirement is having the time to do what you really want at any moment and enjoy free time. Rafael Salas Gallego, a retired journalist from Malaga, has taken this to heart, recently winning the podcast category at the XVII Story Contest for Seniors by the 'la Caixa' Foundation. Under the title 'We'll Always Have the Radio,' Rafael channels nostalgia for this medium into a sound fiction where he reflects on loneliness and the role of radio as companionship and illusion in the absence of family.

Born in Casarabonela in 1955, the memory of "that companionship" that was present in every home always lingers in his mind. "I can't forget that big radio that was our only connection to the outside world. It was a fantastic territory of imagination for a child; moreover, we used to sit and watch the radio, not just listen to it," Rafael Salas recounts in a conversation with SUR. This podcast is his way of paying tribute to the radio of his childhood and throughout his life, and it is also the result of one of his major hobbies developed in the radioplay workshop at the University of Malaga's Aula de Mayores+55. It is also his way of showing that the greatest reward is not this award, but freedom: "At my age, awards are not celebrated as much as when you were young; for me, this award is knowing that I do it because I want to and that being recognized in the end, I must not be doing so badly," he points out with a laugh.

He has had a life linked to journalism in Malaga: from Sol de España to the presidency of the Press Association

Rafael Salas enjoys his retirement with his wife, hobbies, children, and grandchildren. He is the honorary president of the Malaga Press Association and his extensive career began at the now-defunct newspaper Sol de España; he also directed the Information Secretariat of the UCD in Malaga province; he has been the press chief for various institutions, including the College of Economists; he also served as the head of the Tourism Service of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga; he was an editorialist at Diario16 Malaga, and a professor of Journalistic Writing at the University of Wales (EADE). He has published the book 'Morir por Andalucía' and another of poems 'Las golondrinas y el mar'. Between 2015 and 2020 he worked as president of the College of Journalists of Andalusia in Malaga and of the Malaga Press Association, a group to which he has been linked for more than 20 years in various executive positions.

He now adds to his long list this award from the Senior Story Contest organized by the 'la Caixa' Foundation along with Radio Nacional de España and with the collaboration of La Vanguardia, where he had been a finalist in previous years. This award includes the broadcasting of the podcast on Radio Nacional de España.

In a record-breaking edition

This contest surpasses itself each year, but this seventeenth edition has seen record numbers. According to the 'la Caixa' Foundation, 5,635 works were submitted by seniors over 60 from all over Spain, achieving a 9% increase over the previous year. "While participation has increased in all categories, this year especially highlights the improvement in the quality of the podcast category, which has experienced a significant technical evolution," they emphasize. According to the jury, "greater scriptwriting, care in narration, and the incorporation of different sound sources are noticeable, enriching the auditory experience."

Rafael Salas's podcast deals with themes such as loneliness, memory, the loss of loved ones, and the human need to cling to memories through the radio. Rafael assures that this work would not have been possible without the collaboration of Paloma, the person in charge of the workshops at UMA, and the help of colleagues who also participated in it. "Colleagues have contributed their voices in this edition of the podcast; I did the editing myself with all the love in the world and adding sound effects to innovate. I am very pleased with the result," explains Rafael Salas.

Rafael not only dedicates the hours of the UMA workshop to this podcasting hobby. He has a channel 'Entrevhistoria' –available on Spotify– where he brings Spanish history closer through a series of virtual interviews with its main protagonists, all a result of research. In one of his latest publications, his native village was featured: 'Casarabonela: 'The Voice of Memory', where the residents of the Malaga municipality take center stage.

He is currently working on one of his most special 'Entrevhistorias': "It's about Jesus Christ, I know it's going to be controversial, but I'm working hard and researching to make it the best possible," Rafael previews. "My routine now is based on reading, writing, spending time on my channel, the workshops, and the family. What it means to enjoy retirement," he specifies with a laugh. At 70 years old, he feels young and as he says, not only will he have the radio, as his own podcast states. "I will always have my family," concludes Rafael Salas Gallego when talking about time with his grandchildren and wife.