Héctor Larrea (born October 30, 1938) is an Argentine radio and television host.

Life and work

Larrea was born in Bragado, Buenos Aires Province, in 1938. He lost his father at age nine, and found comfort with his mother in

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, particularly

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

shows. He participated in high school plays, and following graduation, attended the Institute of Higher Radio Broadcasting Studies (ISER) in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. He met his first wife, Leonor Ferrara, at ISER, and earned a degree in broadcasting in 1962. He debuted on the radio at

LOR Radio Argentina Created by Enrique Telémaco Susini, LOR Radio Argentina was the first national broadcast radio station in Argentina. It operated continuously from 1920 to 1997. First broadcast After returning to Argentina from Europe in 1919, the radio pio ...

, and shortly afterward on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

as co-host with Nelly Raymond of ''La campana de cristal'', a

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

.Homenaje: Héctor Larrea
Larrea later worked the presenter on ''El show de Sandro'' (a musical program hosted by popular crooner

Sandro de América Roberto Sánchez-Ocampo (August 19, 1945 – January 4, 2010), better known by his stage names Sandro or Sandro de América, was an Argentine singer and actor. He is considered a pioneer of Argentine rock for being one of the first rock artist ...

), as well as for numerous Tango orchestras. He inaugurated what would become his signature radio program, ''Rapidísimo'', in 1967. Larrea designed the format for the show, which in English would translate as "Promptly," to air a variety of music in its 30 minute morning rush hour slot. He became known to listeners for his hurried, yet precise, speech, and the show was among the first in Argentina to include on-air caller requests and participation. ''Rapidísimo'' won the host numerous

Martín Fierro Award Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

s, making him among the broadcasters most so honored. He remained active in television, and hosted the

comedy sketch Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...

show, ''Humor redondo'', in 1968, the children's show, ''El mundo de Calculín'' (based on

Manuel García Ferré Manuel García Ferré (8 October 1929 – 28 March 2013) was a Spanish Argentine animation director and cartoonist. Biography García Ferré was born in Almería, Spain, in 1929. He arrived in Argentina in 1947, and worked for advertising agenci ...

's cartoon characters) in 1976, and the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

, ''Totalmente'', in 1999, among other programs. Larrea, who lost his second wife to

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

, underwent a number of surgeries to remove

polyps A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) end i ...

in 2000 and 2001, and to repair a broken

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...

suffered in a fall in 2004. He recovered, and hosted the

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

premiere of

Juan de Dios Filiberto Juan de Dios Filiberto (8 March 1885 11 November 1964) was an Argentine violinist, conductor, poet and composer who became prominent in the Argentine tango genre. Life and work He was born Óscar Juan de Dios Filiberti in 1885 to Josefa Roballo ...

's ''Quejas de

Bandoneón The bandoneon (or bandonion, es, bandoneón) is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, the bandoneon is held ...

''. Disputes with the new management at Radio Rivadavia forced Larrea to cancel the long-running ''Rapidísimo'' in 2004, however, though he continued as host of ''Una vuelta Nacional'', which he launched at the public

LRA Radio Nacional LRA Radio Nacional, also known as ''Radio Nacional Argentina'', is the Argentine national radio station, and part of the national public media system. It started transmitting in 1937 as LRA Radio del Estado and changed its name to the current on ...

in 2003.Una Vuelta Nacional

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larrea, Hector 1938 births Living people Argentine people of Basque descent People from Buenos Aires Province Argentine radio presenters Argentine television presenters Argentine male television actors Argentine journalists Male journalists