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Tingo
Maria, the capital of Leoncio Prado Province, is located
on the edge of the Amazon Basin, at an altitude of 649 meters
above sea level. Most of the time this area is very hot
and humid. "Tingo" means "river junction" because it is
the point where the Monzon and Huallaga rivers unite. Around
1800, the first village was founded in this area, by Sebastian
Martines. His wife's name was "Maria", so possibly her name
was used in combination with Tingo for the city's name.
The population is around 25,000. Tingo Maria is a thriving
market town. Among its main products are coca (for cocaine)
and to a lesser extent, marijuana, so the town is extremely
dangerous due to narco-guerillas activities.
In
Huanuco, several bus companies have service to Pucallpa
and Tocache through Tingo Maria, however friends at Emisoras
JSV suggested that I go there by taxi. It costs about $2
for the 3 hours journey. The 118km road north from Huanuco
climbs over a 3000 meter pass before dropping to Tingo Maria.
During my stay, I was in the Gran Hotel Tingo Maria, one
of the cheapest hotels there at $1.80 a night.
Radio
Tingo Maria is on one of the thriving avenues, Avenue
Raimondi, with a lot of stores, restaurants, hotels, bus
companies, banks, movie houses, as well as two radio stations.
The studios and offices of Radio Tingo Maria are located
on the second floor of a rented building at Av. Raimondi
No. 592. In 1984 it was moved from the former studios located
at Av. Pucallpa 218. It was very easy to find the station
because the building was painted as "Radio Tingo Maria,
RTM". The station was not extremely big, but is simple.
There are reception/office, studio and an extensive record
library. The studio is not separate, so sometimes the announcer
is also the operator. It is equipped with a Sparta brand
control console, 2 Sony record players and 2 Shure microphones.
A Contec cassette recorder is used for station id's and
commercial advertisements. It is run by 5 announcers, 3
operators, 1 secretary and the director/owner.
The
station was founded by Leonidas Infantas G. on January
1, 1960 and was the first station in Leoncio Prado province.
The station slogan is "La Voz de la Bella Durmiente" because
Tingo Maria is known with a mountain shaped like a 'sleeping
beauty' located 6 km from town. Initially they operated
without a license as an experimental station. They use a
transmitter with an output of 1000 watts fed into a 1/4
wave antenna 69 meters high. Programming consists of news
(9%), sports (9%), entertainment show (34%) and music (48%).
Information
by Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Japan, 1996
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