Evelio Otero, Sr.

Evelio Otero (March 13, 1921 – February 12, 1988) was the first television anchorman in Puerto Rico and one of the first in Latin America.

Early life

Otero was born on March 13, 1921 in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, to a Galician father and Canarian mother. The next to youngest of six brothers and sisters, he was raised by a family of teachers and writers, when his birth father couldn't handle raising the children after the death of their mother during childbirth of the youngest. An avowed renaissance man, Evelio buried himself in books and was constantly thirsty for knowledge.

Career

Otero began working in radio at the age of 18, as a color commentator for basketball games in Santiago de Cuba. In 1945, he arrived in Havana, where his voice was heard on the Cadena Azul network. In 1948, Don Angel Ramos in San Juan, Puerto Rico had decided that his brand new television station, Channel 2, needed an experienced and unique voice talent. Don Ramos had heard of Otero and brought him to Puerto Rico. Evelio became the first voice to be heard on the television sets newly arrived in Puerto Rico. When the word was given to go ahead and launch the Channel 2, Evelio suggested to introduce the station as Telemundo (meaning, roughly, "world television"). Don Ramos agreed, and the name Telemundo, used today by the of the largest Spanish speaking television stations, was born. Evelio went on to be the anchor for the first television news show in Puerto Rico becoming the first broadcast journalist in the island.

Otero married a high school teacher, Consuelo Rivera. Otero moved to Cuba in 1951 with his pregnant new bride. Their daughter, Altagracia (Altita) Otero — now a psychiatrist &mdah; was born on 9 April 1952. Soon after the coup d'état by Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, Otero returned to Puerto Rico where he continued the television program, and because of his reputation he became the dean of news anchors in Puerto Rico.

In 1961, after the birth of his son Evelio Jr., Otero moved to the brand new Channel 4 television station and became the first anchor at WAPA-TV. He had a sense of history, which drove him more than awards or economic success. On 31 December 1972, hall of fame baseball player, Roberto Clemente, visited Otero after appearing at a local game show on New Year's Eve requesting help for the suffering caused by the devastating earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua. Clemente asked Otero if he could go with him as he didn't have any news personnel to cover the charity effort. Otero declined as he had a celebration to attend with his wife and children, but promised Clemente that he would go on the next trip the following week with better planning. Clemente died that night and became a legend in baseball.

Otero's wife, Consuelo Rivera de Otero, wrote her doctoral dissertation at New York University in 1973, on the use of mass communication for teaching by the government.^[1] This became a precursor to what is known today as National Public Radio and Chennel 6 in Puerto Rico. She graduated with honors and continued her own achievements in mass communication.

In 1980, Otero moved to Maryland, where he was hired as a senior editor for the Voice of America in Spanish. Shortly thereafter, he assumed the same duties for the new "Radio Marti" program of the Voice of America, which was geared towards Cuba and was broadcast from Washington DC.

Death

Evelio Otero died in a fire in his house in Silver Spring, Maryland on 12 February 1988, and was buried at the Cementerio Buxeda in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. His son, Evelio Otero, Jr., a Colonel at US Special Operations Command, lived with him at the time, but was unable to rescue him from the fire.

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