Goodbye to Manuel Martín Ferrand

Founder of Antena 3 Radio and Antena 3 Television, Martín Ferrand was an all-round journalist, a master both in studios and in offices.

The journalist, academic and ABC columnist Manuel Martín Ferrand died this Friday at the age of 72 in Madrid after a long illness.

Manuel Campo Vidal, president of the Television Academy, wanted to highlight that “he was the creator of Hour 25, a program that I had the honor of directing years later. Founder of Antena 3 Radio and Antena 3 Television, he has been a great Spanish audiovisual player before the microphones and in the offices. "Journalism in our country loses another of its great teachers today."

Manuel Martín Ferrand graduated in Journalism with the number one in his class. According to ABC, he debuted in the written press in El Diario de Cádiz and collaborated early with Pueblo. His first approaches to radio were on Radio Popular in Madrid. In 1960 he joined TVE as an editor in Information Services. Once on public television, he presents and directs several programs such as Images to Know in 1966, Us with Alfredo Amestoy in 1968 or 24 hours between 1971 and 1972, among others.

At the same time he began to work at Cadena Ser where he founded several programs such as Hour 25, a reference on Spanish radio.

In 1973 he became head of Diario de Barcelona and later directed the Nuevo Diario newspaper. At this time he founded a media and documentation consulting company. He collaborates as an advisor to Antonio Asensio, president of Grupo Zeta, where he will begin his time as a columnist at El Periódico. In the same group, he collaborates with the magazine Bazar and the weekly Interviú.

In 1982 he founded Antena 3 Radio, becoming general director and board member. In 1989 he was appointed general director of Antena 3 Television until he resigned in 1992. Then he will return to radio on Cadena COPE with La Linterna and La Mañana de la COPE, until 2002.