Luis del Olmo says goodbye to microphones after one hundred and fifty years on the air

“My sense of smell tells me that the curtain must be lowered definitively, so with these words I turn off the microphone, my old companion for more than half a century, I pack my bags and go home,” Del Olmo said in his farewell.

The radio announcer and businessman Luis del Olmo said goodbye to the microphones last Friday after half a century writing the history of Spanish radio day by day. From his space on the morning of Radio Nacional de España, Del Olmo, with a broken voice and after concluding an interview with the national coach Vicente del Bosque, stated that "it is time to say goodbye, a goodbye, which this time is not a see you later."

“My sense of smell tells me that the curtain must be lowered definitively, so with these words I turn off the microphone, my old companion for more than half a century, I pack my bags and go home,” the announcer acknowledged.

Although the decision has not been easy, Luis Olmo assured that it was time to “keep silent” and “listen to how they make the radio and how other colleagues live it.”

The journalist thanked “everyone for having had the patience to listen to me and come this far.”

Del Olmo is the oldest radio journalist in Spain, with the longest career on the Spanish airwaves. 'Protagonistas' began its journey on July 1, 1973, on RNE. After his time on COPE, Onda Cero and ABC Punto Radio, 12,000 broadcasts later, Luis del Olmo returns to his origins and Protagonistas celebrates its fortieth anniversary broadcast on public radio, on Radio Nacional de España, the same network where it began.

He is considered the creator of the genre of radio talk shows, of the opening of the microphones to the listener, of the radio going out to the street. He has made radio programs from the most unlikely places: the inside of a mine, cathedrals, military detachments, international capitals such as Moscow, Beijing or New York. Every genre he touched became a success.

He has received numerous awards in recognition of his success and professional ability: 8 Ondas Awards, 5 Golden Antennas, the Golden Microphone, the National Radio Award, the King Juan Carlos International Journalism Award, the Queen Sofía Award, the Medal for Merit at Work. He is an Honoris Causa Doctor from the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, del Olmo has dedicated his entire life to a medium in which he began at the age of 14 on Radio Ponferrada, in his homeland.