Literature
In 1954 the Presidency of Colombia was occupied by Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Rojas Pinilla who a few years before, as a military attaché in Germany, fell in love with the technological advance called television, which is why he accepted and supported Fernando Gómez Agudelo’s initiative to implement it in Colombia.
History of the inauguration of Colombian television
Teresa Morales de Agudelowife of Fernando Gómez Agudelo (Died in 1993), recalled on Caracol Radio that the initiative to have television in the country arose days after the coup of the June 13, 1953. General Rojas Pinilla appointed the 21-year-old Gómez Agudelo to direct the project to bring television to the country.
Doña Teresa also remembers that Ricardo Gómez Agudelo, being a physicist, helped his brother Fernando to receive the necessary training. They chose German-made broadcast equipment and American-made cameras. In a few months the goal of celebrating the first year of Rojas Pinilla’s mandate was possible.
The opening day
On June 13, 1954 Fernando Gomez Agudelo He had the anxiety of being at the inauguration of a national purpose, inaugurating television, his only fear was that it would rain and affect the equipment.
Gómez Agudelo’s audacity led him to simultaneously carry out the first remote, which caused high levels of stress. The television studios were in the basement of the National Library (Calle 24 between Carreras 5 and 7) while President Rojas Pinilla would broadcast his message from the Palace of San Carlos (Calle 10 between Carreras 5 and 6), an enormous distance for his time.
Prior to the inauguration there were many rehearsals to refine the moments, which turned out better than planned. Cuban technicians advised their Colombian counterparts.
The first programming
On the night of Sunday, June 13, after 6:00 in the afternoon, the coat of arms of Colombia opened Colombian television, then President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla gave his inauguration speech, then Julio E Sánchez Vanegas gave way to a concert violin, then a Ballet presentation, an intervention by the musical comedy duet Los Tolimenses and ended, that first day, with an original play by Bernardo Romero Lozano starring, the 13-year-old boy, Bernardo Romero Pereiro.
seven decades later RTVC, Public Media System in alliance with the Colombian Film Heritage Foundation, they published the book 70 years of TV in Colombia, 1954 – 2024 which will be distributed exclusively by RTVC.
The book 70 years of Colombian TV
Alexandra Falla, director of Colombian Film Heritage, She was one of the editors of the work along with Gabriel Levy, advisor to the Ministry of ICTs. In dialogue with Caracol Radio, Alexandra stated that “It is a very interesting book because it tells the history of television from different voices. This book is the product of joint work that we do with Signal Memoria, the audiovisual archive of the entire system of our public media, both radio and television,” said Falla.
For the director of the Colombian Film Heritage, national television is a source of pride because in its internationalization it has managed to establish itself as full of talent in all areas, from the technical to the artistic. She affirms that there are national soap operas that have been revived in dozens of countries and the other productions have made it possible to praise the high quality of what is done, in this matter, in the country.
