Kuya Eddie, my idol

MANILA, Philippines - A wish come true could best describe my feeling when I personally met my long-time broadcast idol, former Sen. Eddie Ilarde, as we pretaped his episode for my radio program, The Law of the Heart is Love, over DWBR, 104.3FM.

The name Eddie Ilarde is always associated with his very popular advice program, Kahapon Lamang, dating back in the ‘50s and late ‘70s which has been revived lately over DZBB every Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

“I am very glad to know you have such a program,” Eddie said when he kindly replied to my text invitation. He read one Tagalog poem and two love poems of American poet James J. Metcalfe whose four books containing hundreds of love poems for all occasions have been a great source of the love poems I regularly read in my radio program.

“It would be a great pleasure for me to give justice to these beautiful poems by James J. Metcalfe which I have come across many, many years ago,” Eddie said.

During our conversation, I learned that he had 30-second auditions before he was finally taken in as an announcer or “bago na-recognize ang aking munting kakayahan sa pamamagitan ng tinig,” he humbly recalled.

His advice to those people who may want to venture in the broadcast field is the same one his discoverer gave him.

“Ang advice sa amin noong aking discoverer na si Rey Oliver, the best announcer to me is: ‘Read anything and read it aloud. Know how to modulate and do not eat your words.’  Huwag daw kakainin ang mga kataga.  Ang ibig sabihin niyan do not eat your words.  You project the words so the listeners will understand you. Read aloud from a newspaper or magazine.”

Asked to compare radio and TV announcers during his prime and the present crop of broadcasters, he said: “I don’t want to judge but what I can say is, kaming mga naunang mga broadcaster o announcer kung tawagin, before we go on air, before we face the microphone, we rehearse the script over and over.And we make sure the pronunciation of the words, especially proper names, names of persons and places is correct.  I usually go to the extent of calling the embassies to get the correct pronunciation of the proper names of places and persons.”

My conversation with Ilarde and the poems he read was aired last Sept. 18 with replay the following day.

The program airs love songs of yesteryear and love poems read by celebrity guest poem readers. Previous guests were Vice presidents Jejomar Binay and Noli De Castro; senators Manny Villar, Tito Sotto, Migs Zubiri. Alan Peter Cayetano and Bong Revilla; Justice secretaries Leila de Lima and Alberto Agra; Manny Pacquiao; broadcasters Mike Enriquez, Rey Langit, Veronica Baluyot, Anthony Taberna, Kim Atienza and Bernadette Sembrano; Rico J. Puno, Willie Revillame, Willie Nepomuceno, Edu Manzano, Ricky Davao, Joey de Leon, Vic Sotto and Pia Guanio; and lawyer Jose Midas Marquez, former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, poet Pete Lacaba, lawyer Percida Acosta of PAO, former BID Commissioner Marcelino Libanan and ex-Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.