August 5, 2019 • 22 mins
In episode 1 the boys interview Enrique Santos and learn how he made his grandmother laugh during her tough times dealing with cancer. We learn how he got into radio and how he is using his voice to make a difference.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Are You Kidding? Podcast? I can listen with
my kids with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez, who are
kids helping kids. What's up? Guys? Welcome to our very
first podcast featuring star, the one and Only and Rickie Santos.
He is not only our producer but our mentor. We
asked him a bunch of questions like how you going
to radio and how he's using his voice to get
(00:22):
back to the community. Welcome Enrique, what's up? Hi? Guys? Hi, Hey,
how are you? I'm doing good. I'm proud of you guys,
and what are you guys? And what you guys are doing?
Thank you? Well. Not only is Enrique radio host, but
he's also became our mentor because he told us a
lot of tips and tricks on how to do a podcast,
and he basically set it up for us so we
know what to do. And he's also very very funny,
(00:46):
funny looking. I remember I went to camp and some
of my Sebastian's friends we always say you're funny looking. Yeah,
so I've heard that joke, but I feel like it's
better when you did it all. Why friends did it
always sort of likenxious because they kept doing it and
it was it was it was abusing it. Yeah, they
(01:07):
were abusing it. Well, it's like everything in life. Everything
has to be a balance. Not everything is always funny,
not everything not everything is always has to be serious,
and that's when life is. That's when you find them
the right balance, when you find the mix of everything.
So I'm happy. I'm very proud of you guys. Thank you,
thank you, And first off, you want to thank you
for seeing our vision and believing in us. It's been
(01:28):
about five years now that we've known each other, Yes,
it has been, and you've always supported us and helped us,
and we just want to thank you for that. Of course,
I have to support a group of of brothers of
good kids that are doing something positive for for other kids,
especially you guys. That it's summertime right now. Most kids
are worried about going to the pool and hanging out
with the friends. And I'm not saying that you guys
(01:49):
aren't worried about that kind of of that cool stuff.
But you guys again have found the right balance of
enjoying summer but at the same time giving back. And
I'm so you guys really ought to be commended for
all the other good things that you guys do. And
we we first started talking about this with with your mom,
with Rachel. Honestly, I was the original plan was for
(02:10):
me to be hosting this thing with you guys, but
I believe so much in YouTube and talking over with
your mom, we said, you know what, they can do
this on their own, and you guys are doing this
podcast on your own. And we're all very very proud
of you guys than you. More kids need to learn
about your example. And speaking of the pool, yesterday we
went in the pool for a long time, our mom,
my brother, and our dad when we all want to
(02:32):
put together like you guys like swimming. Yeah, you swimming,
Like every single week of the summer, we've been in
the pool. So I was in the pool to this weekend,
but I messed up my feet from the walking back
and forth on a diamond bride. And then we decided
to shoot some basketball. And I'm not very good shooting
basketball and I shouldn't warn some shoes and I didn't.
I was barefoot, so now I'm paying the price in
(02:54):
my feet hurt. Did you play? Did you play on concrete?
I played, Well, they're concrete pavers. Yeah, so, oh that's
what happened last week. Ouch, we won the pool for
like every day because we didn't have camp that week,
so we won the pool. And on the pool we
have like the ground and my I was walking on
it and my feet. So what can we recommend to
(03:16):
everyone that's listening right now? If you're gonna be outside
and if you're going to go to the pool, swim,
don't walk because then you'll pay the price by your
feet hurting a lot. There you go. And also, if
you're gonna play basketball, remember wear shoes because you don't
want to like damage your feet exactly. You get caught
up in the moment and you don't realize you're hurting
your your feet until later when it's too late. Yeah,
(03:38):
you don't want to get blisters or anything like that.
That's the problem I have right now. It's no fun. No,
it's so what's up? What other questions you guys have
for me? Well? What made you get into radio? What
inspired you to get into Well? Ever since I was
your guy's age, I liked radio, I like broad casting,
(04:00):
I like TV, I like comedy. But I never envisioned
I never thought on myself, you know, getting into into
the business. I always liked it, you know, movies, radio
and TV and famous people. I used to like all
that kind of stuff. But as a kid, I always
wanted to be a police officer. So um at a
high school, I went to the police academy. I became
a police officer. And then one day, when I was
(04:21):
working as a cop, I called the radio station that
I used to listen to and the guy that picked
up was the program director. He was the boss at
the radio station and he needed somebody on the weekends,
and we became friends, and he put me on and
I liked what I did, and he liked, well how
I sounded, and he said, do you want to be
you know, do this like for forever? That turned into
you know, I was like forever? Is that that meant
(04:42):
I had to leave the police department, which eventually I did.
I made the choice, and I said, but I stayed
on as a reserve police officer, which I still am today.
So I'm able to give back to the community, especially
the community where I came from. That's very important to me.
But that's how I started. Radio was just an opportunity
that was really unexpect that that started all because of
a phone call. Life is full of opportunities. You always
(05:05):
got to be ready to always listening and always available
and receptive to all awesome opportunities that life offers us. Yeah,
you always have to take the leap of faith because
you always have to go with your gut and always
try to get And that's and that's exactly what I
had to do because imagine I was there already working
as a police officer for six years. That's you know,
(05:25):
I was actually right out of high school. I dispatched
for a year and a half. I went to the
police academy, so that meant I was employee of the
city for almost eight years already. You're vested after ten years,
which means you're you know, you get certain seniorities and
certain benefits from the city when you're working there. And
they actually had like a retirement thing that you could
be like twenty years and and they call it the
(05:47):
twenty and out, so you can be like twenty years
and you can retire and get like full benefits and
then you can go on to do you know, another
career and you can still be receiving those benefits. So
there was a lot on the table and there was
a lot of risk because the entertainment industry is very risky.
You know. It could have went very well for me,
but it was it was a big chance because again
I didn't know much about it. But I I took
(06:09):
that risk, and I took that ball and ran as
fast as I could with it. And thank god, I'm
you know, I'm still running and it's and it's going well.
It's a great outcome. Yeah. And and but it hadn't,
I wouldn't be here today, you know. And and and
I wouldn't have this success. I wouldn't have the opportunity
I had I not taken advantage of that opportunity, I
wouldn't be where I'm at today or who I am
(06:31):
today in broadcasting. I would still be, you know, working
as a police officer, which is okay because I still
love police work. But again, it was that leap of
faith and I felt that instinct and I followed my
my gut, and thank god I did, because I'm very happy.
And when they called you for the phone call, was
it this radio two nine? It was another radio station.
So I worked for that radio station. While you know,
(06:52):
I'm gonna I don't want to age myself because it's
a secret how old I am. I'm kidding, but I
was there for a long time and then from that company,
I ended up leaving and I went to another company,
and then now I'm here with I Heart Radio, and
I'm the chairman and c CEO. I'm the boss now
of all all the Spanish stuff that we do at
I Heeart, besides all the stuff that I do on
the radio. So so it's a lot more stressful. I'll
(07:15):
put it to you that way. So the Latin like radio, right,
all our strategy and everything that we do in Spanish
at iHeart Radio, I'm I'm that guy now. So I
wear a bunch of different hats and it comes with
a lot of responsibility, but I'm up for it. Speaking
of Latins, you have become a very important icon for
Hispanics here in Miami and all over the US. Have
(07:38):
How have you been able to use your voice and
make a difference well bringing people together? Again following my
instinct and always realizing that these microphones that we're talking
into they can be used in such a They're very powerful,
(07:58):
um because they reach how many people. But when you
use these microphones to bring people together, to shine light
on people's problems, especially people that don't have a voice,
it just makes you the same thing that you guys
are doing for for for kids. Um, I do it.
That's the same thing, but you know at a different level.
(08:20):
You guys are doing it now because you guys are
doing podcasts. So now welcome because you guys are now
on the same at the same level as I am.
And so you realize it doesn't matter how old you are,
it doesn't matter how smart you are, it doesn't matter
how educated you are. If it's coming from the heart
and what you're saying is what you truly mean and
your intentions are well are good, you can it's it's
(08:41):
um you really have an impact and the ability to
be able to change people's lives and to help people.
And that's what I've dedicated my career too. It's fun
again going back to the balance. You know, people come
to radio and they want to hear music and it's
it's a good time. But sometimes things, you know, you
have to talk about the serious things, and especially the
problems that people have like cancer, and when you're able
(09:04):
to motivate people the same way you guys are and
help them raise awareness you educate people and help them
raise money. Madam. It feels good. It feels good to
give back and to leave like a big impact on
the community because you know that you're doing good in
the community and you're helping others exactly. And also while
you're helping, I'm using your voice to inspire others to
(09:25):
do the same thing. So how do you think we
can use our voice to inspire others to do what
we're doing the same way you guys are doing this
right now? You know, gauge everything you do and look
at the look at the outcome, and always go above
and beyond. You know, go to bed every day feeling
good about what you did. And if you feel that something,
(09:47):
it's okay because nothing is perfect and we're humans and
we're all going to mess up. That's part of life.
It's part of growing up to You're gonna find that
they're not always wins. Not all baseball teams and football
teams and so or teams. You know, they don't win
every single game. That's okay. That doesn't mean that they're
a bad team. Not every single player is going to
knock the ball out of the out of the out
of the park and and hit a home run every
(10:08):
time he goes up to bat. That's okay. It doesn't
mean he's a bad baseball player. But we have ups
and we have downs. So you know, whatever you did today, no,
and if it didn't go as exactly as planned, you
know that tomorrow you have another opportunity to get it right,
to get it better. UM, and always work and dedicate
UM time on and so your days are productive, you know.
(10:31):
I like every day when I go to sleep, I
want to I wanna and I start like doing an
inventory of everything I did. I want to make sure
it was a productive day, that I filled the day
with as many positive and good things that that I
could have accomplished. But again, going back, it's all a
balance because you don't want to overwork yourself, so you
gotta it's the balance of you know, of work and
(10:53):
when you're time off family that's very important. So it's
it's the balance of things. Well, speaking of that, what's
the most memorable thing you have done to help others
in the community. See for me, most memorable there's so
many opportunities when sometimes I'm I'm just talking and being
myself and I don't even realize sometimes that I'm that
(11:14):
I'm helping people and tell people stop me on the
street or eating in a restaurant and they come up
to me and they thank me for things that sometimes
I didn't even realize it was such an impact. You
made my day so much better, you know, um in
your show. You know, my kids don't never spoke Spanish.
They weren't there Latinos or second generation Latinos, and they
don't really think it's cool to speak Spanish. And it's
(11:34):
been difficult for my my my kids to speak Spanish.
But now my kids are speaking Spanish because you make
Spanish cool because you're mixing the right amount of Spanish
and the English. You know. So those are the little
opportunities when I'm able to run into my fans and
people thank me. I think that's at least for me,
that's the most gratifying When people tell me that you
know that they've gone through a difficult situation in their life,
(11:56):
that where they were depressed, they were down, they were
very unha happy and um that they tuned into the
show and that I helped brighten their day. That those
are really the most gratifying moments for me. But besides that,
you know benefits that we get involved in, like we
are now teamed up together with Stand Up for Cancer UM,
UM disaster relief after you know, after after hurricanes and
(12:19):
things like that UM and also being the voice during hurricanes,
you know, doing UM broadcasting out of South Florida. There's
a lot of my listeners in the state of Florida,
and you know the problems because you guys live in Florida,
all the problems that we have with hurricanes, So being
able to inform people and and and getting the right
information when they have to leave their houses and they're
concerned and you know, they're worried about the storms that
(12:42):
are coming. And after her can I believe Irma? It
was Irma. We went to the We actually went to
one of the shelters with two hundred pairs of socks
and we gave out oh two thousand, sorry two a
lot of socks. Yeah, and we gave one to every
single person. There were no cold feet there, Nope. Everyone
was nice and cozy. How did that feel well for me?
(13:05):
I felt like a superhero almost, because you know superheroes
always go out saving people, helping people. I felt like
a superhero because I got I got a chance to
go out and help people. You guys are superheroes and
you don't realize it. Not like they say, not all
superheroes wear capes, And that's so true. You're not all superhers.
Are superheroes are wearing you know, an outfit and in
(13:26):
a cape. You can to be a superhero right now
for everybody that's listening. Whether you're in a hospital bed,
whether you're working in an office, or if you're at home. Um,
doesn't matter how old you are, you can be a
superhero when you you step in and really help the
less fortunate. I feel like what we do, like with
our kids Helping Kids initiative, I feel like we become
(13:49):
like very like superheroes and it makes us superheroes because
we get to like do so much with the community,
help them, give back and inspire others to come superheroes.
What have you guys learned and helping other kids? Because
your kids helping kids, You guys, what's the most important
thing you guys personally have have learned in this process? Well,
(14:10):
we've learned that. Well, we actually met a kid, an
amazing kid named Ryan, suffers from Type on diabetes. He's
an amazing kid and We know what he struggles through
every single day because he has type on diabetes. How
do you tell you? What do he tell you? How?
How was that? To live? How is that? To live
with diabetes? He has to like do like the checks
with the blood and everything. And that's why we give
(14:33):
back because we think every kid deserves to be healthy
and you never know one day will need help. So
you see yourself and other kids as well, we try
to imagine like what it will be like to like
see like go they're going through, right, to actually put
yourself in their shoes and their circumstance and like once
we see like how like like how tough it is,
(14:55):
we want to always help back, like help like give
back so we know lost people could feel better things
in perspective. Cool deal. So now that we're talking about
like giving back, we want to talk to you about
Sam to cancer. We showed me the socks, right, so
mom Poppy, We had a girl named Poppy who was
(15:18):
impacted by sand up to cancer and she designed a
sock for us. And there's so much impact and emphasis
that goes into these socks. There's so much like things
like you see the sock of you know, arrows says
stand up to cancer on it, and he was like, oh,
it's probably for Sam to cancer, you know, to help
give back for cancer. But you scentify it right away
(15:38):
when you see it. Yeah, but there's so much that
goes into it. It's such just that it's also about
her story. So the arrows, the waves, they represent the
beach because the beach helpter calmed down and helped her
get through tough times, like a therapy for her. Yeah,
and the arrows, you know how it was a big
arrow of multiple like little arrows inside it represents her family,
(15:59):
like building her up, courage, you know, making her feel
good and it makes her up. And she explained all
this to you when when she when she designed the sock,
what she was doing, the purpose of all the arrows,
what that meant. That's really cool. It was very cool
in getting to speak to her about a story. It
was very like inspirational because we get to learn so
much about very creative too as an artist. Right to
(16:21):
put all that into that, so that there's a symbolism
behind all those arrows. Cool, it's not just arrows, it
represents more really cool. Well, what do you think about
the sock if you could give it a grade from
no if you read it zero ten number one. They're
very comfortable, so I would give it a ten for comfort.
(16:43):
I like them on my feet. The colors. Come on,
this is gonna be a rough one for How can
I give you anything less than the ten for all
of it? The colors, they're comfortable, the cause, Um, I
think it. Overall it you get a ten, a ten
plus if you're listening to this right now. Just gave
you a tent on your design. Your design is awesome.
(17:06):
And have you a loved one or anyone close to
you being affected by cancer? You know that my grandmother,
may she rest in peace. And then she um, this
is kind of wild. This is really it's a it's
a testament to how how wild this how wild cancer
and how scary it is. Um when there's a lot
(17:28):
of unanswered questions as well, and there's so much uncertainty.
So Uma was diagnosed with with breast cancer and she
had that breast removed, and um, come after they had
the breast removed, you know that they tend to the
lab and they go to test and everything, and it
turns out that it wasn't cancerous. So she removed the
(17:50):
breast without even being necessary, but out of an abundance
of caution and the you know, at that time, she
had the whole thing removed and we really had to.
That affected her psychologically, right, because she only had the
one one breast, And then they have a prosthetic where
they have it's like, uh, fake breast, so it's like
(18:12):
a brawl and one side is for her breast and
the other one is actually a fake one. So she
put it on and I don't recommend anybody doing this,
and I'm I'm not even sure this is koshert. So
I'm telling you guys the story. But it was my
grandmother and part of the third you know, the therapy.
Uh you know, I'd mess with her and she'd be
in the kitchen. I come through and I grab ours
breast and I'll be like, which is the real one
(18:32):
which was the fake? And not like grabbed like I
would like poke, you know, and that would make her
laugh so much, and then she's like, well it looks
pretty real, right, this feels real too. So the purpose
of me telling you that is that through making making
her laugh, that was it would helped her get through
that very you know difficult um, time in her life
where as a woman, she lost one of one of
(18:55):
her breast and that more than likely will have come
to think of it, afterwards, we had information that maybe
she didn't have to go be that drastic and remove
the whole thing, but at an abundance of caution because
it scared her so much. She said, just take the
whole thing off. And you know, doctor said, you sure,
we should run some more tests you know, this, that
and the other, and she said, no, no no, no, just
take it off. I don't even want to hear about this.
So that thank god. Um no nobody in my family, um,
(19:19):
you know has directly had had cancer, but that was
a big scare in our family and my grandmother has
now passed away. But that that was one way of
you know how we boosted her up every day, you know,
to to get her past that at that point and
help her realize that she was okay even though she
was missing you know, one one breast. Well that was
(19:40):
still cool. As I say it after, it is the
best medicine it really, it really is. And it helped
it helped her through it and you know, get it
was fine, honestly, you know, the first several months it
was very, very difficult for her. Maybe it was a
lot more difficult than what she shared with us, but
that was that was our way of or at least
my way. I don't know what if any abody else
(20:00):
in my and my family chose to poke at my
grandma's boob, but I did so because, you know, I
thought that that was that was That's always been me,
you know, and so I'm happy that we helped her
get through that. Um, what advice would you have for
our use today, for any kids out there listening to
your podcast, I would say to everybody listening to young people, UM,
(20:27):
to be themselves, to be real, to be honest, to analyze,
uh the analyze themselves every day, and how they can
become a better person. And in how can you become
a better person is by really focusing less on yourself
and when you when you compare the problems that you're
going through, always know that there are other people that
(20:48):
are going through situations that are a lot worse. So
when you're complaining because you didn't get to go on
the trip you wanted to go on to, or you
have too much homework, or you didn't get the toy
you've been wanting or the game you wanted on on
on on your game system or you know, all that
all that will fall in place. And if you work
hard enough in life rewards you in amazing ways. And
(21:09):
and be thankful for the things that you do have,
and always know that there's people that are really suffering,
people that don't have, um the opportunity every day that
you have to get up and to make a better
day and to do something today that you didn't get
to accomplish yesterday and get it right uh this time.
(21:32):
And there's a lot of people with all different types
of diseases and ailments. There's people that are you know,
and wheelchairs or people that are are paralyzed, and those
are You've got to really be thankful if you think
about it, that you know, we are truly blessed and
we all everybody's gifted in some way form or another.
Everybody has something super cool that they're really really good at.
(21:55):
Focus on the things you're really really good at and
do more of that, and do what you love, do
what you love, and respect people, especially our elders and
our family, and be thankful a family. UM, be very
appreciative of family. There's so many people that are separated
from their families, they don't they don't get to hang
out with their mom or their dad or their grandparents
for so many different, you know reasons. So I would
(22:18):
say be thankful number one, focus on bettering themselves and
and focus on how you can help other people. And
that's just gonna it comes back to to help you
and that makes you a better person. Thank you and
Enrique for helping us produce this podcast, and we are
so glad to have you as our first guest. Very proud,
and you guys know we're all will support you guys
no matter what you're doing. And again, very proud of
(22:39):
what you guys are doing. On the Are You Kidding podcasts?
You just heard Are You Kidding Podcast with brothers Sebastian
and Brandon Martinez who are kids helping kids
This is Are You Kidding? Podcast? I can listen with
my kids with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez, who are
kids helping kids. What's up? Guys? Welcome to our very
first podcast featuring star, the one and Only and Rickie Santos.
He is not only our producer but our mentor. We
asked him a bunch of questions like how you going
to radio and how he's using his voice to get
(00:22):
back to the community. Welcome Enrique, what's up? Hi? Guys? Hi, Hey,
how are you? I'm doing good. I'm proud of you guys,
and what are you guys? And what you guys are doing?
Thank you? Well. Not only is Enrique radio host, but
he's also became our mentor because he told us a
lot of tips and tricks on how to do a podcast,
and he basically set it up for us so we
know what to do. And he's also very very funny,
(00:46):
funny looking. I remember I went to camp and some
of my Sebastian's friends we always say you're funny looking. Yeah,
so I've heard that joke, but I feel like it's
better when you did it all. Why friends did it
always sort of likenxious because they kept doing it and
it was it was it was abusing it. Yeah, they
(01:07):
were abusing it. Well, it's like everything in life. Everything
has to be a balance. Not everything is always funny,
not everything not everything is always has to be serious,
and that's when life is. That's when you find them
the right balance, when you find the mix of everything.
So I'm happy. I'm very proud of you guys. Thank you,
thank you, And first off, you want to thank you
for seeing our vision and believing in us. It's been
(01:28):
about five years now that we've known each other, Yes,
it has been, and you've always supported us and helped us,
and we just want to thank you for that. Of course,
I have to support a group of of brothers of
good kids that are doing something positive for for other kids,
especially you guys. That it's summertime right now. Most kids
are worried about going to the pool and hanging out
with the friends. And I'm not saying that you guys
(01:49):
aren't worried about that kind of of that cool stuff.
But you guys again have found the right balance of
enjoying summer but at the same time giving back. And
I'm so you guys really ought to be commended for
all the other good things that you guys do. And
we we first started talking about this with with your mom,
with Rachel. Honestly, I was the original plan was for
(02:10):
me to be hosting this thing with you guys, but
I believe so much in YouTube and talking over with
your mom, we said, you know what, they can do
this on their own, and you guys are doing this
podcast on your own. And we're all very very proud
of you guys than you. More kids need to learn
about your example. And speaking of the pool, yesterday we
went in the pool for a long time, our mom,
my brother, and our dad when we all want to
(02:32):
put together like you guys like swimming. Yeah, you swimming,
Like every single week of the summer, we've been in
the pool. So I was in the pool to this weekend,
but I messed up my feet from the walking back
and forth on a diamond bride. And then we decided
to shoot some basketball. And I'm not very good shooting
basketball and I shouldn't warn some shoes and I didn't.
I was barefoot, so now I'm paying the price in
(02:54):
my feet hurt. Did you play? Did you play on concrete?
I played, Well, they're concrete pavers. Yeah, so, oh that's
what happened last week. Ouch, we won the pool for
like every day because we didn't have camp that week,
so we won the pool. And on the pool we
have like the ground and my I was walking on
it and my feet. So what can we recommend to
(03:16):
everyone that's listening right now? If you're gonna be outside
and if you're going to go to the pool, swim,
don't walk because then you'll pay the price by your
feet hurting a lot. There you go. And also, if
you're gonna play basketball, remember wear shoes because you don't
want to like damage your feet exactly. You get caught
up in the moment and you don't realize you're hurting
your your feet until later when it's too late. Yeah,
(03:38):
you don't want to get blisters or anything like that.
That's the problem I have right now. It's no fun. No,
it's so what's up? What other questions you guys have
for me? Well? What made you get into radio? What
inspired you to get into Well? Ever since I was
your guy's age, I liked radio, I like broad casting,
(04:00):
I like TV, I like comedy. But I never envisioned
I never thought on myself, you know, getting into into
the business. I always liked it, you know, movies, radio
and TV and famous people. I used to like all
that kind of stuff. But as a kid, I always
wanted to be a police officer. So um at a
high school, I went to the police academy. I became
a police officer. And then one day, when I was
(04:21):
working as a cop, I called the radio station that
I used to listen to and the guy that picked
up was the program director. He was the boss at
the radio station and he needed somebody on the weekends,
and we became friends, and he put me on and
I liked what I did, and he liked, well how
I sounded, and he said, do you want to be
you know, do this like for forever? That turned into
you know, I was like forever? Is that that meant
(04:42):
I had to leave the police department, which eventually I did.
I made the choice, and I said, but I stayed
on as a reserve police officer, which I still am today.
So I'm able to give back to the community, especially
the community where I came from. That's very important to me.
But that's how I started. Radio was just an opportunity
that was really unexpect that that started all because of
a phone call. Life is full of opportunities. You always
(05:05):
got to be ready to always listening and always available
and receptive to all awesome opportunities that life offers us. Yeah,
you always have to take the leap of faith because
you always have to go with your gut and always
try to get And that's and that's exactly what I
had to do because imagine I was there already working
as a police officer for six years. That's you know,
(05:25):
I was actually right out of high school. I dispatched
for a year and a half. I went to the
police academy, so that meant I was employee of the
city for almost eight years already. You're vested after ten years,
which means you're you know, you get certain seniorities and
certain benefits from the city when you're working there. And
they actually had like a retirement thing that you could
be like twenty years and and they call it the
(05:47):
twenty and out, so you can be like twenty years
and you can retire and get like full benefits and
then you can go on to do you know, another
career and you can still be receiving those benefits. So
there was a lot on the table and there was
a lot of risk because the entertainment industry is very risky.
You know. It could have went very well for me,
but it was it was a big chance because again
I didn't know much about it. But I I took
(06:09):
that risk, and I took that ball and ran as
fast as I could with it. And thank god, I'm
you know, I'm still running and it's and it's going well.
It's a great outcome. Yeah. And and but it hadn't,
I wouldn't be here today, you know. And and and
I wouldn't have this success. I wouldn't have the opportunity
I had I not taken advantage of that opportunity, I
wouldn't be where I'm at today or who I am
(06:31):
today in broadcasting. I would still be, you know, working
as a police officer, which is okay because I still
love police work. But again, it was that leap of
faith and I felt that instinct and I followed my
my gut, and thank god I did, because I'm very happy.
And when they called you for the phone call, was
it this radio two nine? It was another radio station.
So I worked for that radio station. While you know,
(06:52):
I'm gonna I don't want to age myself because it's
a secret how old I am. I'm kidding, but I
was there for a long time and then from that company,
I ended up leaving and I went to another company,
and then now I'm here with I Heart Radio, and
I'm the chairman and c CEO. I'm the boss now
of all all the Spanish stuff that we do at
I Heeart, besides all the stuff that I do on
the radio. So so it's a lot more stressful. I'll
(07:15):
put it to you that way. So the Latin like radio, right,
all our strategy and everything that we do in Spanish
at iHeart Radio, I'm I'm that guy now. So I
wear a bunch of different hats and it comes with
a lot of responsibility, but I'm up for it. Speaking
of Latins, you have become a very important icon for
Hispanics here in Miami and all over the US. Have
(07:38):
How have you been able to use your voice and
make a difference well bringing people together? Again following my
instinct and always realizing that these microphones that we're talking
into they can be used in such a They're very powerful,
(07:58):
um because they reach how many people. But when you
use these microphones to bring people together, to shine light
on people's problems, especially people that don't have a voice,
it just makes you the same thing that you guys
are doing for for for kids. Um, I do it.
That's the same thing, but you know at a different level.
(08:20):
You guys are doing it now because you guys are
doing podcasts. So now welcome because you guys are now
on the same at the same level as I am.
And so you realize it doesn't matter how old you are,
it doesn't matter how smart you are, it doesn't matter
how educated you are. If it's coming from the heart
and what you're saying is what you truly mean and
your intentions are well are good, you can it's it's
(08:41):
um you really have an impact and the ability to
be able to change people's lives and to help people.
And that's what I've dedicated my career too. It's fun
again going back to the balance. You know, people come
to radio and they want to hear music and it's
it's a good time. But sometimes things, you know, you
have to talk about the serious things, and especially the
problems that people have like cancer, and when you're able
(09:04):
to motivate people the same way you guys are and
help them raise awareness you educate people and help them
raise money. Madam. It feels good. It feels good to
give back and to leave like a big impact on
the community because you know that you're doing good in
the community and you're helping others exactly. And also while
you're helping, I'm using your voice to inspire others to
(09:25):
do the same thing. So how do you think we
can use our voice to inspire others to do what
we're doing the same way you guys are doing this
right now? You know, gauge everything you do and look
at the look at the outcome, and always go above
and beyond. You know, go to bed every day feeling
good about what you did. And if you feel that something,
(09:47):
it's okay because nothing is perfect and we're humans and
we're all going to mess up. That's part of life.
It's part of growing up to You're gonna find that
they're not always wins. Not all baseball teams and football
teams and so or teams. You know, they don't win
every single game. That's okay. That doesn't mean that they're
a bad team. Not every single player is going to
knock the ball out of the out of the out
of the park and and hit a home run every
(10:08):
time he goes up to bat. That's okay. It doesn't
mean he's a bad baseball player. But we have ups
and we have downs. So you know, whatever you did today, no,
and if it didn't go as exactly as planned, you
know that tomorrow you have another opportunity to get it right,
to get it better. UM, and always work and dedicate
UM time on and so your days are productive, you know.
(10:31):
I like every day when I go to sleep, I
want to I wanna and I start like doing an
inventory of everything I did. I want to make sure
it was a productive day, that I filled the day
with as many positive and good things that that I
could have accomplished. But again, going back, it's all a
balance because you don't want to overwork yourself, so you
gotta it's the balance of you know, of work and
(10:53):
when you're time off family that's very important. So it's
it's the balance of things. Well, speaking of that, what's
the most memorable thing you have done to help others
in the community. See for me, most memorable there's so
many opportunities when sometimes I'm I'm just talking and being
myself and I don't even realize sometimes that I'm that
(11:14):
I'm helping people and tell people stop me on the
street or eating in a restaurant and they come up
to me and they thank me for things that sometimes
I didn't even realize it was such an impact. You
made my day so much better, you know, um in
your show. You know, my kids don't never spoke Spanish.
They weren't there Latinos or second generation Latinos, and they
don't really think it's cool to speak Spanish. And it's
(11:34):
been difficult for my my my kids to speak Spanish.
But now my kids are speaking Spanish because you make
Spanish cool because you're mixing the right amount of Spanish
and the English. You know. So those are the little
opportunities when I'm able to run into my fans and
people thank me. I think that's at least for me,
that's the most gratifying When people tell me that you
know that they've gone through a difficult situation in their life,
(11:56):
that where they were depressed, they were down, they were
very unha happy and um that they tuned into the
show and that I helped brighten their day. That those
are really the most gratifying moments for me. But besides that,
you know benefits that we get involved in, like we
are now teamed up together with Stand Up for Cancer UM,
UM disaster relief after you know, after after hurricanes and
(12:19):
things like that UM and also being the voice during hurricanes,
you know, doing UM broadcasting out of South Florida. There's
a lot of my listeners in the state of Florida,
and you know the problems because you guys live in Florida,
all the problems that we have with hurricanes, So being
able to inform people and and and getting the right
information when they have to leave their houses and they're
concerned and you know, they're worried about the storms that
(12:42):
are coming. And after her can I believe Irma? It
was Irma. We went to the We actually went to
one of the shelters with two hundred pairs of socks
and we gave out oh two thousand, sorry two a
lot of socks. Yeah, and we gave one to every
single person. There were no cold feet there, Nope. Everyone
was nice and cozy. How did that feel well for me?
(13:05):
I felt like a superhero almost, because you know superheroes
always go out saving people, helping people. I felt like
a superhero because I got I got a chance to
go out and help people. You guys are superheroes and
you don't realize it. Not like they say, not all
superheroes wear capes, And that's so true. You're not all superhers.
Are superheroes are wearing you know, an outfit and in
(13:26):
a cape. You can to be a superhero right now
for everybody that's listening. Whether you're in a hospital bed,
whether you're working in an office, or if you're at home. Um,
doesn't matter how old you are, you can be a
superhero when you you step in and really help the
less fortunate. I feel like what we do, like with
our kids Helping Kids initiative, I feel like we become
(13:49):
like very like superheroes and it makes us superheroes because
we get to like do so much with the community,
help them, give back and inspire others to come superheroes.
What have you guys learned and helping other kids? Because
your kids helping kids, You guys, what's the most important
thing you guys personally have have learned in this process? Well,
(14:10):
we've learned that. Well, we actually met a kid, an
amazing kid named Ryan, suffers from Type on diabetes. He's
an amazing kid and We know what he struggles through
every single day because he has type on diabetes. How
do you tell you? What do he tell you? How?
How was that? To live? How is that? To live
with diabetes? He has to like do like the checks
with the blood and everything. And that's why we give
(14:33):
back because we think every kid deserves to be healthy
and you never know one day will need help. So
you see yourself and other kids as well, we try
to imagine like what it will be like to like
see like go they're going through, right, to actually put
yourself in their shoes and their circumstance and like once
we see like how like like how tough it is,
(14:55):
we want to always help back, like help like give
back so we know lost people could feel better things
in perspective. Cool deal. So now that we're talking about
like giving back, we want to talk to you about
Sam to cancer. We showed me the socks, right, so
mom Poppy, We had a girl named Poppy who was
(15:18):
impacted by sand up to cancer and she designed a
sock for us. And there's so much impact and emphasis
that goes into these socks. There's so much like things
like you see the sock of you know, arrows says
stand up to cancer on it, and he was like, oh,
it's probably for Sam to cancer, you know, to help
give back for cancer. But you scentify it right away
(15:38):
when you see it. Yeah, but there's so much that
goes into it. It's such just that it's also about
her story. So the arrows, the waves, they represent the
beach because the beach helpter calmed down and helped her
get through tough times, like a therapy for her. Yeah,
and the arrows, you know how it was a big
arrow of multiple like little arrows inside it represents her family,
(15:59):
like building her up, courage, you know, making her feel
good and it makes her up. And she explained all
this to you when when she when she designed the sock,
what she was doing, the purpose of all the arrows,
what that meant. That's really cool. It was very cool
in getting to speak to her about a story. It
was very like inspirational because we get to learn so
much about very creative too as an artist. Right to
(16:21):
put all that into that, so that there's a symbolism
behind all those arrows. Cool, it's not just arrows, it
represents more really cool. Well, what do you think about
the sock if you could give it a grade from
no if you read it zero ten number one. They're
very comfortable, so I would give it a ten for comfort.
(16:43):
I like them on my feet. The colors. Come on,
this is gonna be a rough one for How can
I give you anything less than the ten for all
of it? The colors, they're comfortable, the cause, Um, I
think it. Overall it you get a ten, a ten
plus if you're listening to this right now. Just gave
you a tent on your design. Your design is awesome.
(17:06):
And have you a loved one or anyone close to
you being affected by cancer? You know that my grandmother,
may she rest in peace. And then she um, this
is kind of wild. This is really it's a it's
a testament to how how wild this how wild cancer
and how scary it is. Um when there's a lot
(17:28):
of unanswered questions as well, and there's so much uncertainty.
So Uma was diagnosed with with breast cancer and she
had that breast removed, and um, come after they had
the breast removed, you know that they tend to the
lab and they go to test and everything, and it
turns out that it wasn't cancerous. So she removed the
(17:50):
breast without even being necessary, but out of an abundance
of caution and the you know, at that time, she
had the whole thing removed and we really had to.
That affected her psychologically, right, because she only had the
one one breast, And then they have a prosthetic where
they have it's like, uh, fake breast, so it's like
(18:12):
a brawl and one side is for her breast and
the other one is actually a fake one. So she
put it on and I don't recommend anybody doing this,
and I'm I'm not even sure this is koshert. So
I'm telling you guys the story. But it was my
grandmother and part of the third you know, the therapy.
Uh you know, I'd mess with her and she'd be
in the kitchen. I come through and I grab ours
breast and I'll be like, which is the real one
(18:32):
which was the fake? And not like grabbed like I
would like poke, you know, and that would make her
laugh so much, and then she's like, well it looks
pretty real, right, this feels real too. So the purpose
of me telling you that is that through making making
her laugh, that was it would helped her get through
that very you know difficult um, time in her life
where as a woman, she lost one of one of
(18:55):
her breast and that more than likely will have come
to think of it, afterwards, we had information that maybe
she didn't have to go be that drastic and remove
the whole thing, but at an abundance of caution because
it scared her so much. She said, just take the
whole thing off. And you know, doctor said, you sure,
we should run some more tests you know, this, that
and the other, and she said, no, no no, no, just
take it off. I don't even want to hear about this.
So that thank god. Um no nobody in my family, um,
(19:19):
you know has directly had had cancer, but that was
a big scare in our family and my grandmother has
now passed away. But that that was one way of
you know how we boosted her up every day, you know,
to to get her past that at that point and
help her realize that she was okay even though she
was missing you know, one one breast. Well that was
(19:40):
still cool. As I say it after, it is the
best medicine it really, it really is. And it helped
it helped her through it and you know, get it
was fine, honestly, you know, the first several months it
was very, very difficult for her. Maybe it was a
lot more difficult than what she shared with us, but
that was that was our way of or at least
my way. I don't know what if any abody else
(20:00):
in my and my family chose to poke at my
grandma's boob, but I did so because, you know, I
thought that that was that was That's always been me,
you know, and so I'm happy that we helped her
get through that. Um, what advice would you have for
our use today, for any kids out there listening to
your podcast, I would say to everybody listening to young people, UM,
(20:27):
to be themselves, to be real, to be honest, to analyze,
uh the analyze themselves every day, and how they can
become a better person. And in how can you become
a better person is by really focusing less on yourself
and when you when you compare the problems that you're
going through, always know that there are other people that
(20:48):
are going through situations that are a lot worse. So
when you're complaining because you didn't get to go on
the trip you wanted to go on to, or you
have too much homework, or you didn't get the toy
you've been wanting or the game you wanted on on
on on your game system or you know, all that
all that will fall in place. And if you work
hard enough in life rewards you in amazing ways. And
(21:09):
and be thankful for the things that you do have,
and always know that there's people that are really suffering,
people that don't have, um the opportunity every day that
you have to get up and to make a better
day and to do something today that you didn't get
to accomplish yesterday and get it right uh this time.
(21:32):
And there's a lot of people with all different types
of diseases and ailments. There's people that are you know,
and wheelchairs or people that are are paralyzed, and those
are You've got to really be thankful if you think
about it, that you know, we are truly blessed and
we all everybody's gifted in some way form or another.
Everybody has something super cool that they're really really good at.
(21:55):
Focus on the things you're really really good at and
do more of that, and do what you love, do
what you love, and respect people, especially our elders and
our family, and be thankful a family. UM, be very
appreciative of family. There's so many people that are separated
from their families, they don't they don't get to hang
out with their mom or their dad or their grandparents
for so many different, you know reasons. So I would
(22:18):
say be thankful number one, focus on bettering themselves and
and focus on how you can help other people. And
that's just gonna it comes back to to help you
and that makes you a better person. Thank you and
Enrique for helping us produce this podcast, and we are
so glad to have you as our first guest. Very proud,
and you guys know we're all will support you guys
no matter what you're doing. And again, very proud of
(22:39):
what you guys are doing. On the Are You Kidding podcasts?
You just heard Are You Kidding Podcast with brothers Sebastian
and Brandon Martinez who are kids helping kids
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