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Tingo Maria, the capital of Leoncio Prado Province, is located on
the edge of the Amazon Basin, at an altitude of 649 meters above sea
level. Most of the time this area is very hot and humid. "Tingo"
means "river junction" because it is the point where the Monzon and
Huallaga rivers unite. Around 1800, the first village was founded in
this area, by Sebastian Martines. His wife's name was "Maria", so
possibly her name was used in combination with Tingo for the city's
name. The population is around 25,000. Tingo Maria is a thriving
market town. Among its main products are coca (for cocaine) and to a
lesser extent, marijuana, so the town is extremely dangerous due to
narco-guerillas activities.
In Huanuco, several bus companies have service to Pucallpa and Tocache through Tingo Maria, however friends at Emisoras JSV suggested that I go there by taxi. It costs about $2 for the 3 hours journey. The 118km road north from Huanuco climbs over a 3000 meter pass before dropping to Tingo Maria. During my stay, I was in the Gran Hotel Tingo Maria, one of the cheapest hotels there at $1.80 a night. Radio Tingo Maria-Avenue Raimondi is one of the thriving avenues with a lot of stores, restaurants, hotels, bus companies, banks, movie houses, as well as two radio stations. The studios and offices of Radio Tingo Maria are located on the second floor of a rented building at Av. Raimondi No. 592. In 1984 it was moved from the former studios located at Av. Pucallpa 218. It was very easy to find the station because the building was painted as "Radio Tingo Maria, RTM". The station was not extremely big, but is simple. There are reception/office, studio and an extensive record library. The studio is not separate, so sometimes the announcer is also the operator. It is equipped with a Sparta brand control console, 2 Sony record players and 2 Shure microphones. A Contec cassette recorder is used for station id's and commercial advertisements. It is run by 5 announcers, 3 operators, 1 secretary and the director/owner. The station was founded by Leonidas Infantas G. on January 1, 1960 and was the first station in Leoncio Prado province. The station slogan is "La Voz de la Bella Durmiente" because Tingo Maria is known with a mountain shaped like a 'sleeping beauty' located 6 km from town. Initially they operated without a license as an experimental station. They use a transmitter with an output of 1000 watts fed into a 1/4 wave antenna 69 meters high. Programming consists of news (9%), sports (9%), entertainment show (34%) and music (48%). Information by Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Japan, 1996 |