Drinking in Puerto Rico must be a hobby!

By: Dawn Scales
Friday May 25, 2007

I woke up tired after a long night of partying on the town in San Juan. We were awakened by our room phone, which rang twice as Kendal slowly turned over to pick it up. It was our wake up call from the front desk that we had requested the night before. I laid there not wanting to get up but I knew it was a must to jump in the shower and get ready as quickly as possible for today was the day we would visit the TuTv channel 6 television station and Casa Bacardi, which I and others had been looking forward to visiting even before we had landed in Puerto Rico. It wasn’t a secret. Two free alcoholic beverages was enough information to get me there. But let me not get side tracked, let’s talk more about the station.
The station was not strictly television, housing a radio station as well. One station was devoted solely to classical music and the other was a form of entertainment targeting the older generation. From wall to wall were up to date equipment that would more than likely amaze radio personalities in the states. Let me not speak for others but it definitely impressed my little socks off.
Maritley Lasant, manager for public relations, was kind enough to explain the dynamics of the radio control rooms and shortly after Osualdo Perez Torres, director of the station, whisked us around the corner and up the stairs to show us the new master control room, which they had been renovating for close to a year and a half, Osualdo said. The room was state of the art, filled with the latest technology. Flat screen TV’s massed the far wall as we walked in, computers and ingesting equipment outlined two outside borders of the room.
As pretty and high tech as it looked it wasn’t actually working yet, next Thursday would be the first day they drop their old ways and begin a new. Dana Rosengard, one of our accompanying professors, asked some good questions and comments. Insinuated that this was now basically a one-man job. Jorge Jay Norate, master control assistant, objected and said they were not updating in order to reduce the people working there.
“It is intended to reduce the people errors that occur and speed up the process, but I don’t doubt that could happen it’s just not our focus,” he said.
After leaving the new master control room we entered into what will soon be the old one. After seeing the previous room this room seemed extra rickety and filled with outdated equipment that worked okay but not as efficient. After visiting the technical side we were able to go down and see a live show in the studio. I was amazed. The set was colorful and modern, very reminiscent of Puerto Rican culture and there was also a live band. From working in the newsroom on campus I know how things are basically run, hectic and busy. I definitely saw that but in the end things seem to come together and come out close to perfect. That’s exactly what happened.
A bartender was on set to show the viewers how to make pina coladas. Well after throwing in all the fruit and mixing it together the hosts had a chance to taste it. I literally thought one of them was going to get a brain freeze from drinking it so fast and in such large quantities. She couldn’t even talk for wanting to taste more. Shoot, the way she was sucking on that straw had me wanting some.
That was a nice end to visiting the station because shortly after that we were entering the gates of Casa Bacardi. Immediately our tour guide, Jose, was giving us two pink tickets for two rum drinks of our choice and a green ticket, which was our ticket to taking the tour.

Wes, Kendal and I show off our drinks in front of the Casa Bacardi gift store.

I learned a lot about the man behind the alcoholic beverages branded Bacardi and also how much risqué marketing goes behind supporting such a product. I felt like I was literally in the club during more than half the tour.

The bat symbol that brands every bottle of Bacardi is represented as a sculpture.