Like many other kids born in the 70s, Caball met video games in the recreational ones, where appropriate, those in the Tarragona town of Flix. "I even remember the name of the places; Flix's bar was called" El Edn "and ah I played each and every one of the video games that marked my youth," he tells us via Skype at the beginning of the interview. "I remember giving my first kiss in an arcade," he adds, although with laughter he confesses that the story ended badly. His first contact with a console was later, when his to repair a Pong original and young Guillem was able to play with his cousin. Since then his life has been more or less immersed in video games.
Currently Caball He combines his work as a DJ on the station The 40 Classic with the advertising and dubbing voiceover, but in the 90s it became well known on the Spanish radio in front of Game 40 and then he continued his career in various media, always with a provocative sense of humor that left no one indifferent. "Radio has always fascinated me and television was a fluke. Advertising is, let's say, the other part of radio. I was always on the side of La Fuerza, the light side, and then I went to the dark side. , which is advertising, which is what the radio maintains. And now I'm in both, which is fine. I am a Darth Vader-Skywalker. "
Radio and advertising professional
When the interviewee was little, the radio played at all hours in his house and in that medium he has carried out almost all his professional work, although he likes to clarify that the first thing that brought him money was placing hammocks on the beach in Sitges, at 13 Years ago he started his first "legal" job on Radio Flix "and the next month they started paying me for it." At 18 years old he was already a media professional at Radio Reus and from there it made the leap in 1993 to Radio Madrid as disc jockey. From "From 40 to 1" went to "Los 40 Principales" on Canal + and, later, to "Clip Clap Video", a musical program of La 2 directed by Marcelo Bravo, who called him to Bit by Bit, a computer and video game RTVE program in which Caball entered as co-presenter.
Bit by Bit, recalls Caball "was done recorded, on a plate, with many means, many computers, many guests. Come schools. Ana Valeiras was the other presenter, magnificent communicator, and the other was Mauro (Bravo), who was the son of the director of the program, and even I can read. Ana Valeiras and I had a great time, because it was ours, and Mauro had a salary more home, "explains Caball, who has not lost his touch over time.
Bit by bit included in weekly half-hour programs news, reports, launches, analysis and assessment of news by the public. "The analyzes were quite in-depth and ranged from a game to a motherboard. It was a video game and computer program. It was also a breeding ground for kids who were somewhat uneasy. Keep in mind that in the 90s, in Spain, kids from 18 to 20 years old, practically the computer science career was like discovering Mars, they got a lot of attention, "says Caball.
Game 40 began broadcasting in Los 40 (then Los 40 Principales) in 1992, led by Juan Luis Ferrer and with very light content like video game music and tricks. "Juan Luis did not like the video game at all, it was a brown that fell on the poor. I was passionate about it and when they came they gave it to me. It was a turn of radio that I was passionate about, just like music, just like I still do now with 40 Classic. They need to pay me in pesetas now in the 40 Classic, but I'm having a good time. "
In Bit by Bit Caball was a mere presenter -the scripts were by Mercedes Martnez-, but in Game 40 it was he who decided the contents. Took over from Ferrer in Game 40 in 1994 and created a different style, carrying the radio the direct and somewhat provocative language of magazines videogames of the time, which made them very dynamic programs that caused a furor in the time. "We turned a hobby into communication," explains Caball. In fact, At first the program had very serious shortcomings, but I knew the computer consultants at Bit by Bit and brought them to the radio immediately. That made Game 40 it would become much more informative and not so, let's say, playful, "he clarifies.
"At first the program had very serious shortcomings, but I knew the computer consultants from and brought them on the radio immediately. That made Game 40 would become much more informative and not so, shall we say, playful. "
The "computer scientists" were Carlos Ulloa, Manuel Martn-Vivaldi, and ngel Ortiz (who later had to leave the program) who, in Caball's words, "were programmers, graphic designers, computer engineers, They gave the concept of creating the video game that program needed. And of analysis, of course, much more depth ", of course, for the formula to work, the personality of Caball, who acted as catalyst and driver of the new formula presenting the information presented by "the computer scientists". They were just under 25 years old and the only one who initially earned a salary "as a disc jockey 40" was Caball, although the collaboration was later paid.
When asking Caball about what he has left most of his imprint on those years, he does not doubt it, "the friendship with these three people", referring to the "computer scientists", a relationship that continues today: "Manuel insists on staying for lunch because we work almost two blocks, Carlos is in England right now and occasionally we chat and with Angel we practically talk on Twitter now with the pandemic."
Game 40 it became a phenomenon among the youth of the time; many of them still remember him: "The phrase continues to pass me: I studied computer science because of you, son of a bitch, I lost two years of life ha ha ha. And others who did finish their degree and are people who found their profession and was dedicated to that ", he tells us. It was a success, although it was not easy, as described by Caball: "It was one program a week, on Sunday, competing with football and talking about video games on a music radio and playing anime and manga music and also videogames. We got to have more than 600,000-700,000 listeners, which is a real outrage because we competed with football and back then football was on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, and nothing else. Before the impact of the public is measured, apart from with the EGM (General Media Study), with receiving letters and receiving calls. We had like four or five tapes (cassette tapes) 90 minute reception of an answering machine and every week I had to give them two laps, I filled them all. "
Being the first video game radio program with entity Game 40 It had no limits, no direct competition. Players received the information from the few audiovisual programs and written magazines (it would still take the internet more than ten years to become popular). As he admits: "when you are the first and you have a communication machinery as large as 40 it was normal for it to work if you had a minimum of information that would attract kids and you had an easy way to communicate it. It is what you said, before you had the magazines and we had no competition, we were like the First and the 2 in the 80s. If you look at the audiences then, those two chains were brutal. Now put them to compete with Netflix or with everything on the Internet, we will dilute ourselves like a sugar bowl. "
"We had no competition, we were like the First and the 2 in the 80s. If you look at the audiences then, those two chains were brutal. Now put them to compete with Netflix or with everything on the Internet, we will dilute like a sugar bowl "
Caball maintains that in those years of Game 40 the contests tripled the volume of letters received by the other stations of the chain and remember one in particular in which the program gave away 50 Nintendo 64 consoles. The number of letters received was so many that they did not enter the newsroom.
Game 40 continued to be a great success until In 98 an unexpected end came with the decision of the director of Cadena 40, Javier Pons, who justified his decision in a decrease in audience at the EGM. "It was a mistake on his part, very, very fat Because when we disappeared, in 99, the video game market began to flourish here, and we had a position of strength that we could have freaked out. It is so evident that it was a failure that later successive directors refloated the project and they even exported it to Latin America making it audiovisual, with some pretty good economic results, but now with other people, nothing to do with me, "says Caball, who maintains that the drop in the EGM was the excuse for move the interviewee to a program with the then well-known sexologist Lorena Berdn. "At that time I obeyed orders.
In addition to the radio program, Caball worked since 97 on the music program The 40 TV, and continued on television until the end of 2004. In 2005 filmed on MTV While I was still on radio shows and advertising, I was better paid and did not involve such a large volume of work, so decided to focus on the ads, until last year he was offered to present The 40 Classic I accepted and was delighted: "The truth is that they treat me very well, I have a good time and I do the hooliganism that we did then in Los 40. Although 40 is a station where we have always been called tacky, that we were bought and such, we gather the best disc jockeys radiophonic from Spain, that I was with (Joaqun) Lucky ,. With Fernn Disco, with Yolanda Valencia, with (Jos Antonio) Abelln We were all there. If you look at any resume of a current featured one you will surely have gone through 40 Main on any of their stations. I'm happy ah again. "
They have even proposed to revive him Game 40, but does not want: "I have a family, I have three children, I don't want to waste any more time doing radio programs that today's youth is very capable of doing, "he says emphatically, adding: "Now the video game market needs immediacy, even more than the radio. The radio is very immediate for the news but the news of an offer comes out, the launch of PlayStation 5, that you buy the Animal Crossing and you have it on the internet and on your mobile. It could be created and it could work, and it would generate benefits, obviously, but someone from marketing of current video game companies is looking for an actress who has more than 200,000 on her Instagram followers and not a radio that has a million listeners or, in this case, 40, that has three million or, in the case of The 40 Classic, which has 600,000. They don't look for that, seek communication based on influencers, of youtubers those who really like to play the video game ".
He also does not like how the video game journalist is currently working, who lives with the pressure of playing fast to have the contents as soon as possible. "I've been playing for 400 hours Zelda. I enjoy a game. I wanted to play me Red dead redemption, but I can't find time ", something on the other hand very understandable with three children, which leads, in these times of pandemic and confinement, to combine work with teleeducation.
Caball returned to the world of video games in 2011 presenting The Pixel in Meristation. Caball remembers: "Pep (Snchez, founder of Meristation) is a very good friend of mine, we met at the time of the Game. With his Meristation He was one of the first to publish an online videogame magazine. An extraordinary server. Manuel came to me with the news and I said: Let's interview them and such. We did the interview, we mentioned them and such, I loved what they were doing "and the relationship has continued. Caball also enjoyed that stage: "I had a great time because it was very, very simple. Until then I had made television on a stage or on the street, but not at home, with a camera recording myself, and a newspaper, "he points out. Two years later the program ended. "There came a time when they said to me: Up to here we have come and up to here, nothing happens, that the next one passes and delighted that the next one passes."
Through contacts with Meristation Another offer also arose on eSports Vodafone, on Twitch, between 2017 and 2018. It was a production of Animal Media, owned by Toni Garrido who, in turn, had also been a co-worker of the interviewee in 40. "It was a fun project at times, although it did not reach the level of fun as I had in the Game, far from it, It was a less fun project, I had less fun, really ", says and points to the platform chosen as one of the problems of the project, which Vodafone ended up canceling: "Twitch is a platform that is very good for streaming video game and for youtubers. For streamers and to twitchers Sounds good to me, but we had an audience of 83 people and that had to be profitable in some way. I think they didn't manage it well () I said well, it is something that has come as a gift and is no longer there. Well, those of Vodafone do very well, we will continue to use their phones, "he says.
Caball is aware of the legacy of Game 40, of the mark that he left on the boys and girls who listened to him and thanks those who, now as adults, tell him that thanks to the program they changed professions; "or who decided thanks to Game 40 to study a career and is now a graphic designer in Japan. That to me is like having planted the tree, writing the book, and having a child. I can only thank the people who were listening to us back then. The Pixel It was wonderful because it was a mess, I had a pipe. And in Bit by Bit I met three friends from my life. I have nothing but thanks. Even in the moments in which I have been worse I have enjoyed it ", he says at the end of the interview as a summary of his career.
Guillem Caball in 5 questions
1. What moment in your career has left you the most impression and why?
Game, for having won three friends. It is very good to have started a form of video game communication. How can you talk about video games on the radio? Well coo, since people talked about football on the radio and you weren't watching it. Now you watch a podcast of three, four coughs talking online about a video game and the video game you are not watching if they do not add a crop and they put a little window next to what you're playing. It was a start and I liked that, but above all I liked Game for the friendship of these three people.
2. Do you still play regularly? What is your favorite video game?
I regularly play video games, constantly. To catch a favorite game is to take away the rest and I don't like that at all. Lately I have played more Zelda, any of the saga Zelda freaks me out, but I also leave you a tomb Raider or a Starcraft 2 or any of those that have been part of my life, or Counter-Strike.
3. Speaking of Counte rStrikeHow do you see esports?
I find them fantastic. I love that there are, call the masses and the kids love it, but I'm a little worried about them esporters. You earn money when you have a team, not when you are part of it. They mortgage their future for 1,000 euros a month, living in a rented house from a person who uses it for various championships. 20 or 30 Koreans make pasta and the others go to live in Andorra, I know. It is a very strange world indeed. I don't want to call it dark, but I know it is strange.
4. With that voice that you have that works so well in advertising, have you thought about switching to video game dubbing? Which character would you like to give voice to?
Wow! There are so many! To any of those who appear in Gears of War. Man, already a (Marcus) Phoenix will be milk. But even Drake, the saga Uncharted, I will freak out. The voice actors who wear it make it phenomenal. I have participated in some video game dubbing but it seems to me that this topic should be worked on more. Any of those two characters will freak me out, I'll tell you now.
5. Would you like by now to return to the world of video games with a radio or television program?
Hahaha. No, no, not at all. Not at all. No, no, no, no and no, not because I would have to spend too much time on it that I don't have, because I don't like to do the things that are served and eaten. I don't like being the presenter of someone else's script, or the talking bust of a production company. I like to create the format and help others to carry it and right now it will take too much time that I cannot take it from my family or my work.
