Fernando Felix Torres, Mexicali Municipal Director of Arts and Culture, Cesar Augusto Hernandez Bermudez and Mexicali Mayor Francisco Perez Tejada Padilla pose for a photo at a 2011 art show event where Hernandez was honored. (Courtesy of City of Mexicali) |
Members of the Calexico and Mexicali communities are mourning the loss of a popular Mexican radio personality who died last week.
Cesar Augusto Hernández Bermúdez, 82, began his radio program “Sonorama Deportivo” in 1954.
The Chiapas native died Feb. 29 of heart complications after feeling ill while talking on the air.
Cristina’s Lingerie owner Cristina Rocha said she had known Hernández since she was a teenager and that he was “very friendly with everybody” regardless of their background.
“He was a very important figure for everybody and for me,” she said. “He was important for Calexico and the Imperial Valley. He provided support and information to merchants all the time.”
She requested a moment of silence honoring him during the Calexico Business Improvement District’s meeting on Wednesday.
Mayor Daniel Romero read a proclamation memorializing Hernández at the City Council meeting Tuesday and presented it to a member of Hernández’s family.
The proclamation described Hernández as “an example of courage, integrity and loyalty to his audience” and an “icon of the community and of the communications industry.”
Mexicali resident Manuel Ramos worked with Hernández for 40 years and said in Spanish that they cultivated a strong professional and personal friendship over that time.
“When we started to broadcast the baseball games, he was in the cabin, and I was on the field. He would ask, ‘How do you see it Manuel?,’” Ramos described in Spanish. “That, ‘How do you see it?,’ became very popular in the ’70s. There are people that still remember it. That made me very popular.”
Ramos said Hernández also helped a lot of people in poverty, often calling on politicians for assistance.
“He was a great friend. He was a very humble man,” Ramos said. “Above all I will remember his friendship. He always filled me with trust and gave me advice.”
Sports International owner Morris Reisin said that Hernández would read local, national and international news from newspapers on the radio every day, providing critical information for Mexican people who couldn’t read or write.
“He was old-fashioned,” he said. “His audience, his listeners listened to him because of that. He gave all the news. He was very, very popular.”
Reisin said Hernández was close to everybody and interacted with everyone from the president of Mexico to the Baja California governor and Mexicali mayor.
Hernández’s son will take over the radio program.
Staff Writer Chelcey Adami can be reached at 760-337-3452 or cadami@ivpressonline.com
Cesar Augusto Hernández Bermúdez, 82, began his radio program “Sonorama Deportivo” in 1954.
The Chiapas native died Feb. 29 of heart complications after feeling ill while talking on the air.
Cristina’s Lingerie owner Cristina Rocha said she had known Hernández since she was a teenager and that he was “very friendly with everybody” regardless of their background.
“He was a very important figure for everybody and for me,” she said. “He was important for Calexico and the Imperial Valley. He provided support and information to merchants all the time.”
She requested a moment of silence honoring him during the Calexico Business Improvement District’s meeting on Wednesday.
Mayor Daniel Romero read a proclamation memorializing Hernández at the City Council meeting Tuesday and presented it to a member of Hernández’s family.
The proclamation described Hernández as “an example of courage, integrity and loyalty to his audience” and an “icon of the community and of the communications industry.”
Mexicali resident Manuel Ramos worked with Hernández for 40 years and said in Spanish that they cultivated a strong professional and personal friendship over that time.
“When we started to broadcast the baseball games, he was in the cabin, and I was on the field. He would ask, ‘How do you see it Manuel?,’” Ramos described in Spanish. “That, ‘How do you see it?,’ became very popular in the ’70s. There are people that still remember it. That made me very popular.”
Ramos said Hernández also helped a lot of people in poverty, often calling on politicians for assistance.
“He was a great friend. He was a very humble man,” Ramos said. “Above all I will remember his friendship. He always filled me with trust and gave me advice.”
Sports International owner Morris Reisin said that Hernández would read local, national and international news from newspapers on the radio every day, providing critical information for Mexican people who couldn’t read or write.
“He was old-fashioned,” he said. “His audience, his listeners listened to him because of that. He gave all the news. He was very, very popular.”
Reisin said Hernández was close to everybody and interacted with everyone from the president of Mexico to the Baja California governor and Mexicali mayor.
Hernández’s son will take over the radio program.
Staff Writer Chelcey Adami can be reached at 760-337-3452 or cadami@ivpressonline.com
