“When politics messes with television it obscures everything”

Jota Abril is excited about his new project. After eight years, the presenter from Jaen returns to Telemadrid with ‘Madrid, one of three million’ and he does it together with his friend’s producer Robert Loyal, Blondloyal. April will be in charge of conducting this format of interviews with well-known faces from the cultural and television fields such as Concha Velasco, Boris Izaguirre or Antonio Carmona.

All these celebrities moved to the Community of Madrid, coming from different places, and decided to stay. In this new program they will review all those great moments that have ended up consolidating Madrid as their home. The channel’s new commitment is a space, charged with emotion, that will allow us to get to know these guests a little better.

Jota Abril is also one of those three million who have been adopted by the capital since he came to the city in 1993 to study journalism. Since then his career has not stopped advancing. The man from Jaen is one of those few professionals who can boast of having been in all kinds of formats. Even though he is aware that his versatility is something that is valued, at this moment, April bets on that television focused on entertainment. Gone are those days when he presented ‘Telenoticias’ on Telemadrid.

Jota is a professional who has adapted to the new times. During the pandemic he launched ‘Al lio’, a program that he did on the Twitch social network in which he interviewed personalities from the world of music and communication. He was also one of those affected by the changes in the leadership of Televisión Española when the change of government took place in 2018. He even worked with José Luis Moreno, although he has bittersweet memories of that experience…

QUESTION. Who proposed you for this project? Was it Roberto Leal himself or was it Telemadrid?

RESPONSE. The one who suggested I participate in the program was Roberto and I know that when he presented it to Telemadrid they received it very well. The team that is now on Telemadrid is the same one that signed me on ‘La Mañana’ on Televisión Española. They are people with whom I have worked wonderfully well and have enjoyed a lot. I’m not aware that they said ‘We don’t want this guy’, although they wouldn’t have told me if that was the case [risas].

P. Did you have the opportunity to participate in the election of the interviewees?

R. Of course, I recommended those people who I thought could be interesting for the program. Some have stayed and others, if everything goes well and this continues, will enter.

Q. Roberto Leal will be one of the interviewees on the program. How do you deal with interviewing your own boss?

R. That’s great because you have the interviewee more in favor than ever. It was fun. It was the first interview we did, so Roberto was the guinea pig. That first program cost us, it was 12 hours of recording. All the stops and changes we made may not have been possible with another guest. So with this first program we had time to do everything in detail. In addition, I get along very well and I identify a lot with Roberto because of the way he sees life.

P. We have been able to see that the main interviewees will not be alone, but that, in addition, we will see some familiar faces such as Raquel Sánchez Silva, José Yélamo or Eva Hache. What role will they have in the program?

A. We wanted to give our interviewees a gift for opening up to us. So it seemed essential to us that there were important people in their lives. Many of them are also one of those three million inhabitants who came to Madrid from other places. In the end, this enlarges the format a little more and makes the interviewee feel more comfortable.

P. You are going on Monday against ‘MasterChef’, leader of the night. Are you worried?

A. What worries me the least is that. Fortunately, there is an audience for everything. I can only sell the benefits of the program that we have created. We want people to feel comfortable and to know what the Madrid of our guests is. I think ‘MasterChef’ is a great format, but I hope that people will at least try us on Monday, as if it were a ‘MasterChef’ dish, and if they like it, they can move on to the next one.

Jota April: “Terms like ‘teletrash’ should be overcome”

P. Today, we can find many interview formats on the different television grids. What do you think it is about this talk show that sets it apart from the rest?

R. They do not come to tell us their life, we already know that. They come to talk about how they were and how they felt at that moment. The guests go back to when they arrived in Madrid and some memories that were very hidden begin to come out. It’s more of a chat. Also on an aesthetic level it is very well recorded. It’s the most ‘precious’ program I’ve ever done.

P. We were surprised to see that Concha Velasco will be one of the interviewees on the program. It is probably one of the first interviews that she has granted since she entered a residence. How was this talk?

R. Just when we did the interview, she was moving into the residence and we talked about it, although I didn’t want to go too far… because I wasn’t looking for that. Even so, she told me ‘Oh, Jota, I’ve moved’. That was sometimes positive and sometimes a little more melancholic. Concha has an absolutely prodigious memory and she can easily tell you an anecdote from the shooting of a 1978 movie. She has a huge culture. Roberto and I have gone to visit her at her residence and we talk to her regularly. We have become very close friends.

Q. In an interview for ’20 Minutes’ you commented that seeing María Casado in a world of jealousy like television was an oasis. Mariló Montero also revealed in a ‘Deluxe’ that she left TVE for ‘moobing’ and harassment. Have you ever suffered abuse of this type on television?

R. Never, the jealousy thing was to highlight the kindness and how well we connect María and I. It is true that there is jealousy on television, but I understand that as in other professions. I just wanted to emphasize that there are people who do not put elbows. What can happen on television is that politics get their hands on television. That always obscures everything, but other than that I’ve never had any such problems.

Q. Can public television be impartial and objective?

R. It must be and hopefully it will be achieved.

“All my life I have tried not to work for someone’s interests”

P. With the change of government in 2018 there were important changes in the leadership of TVE, which affected the grid of La 1. In your case, they removed the tabloids section of your program. “Without sensationalism. Yes rigor. Lots of entertainment, humor. No heart,” wrote Talia Martínez, new director at that time of TVE’s ‘La Mañana’, proudly. What problem did those heart content have on the show?

R. I think none. She was in the right to do what she wanted because she is the one who was in charge of her. Although I don’t think any subject should be excluded. You can be wonderful doing heart and you can be a tawdry doing politics or events. It’s not what you do, but how you do it. If you don’t like the heart, grab the remote and change the channel. Terms like trash TV are outdated and if they are not, they should be.

P. On some occasion, you have said that you prefer to do entertainment television rather than pure information. Why that preference?

R. I feel more useful doing entertainment and I think we have forgotten to enjoy and laugh a bit. In news you are much more limited when it comes to presenting. You can put your personality on it, but the news is what it is and there is no more. Because of the way I am, I like to be fresh and improvise. In addition, the information should not be different depending on who issues it. All my life I have tried to avoid working for someone’s interests, I am not going to tell you that I have always been able to, but I am quite proud that I have largely managed to avoid it.

Q. How do you experience the uncertainty that working on television entails? The audience data, when the phone doesn’t ring, the long periods stopped…

A. I don’t think it’s an uncertainty different from that of other people. What happens is that ours is more exposed. You can know what conditions I am in or how my program is going. I don’t think that people who work in television have more or less. In any case, I feel lucky because I work in what I like. Today, it gives me enough to live with dignity and that means that, when you don’t find anything, you can have some savings to overcome that pothole.

“José Luis Moreno paid me because I insisted a lot”

Q. In 2015 you were on ‘The Palace Red Carpet’, a format by Jose Luis Moreno that was highly criticized by the public, also branded as “macho and dandruff”. Due to its low audience ratings, it was not even on the screen for a month. In an interview, you revealed the great disorganization that there was in that format. How do you deal with being the visible face of the mistakes of others?

R. Understanding that the people who are watching it know that, although you are the visible face, you are not completely responsible for the program. Both I, as well as the rest of the presenters and the team, did it as we had been marked. The program did not go as expected due to a lack of foresight. It’s uncomfortable when you’re a presenter and they give you the script half an hour before. It has happened to me on other occasions and nothing has happened, but this was a four-hour live program. If you tell me to do what I want, I’ll do it. But it was staggered and I had not even seen the stairway. Now he didn’t let me get the script half an hour earlier. You learn from everything.

Q. How was working with José Luis Moreno?

R. I have only worked on that occasion and it did not go as well as we expected. With me he had a delay in payment. He paid me because I insisted a lot and because he had to pay me, but I don’t give it any more importance. Compared to what he has now, it was somewhat circumstantial…

P. You have been in all kinds of formats, speaking about very different topics such as heart, sports or politics and you have done it in different positions, sometimes as a collaborator and others as a presenter. Is versatility something that is valued on television or does it prevent you from creating a personal stamp with which to distinguish yourself?

R. With me I think it has been valued and I know that it likes it, since they can put me in any situation. I like this, that life is varied and dynamic. I have presented from news to a heart section. I think the only thing left for me is a contest.

P. Is there a possibility that you or the program will jump to another FORTA network as has happened with other programs such as ‘Catch me if you can Celebrity’?

R. I am open to absolutely everything, I like to listen and to be given proposals. I like to try new formats and accept challenges.

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