Porteñas 640 AM

The first voice of Puerto La Cruz

Born in 1950 as Ondas Porteñas, it was the first radio station in Puerto La Cruz and, three decades later, the one that presented the Primera Guerra de Minitecas —a guerra de minitecas, the sound clashes of the movement— of eastern Venezuela.

1950: the first signal of the bay

On March 6, 1950, the technical operator and businessman Carlos Poleo switched on a modest transmitter —500 watts— on the shore of the bahía de Pozuelos, on the carretera Negra of Puerto La Cruz. So was born Ondas Porteñas, the first radio station of a city that was then growing to the rhythm of oil.

In 1951 it was acquired by Antonio José Istúriz, “El Catire,” who gave it its news character and raised it to a thousand watts; in 1953 came Rafael Bellorín Malaver, whom Istúriz named director and who held the post for more than forty years. By 1955 the station was broadcasting with ten thousand watts.

Why it is in this Archive

Because in 1982 it was the radio station that presented the Primera Guerra de Minitecas of Puerto La Cruz, at the Gimnasio Lubumba, the confrontation that opened the circuit of sound clashes of eastern Venezuela and that this Archive documents in “Classics at War.” Best Music won it, and from that trophy —the “Porteñas 640”— the regional takeoff of several mobile sound brands began.

The eastern circuit of sound clashes cannot be explained without local radio: it was radio that announced the date, played the hits that would later explode on the dance floor and lent its voice and its airtime to the minitecas. Porteñas was that signal in Anzoátegui.

From Porteñas to Unión Radio

At the end of the eighties the station partnered with Éxito 1090 of Caracas —the mother house of the Circuito Unión Radio, with an entry of its own in this collection— and turned toward the news format: it dropped the live shows with artists and renamed itself Unión Radio 640 AM, with studios in Puerto La Cruz connected by satellite to the national news center in Caracas.

What remains to be documented

The period sticker the Archive keeps pairs the name with the motto “Car Busters,” a campaign of the station for which no documentation has been located: neither its years nor what it consisted of. Also missing are the announcers who were at the front during the miniteca fever and the shows that put the mixes on the air. If you keep radio spots, stickers or clippings from Porteñas, your contribution completes this entry.

Social media

· No social media of its own — do you keep recordings, radio spots or period material? Write to us through the contact form

Credits and sources

· Founding on March 6, 1950 by Carlos Poleo as Ondas Porteñas —the first radio station in Puerto La Cruz—, the initial transmitter, the purchase by Antonio José “El Catire” Istúriz in 1951, Rafael Bellorín Malaver's arrival as director in 1953 for more than forty years, the ten thousand watts of 1955, the partnership with Éxito 1090 at the end of the eighties and the conversion into Unión Radio 640 AM: article “Porteñas 640 AM” of the archive Souvenir de Emisoras Venezolanas (souvenirdeemisorasvenezolanas.blogia.com) and the blog Diexismo Venezolano. Accessed August 1, 2026.
· Presentation of the Primera Guerra de Minitecas of Puerto La Cruz (1982, Gimnasio Lubumba) and the “Porteñas 640” trophy: entry “1982: Primera Guerra de Minitecas de Puerto La Cruz” in this Archive's Classics at War collection.
· Period sticker with the motto “Car Busters” contributed to the CMTK Archive.
· Under documentary verification: the announcers of the eighties, shows devoted to the minitecas and the reach of the “Car Busters” campaign.

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Source consulted on August 1, 2026

70s · 80s · Radio