almost everyone knows that Pati Chapoy is a -or EL- referent of celebrity journalism in Mexico for several decades. That Raúl Velasco -who liked the communicator’s style after interviewing him- opened the doors of Televisa to him in the productions of the OTI Festival and ‘Always on Sunday’, to later give him his own program, ‘El mundo del show’, and create the illusion that celebrities can be accessible to the public. But being the neighbor of a powerful businessman also helped her become the owner of one of the longest-running programs on Mexican television.
In 1990, the government of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari announced plans to disincorporate the parastatal television station Imevisión for subsequent auction to the private sector for commercial exploitation. Three years later, a group of investors -headed by Ricardo Salinas Pliego- acquired the package of media privatized by the federal government and thus Tv Azteca was born.
By then, Chapoy had already been fired from Televisa after little more than twenty years of dedication to the television station that dominated everything. It is there where the closeness of her -literally her- of her helped her to enter the new company that promised to screen a new audience, according to her account Esteban Maciasone of the former pupils of the journalist in the most recent episode of ‘Con B de Burak’.
Macías recalled that in the early 1990s, a university professor invited him to do a pilot movie program on Tv Azteca, a project that did not prosper but the idea of collaborating on one of the shows that also marked the return from Pati Chapoy to television.
“(Chapoy) had been off the air for two years after having been on Televisa for years and enter Tv Azteca, that she entered as production director and adviser because she was a neighbor of Ricardo Salinas Pliego. The two lived in a very ‘nice’ neighborhood and there they met. Ricardo Salinas told him ‘I won the TV Azteca assignment, help me (…)’. Tv Azteca’s first television program as a private company is ‘In the middle of the show’”. Aha, the Ajusco pioneer replicated the formula (and part of the name) of her old program in her new home, with element more: the diffusion of the cinema.
There was never any doubt about her vast experience as a producer and host, “she knew what she wanted and was very clear about where she wanted to take the programs; in terms of production up to the choice of the people in the cast, she practically let you do what you wanted, nothing more she was advising you; when it came to choosing the driver, she had the last word”. Gustavo Adolfo Infante, Víctor Gordoa, Atala Sarmiento, Mónica Garza, are some examples of these chosen faces.
But If there was something that the legendary journalist did not dominate, it was, fortunately for Macías, regarding the big screen. “She dominated anything from the show business but not from the cinema and less international cinema, and that was what caught my attention. Looking for the distributors to interview Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, she didn’t even peel it; the invitations arrived and nothing happened and it was an area where I began to specialize and, practically, free reign. It was ‘old woman I’m here, old woman I’m leaving. I’m going to New York to interview Martin Scorsese’, he returned; ‘now I’m going to Los Angeles to interview…’ and that’s how it was; fortunately, entering a time when that was very green in Mexico.”
Thanks to this, the film specialist recalled, it also allowed him and Tv Azteca to get to the big Hollywood party, the Oscars. “One day I went into his office and told him ‘hey, Pati, I want to go cover the Oscar ceremony’, ‘well, go, mijito’. Just like that. ‘What do I have to do?’, ‘I don’t know, mijito, averigua’ The interest in attending allowed Macías to cover that first installment in 1996 and venture into the production of coverage for several years, in addition to expanding his film section to other spaces such as the noon and morning newscasts, until 2019, when due to differences with new directors, including Alberto Ciurana (disputed with Chapoy for theft of two of his talents, Pepillo Origel and the deceased producer Carmen Armendáriz, and the old Televisa complaint against her for theft of images), they decide terminate his contract until he joins Mutimedios.
Once the departure of Macías from Tv Azteca, where he collaborated for 25 years, was confirmed, Pati sent him an emotional message and wished him success in his new work adventure. “My dear Esteban… I congratulate you on this new professional stage, a good communicator will always have a window for his talent.” To the affection of his mentor, he promised to continue putting into practice what he had learned.