Patrick Gonzales: An Interview with the Youngest Broadcaster of the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

I was probably still playing with Legos and Transformer robots when I was 8 years old. Those younger days must have been spent watching Popeye and Flintstones cartoons. So imagine my surprise when I learned that there's this kid who has been conquering the radio air waves at that very young and fragile age.

His father must have been a great influence on him since the kid did say during the interview that he really wanted to beat his father's record who took on the role of a broadcaster at the age of 16. He had his wish, and how proud he was of being the youngest broadcaster in the Philippines.

Patrick Gonzales must have idolized his father so much that he chose to follow his footsteps. He just used to hang around in one of his father's radio show, and now he has his own one-hour show that has been going on for two months already. Many kids will feel envious, and a lot of adults impressed with what he has achieved. Though we may think like it's just another playground for him, the radio booth sparks a lot of possibilities of how great he would eventually be after a few more years.

Patrick is the son of Pocholo Gonzales who is more popularly known as "The VoiceMaster" - a voice actor and veteran in the art of Filipino voice acting. He is the voice behind a thousand characters in anime, hundreds of local commercials in radio and television, and various children’s programs, films, foreign telenovelas, drama, and other TV shows.

You'll be amazed of what his kid can do, and imagine the potential of what he is to become in the near future. I would love to see my kids become as aggressive as he is, and somehow try to become my successor also.

The youth these days are really impressive. They have the spunk and inner drive to reach goals that were normally only available to adults. They are getting out of the streets at a very early age and are becoming socially aware and responsive. They have taken on the many aspiring roles of innovators that are able, willing and ready to become more than just a spectator.

I was actually at the Ka-Tropa DWDD 1134 AM Radio Station for a guest interview with the Microphone Club radio show aired between 11 am to 12 noon and anchored by Cannon Lee. However, I got there earlier and was able to see Patrick live during his airtime of 10 to 11 am.

He was there calmly sitting while reading something from his tablet. The great thing about radio stations is that people cannot see you so everyone has the luxury of doing other things while talking on air. You van even take photo ops with everyone while they broadcast their radio show.

But don't forget about the live streaming that was being recorded by a web camera so people logged in over the Internet can actually see what was going on at a few areas of the radio booth. But who really cares about what goes on inside the booth. The most important is what they are able to get out to the consciousness of the listeners.

A fellow blogger was also there during the interview so we alternately asked away questions coming out of our heads that were amazed with delight because we were actually talking with a genius kid who probably knows a lo more than us.

The kids nowadays are very aggressive and easily adaptive to technology that they excel in many things. They have the advantage of advance education that we never got during our time when the computer was just a bulky piece of equipment that has a monochrome display and feeds on floppy disks for retrieving and saving data. A hard drive back then can only save very little of our files and documents. Now we are talking about tablet computers and hard drives with terabyte capacities. Did I just revealed my age or could I still get away with it and say I was just relaying the stories told by my grandparents. Lol!

The interview went smoothly though I could feel his impatience and was confirmed when he asked us at the latter part how many more minutes will the interview go on. It was actually also hot in the room, and I could see him sweating just like us. We had to end it anyway because we couldn't think of anymore questions to ask as it was really an impromptu interview.

But our last words should have been congratulations to a young kid who has achieved a rare opportunity because of proud parents who really made several efforts to give their child a better future. My admiration goes to his loving parents for such a wonderful upbringing. May all parents be able to give the same encouragement and opportunity to their children. We need a better generation equipped with all the knowledge and expertise, plus the confidence, that would eventually become the respected leaders and our hope for a better future.