LIMA, Peru — It was the golden age of radio and World War II still raged when Maruja Venegas began broadcasting a show for Peru’s children.
Sixty-eight years later, her “Radio Club Infantil” is still on the air, making the 97-year-old woman the globe’s longest-running radio personality, according to Guinness World Records.
“The children of yesterday are all grown now. They’ve married. They are grandparents today. So it’s them, the grandparents, who support me most,” she said in an interview in her home in the capital.
Venegas was a popular announcer on music programs when she launched the show Dec. 18, 1944, at the request of government officials to entertain ailing children at a public hospital. Venegas’ show became so popular in the 1950s that it drew Peru’s top singers and performers.
When she reached 90, she began doing the show by telephone from home, and the program that once aired twice a week is now down to a half-hour slot at 6 p.m. Sundays. She still prepares her own programs, which always include a story, music, advice and commentary.
