“I have no red lines on specific topics or problems”

The day has come, Sonsoles Ónega debuts on Antena 3. After the unexpected and commented professional leap from Mediaset España to Atresmedia Televisión, the beloved communicator launches ‘And now Sonsoles’your afternoons news and entertainment space on the country’s most watched channel. From 19:00 to 20:00, bridging the gap that ‘Boom!’ had had until now, the live returns in the evening schedule on the main channel of the audiovisual company.

On the occasion of its debut, El Confi TV, the television section of El Confidentcial, had the opportunity to do so chat with her exclusively to find out how he faces this new job challenge. Ónega is excited, relaxed and eager to continue to tell the “last hour” of everything that happens inside and outside our country.

Sonsoles, what will the viewer find in “And now Sonsoles”?

Inventing on television is very difficult and we are not here to create a revolutionary format that breaks with what the viewer has seen on the Spanish screen for 40 years. It would be ridiculous to even aspire to a show that has one hour in which it will tell the news from entertainment.

We want to renew the screen with all the collaborators who will accompany me. The presence of the public is important, I know that it is not a new element in a magazine, but for me it is because I have never worked with the public, not even when I was doing that reality on Telecinco because it was a pandemic and there was none. I want him to be an active part of the program and not just companions on the set. And not only will I be there, there are other fellow journalists who will have their own sections. There will also be space for social reporting, as an element that I believe is essential in this type of format, because it is part of the citizen’s speech.

From then on, the viewer will find an hour of live broadcast in the afternoon from Antena 3, something that hasn’t existed in recent years. I hope and hope that the news is good because in the end a program lives on life and I hope that life surprises us.

“My style is to go fast, which doesn’t mean we face some problems on tiptoe, nor is it synonymous with frivolity”

You start with just one hour of program, isn’t that really a short time?

This is what I say [risas], but hey, let’s start with an hour, which 60 minutes goes a long way. This will be evident in the pace of the program, although going fast is also part of my style, which doesn’t mean we tackle some issues on tiptoe, nor is it synonymous with frivolity. And let’s see how it goes, maybe they give us more time. Ask about El Confidentcial, you have more power than me [risas].

If someday you see fit, I’d like to see a headline in your newspaper that says “Sonsoles needs an extra hour”. This would be the success of the program [risas].

Tell me about the title, how did it come to be called that?

For sheer and harsh imposition [risas]. It’s a battle I lost as soon as I got here because I honestly didn’t want the program to bear my name for various and probably inexplicable modesties, but the network unilaterally decided it wanted to call the program ‘And now Sonsoles’. I admit that I am quite docile in this and it made no sense to open a war against something that in the end had already happened to me in ‘Ya es noon’, which was ‘the Sonsoles program’. Many times the space ends up being known by the presenter, sometimes unfairly because behind there is a team that works as much as you do.

You have lost the name battle, but to what extent do you have control over the topics that will be covered in the program?

I am very heavy and take care of everything. I work as a team and I am not the director nor do I put myself above anyone, but I make my criteria known. I am in the meetings, I decide on issues like them and I participate in all the work of the news coordinators, with the heart, of the one who opens the beach bar in the morning … I am in everything, even in the production of the program with David Flecha, an experienced manager of this house.

Would you therefore have no problem with stopping a certain information treatment if it goes against your criteria?

On a daily basis, there are many circumstances in which I can express my opinion, but I have no red lines on specific topics or problems. I get along very well with the director. I have been working with her for many years and I also know the rest of the management team, so I am very comfortable with that.

“I cannot abstract myself from the reality of daily audience data because we owe it to ourselves”

Will you break a little the mental pattern we have about your figure tied to a table and that perhaps more rigid structure?

There is still a table, which is very large and very nice, but I will get up a lot, I think at the expense of my own image, because standing I lose. But pay attention to what I tell you, I will get up even less than I would like [risas]. I will interact a lot with the audience, including through the media and the set we have, which lends itself more to it.

As for the public, are you one who cares a lot about data?

Yes, I’m very worried about the audience data. As soon as 8 in the morning I look at it. I am interested in everything and who says the opposite, because he will live in a more placid and happy way than me, but I cannot escape the reality of daily data, we owe it to him. Probably, he does not affect the content of the program, but will serve to configure and adapt it, of course. Everything is compatible and there has to be a balance, but the audience is important to me. And if it goes wrong, well, maybe they’ll make the deal for me. TV is like that. The whole team depends on the data, there are many families and only for this reason it counts for me.

Now that your arrival is already a reality, what fears do you have after the jump from the audiovisual group?

I think there is a lot of expectation and expectation weights, why deny it. I just hope not to disappoint the viewer, the citizen I don’t know and who will approach the screen. Everything else falls into the script of these things. There will be people from my other program who like change and others who don’t, but hey, this is, I insist, within the rules of the game. I’m interested in people who are at home, who I don’t know and who I hope to meet on screen, or who know me. Everything else … what will I do if I can’t control it.

Have you had a chance to see Marc Calderó on TVE and Joaquín Prat take your place in ‘YEM’?

Sure, I’ve seen them both. I am very happy that Marc is doing well on Spanish television, I see him very comfortable with Lourdes Maldonado and I think they are putting on a good program. And I see Joaquín gorgeous in ‘Ya es noon’ and I’m very happy for him.