While studying Science Communication at the UBA, Eduardo Smok began to insert himself into the media and, little by little, he was finding the route of his future.
“I hosted a radio program called Gente de Auto, I collaborated with CORSA and Parabrisas”reminds the protagonist to NEXOFINin the cycle “WhatsApp Chats”.
Everything changed in January 1994, with the offer to drive on cable TV (at that time, Multichannel).
He made the floors of the four programs of the month in two hours and went on vacation to Brazil, after having cashed his first check as a conductor of car per day. He did not know that she was thus laying the foundation stone of her future as a journalist specializing in the industry automotive.
“The best test of a car is done by the owner, who is the one who does 20,000 kilometers” Smok says when asked by his followers.
In dialogue with Nexofin, the host of the Auto al Día program referred to his beginnings in the media, details the key people in the cycle and gives his opinion on the current situation in the auto parts market
Nexofin (N): How did you start in automotive journalism?
Eduardo Smok (ES): I studied Communication Sciences at the UBA for three years and took a one-year course at the Escuela de los dos Congresos.
I hosted a radio program called Gente de Auto, I collaborated with CORSA and Parabrisas and then I started in cable TV with Auto al Día in 1994.
N: What was the first car you drove?
The Falcon Deluxe with my father’s new 187′ XP engine from 1968.
N: What sensation does speed generate in you?
Today, only danger. 20 years ago or more, adrenaline.
#WhatsAppChats with 👉 @autoaldiatv
✍ By Joaquin Vega.
📲 How did you start in automotive journalism? pic.twitter.com/yx2TDSUI14
— Nexofin (@Nexofin) January 10, 2023
N: In 1993 the Auto al Día program emerged, how was the project born?
Auto al Día was already a car show on the fledgling cable TV of the 90s.
They hired me to drive it, the producer did not want to continue betting on the item and left it to me. After two years of banking it, I managed to stabilize it and grow.
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N: Who were key people in your beginnings?
Jorge Fernández Morano, from Parabrisas Magazine, Eduardo Nicolini from Channel 6 of Almirante Brown, Ronnie Frost and Norberto Dubar from VW and Darío Vera, my first cameraman and editor.
N: What do you consider the secret of the cycle?
Maintain and improve a style that was innovative, then copied by everyone, but the original always tastes better. Also, be honest with the viewer.
Matías Antico and Eduardo Smok
N: How do you choose the route where you test the cars?
If I do it in the south of Santa Fe, they are always the same, since I live there for half a month or more. If it is time to travel, we choose the best landscapes.
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N: a? anecdote What do you remember testing a vehicle?
A few years ago we were going from Mar del Plata to Cariló in a Ford Mustang, to make a note at the Ford stand for the arrival of the new Bronco Sport, which had not been in January and had to return in February, cut my vacations short and approach the stand to record it.
I was attentive on the trip trying to see some Bronco from the 80s, there are very few and it is rare to cross them, and I came across one on Route 11 that is one of the two or three of the first generation, that there are in the country.
I couldn’t believe it, I made a U turn on the road, I caught up with him and we started chatting like friends since he turned out to be a former member of the Club Amigos del Falcon that I put together in 1997.
I did not know it and Mar, my wife began to broadcast live on Facebook and many believed that everything was arranged.
#WhatsAppChats with 👉 @autoaldiatv
📲 How do you choose the route where you test the cars? pic.twitter.com/bjBiGUVX5e
— Nexofin (@Nexofin) January 10, 2023
N: How do you see the current situation of the automotive industry in the Argentina?
Loaded with distorting taxes and a lack of national auto parts. A difficult future.
N: And in the auto parts market?
As I told you, little national and almost no spare parts.
Crashing a car today can be taken as total destruction, just because it’s impossible to put the parts together to repair it.
#WhatsAppChats with 👉 @autoaldiatv
📲 Let’s go with a little ping-pong 🏓, a car brand? pic.twitter.com/h6WUOTEmOs
— Nexofin (@Nexofin) January 10, 2023
N: Let’s go with a little ping-pong, a car brand?
Turin.
N: The best pilot you saw?
Ayrton senna.
N: Outside of cars, a non-negotiable passion?
Collect catalogs of… cars.
N: Anything about you that very few people know?
I don’t think I have hidden things.
N: A favorite song?
Can’t Take My Eyes off You by Barry Manilow.
N: To close with a concept, Eduardo Smok is…?
An honest guy, because that’s how my father raised me.
Coti Sorokin and Cande Tinelli, again separated and with a particular request involved