‘There won’t be another Galvão at Globo. I did everything’, says Galvão Bueno

You may not even like sports, but it’s almost impossible not to have heard the voice of Galvão Bueno, 72, sometime in the last forty years in Brazil.

The Globo narrator sold emotions, as he likes to say, skidded, as he admits, and reported achievements and defeats in football, F1, athletics, boxing, basketball, swimming and an extensive list of other sports.

An omnipresent figure in the broadcasts of the main events on the country’s largest broadcaster, he is now preparing his farewell to television. “I stop on December 18, the World Cup final. It will be my last narration on open TV”, he tells Sheet.

The announcer says he has an agreement with Globo not to sign with any other broadcaster. “I’ve even received some proposals, but I’m not going,” he says.

Your future will be on new digital platforms like YouTube and Facebook. It will have an interview channel and is negotiating agreements with companies for other editorial products. “I will not be an influencer, I want to be a publisher in this digital world”, he defines.

In the Globo that he will leave, he believes that another Galvão Bueno will not appear. “It’s a matter of quantity, not quality. I did everything,” he explains.

The world in which the broadcaster monopolized major events and the narrator dominated the scale no longer exists. Broadcasting rights were pulverized. The audience leader no longer has F1, the Champions League and spent three seasons without Libertadores, for example.

“And even Globo doesn’t want someone to focus the narrations as much as I do”, he admits.

You had recent surgery. Are you in good health? It all worked out and I’m fine. Today I even made an embaixadinha for a special that Globo is recording. The doctor will kill me. Life is like that, I don’t like to stop.

The surgery I had to do for something old, from the time I played basketball. I fell and went six months without playing. That’s when I had the intelligence, at the age of 23, to change the ball for the microphone.

How will your farewell to Globo be? There will be a lot, even a documentary. It’s beautiful work. It’s a series on Globoplay that brings my life together with a lot of things I’ve narrated, achievements in Brazil, clubs, F1, Ayrton Senna, all of that.

Narration ever again? Not on television. My platform change is set. We have good projects in progress.

Career

And what’s your plan after Globe? I will have my channel, I have contacts with these communication companies, these new ones. The project is big, I talked to João Pedro Paes Leme (Play9, partner of Felipe Neto), who was my editor at Globo. I don’t intend to be an influencer, I want to be a publisher in this digital world, on these platforms. I can’t imagine myself retired.

Globo released merchandising in Sport for communicators to advertise. Did you like it? Yes, that was not allowed before, it was something that changed at Globo. I traded with Roberto Marinho Neto [ex-diretor da área de Esporte], who is my friend. We changed the contract and I was free to do [comerciais].

Isn’t there a conflict for the journalist to sell products? I don’t think it interferes with my work. I declined several ads. I just do what I appear to be what I am. It’s not just any proposal that I accept. I’ve built credibility and been out of these campaigns for a long time, so there was a strong demand.

How do you define yourself? Journalist, communicator? In fact, I’m a mix of an emotional salesman and a tightrope walker. I have walked a razor’s edge for 48 years. On the one hand, there is the emotion that I need to sell, on the other, the reality of the facts that I cannot escape. I’m always on that tightrope. Sometimes I stumble. I’ve taken a lot of beating in my life. Today, I get very little even.

Even, and in the networks social? That nothing, it seems that the guys liked me myself. Today I am in the dating phase.

How do you see the dispersion of rights, with Globo losing F1 and championships? It was difficult to have another Galvão Bueno, who would concentrate so many transmissions? My saying this may seem like a pretense, but there won’t be another Galvão. It is not a question of quality, but of quantity. Do you know why? I used to do everything for a long time. I did F1, the Olympics, I did the championships, the decisions for Brazilian and regional titles, the Brazilian team, the Cup. This must not exist. Because broadcasting rights are more pulverized and it’s not even Globo’s idea to have someone else like that [que concentre transmissões]. But won’t you ask who will be my successor? (laughs)

Who will be? He has two teammates who have been ready for a long time, Luis Roberto and Cléber Machado. He has new people, Gustavo Villani, Everaldo Marques and those on SporTV, Milton Leite and Luiz Carlos Júnior. The direction of the house will say if there will be a holder. We are very well served. I think what will be decided is who will play the team’s first game after December 18th.

Is it true that you have the highest salary in Globo? I’ve always said that I earn more than I need and less than I deserve. But do not know the salary of others to compare. Now, there was one thing that was the fact that I didn’t do commercials. Faustão, Ana Maria Braga and Huck did it, so it was fair for me to earn a little, right? But I can say one thing: I always earned very well at Globo.

What were your best moments? Three transmissions are very special. Ayrton Senna’s first title in 1988. I had an exact idea of ​​his emotion. The team’s tetra in 1994. That madness, that squeaky voice screaming “it’s tetra”. I used to joke with Luciano do Valle, a genius, that we were cold feet. We started in 1974, and the team had never won since. And the third moment was the silver medal in the men’s 4×100 track at the 2000 Olympics.

In addition to the moments, I keep the people I learned from. I had three masters. Boni (José Bonifácio de Oliveira Sobrinho, former director of Globo), who told me that it was always possible to do better. There was Armando Nogueira, who taught me to recognize mistakes. Once, I missed the goal in a narration and blamed the light. Armando called me and said: “You missed the chance to win over your audience even more. Acknowledge your mistake and apologize”. Every time I make a mistake, I apologize and remind him. And I add Pelé, who I’ve never seen deny a photo and an autograph. For those who live on the affection of others, this is an obligation.

From his relationship with leaders, he regrets having approached too much? I believe that at a certain point I even had a greater relationship than I should have had with former CBF president Ricardo Teixeira. The recent history of the direction of our CBF is a disgrace. Teixeira had to leave to avoid being arrested, Marco Polo Del Nero never left Brazil to avoid being arrested, José Maria Marin was arrested.

Teixeira was very engaging. At one point, I had a closeness. I don’t have political friends, I don’t have leading friends. I have coaches, players, ex-players. This is my world.
And there’s J Hawilla, but it’s different. This was a very dear friend from when we started in radio. He became a great businessman. He passed away with extreme sadness. He recognized mistakes.

Brazilian Team

Does Neymar have football to be the best in the world? The chance for him is this Cup. He is the main player of the national team, but I am very excited about the new kids that have arrived, Raphinha, Vini Jr, is a kid that is flying. They have to play and that’s good for Neymar.

Is there pressure from Globo not to speak ill of Neymar? Neymar became an entity… Say something, the sister goes to social networks to complain. Say something else, the father writes such heavy texts.

After so long, it doesn’t bother me. I will continue making comments. I hope he shines brightly, that he is our great player, that hexa comes and that I can speak his name with joy, happiness.

There’s pressure on everything you say on television. I have nothing to do with anyone’s personal life. I criticize, I comment on what is from the countryside.

You lived with many coaches in the coverage of the selection. What was the best and worst you’ve seen? Zagallo is the best. The worst I don’t say…

And the best of conversation? Vanderlei Luxemburgo, my friend. We, in the Copa America that he won, would talk until 4:00 in the morning.

And the baddest? The lion. Lately, I’ve been talking to him, we did a show together, but there was a time when he was a bag in the selection.

7 to 1

You recently stated that Luiz Felipe Scolari never answered you since 7-1. Do you know why? what? It was my comment from Jornal Nacional. I would very much like to talk to him. I left two hundred messages.

On the eve of the 7-1, we spoke to him on Jornal Nacional. We were without the captain [Thiago Silva] and without Neymar. I said: are we going with 2002 in them, play with three defenders, two defensive midfielders?

He said: “I can’t play like this in Brazil. I have several players to replace Neymar, I’m calm”. Boy, I wanted to say “fucked”. But I couldn’t speak, right?

Then what happened happens. My comment after the defeat became an editorial. It took more than three minutes. It was made by eight hands, with Ali Kamel [diretor de jornalismo]Renato Ribeiro [diretor de esportes]João Pedro Paes Leme and myself.

I was tough because I had to be tough. But how many compliments in life have I paid him? How many times did we laugh?

What was it like to stop narrating F1? In 41 years of narrating, I caught the golden phase in Brazil, made the titles, I was lucky. So I’d say I’m weaning. As I raise cattle, I make a relationship, I know that weaning is something difficult for the animal.

Did you enjoy narrating F1 more than football? No, what I’ve always said is that it demands more. It’s harder than football, which you keep reporting. F1 is kind of like doing a samba school parade, you have to understand the plot. So, you have to be very close, have information. Know the strategy that is being used and why it is being used.

Policy

How do you see the current situation in Brazil? A very difficult moment, of very great confrontation and belligerence. I hope people have a little more sense and tranquility.

In recent days there have been movements reaffirming the importance of democracy after threats from President Jair Bolsonaro. Do you support initiatives like this? Of course, I’m a Democrat. In 1968, I was 18 years old and I was in Brasília. I lived the hardships of the coup and the military dictatorship. He was exactly aware of things. I spoke in permanent assemblies, I fled through the bush, I was beaten by the police, I sniffed tear gas.

Do you intend to declare a vote? No, but I agree with and support movements for democracy.