Numero Uno Radio Host in L.A. is 97.9 LA RAZA "El Mandril", From Janitor to Number One

Ricardo "El Mandril" Sanchez broke into radio at the bottom- as a janitor. Then he became an ad salesman, and when an announcer didn't show up to record a commercial, Sanchez filled in! 

FROM Los Angeles Times -- Ricardo Sanchez was a young radio host in Ensenada when the station owner decided that he was a guy in need of a nickname. A producer was put on the case.

The producer stared through the studio window as Sanchez — short and pudgy, not exactly early Ricardo Montalban — worked. He listened to Sanchez's voice, took a stroll to the garden and had a smoke, deep in thought.


"I have your name now," the producer told him the next day, snapping his fingers. "You're a mandrill!"

And that's how Sanchez became a baboon-like monkey: El Mandril.

It's a nickname to keep anyone humble, but El Mandril is on a roll that would challenge anyone's humility. In June, the 47-year-old Mexican immigrant became the top-rated local morning radio host, beating Ryan Seacrest and Rush Limbaugh — and, most notably, Spanish-language radio celebrity Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo.

Sanchez's cellphone was inundated with congratulatory calls, including one from Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has proclaimed himself a fan.

"I like him a lot. I've been around a lot of famous radio or TV folks, and some are more genuine than others," Garcetti said. "He's as real as they get."


Read more at the Los Angeles Times...