Xavi Canalias: "My first love was with radio when I was 13"

Broadcaster Xavi Canalias (Vic, 1981) was born into a working-class family: "I inherited this idea of ​​working hard to get ahead from my parents." He entered the workforce as a speaker installer in his hometown and as a furniture installer in a restaurant. Later, he combined his work with university studies: "The resources at home were what they were," he recounts. "I would get up at five in the morning, go to work until two, take a bus to Barcelona to study, and return at nine at night on the last bus, which dropped me home at ten-thirty. I'd have dinner and go to sleep," he explains in an interview withCompaniesHe says it was an intense year, but he also realized that "when you need something at home, you have to pull together, and obviously, work."

From a young age, he knew he wanted to dedicate himself to the communications sector: "The first infatuation I had, when I felt I had fallen in love, was at 13 with radio." In fact, he says he has a very solid relationship with it: "It's what you would call a love affair applied directly to work. Respect, honesty, working every day for that relationship, loving it, taking care of it," he explains. And now, he is "very happy" working at Collapse, from TV3 and the team ofThe morning of Catalunya Ràdio

"After these last 15 or 20 years, which have been very intense, it's only now, at 44, that I say, 'Wow! I'm making a living doing this!'" He's been linking projects to different media outlets and working tirelessly. On the other hand, he considers it a very poorly paid sector: "I've done jobs that have paid better and others simply because I felt like it, knowing that I wasn't earning what I wanted." Generally, he was happy with his earnings, but there have been times when he's struggled to make ends meet: "I was unemployed for 3 or 4 months. I live alone, so I support myself, I have my expenses, I have to pay my bills every month, and yes, there were 4 difficult months because of the uncertainty. You don't know when you'll start, how long the program will last, how much money you'll be paid, or how long you can live on the money you're paid."

He also explains that it's not unusual for a project with good prospects to end sooner than expected because it doesn't have an audience: "In this profession, which is wonderful, you can suddenly find yourself without a job, and often finding another one mid-season is very difficult. So, you expect things to end."

Over the years, Canalias has learned to manage money: "You realize that you have to be financially organized and that you have to live with some foresight in case you find yourself without a job at some point," he says. He sets a spending limit for himself: "One of the most important decisions I've made was to start saving." Thus, the broadcaster considers himself a thrifty person, but he also has his vices: "I admit that if I'm broke, and if I've spent more money than I'd like somewhere, it's on designer clothes. I think it's necessary sometimes to spend money on what you like," he says. Besides clothes, in his case, it's also the gym for CrossFit.

As for housing, Canalias rented in Barcelona when rents were affordable, until he was 34: "Now I live in Maresme, I also rent, and buying an apartment is in my plans, but right now buying a home is practically impossible." He'll buy when the mortgage doesn't cripple his finances: "Apartments are so expensive that you really need a significant amount of money for a down payment."

All in all, the broadcaster is clear that he wants to continue working in this sector because he enjoys it so much: "I'd like to finish my career working in public radio, I'd love that," he concludes.