Oscar González Oro

Oscar Mario González Oro was born in Mendoza, Argentina, on 16 October 1951. As a boy he attended Colegio San Luis Gonzaga and worked in the family firm before the household moved him toward Buenos Aires around age eleven. He later studied law and psychology without completing those paths as careers, and trained as an actor with Héctor Bidonde, Augusto Fernandes and Lito Cruz. Piano lessons and a wish to sing stayed with him long after formal schooling ended.

His radio path ran from FM Playa Verde in Pinamar (1989) through overnight producing and hosting on Radio del Plata to the creation of Radio 10. From 4 January 1999 El oro y el moro occupied the second morning slot and, for much of the following decade and a half, led AM ratings in Greater Buenos Aires. Hadad's station used that success to build a wider news and talk brand. González Oro also worked on television with Gerardo Sofovich on Polémica en el Bar, co-hosted Cotidiano on Canal 9 with Beto Casella and Baby Etchecopar, and later fronted Posdata, Noches negras and Los unos y los otros. After leaving the original Radio 10 morning franchise he moved among Rivadavia, La Red and returns to Radio 10 (Negro en la Diez, Negro y regreso). In 2020 he joined Rivadavia's relaunch alongside Eduardo Feinmann, Nelson Castro and Baby Etchecopar. He retired from daily radio in early 2021, then made a short 2023 return as temporary host of Nosotros a la mañana on El Trece.

A brief early marriage to Estela produced his son Agustín. He also raised his nephew Pablo as a son, a fact he discussed publicly when speaking about family. In May 2016, around Valentine's Day coverage that year, he presented his partner Tato, a Uruguayan civil pilot, on Instagram and spoke about living his sexuality more openly with his children's support. He moved to Punta del Este in August 2020 and increasingly kept a private profile, telling interviewers he wanted better energy and more time with his sons after decades of four-hour daily shows.

González Oro died on 25 September 2026 in Punta del Este, Uruguay, aged 74. Reports described a prolonged illness followed by cardiorespiratory arrest. He had lived quietly in Uruguay since 2020 and had largely stopped giving interviews. A private ceremony and cremation were arranged at Jardines del Alma in San Carlos, Maldonado. Tributes arrived from Eduardo Feinmann, Daniel Hadad, Radio 10, Rivadavia colleagues, television hosts and public figures including Ricardo Montaner and Jorge Macri.

Argentine media remembered him as a defining AM morning voice of the Radio 10 era, a bridge between news, entertainment and everyday companionship. Colleagues from Hadad's first Radio 10 team, Rivadavia, América TV and El Trece posted tributes within hours of his death. The phrase Dale gas and the memory of El oro y el moro remain shorthand for a style of radio that mixed interviews with warmth. His book Radiografía de mi país and the 2005 album El Negro Oro preserve sides of his public persona beyond the daily microphone.

González Oro often said he had not chosen radio so much as radio had chosen him, and that a morning host's first duty was to keep listeners company. He framed Dale gas as energy and forward motion rather than aggression. In later interviews from Uruguay he said he avoided long political arguments with fellow Argentines abroad because they drained the calm he was seeking. During the 2020 lockdown he treated his Rivadavia programme as a mutual-aid switchboard for medicines and supplies, then concluded that the unsolved requests weighed too heavily to continue.

His principal honour was commercial and popular rather than institutional: years at the top of Buenos Aires AM ratings with El oro y el moro, and a reputation among peers as one of the most important radio hosts of his generation. Daniel Hadad and other broadcasters later called him central to Radio 10's rise. Formal prize lists are less prominent in public summaries than audience leadership and longevity.

In 2005 he released the album El Negro Oro, collecting songs he sang on air. In 2009 Editorial Planeta published Radiografía de mi país, a critical look at Argentine public life. Television credits included Polémica en el Bar, Cotidiano, Posdata, Noches negras, Los unos y los otros, a 2009 Showmatch appearance and a brief 2023 stint on Nosotros a la mañana. Clips of his Radio 10 and Rivadavia work continue to circulate on Argentine news channels.

On 31 March 2018 Natacha Jaitt, appearing on Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand, named González Oro among people she linked to sexual abuse of minors. He responded with a public letter stating that he had never met Jaitt and that he felt anguished by an accusation without evidence. The episode was widely reported in Argentine media at the time. Separate professional conflicts included resignations and returns among Radio 10, Rivadavia and La Red as ownership and line-ups shifted.

His national breakthrough was not a single television hit but the sustained success of El oro y el moro after Radio 10's 1998-1999 launch. Hadad heard him, hired him, and placed him in the second morning, where the combination of news, guests and conversational tone pulled mass AM audiences. That platform made Dale gas a catchphrase and made González Oro a household nickname far beyond Mendoza and Buenos Aires radio circles.