After almost a month away from the radio booth of WKAQ 580 AM, news anchor Ruben Sanchez returned to the station today, Monday, and began by apologizing to Leo Aldridge and listeners.

Sanchez was absent from the station after the embarrassing incident on Friday, August 29, when he insulted Aldridge and called him “pend***” in the middle of a live broadcast. The management of WKAQ never publicly reported the temporary suspension of Sanchez, who was replaced by journalist Eliezer Ramos in the radio programs “Temprano en la mañana” and “Entrevista de frente”.

Sanchez returned to the station this morning and from the radio booth read a public apology.

"I wish to express my sincere apologies for the unfortunate incident that occurred with Mr. Leo Aldridge, I recognize that it should not have happened, I deeply regret it. Violence in any of its manifestations is unacceptable and has no place in our society and in spaces where respect should prevail. I present my apologies to Mr. Aldridge, to my co-workers at WKAQ, to the management and most especially to our audience that trusts us for the responsible information that we provide them every day. This fact invited me to reflect and assume with greater firmness my commitment to tolerance, respect and responsibility that comes with the work I do," said the veteran broadcaster in front of the microphone.

Sánchez said that in less than 56 minutes of being on the air, he had received over 3,000 text messages and he dedicated part of the morning slot to thank them for the messages. He also said that his return was “for the good of information and of WKAQ”.

Among those interviewed Monday morning was Governor Jenniffer González.

“(As a) show of respect to your career, to the service you have given to the people of Puerto Rico and to always face the people,” González responded when Sánchez asked her why she came to the station.

Sanchez’s temporary absence was due to his actions against Aldridge. The incident involving the radio broadcaster occurred on Friday, August 29 during the program “WKAQ Analiza,” moderated by Carlos Díaz Olivo and Luis Pabón Roca, where Aldridge was a guest. Pabón Roca was not in the studio at the time of the controversy. Only attorneys Diaz Olivo and Aldridge were in the booth.

According to the broadcast, Sanchez proffered the expletive twice to Aldridge, without disclosing the situation for which he insulted him on air. After the incident, the program immediately went to a commercial break.

Upon his return,the station’s content manager, Joel Lago, stepped in to publicly apologize and assure that the station would take “action to ensure that these situations do not arise on the air once again.”

“The expressions that could be heard minutes, seconds before going to the previous break on the part of our talent Rubén Sánchez, do not represent the position of this station. They are embarrassing. On behalf of this station and the entire staff of WKAQ 580 I apologize to the audience for what you heard. It should not happen. Here we are all a family where professionalism every day is what governs the north of this station," said Lago.

These were Lago’s only public expressions about Sanchez’s employment situation.

On the day of the incident, Mr. Aldridge left the radio program, but not before stating that the controversy allegedly emanated from a court case in which the attorney represents a party.

“He (Ruben) has a family or friendship relationship with the other party. I am doing a professional management. He can’t seem to separate one thing from the other. He is not involved in the matter. But he decided to address me by saying pend*** to the air," the lawyer explained.

Aldridge, for his part, revealed last week that prior to the event there was an exchange of text messages with Sanchez, he revealed in an interview on the podcast Puestos Pa’l Problema, hosted by journalist Jonathan Lebron Ayala and political analyst Luis Herrero.

Those messages come after Aldridge did not catch whether Sanchez was greeting him in the hallway of radio station WKAQ. “He makes a hand gesture to me. I don’t know if he was giving me the finger or waving. I text him, ‘were you waving at me’ and he says ‘I don’t wave pend***’," Aldridge explained. The analyst then proceeded to reply, "don’t you wave to yourself?."

“I think Rubén is a smart guy, and he knew we were on the air when this happened. I don’t think it was an outburst...it was thought out,” he reflected.

On the other hand, the licensee stated that he had not been interviewed yet, as part of the investigation that he understands is being carried out by the management of the WKAQ 580 and the company Hemisphere, owners of WAPA Media following the incident.

“The ball is in Hemisphere/WAPA/WKAQ’s court. Gladly, if they want to talk to me, I have no qualms about it,” he said at the time.