Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- It's almost six hours into Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's weekly Sunday broadcast of ``Alo Presidente,'' and the show's star is annoyed.

Using a video hookup, the 52-year-old president is attempting to show some recently acquired water-treatment equipment from Argentina. Chavez isn't satisfied with the footage being aired.

``Focus on the equipment in back,'' orders Chavez, who is wearing a red shirt over a red T-shirt. ``I'm going to have to be the cameraman. Back the camera up a bit so we can show everything! We're going to have to give these cameramen courses!''

So it goes on ``Alo Presidente'' (``Hello, Mr. President''), week after week, as Chavez engages his supporters with personal stories, songs, poems, interviews and jabs at U.S. President George W. Bush.

Now in his eighth year in office -- and floating the idea that he could stay in power for life -- Chavez has made the show a cornerstone of his leadership, offering instruction on subjects from socialist economics to Venezuela's oil industry, the world's fifth-largest exporter. He creates a sense of drama by firing officials or laying out a new foreign policy on air.

``Chavez has two objectives for `Alo Presidente,''' said Luis Vicente Leon, an analyst with polling company Datanalisis. ``One is to maintain constant contact with the masses, his supporters, and the second is to give them instructions on what to do.''

Nickname: `Goofy'

Chavez's outburst was one of several during the Sept. 3 show, broadcast from the South American country's military institute in Caracas. Viewers learned that their president's nickname at the institute was ``Goofy,'' after the Disney cartoon character, and that he had discipline problems while attending the school. They also got to see part of Chavez's student file, including a picture of him as a 16-year-old cadet.

``Look, I had my Afro then,'' Chavez laughed. ``They had to cut it a bit.'' All of his guests, including Cabinet ministers and army officers, laughed as well, as the camera panned over them.

``Alo Presidente,'' which has run for more than 260 episodes, usually starts at about 11 a.m. each Sunday and is carried live by Venezuela's state television, which is watched by 8 to 10 percent of the population, and state radio stations. Locations are varied as Chavez seeks to speak from all of the country's states and major cities. The show also has aired from Bolivia, Cuba and the U.K.

The show lasts until Chavez is done: During one broadcast, Chavez said at 3:30 p.m. that it was drawing to a close. The show ended two hours later. The record broadcast ran eight hours.

Taking People's Pulse

``This is Chavez's moment with the people, to check their pulse, to check what they are thinking, or feeling,'' said Michael McCaughan, author of ``The Battle of Venezuela,'' a book examining Chavez's presidency. ``This is the great communicator at work. He draws you into a long, rambling anecdote that may begin with Batman and may end in the pampas in Argentina.''

``Alo Presidente'' bares the personality of the president, a garrulous former paratrooper who won election in 1998 and was re- elected with 59 percent of the vote in 2000. He is running for another term in December.

Labeled a destabilizing force by U.S. officials, Chavez loses no opportunity during his program to attack the U.S. as an imperialist power with a corrupt capitalist system. During a separate television address this week, he said the U.S. government might have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Weight Loss

Twice divorced, Chavez has talked on the show about his love life, offered advice on how to lose weight while bemoaning his own weight gain and pleaded with citizens to use bicycles, even though subsidized gasoline in Venezuela costs the equivalent of 19 cents a gallon.

Viewers may be treated to guest appearances by visiting world leaders, actors and singers. Chavez makes a point of sending a friendly greeting to Cuban leader Fidel Castro along with his Bush barbs.

``You are a donkey, Mister Danger,'' Chavez said in accented English on the March 19 broadcast as cattle grazed nearby in the flat grasslands near the city of San Fernando de Apure. ``You are a donkey, Mister Bush.''

``Alo Presidente'' first aired on May 23, 1999, three months into Chavez's presidency, as a radio show for fielding calls from viewers. He took nine calls that day, ranging from complaints about park benches to advice on how to tackle Venezuela's problems.

Singing President

As the program evolved, Chavez added video clips to highlight what he cites as successes of his socialist revolution. And he began taking the show on the road: for example, striding across Venezuela's plains in an open-necked shirt to the music of a local folk group that he joined for a couple of songs.

```Alo Presidente'' gives the people of Venezuela a window on the world, to see things they would never have had a chance to see,'' said Julia Buxton, a professor of political science at Bradford University in Bradford, England, who has written extensively about Venezuela.

Chavez is also savvy enough to know when to take a break. During the World Cup this year, he left the airwaves for almost two months, to avoid competing with soccer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Wilson in Caracas pewilson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 15, 2006 00:06 EDT