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Radio in Argentina

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Radio inArgentinais an important facet of the nation's media and culture. Radio, which was first broadcast in Argentina in 1920, has been widely enjoyed in Argentina since the 1930s. Radio broadcast stations totaled around 150 activeAMstations, 1,150FMstations, and 6 registeredshortwavetransmitters.[1]An estimated 24 million receivers were in use in 2000 (2.4 per household).[2]

History

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Installations atLR5 Radio Splendidin Monte Grande in 1933.
CIA map of radio facilities, 1947

Radio broadcasting enjoys a long and varied history in Argentina, tracing its origins to a 1910 stay in the southside Buenos Aires suburb ofBernalbyGuglielmo Marconi,inventor of thewireless telegraph.There, he achieved a rudimentary radio transmission with a kite-mounted antenna connected to earphones. Argentine publisherJosé C. Pazlater sponsored Marconi's radio transmission from Italy to Buenos Aires, the first transatlantic broadcast into South America.[3]

Legendary tango vocalistCarlos Gardeltunes in around 1930.

Three local medical students, led byEnrique Susini,began their own radio experiments in 1917 and, installing transmission equipment in Buenos Aires' Coliseo Theatre, they broadcast, on August 27, 1920,Parsifal,the first opera on radio and only the second radio broadcast in the World. These installations becameLOR Radio Argentina,the World's first formal radio station. The number of receivers in the city at the time: around 20. This station was joined in 1922 by LOX, whose ad for the Los Andes Restaurant is probably the World's first on radio. Several more stations opened in Buenos Aires during Argentina's prosperous 1920s and growing numbers of artists signed contracts for live performances on the growing variety ofradio dramas.

Leading stations at the time began broadcasting from the numerous, ornatetheatrestages in Buenos Aires, including LR5Radio Splendid(so named for the venue where its shows were produced, theGrand Splendid Theatre). Among the notable events broadcast live at the time was PresidentMarcelo Torcuato de Alvear's inaugural, in 1922, and the 1923 "bout of the century" inPolo Grounds,New York City,betweenJack DempseyandLuis Ángel Firpofor the World Heavyweight title.[4]

The medium's boom and the lucrative localad marketallowed Susini to sell his station in 1930 to U.S. telecom giantITTfor US$200 million, a record at the time. The visionary entrepreneur invested a part of the funds intoLumitonStudios, among the first to produce sound movies in the world.[3][5]

Argentine radio embracedtangoin the early 1930s, airing the work of orchestras such asFrancisco Canaro's andJulio de Caro's; LR1-Mundo (referred to as LR1 for its being the first on the dial) became the standard for tango broadcasts. The decade saw the rise ofJaime Yankelevich,a former radio valve distributor, as the dominant force in the medium, thoroughRadio El Mundo(inaugurated in 1935), andRadio Belgrano,which became the first in Argentina to broadcast through a chain of repeater stations, and the first to expand into late-night broadcasting. Buenos Aires was by then home to 25 stations (as many as in New York, a city, at the time, almost three times larger).[3]The state entered the radio market in 1937, with the inaugural ofLRA Radio NacionalRadio Mitre became the first in Argentina to broadcast around the clock, in 1960.[6]

Luis Sandrini'sFelipeand othercomedyshows became ratings leaders during the 1940s, and as most Argentines were still eitherimmigrantsor first and second generation Argentines, many revolved around the use of thickly accentedethnic humor.Some of the most popular wereNiní Marshall's characters, particularlyCatitaandCándida (1939 film).[7]The trend was not without its detractors, however, and in 1943, the newly installed dictatorship of GeneralPedro Ramírezbanned humor which "deformed the language," leading to exile for Marshall and numerous other radio stars.[8]

Football announcer Fioravanti, who helped maintain radio's dominance in sports broadcasting after the advent of television.

Programming focused onArgentine folk musicandPeronistpropagandaduring the populist administration of PresidentJuan Perón,who met his influential wife,Evita,when the latter was a radiomatinéestar; among Perón's most compelling voices in support on the radio was Tango composerEnrique Santos Discépolo,who also hosted political commentary shows. The public sector became increasingly involved in Argentine radio during Perón's 1946-55 presidency, and afterwards. All broadcast chains werenationalized,and state radio extended overseas in 1958 with the inaugural of theArgentine Foreign Broadcasting Service.The station became only the third in the Western Hemisphere (after theVoice of AmericaandRadio Canada International) to broadcast internationally and in several languages.[3]

Television in Argentina,which had been developed by Jaime Yankelevich in 1951 under state licence, eroded radio's listener base during the 1950s and '60s. A number of radio hosts, however, such as musicianJorge Raúl Batallé,talent showhostRoberto Galán,and news and commentary hosts, such asAntonio Carrizo,Cacho Fontana,andHéctor Larrea(whoseRapidísmo,from 1967, became influential to the Argentinemorning showformat) rivaled their television counterparts.

Alejandro Dolina and Adolfo Castelo were among those who helped shape Argentine radio after the lifting of censorship in the 1980s

Censorshipalso intensified, however, and a number of commentators had shows cancelled, notablyHugo Guerrero Marthineitz,who hosted the intellectual interview program,El show del minuto.TheComité Federal de Radiodifusión(COMFER) was established in 1972 to both regulate the growing number of unlicensed stations, as well as to increase state influence over the medium. The return of Juan Perón from exile led to a second round of nationalizations in 1974, including all major television stations. The Radio Broadcasting Law of 1980, which led to the privatization of 44 stations, touched off an era of state disinvolvement in Argentine radio, however, and helped lead tocorporate consolidationover the airwaves. Many of these hitherto public radio stations (known by their acronym, LRA) had helped extend the medium into Argentina's then-remote far north andPatagonia.Argentine radio, was long dominated byAM broadcasting(only 22FMstations were in service),[3]and AM remained popular on the airwaves, even as FM stations grew to outnumber these in subsequent decades.

Thereturn of democracyin 1983 led to an unprecedented selection of news programs, and many became known formuck-rakingexposés; some of the highest-rated includedMagdalena Ruiz Guiñazú,Santo Biasatti,andNelson Castro.A number of new stations dedicated toRock musicand other forms ofpop culturealso opened, notablyRock & Pop(1985), led byDaniel Grinbank;the station became well known in the late 1980s for its irreverentRadio Bangkokprogram, hosted byLalo Mir.Easy listeninghostNora Perlé(Canciones son amores),JazzologíahostCarlos Inzillo,Variety showhostChiche Gelblung(Edición Chiche), and critic and raconteurAlejandro Dolina(La venganza sera terrible), also became prominent in radio broadcasting at this time.

Mario Pergolini(middle) hostsCuál es?

Footballremained a perennial favorite on the Argentine radio, and some of the best-known announcers have includedFioravanti,José María Muñoz,Enrique Macaya Márquez,Horacio Pagani,Marcelo Araujo,andVíctor Hugo Morales,among many others.

ArInfo(Buenos Aires) became the first Argentine station tobroadcast onlinein 2001 and by 2009, 61 stations did so, nationwide.[9]The ownership structure of both radio and television broadcasting became increasingly concentrated after the 1980 Media Law, however, and many of the most popular radio stations are owned by conglomerates, includingRadio Continental(Telefé),Radio Mitre(Grupo Clarín),Radio Rivadavia(Grupo Uno), andRadio 10(Daniel Hadad).[10]The contentiousAudiovisual Communication Services Law,signed by PresidentCristina Kirchnerin 2009 and upheld by theArgentine Supreme Courtin 2013, would restrict the number of media licences per proprietor and limit the influence of the principal media conglomerates by allocating a greater share of these to the state andNGOs.[11][12]

Stations

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For a more comprehensive list, seeList of radio stations in Argentina.

Today, in Argentina, there are now more than 150 AM stations, 1150 FM stations and 6 shortwave radio stations broadcasting throughout the country.

The following stations are licensed toGreater Buenos Airesarea (or GBA):

AM

References

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  1. ^Mi Buenos Aires Querido(in Spanish)
  2. ^Encyclopædia Britannica. Book of the Year: 2005.International statistics.
  3. ^abcdeArgentine Radio: Over 60 years on the air.The Argentine Information Secretariat, 1981.
  4. ^El Gráfico:Cuando Firpo tiró a Dempsey fuera del ring(in Spanish)
  5. ^Clarín:historia de la radio en la Argentina(in Spanish)
  6. ^Clarín:Radio Mitre cumple 75 años(in Spanish)
  7. ^Cine Nacional
  8. ^Clarín(in Spanish)
  9. ^notiinforma(in Spanish)Archived2012-02-20 at theWayback Machine
  10. ^Gente BA:La concentración mediática en la Argentina(in Spanish)Archived2012-09-04 atarchive.today
  11. ^BBC News en Español
  12. ^"Media Law Reform Pits Argentine Executive Branch Against Judiciary".Americas Quarterly.December 7, 2012.
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