251- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Radio gaga
If there’s one medium the Spanish do better than pretty
much anywhere else in Europe, it’s radio. Radio in Spain
is diverse, plentiful, lively and generally well listened to.
It’s estimated that between 16 and 19 million people
listen to Spanish radio stations on any given day. Even
between midnight and three in the morning as many as
three million are still listening. No one else in Europe
tunes in more.Why is it so popular? Is it the verbose nature of the
Spanish? Is it the oral culture of the country? Is it
anything to do with the natural wit and improvisational
skills that seem to come so easily in this country? Well
yes, it’s all of those things. Spanish radio is certainly a
more off-the-cuff, less structured and livelier affair than
you’ll hear elsewhere. But there’s more to it than that.
As we’ve seen, media was censored under Franco
and television, in particular, struggled to shake off the
restrictions. Despite the fact that Radio Nacional de
España (RNE) was originally used to broadcast
Nationalist propaganda during the Spanish Civil War
and that it was incorporated into RTVE along withTVE,
radio threw off the shackles of state censorship much
faster and with considerably less fuss. For example,
radio was the main and most immediate source of
news coverage during the 1981 coup attempt. Even as
the coup leaders were brandishing their guns in the
Cortes, the radio correspondent in the press gallery was
still broadcasting. Many Spaniards still rely on the radio
for their daily news today, wary of the partiality that
seems to have dogged its televisual cousin.Power of the media
Spanish radio coverage of
the Madrid train bombings
in 2004 is credited with
significantly influencing
the outcome of that year’s
general election.
Because the incumbent
government had
supported the war in Iraq
and the election was to
take place in just three
days, they were keen
to blame ETA rather
than al-Qaeda for the
bombings. The immediacy
of radio undermined the
government’s position
sufficiently to have a
genuine impact at the
ballot boxes. The Spanish
Socialist Workers’ Party
was duly voted in.6.1.3 Radio active: in love with the wireless