Colombia – Radio Reporter

November 18, 2021November 15, 2021

COLOMBIA: THE RADIO THAT EDUCATED THE “CAMPESINOS”

“Radio Sutatenza: a cultural revolution in the Colombian countryside (1947 – 1994)” is an exhibition that reconstructs the history of the famous radio station, which sought to reduce the abysmal distances between the quality of rural and urban life through education in the basics and at a distance. Managed by the Acción Cultural Popular (Acpo), an educational company of Catholic extraction, it used an educational method that combined communication technologies with a model of Comprehensive Fundamental Education (Efi), seeking to generate social change. In forty years, working with public and private entities, Acpo has created a network of educational media in more than nine hundred Colombian municipalities.

An evergreen slogan

Also from the institutional video, other archive images taken from the broadcaster’s historical archive
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“Education makes us free” was the slogan used to invite the peasants to participate in the radio movement and to practice independently. The success of Radio Sutatenza stemmed from the fact that teaching entered the homes of thousands of peasants, many of whom set up radio schools in their homes to welcome those approaching learning for the first time, to meet their neighbours, but also to listen to entertainment programmes. The travelling exhibition has been taken to different cities in Colombia for several years. Videos are available on YouTube and several images of the exhibition can be found on the website of Studio Machete, which designed the exhibition layout.

June 1, 2021May 31, 2021

COLOMBIA: The number of peace stations has risen to eleven

With the opening of six more stations, whose broadcasts aim to consolidate the country’s peace process, the turning point has been completed: the target to be reached by 2026 (twenty stations) is now closer

Announced last summer, the six new peace stations went into operation on 21 May 2021. They are stations that teach the pedagogy of peace, trying to mend the divisions caused by fifty years of armed conflict between the army, guerrillas and mercedarios in the pay of drug traffickers. Last year, the locations where they were to be transmitted were defined, then the frequencies were assigned, the equipment installed and the studios set up. These are the frequencies and the localities (department in brackets) 92.6 Algeciras (Huila); 88.9 Arauquita (Arauca); 98.5 Bojayá (Chocó); 92.0 Florida (Valle); 90.1 El Tambo (Cauca); 102.7 Puerto Leguízamo (Putumayo). They join the five other stations already active (there will be 20 by 2026): 103.5 Chaparral (Tolima); 92.3 Ituango (Antioquia); 94.7 Convención (Norte de Santander); 92.2 Fonseca (La Guajira) and 89.8 San Jacinto (Bolívar). All of them depend on RTVC (Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia) and are professionally organised.

Further details on the project can be read in our article from last year.

September 17, 2020September 14, 2020

COLOMBIA: New announcement to open AM and FM radio stations

The Colombian Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (MinTIC) will authorize the opening of new commercial radio stations. Today, 664 stations operate in the 32 departments into which the country is divided, equally divided between AM (330) and FM (334)
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Eleven years after the last authorizations, new medium wave (AM) and FM radio stations will be opened in the South American country. The intention, for the Minister of Telecommunications Karen Cecilia Abudinen Abuchaibe, is to “strengthen this means of communication, recognizing it as a tool that consolidates the spread of regional culture, social responsibility and facilitates the development of the regions”. The project is divided into several phases: after the submission of the application, expected by September 17, 2020, the availability of the channels will be verified and the project can be submitted. Then the assignment and the feasibility statement will follow. Details will be added to FMLIST and MWLIST as soon as the information becomes available.

August 27, 2020August 24, 2020

COLOMBIA: Radio stations teaching peace

The Presidential Council for Stabilization and Consolidation's tweet announcing where six new radio stations for peace will be located. The photograph shows the studios of the broadcaster in Ituango — *The Presidential Council for Stabilization and Consolidation’s tweet announcing where six new radio stations for peace will be located. The photograph shows the studios of the broadcaster in Ituango*
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Colombia had almost been destroyed by over fifty years of armed conflict between guerrillas, private armies fighting for the drug cartels and the army. After 2016, when a Peace Accord was signed in Havana by the government and the largest guerrilla movement, a process of reconciliation was initiated. Part of this process included opening 20 radio stations in order to teach the pedagogy of peace. The first station was opened on June 25th, 2019, in Chaparral (in the department of Tolima) broadcasting on 103.5 MHz FM, followed by the second on July 2nd, 2019, in Ituango (Antioquia) on 92.3 MHz FM. They are equipping another three in San Jacinto (Bolivar), Fonseca (La Guajira) and Convención (Norte de Santander). They have recently decided where another six radio stations, all with 5 kW power output, will be located: Algeciras (Huila), Puerto Leguízamo (Putumayo), Bojayá (Chocó), Florida (Valle), Arauquita (Arauca) and El Tambo (Cauca). In this way the number of radio stations goes up to eleven out of the 20 planned until 2026.

Professional management

Each radio station 'is a Radio Nazionale della Colombia station, managed according to state guidelines' declared Emilio Archila, a Presidential Counsellor for Stabilization and Consolidation for the peace process — Each radio station ‘is a Radio Nacional de Colombia station, managed according to state guidelines’ declared Emilio Archila, a Presidential Counsellor for Stabilization and Consolidation for the peace process
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Each radio station team is made up of six professionals who have been carefully selected and taken on by RTVC Public Media System. They have been trained to face the challenge of explaining the implementation of the Agreement (for example, explaining the conversion of large areas of the country from coca cultivation to that of cacao). The radio programmes are also checked by a committee made up of government bodies (such as the Ministry of Stabilization and the Office of the High Commissioner of Peace) and FARC delegates. FARC today is a political party.

Three strong points

The Radio Chaparral studios, the first radio station opened on June 25th, 2019day is a political party — The Radio Chaparral studios, the first radio station that opened on June 25th, 2019
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The extensive and varied programming combines objective information and entertainment. The aim is to build a relationship between public radio stations and historically isolated communities that have suffered violence and poverty. It is a means to open a new window for dialogue and to promote peaceful coexistence. The radio programming content includes a block of time for information, another for building social networks and yet another for discussions with experts, whose aims are to explain new perspectives without sparking off heated debates.