Radio Galega da Emigración Directory

The Repertorio da Radio Galega da Emigración is a historical catalogue of the radio activities carried out and carried out by Galician emigrants, mainly in America and Europe, but also in other less frequent destinations with a Galician presence. Chronologically, it covers from the early 1930s to the present day, with the possibility of adding new initiatives that may arise in the future.

The different types of radio broadcasts from Galicia abroad are part of the communicative and cultural activities promoted by Galicians in the countries of destination, especially in those countries where they were more representative in terms of numbers. Like the press of the community, which some auditions considered to be a kind of oral complement, the activities of the Galicians through the airwaves were shown to be a fundamental part of the socio-economic relations and solidarity established by the emigrants. Consequently, they are usually interpreted as a form of social and cultural expression of the Galician community, which also functions as an element of cohesion among its members and a way of expressing their ideas, concerns and interests.

Buenos Aires was the place of origin and main focus of the development of Galician radio broadcasting abroad, a communicative phenomenon that would later extend to other enclaves of Galician emigration in Argentina and to the main countries of settlement of the community in Europe and America. Given its dimensions and characteristics, the Galician radio movement on the airwaves offers many points of interest for its analysis, since in addition to the leadership of certain radio broadcasts in terms of quantity in each country, the high quality achieved by many of these experiences, especially those which counted on the direct participation of the main intellectuals, writers and artists of the Galician diaspora, such as Castelao, Luis Seoane or Eduardo Blanco Amor.

In Buenos Aires, emblematic titles such as Recordando a Galicia, by Maruxa Boga, La Voz de Galicia, by Fernando Iglesias ‘Tacholas’ or Galicia Emigrante, by the exiled Luis Seoane, which are nowadays an essential reference in the history of Galician journalism, in the other pratense country, Uruguay, Manuel Meilán promoted and conducted from Montevideo in the early 1950s Sempre en Galicia from CX16, considered the longest-running of all Galician radio broadcasts and which at the beginning of the 21st century was still on the air. In Caracas, the Hermandad Gallega developed an almost identical title, Siempre en Galicia, and Aires de la Tierra also appeared there, a programme that stood out for its quality and acceptance. In Mexico, A Hora de Galicia (1952-1968), a programme of cultural and informative content, promoted by Roxelio Rodríguez de Bretaña, and closely linked to the Patronato de la Cultura Gallega.

The radio initiatives located in Europe became more important from the 1960s onwards, when Galician emigration changed its orientation towards the countries of the old continent, but they already had some outstanding precedents. One of the most notable was the Galiciam Programme of the BBC in London, launched in April 1947. Also pioneering in the old continent were the Galician auditions or rather contents of Radio Pirenaica, with a political character very marked by the context of the post-civil war period.

In the 1960s, Ramón Chao broadcast from Radio París a programme in Galician which did not last three years as it was suspended due to pressure from Franco’s government, while in Portugal Margarita Ledo Andión had a programme on Radio Clube Portugués, which appeared for a time as Os meus amigos de Galicia (My friends from Galicia). These broadcasts began in 1974 and lasted barely a year. In the following decade, in Switzerland, two programmes stand out: Galiza Sempre, which began to be broadcast in 1985 by Radio Tonic FM from Geneva (Switzerland), which was a programme linked to the cultural association Galicia Hoxe, and Espa-Voz, which is currently broadcast by Radio Fönderband in Bern.

At the same time, Galician emigration radio also had an impact on the autonomous communities on the mainland which had more Galician presence. The most significant case is that of Catalonia, where Galician broadcasts proliferated to such an extent that they can even be compared numerically with those from Argentina. The most outstanding titles are: Lejos de la Tierra by Manuel Valdés, Nuestra Galicia by Manuel Fernando González, Radio Celta, radio station of the Galician Centre of Barcelona, the experience of Radio Amistad promoted by Olegario Sotelo Blanco or ERGAC, an attempt to associate Galician radio spaces in Catalonia . This enormous activity continued and lasted until our times, as the figure of 13 radio programmes reported by Blanco Campaña in his work on Galician communication abroad seems to indicate. In Madrid there are reports of a programme entitled Pandeirada which ran between 1968 and 1970 and, more recently, another with the same title as Meilán’s, Siempre en Galicia, broadcast by Radio Intercontinental in Madrid and hosted by Mercedes Buxán, which was on the air for barely a year (1993-1994). In the Basque Country, the only known title is De orilla a orilla, broadcast by Bilbao’s Radio Nervión in connection with Radio Gorbea, a station in Gasteiz-Vitoria, thus covering a wide area, which was still on the air recently.

Considering the complexity of the phenomenon, in the elaboration of this repertoire, attention was paid to the different modalities of radio activities located in Galicia abroad, promoted both by individuals and by emigrant societies, which resulted in a wide diversity of models depending on their particular characteristics: short contents or micro-spaces, sections within broader programmes that did not necessarily have to do with Galicia and programmes lasting between half an hour and two hours. These programmes were regular or of a special nature, such as those to commemorate Galicia Day, the founding date of a Galician emigration centre and other important events for Galician emigrants. For the most part, these programmes were broadcast from the countries or autonomous communities (in the case of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Madrid) where the emigrants emigrated and aimed at members of the Galician emigrant community in those countries or in other neighbouring countries where they received the broadcasts.

The configuration of the repertoire comprises over 130 entries referring to the different radio activities of Galicians in the countries of destination, in which all the information located about them was inserted, distributed in different sections. The purpose of this tool, once it became part of the repertoires of the University is to serve as support to students and researchers interested in the Galician media of emigration, as well as to make known to the general public the representations and characteristics that had the Galician radio of emigration through its protagonists and the entities of the community that supported them. With its inclusion in the catalogues of the Library of Communication Sciences, a chapter so decisive for the history of Galician emigration is completed, such as the role developed by the media promoted and carried out from abroad. Initiatives, the radio, which as the press of the community, the theatre or music are a form of expression of the emigrated Galician people and that are part of the rich cultural framework for which it has always been characterised.