One hundred years ago, on April 20, 1923, Edgard Roquette-Pinto founded Rádio Sociedade do Rio de Janeiro, considered the first Brazilian broadcaster. The founder's dream of using the vehicle as an educational tool did not come true. However, somehow, the radio provided the fundamental sentimental education and common repertoire for the formation of characteristics that today we understand as national identity.
The dramaturgy, the humor, the passion for football, politics, journalism, and the country's popular music — none of this would be the same without radio broadcasting. Not even our geography.
The consolidation of the Brazilian radio profile that we know took place from the 1932 legislation, in the government of Getúlio Vargas, when advertising in the medium was officially regulated. It is the definitive moment for radio in Brazil for journalist and researcher Luiz Artur Ferraretto, author of the book "Rádio: Teoria e Prática" ("Radio: Theory and Practice").
Soap operas, a Cuban invention that was already successful in Latin America, debuted here in the 1940s, with not much confidence— the first of them, "Em Busca da Felicidade" ( "In pursuit of Happiness"), was broadcast in the morning, and not in the prime time, in the evening.
In the same manner, football carries the DNA of radio in its own history. "In the early 1930s, the turf was the national sport", says Ferraretto, the researcher. "Soccer becomes popular because of the radio, collaborating for its nationalization starting with the teams from Rio and São Paulo."
In music, the vehicle helped to build the career of idols such as Carmen Miranda, the sisters Linda and Dircinha Batista, Francisco Alves, Dorival Caymmi, Cauby Peixoto, and Ângela Maria. Characters like Almirante, who combined a taste for research and talent as a communicator, paved history, drawing attention to names that were perceived as belonging to the old school.
Translated by Cassy Dias