A programme listener is not particularly interested in the call letters or the frequency of the station he is tuned to. A DXer, however, wants to fill in the empty spaces of his log

book, perhaps in order to apply for a QSL.

You do not have to master Spanish or Portuguese in order to enjoy listening to Latin America, but distinguishing between the two languages is no doubt an asset. So is of course the

ability to distinguish between speech accents, music and other features typical to certain areas of the Western hemisphere.

Finding a new station, unlisted in the World Radio TV Handbook or one of the principal listening reviews, is a most rewarding aspect of the DXing hobby. A QSL stating “first

report from abroad” is a showpiece to strive for.

The aim of these notes is to give an outline of what broadcasting in Latin America is all about. We will try to describe it from various perspectives providing some tools towards

understanding what is being heard.

Technical points of interest, such as direction finding, greyline DXing at sunrise or sundown, antennas etc. will not be covered in this update to my book “Latin America by Radio”,

which was published in Finland in 1989.

For various reasons we will be devoting more attention to the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America than to Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, or to areas in the Caribbean

where English, French or Creole are the main languages.

One obvious reason is that I have been living in a few Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, notably Ecuador and Colombia. This also explains the preponderance of

recordings from these two countries.

The country abbreviations used are as follows:

THAT SPECIAL RING ABOUT LATIN AMERICAN BROADCASTING

We believe that there are certain aspects of Latin American broadcasting that seem special to DX-ers. Music is obviously one element, but there is also something special about

the way speakers, locutores, go about their business. DXers may hate or love what they are hearing. Rarely, they are left indifferent.

In an environment of noise and interference Spanish is perhaps easier to understand than Portuguese. The traditional craftsmanship of each country also plays an important role.

In certain countries, putting a person behind a microphone will not change his general speech patterns. In others it does. In Venezuela and in Colombia, a programme presenter,

locutor, is required to pass pronunciation and voice tests as well as tests of grammar and general knowledge. Some programme hosts will make it a point to mention their license

numbers when signing on or signing off.

Again, in Venezuela and in Colombia, a programme host tends to be more emphatic than the man in the street. (1) To raise your voice is seen as important when it comes to a sales

pitch.

Stuttering commentators, especially on TV, will be beset by mockery and ridicule from listeners and spectators.

Good enunciation pays off. Gustavo Niño Mendoza, a newsreader on Caracol network, was designated the Number One newsreader in Colombia in 1987. Subsequently, he was

given the honour of recording all of the Caracol network station identifications.

In Venezuela, the Meridiano newspaper paid special tribute to the Radio Rumbos newsreader Gilberto García in an article for the 39^th anniversary of the station in 1988.

While Europeans pay attention to written compositions, in Latin America rhetoric is by no means frowned upon. This is perhaps why Scandinavian DXers get impressed by Latin

American speakers even without understanding what is being said. Others may feel a bit uncomfortable with the fast speech delivery of certain sports narrators, especially when

“cantando un gol”, singing a goal.

Whereas Colombians and Venezuelans seem to prefer emphatic speech in broadcasting, this appears not to be the case in Bolivia, where up-tempo speech patterns are rare in the

broadcasting community. The catch is that messages may miss the target, which was shown in a study by Javier Albó in the 1970’s. His investigation concluded that 65% of

commercials and other announcements in radio went unnoticed by listeners.

In the 1970’s jingles may have been scarce in Bolivian broadcasting. Singing the ads could have given a different result. Modern techniques in attracting listeners´ attention in

Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia do include jingles, but also a heavy dependency on echo chambers and reverb, not only for advertisements, cuñas, but also for station

identification.

Another way of keeping listeners glued to the loudspeakers is the system used in Argentina and Uruguay where male and female voices alternate in reading the commercial spots

(frases), sometimes mixed with occasional pre-recorded stuff. We believe that this “dual” system of adstrings (tandas publicitarias) is dynamic and that it enhances listening.

In certain countries, alternating male and female voices may also appear on devoted news channels such as Radio Reloj, in Cuba, and Radioprogramas del Perú. No doubt the flow

of news items tapped from news wires will then become less monotonous, more vivid.

(1) Newsreader Cristóbal Américo Rivera is a medical doctor but he has been reading the news in his particular way ever since the end of the 1960´s on at least four different radio

stations in Bogotá. This recording is from Radio Reloj.