Abstract
Two Spanish comedians drive around the country making a television show about a radio station.
Quique Pei-nado and Manuel Burque in their radio caravan
Quique Peinado and Manuel Burque, both well-known Spanish comedians, drive around the country with a radio station hidden inside their caravan, and invite people to speak on their show.
“Radio has immediacy. Once you have said something, it stays forever”, said Burque. “It cannot be modified or cut. It does not have to go through an editor or a director. That immediacy means you cannot avoid the guest saying what he or she wants to say. One can find more freedom of expression in radio than in any other media, and that is why it is so important.”
Despite not having a script, or perhaps because of it, Radio Gaga is succeeding. As Burque said, “Even though it is a TV show, we are doing radio. The caravan is warm, and people are familiar with radio, they listen to it every day and know what we are dealing with. Cameras are strategically located in a non-intrusive way, so our guests just come into the caravan and talk to us, relax, tell us their stories as if we were two friends listening to them. That way, we make them feel willing to talk.”
The show has received very good reviews for how naturally these personal testimonies are treated. “We don’t interview people,” said Burque. “We listen to them and this difference is the key. We are not looking for melodrama and they can feel that. We focus on them and they ‘pay’ us with their truth.”
“Everyone in these overlooked communities was so willing to talk. This has even been therapeutic. It was like a mental clean-up,” said Burque. “Our editors previously visited them to explain how the show works with great sensitivity. So once they know what we want from them and see they are playing the leading role and everything is about them, they are amazed and feel really grateful. So this is not about people not talking because they don’t want to. They don’t talk because they have not been asked, or because they have been asked the wrong questions, or maybe because no one has shown any interest in their stories.”