The Radio in Peru

Abstract

The radio in Peru is a cultural space of recuperation and modernization of popular music that generates interchanges and hybridization among local and sectorial ethnic programs. Thanks to radio, today we have emerging cultural industries. The radio was also a pioneer in forging new massive cultures, which later became specific segmentations. Contradictorily, it did not let the spontaneous and popular word flow, nor did it facilitate the development of a culture of conversation. Formal newscasting delivered dialogue from rough monologues, which glorified the announcer. It was a vertical symbology, later esthetically softened by commercial displays, without the appeal of shared discourse. So it never promoted the gestation of the “we,” who knows how to reflect and listen, recognizing the “other.” Radio thus did not generate symbolic and democratic commitments with democracy, nor did it respect civil rights. It did not make possible the formation of identities and agreements of a public culture.