Migrant voices on porteño air. A historical reconstruction of radio broadcasting by Bolivian residents in Buenos Aires.

Abstract

The history of radio broadcasting by Bolivian residents in Buenos Aires began in the 1970s with programs managed by and intended for the Bolivian population, on relevant national radio stations such as Radio Argentina AM 570, Radio del Pueblo AM 830 and Radio Buenos Aires AM 1350, among others. Beginning in the 1990s, these programs gathered in two radio stations entirely intended for Bolivian migrants. Its owners and directors were two entrepreneurs of Argentine nationality, linked to the music industry. As of 2004, the first radio stations entirely created and managed by Bolivian migrants emerged. Since then the number of radio stations has multiplied, and this process has become simultaneously more complex. The present work proposes, on the one hand, to link the historical development of radio broadcasting by Bolivian residents in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires with certain particularities that Bolivian migrants present at destination. On the other hand, a series of elements within the field of the political economy of communications are taken into account to shed light on the complex links between economic production and cultural production.