Rádio Clube de Angola, Emissora Oficial de Angola (state radio) and Rádio Ecclesia - Emissora Católica were the main stations broadcasting from a modern Luanda with a vibrant popular and musical culture. The period from 1966 to 1974 was one of permanent growth for Angolan radio, with a lucrative commercial side allied to the advertising and record production industries. Rádio Clube de Angola began officially broadcasting in February 1938 with the slogan "Popular Wave of Angola", the station's anthem to open and close broadcasts, before the national anthem, and with an initial 100 watt transmitter. In 1946, the station had musical programmes, variety shows, radio drama, news, records requests, a children's programme, a time signal and advertising. Until the emergence of the Emissora Oficial de Angola, this station served as an unofficial radio station, reading government communiqués, speeches and compulsory notices. At the end of the 1960s, it broadcasted from 7:30am to 1am, on medium wave, short wave and FM. Rádio Clube de Angola, in addition to members, selling airtime to independent producers and advertising, provided the garden for events and parties, with good facilities near Salvador Correia Secondary School and the former pitch of Benfica. Conchinha de Mascarenhas, one of the most popular announcers, started at Rádio Clube de Angola, but left to join Emissora Oficial de Angola.
The official radio started working in 1951, still in a modest format. On a provisional basis, the station relied on a 100 kW transmitter rented from Rádio Marconi and it used the Rádio Clube de Angola studios. After two years, the station's broadcasts were made daily, at which point it also hired staff, bought records and paid literary, cultural and artistic collaborators. The imperial ideology appeared through the guidance of the colony's governor-general. The music played on Emissora Oficial de Angola was Western, European and American, aimed at a predominantly Portuguese, white and mixed race (assimilated) audience. Besides its own production, there were exchanges with Emissora Nacional in terms of news, programmes and current affairs, classical music concerts, sports (and with reports of local roller hockey and basketball matches). In 1971, the station inaugurated a magnificent building, which I can only compare to that of Rádio Clube de Moçambique in colonial times.
Original text with images, at https://radio.hypotheses.org/4069.
Author: Rogério Santos, 2021.
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