and advertising, with serious information and background analysis playing a decidedly
minor role.
On the other hand, there were the politically engaged ‘democratic radios’ (radio
democratiche or radio di classe) which constituted the counterpart to commercial radios.
The initial aim of most of the democratic radios was to reveal the ‘reality’ of the strained
political and social situation of the country through unfiltered information, thus providing
a service of ‘counterinformation’ against the RAI which, as even the Constitutional
Court agreed in 1974, had manipulated the news in favour of the leading parties. The
democratic radios thus aimed to provide interest groups, youth cultures, workers, women
and unionists with ‘objective’ information. However, it was only in July 1976 that the
Constitutional Court confirmed the legal right of regionally confined stations to
broadcast, providing the contents were not against the constitution itself. Radio Città
Futura, Radio Popolare, Radio Bra Onde Rosse, Radio Alice, Controradio and Radio
Radicale all soon rose to prominence, but their obvious political leanings brought nearly
all of them into conflict with the police. Provocative symbolic action like starting and
ending all programmes with the Marxist hymn, the Internationale, as Radio Bra Onde
Rosse did in Piedmont, was a dangerous demonstration of radical sympathies in the
context of frequent terrorist attacks. This, and an openly pro-drug stance, were often used
as arguments to close down some of the stations. Sometimes, as in the famous case of
Radio Alice, the radio was used by leaders of leftist groups to actually incite and co-
ordinate demonstrations and street actions.
With the decreasing mobilization of the political mass movements in the 1980s, the
democratic radios entered into a state of crisis. The concept of counterinformation
became dull and the weak finances of most of the radios resulted in the exodus of many
poorly paid employees. Criticism of institutions, once an effective weapon, now became
merely boring ritual and the audience declined. Some democratic radios survived by
transforming themselves into local stations (for example, Controradio in Florence, or
Città del capo in Bologna). Others tried to integrate themselves into the new broadcasting
system after the passing of the Mammì law in 1990. Radio Popolare, for example, tried to
establish a new network after 1990. The station had been founded in 1976 in Milan by
members of different unions as well as representatives of the PSI and the
extraparliamentary Left. Committed to a self-declared workers ‘reality’ in the streets and
factories, it became famous for its live coverage of endless political discussions in bars or
in front of industrial plants. Its financial crisis at the end of the 1970s led to a solidarity
campaign to save the station from economic ruin. In 1990, however, Radio Popolare
became a limited company, its restructuring and its professionalization financed by
advertising revenues.
The history of Radio Radicale shows another response to changing times. Founded in
1976 as the local station of the Radical Party in Rome, Radio Radicale delivered live
information, mainly from the Parliament or, during important trials such as those of
terrorists or the mafia, directly from the court room. Fiercely libertarian, in 1986 it began
transmission of live and uncensored comments from anonymous listeners about anything
they cared to talk about, from politics to racism, from sexist stories to complaints about
the mother-in-law. The programme proved to be highly controversial and came to an end
after only two weeks when the police confiscated answering machines and tapes.
Nevertheless, Radio Radicale managed to continue to expand and in 1990 provided
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