ARGENTINA

Romina Zabalza, María Rodríguez, Claudia Albarracín and technical operator Mariela Churquina will be the four people responsible for the airwaves of LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel in 2022.

This is Argentina’s radio station in Antarctic base Esperanza, that operates on 15476 kHz, 19 meter band on shortwave and 97.6 FM.

The new staff was presented at an official ceremony involving Minister of Defense Jorge Taiana, the chairwoman of Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA), Rosario Lufrano and the director of Radio Nacional, Alejandro Pont Lezica.

The Esperanza Base commander, Colonel Edgardo Morales, and part of his Antarctic crew were also present at this event held in BA City.

Director Pont Lezica, said in his speech: "the installation of a new transmitter in Río Grande will allow greater coverage over the Argentine Sea" and celebrated that "LRA 36 should also be part of the National Information News Service to show the world what it means to have a radio in Antarctica as an element of sovereignty and defense of our identity".

BRAZIL

DRM broadcasts will originate for the first time in Latin America, as Brazil officially launches digital shortwave (DRM) transmissions through Radio Nacional da Amazônia targeting the vast area of the northern Amazon region, inhabited mainly by indigenous populations.

In another first, Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), the public broadcaster, announced it bought a high-power transmitter manufactured by local company BT Transmitters of Porto Alegre. The contract signed is for the production of a 100 kW transmitter in the DRM digital system.

The equipment will be used on the 11,780 kHz frequency in the 25 meter band, which is one of the shortwave channels used by Rádio Nacional da Amazônia since 1977. Late last year, Nacional da Amazônia conducted tests with DRM technology using a 2.5 kW transmitter with digital power of only 1 kW. EBC then used for the first time in the country what’s called “multiprogramming”, and aired interactive multimedia content.

Despite the low power of the transmissions, hearings were reported from different regions of the country and even from North America and Europe.

COSTA RICA

The University Council appointed journalist Andrea Solano Benavides as the new director of the University of Costa Rica Radio Stations for the next four years.

She is a communicator with more than 20 years of experience as a journalist and editor in media, organizational communication strategy design and content generation for digital platforms.

The new director has extensive experience in the coverage of scientific and cultural topics.

BULGARIA

On the Bulgarian National Radio’s website (http://www.bnr.bg) the news program "Bulgaria Today" can now be heard in nine languages: Spanish, English, German, French, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish.

After a five-year break, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) has resumed its programs in foreign languages. This comes in the context of the 85th anniversary of the first Bulgarian radio broadcasts abroad, which Radio Bulgaria celebrates in 2021.

The new program of Radio Bulgaria brings an overview of the most important news from and about Bulgaria, and it also presents features on tourism and Bulgarian history. Each program ends with "The song of the day", which aims to divulge around the world Bulgarian music of all genres: pop, rock, national folk, classical and jazz.

SPAIN

According to the first draft of the Budget 2022, there will be a 6.3% reduction in the funds for Radiotelevisión Española, including its Orchestra and Choir.

This means 30 million euros less against the 2021 budgets. This comes after two years with significant increases of the budget for Spanish Public Media, alloted by the government of PM Pedro Sánchez: 25.1% in 2021 and by 9.5% in 2020.

However, it should be noted that last year's item included an extra injection for broadcasting rights of the Tokyo Olympic Games.