Todelar is a system of
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
s that covers all of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, founded in 1953 by
Bernardo Tobón de la Roche.
Its
flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...
is ''La Voz de Bogotá'' since 2017.
''Radio Continental'', also in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
, had this role until 2016, having joined Todelar
(an acronym of the last names of its founder) in 1957.
As of 2015, the flagship morning news programme, ''Artunduaga por la mañana'', was directed by journalist
Édgar Artunduaga. The programme was cancelled December 2016,
a few weeks before Radio Continental was sold
to
Cadena Radial Vida, a network owned by an evangelical group whose leader is
Eduardo Cañas.
History
Bernardo Tobón de la Roche was the manager of Radio Pacífico,
a station in
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...
affiliated to
RCN Radio
RCN Radio (''Radio Cadena Nacional'', "National Radio Network") is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in 1949 with the integration of ''Radio Pacífico'' (Cali), ''La Voz de Medellín' and ''Emisora Nueva Granada'' (Bogotá).
Carl ...
,
and had founded La Voz de Pereira in the 1940s. After a congress of radio stations in 1956, Tobón de la Roche was able to secure affiliations for his network from stations of Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, and Cartagena de Indias.
By 1962 Todelar had 24 stations (11
owned-and-operated, 13 affiliates). In 1967 Unión Radio, a group of radio stations of Cali (Radio Uno, Radio el Sol), Pereira (La Voz Amiga, La Voz de Pereira), and Bogotá (La Voz de Bogotá, Emisora Monserrate), joined the network.
De la Roche's brothers Jaime and Jairo, who also were part of the network, would leave and became executives of rival networks
Caracol Radio
Caracol Radio (''Cadena Radial Colombiana'', "Colombian Radio Network") is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in Medellín in 1948 when ''La Voz de Antioquia'' station acquired the 50% of ''Emisoras Nuevo Mundo'', based in Bogotá ...
and RCN Radio, respectively.
Todelar had its golden era in the 1960s and 1970s, broadcasting live sports events such as the
Vuelta a Colombia
The Vuelta a Colombia (Spanish for ''Tour of Colombia'') is an annual cycling road race, run over many stages throughout different regions in Colombia and sometimes Venezuela and Ecuador during the first days of August. It is organized by the ...
, and the
1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...
,
or
radioplays like ''La ley contra el hampa'', a crime drama, or the Colombian version of the Mexican hit ''
Kalimán
''Kalimán'' or ''Kalimán, the Incredible Man'' is a popular Mexican adventurer superhero, created by Rafael Cutberto Navarro and Modesto Vázquez González in 1963. He is the main character of the radio drama bearing his name, which depicts t ...
''.;
some of these dramas were broadcast from Cali
and lasted into the mid 1990s.
Todelar would later expand to
FM. In 1977, Todelar had 344 stations.
After these years, Todelar has seen itself in disadvantage vis-à-vis rival networks RCN Radio and Caracol Radio, being in a slow decline since the 1990s; since Todelar is essentially a media company it has found difficult to compete in equal terms with those networks, owned by huge corporate conglomerates (
Organización Ardila Lülle Organización Ardila Lülle is one of the most important conglomerates in Colombia. After positioning his company in the beverage sector, Carlos Ardila Lülle founded and consolidated the Organización Ardila Lülle, today comprising over 80 compan ...
and
PRISA, respectively). Some stations have left the network
(including main flagship Radio Continental in 2017)
and some timeslots, specially in the AM stations, are filled with paid programmes by shamans, naturist medicine laboratories and
esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
or religious groups since the late 1980s.
Main networks
*Circuito Todelar de Colombia: the main network, broadcasting news, sports, and events. Its flagship station is La Voz de Bogotá. Until 2017, the flagship station was Radio Continental.
*
La Z
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
: devoted to salsa music; its format is as 2015 preserved only by the Cali affiliate, HJBT. The Bogotá station (HJST) changed to a
Latin pop
Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...
format and the Medellín station (HJTO) broadcasts reggaeton.
*
La 92
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
(HJST): devoted to pop (mainly
in Spanish, with some English-language songs) and reggaeton; it simulcasts Édgar Artunduaga's morning news programme. It replaced Spanish-language pop and rock station ''El Sonido de la Ciudad'' (2013-2016), salsa music network ''La Z'' (1994-2013) and balada en español network ''Sonorama Estéreo'' (1982-1994).
*
La X
La X is a Colombian music radio brand for three stations operated and owned by Todelar.
The station in Bogotá airs an English-language adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging fr ...
: youth programming— English-language rock and pop in Bogotá (HJVU), electronica in Medellín (HJG54), pop and electronica in Cali (HJSQ). Formerly known as ''Todelar Estéreo''.
References
External links
*
Todelar Official Site**
''Artunduaga por la mañana''
{{Coord, 4.670735, -74.059321, display=title
Radio stations established in 1953
Radio stations in Colombia