Voice of Brazil

''A Voz do Brasil'' ("The Voice of Brazil") is a governmental radio program in Brazil produced by the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, the country's public broadcaster. The programme must be aired at any one-hour slot between the time frame of 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM by all Brazilian radio stations every weeknight excluding national holidays and other occasions. It is the oldest radio program in the country and the longest-running in the Southern Hemisphere.

History

The first national radio program in Brazil hit the airwaves on Monday, 22 July 1935, known as ''Programa Nacional'' (National Program). It was presented by Luis Jatobá.

On Monday, 3 January 1938, the program, retitled ''A Hora do Brasil'' (The Brazil Hour), went national and became a mandatory broadcast. It featured the speeches and actions of the president, initially Getúlio Vargas, as well as cultural programming including music and art, with 70 percent of the music output coming from Brazilian composers. The program was initially produced by the National Propaganda Department (DNP), which was replaced in 1939 by the . Especially after Brasília was instated as the capital in 1960, ''A Hora do Brasil'' was known for its opening, reciting the time in the capital: ''Em Brasília, 19 horas''. Such is the notoriety of the line that when a former director of Radiobrás published a book about his time at the public broadcaster, it was titled ''Em Brasília, 19 Horas''.

1962 changes

1962 saw the passage of the , a law that governed telecommunications and broadcasting. Under the new Code, the program was restructured, with the legislature taking up the second half-hour; in 1971 it was retitled ''Voz do Brasil'', though the name was unofficially used earlier. On occasion, significant political news was buried in the middle of routine announcements; the government announced it had stripped former president Juscelino Kubitschek of his political rights in 1964, and in 1968 the abolition of an opposition political coalition was promulgated on the program.

The legislature's entrance into the program opened the door for other portions of the federal government: the judiciary now occupies the last five minutes of the first half hour, and segments from the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) air on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. During the military regime of the 1970s and the 1980s, the legislative segment of the program was often the only airtime in the control of opposition forces, and after the return of democracy, the program took on a more journalistic format and focus.

The program was later produced by the Empresa Brasileira de Notícias (EBN) and the Empresa Brasileira de Radiodifusão (Radiobrás). In 2007, the provisional decree that created the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC, "Brazilian Communication Company") transferred the production of this program to this new public broadcaster.

Longevity

In 1995, the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' certified ''A Voz do Brasil'' as the oldest radio program in Brazil.

Format

''A Voz do Brasil'' is an hour-long program divided into two components. The first 25 minutes are presented live via Embratel and produced by the EBC from Rádio Nacional de Brasília. This segment features the content from the executive branch. The opening theme tune comes from the opera ''Il Guarany'' by Antônio Carlos Gomes; while the program used the original for decades, it has been re-recorded in variants such as samba and capoeira, and more recently a classical version was commissioned for the program's 2016 relaunch.

The remaining 35 minutes are pre-recorded and inserted by the EBC:

* Judiciary: Notícias do Poder Judiciário (7:25-7:30)
* Senate: Jornal do Senado (7:30-7:40)
* Chamber of Deputies: Jornal Câmara dos Deputados (7:40-8:00)

Additionally, the TCU's ''Minuto do TCU'' (TCU Minute) airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the end of the program.

In 2016, the first 25 minutes of ''A Voz do Brasil'' was refreshed with a format including more audience participation. Additionally, new hosts, Airton Medeiros and Gláucia Gomes, were introduced. In July 2017, Airton and Gláucia were replaced by Nasi Brum and Gabriela Mendes, until then occasional presenters.

Dissent from commercial broadcasters

The 7:00 PM hour slot occupied by ''A Voz do Brasil'' and its mandatory broadcast (except on weekends and holidays) have caused friction with commercial broadcasters. These broadcasters consider that the program has lost relevance over the years with the rise of other media; as early as 1968, most Brazilians regarded its time slot as "the hour of silence". In addition, ''A Voz do Brasil'' runs during the evening rush hour in many large cities, so stations cannot present traffic information or news updates during the program. After Rádio Eldorado in São Paulo could not interrupt the program to inform listeners of a major traffic accident in 1995, it began a multi-year court fight that included a favorable ruling in 1998.

Some stations have held preliminary injunctions that allowed them to run the program in the early morning. Rádio Jovem Pan in Paraná ran the program at 5:00 AM for more than 12 years until its authorization to do so was revoked in January 2012, though the station still refused to transmit ''A Voz do Brasil'' in its habitual 7:00 PM timeslot. Additionally, the Paraná Broadcasters' Association held a general injunction, applicable to all stations in the state, from 2008 to 2009. From 2006 to 2010, stations in Rio Grande do Sul also could move the program thanks to an injunction obtained by that state's broadcasters association; Grupo RBS stations continued carrying alternative programming on Internet streams and pay television even after the Supreme Federal Court closed the door to timeshifting of the program.

In São Paulo, Rádio Metropolitana Paulista was sanctioned with a mandatory one-day suspension of programming in 2013 for not taking ''A Voz do Brasil'' in its normal timeslot.

While attempts at allowing stations more latitude in when they carry the program have been debated in the Chamber of Deputies, so-called "flexibilization" policies have been enacted on special occasions of national interest, responding to petitions from the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Stations (ABERT) and state broadcasters' associations. On Thursday, 12 June 2014, Dilma Rousseff enacted a provisional measure allowing stations to carry the program between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM, regardless of whether they were carrying matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Michel Temer authorized an identical measure during the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics. Finally, on Wednesday, 4 April 2018, Temer signed the Federal Law Number 13.644, allowing this measure permanently for all stations except educational stations and legislative stations when the respective legislatures are not in session.

The negative reputation of ''A Voz do Brasil'' inspired a feature in the mobile app of radio station Paradiso FM, which broadcasts to Rio de Janeiro. If the app detects that the user is driving above the speed limit, it imposes a "sound penalty" and subjects the user to one minute of the program, which a station spokesman describes as "a nightmare for all Brazilians".

See also

*'' La Hora Nacional'', a similar program in Mexico

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.ebcservicos.ebc.com.br/avozdobrasil

Government of Brazil
Brazilian radio programs
1935 establishments in Brazil
1935 radio programme debuts
Empresa Brasil de Comunicação