Renegade Radio

John Nichols, a Penn State professor and Cuban broadcasting expert, likens the situation to that of Fidel Castro's ragtag guerrilla army in 1957. They had scant funds, rickety weapons, and little to eat. But they decided they needed a propaganda operation. So they bought a shortwave transmitter and launched Radio Rebelde. This changed the way the guerrillas operated entirely, because instead of roving through woods, they had to establish a base camp. Then, when the station had been on the air for a few weeks, someone came up with the idea of taking a receiver into the field to check the signal.

It couldn't be heard at all. "That's the way it is with many of these broadcasts," concludes Nichols. "They jimmy the troops and help raise money. That is, they've tended to do far more for the sender than the receiver."

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But it's not quite time to sound the death knell for shortwave broadcasts to our southern neighbors. This past October the Czech government enlisted WRMI to air Radio Praga, the Spanish-language version of its international service. A key goal of its programs — some of which are delivered in Czech-accented Spanish — is to send pro-democracy messages to Cuba.

And around the some time, an anti-Castro group called Directorio Democrático Cubano launched a show called Radio República. It airs ten hours a day Monday through Friday. That's two more hours than former heavyweight Voz de la Fundación at its peak.

Radio República is broken up into a number of segments. Among them: Libro Prohibido, which features readings from banned books; Secillamente Mujer, which offers cooking and parenting tips; and Despierta Cuba, a hip morning show that explores all things cultural. One episode featured a tour of the Louvre; another, Miami Book Fair International. And the talk is spiced with rousing music that blends Afro-Cuban riffs with hip-hop, electronica, and R&B.

The one Radio República segment that concentrates exclusively on politics is Alternativa. But it's a far cry from the majority of exile-hosted political programs. "They don't call on people to burn fields or put sugar in gas tanks," explains White. Instead the talk revolves around topics like "Democratic Marxism" and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. "We believe in a nonviolent struggle where you never cut off dialogue with your opponent," says host Orlando Gutierrez, who also heads the staff of Directorio Democrático.

Gutierrez and company hope this fresh format may draw back some of the Cuban shortwave listeners who have trickled away over the years. Nichols of Penn State believes there's a chance they might succeed. "A message like that might carry better with the Cuban youth," he says. "Perhaps it could even make shortwave relevant again."