Basque Country as Alternative Media laboratory. Compilation of the most interesting experiences for the last 30 years

Abstract

Abstract:This work is an overview of the general situation of Alternative Media in the Basque Country, concentrating on a specific communication project: the pirate radio Hala Bedi Irratia, a tolerated but not completely legal radio station, which in 2008 celebrated its 25th anniversary. The station has thousands of listeners daily and it broadcasts 24 hours a day. It survives thanks to the voluntary work of dozens of social communicators. They have never included a paid advertisement on their air waves, nor have they asked for a grant from the State. Nevertheless, the project is very much alive. The station is based on a very wide social network which supports it, and on a very intelligent use of new technologies.

Freedom Waves: Giving People a Voice and Turning It Up! Tuning into the Free Radio Network in the Basque Country

“…Ramirez de la Piscina (2010) proposes three approximations to the concept of Alternative Media (AM). On the one hand, and according to Atton and Couldry (2003), AM are those channels produced outside mainstream media institutions and networks.…”

“…The 'golden age' of this kind of radios took place between 1979 and 1988. Something of a crisis arose in 1989 and lasted until at least 1995 (Gutierrez, 2002;Ramirez de la Piscina, 2010). Since that time, the free radio phenomenon has been revived with renewed energy (see Figure 1).…”

“…In a month Hala Bedi was back on the air. They had ' a lot of problems with governors, especially in the first years and as a result of those they suffered five closures, in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988and 1990' (Ramirez de la Piscina, 2010. Although a number of shutdowns took place at Euskal Herria, this one and the shutdown of Eguzki Irratia from Iruñea were the most significant (Eguzki Irratia, 2016).…”

“…Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 12(2), 59-81, DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.228 the case of free radios like Hala Bedi Irratia and Eguzki Irratia, both paradigmatic and significant and on the air for several decades. Eguzki Irratia, born in 1982 thanks to the initiative of a group of ecologist activists, is the oldest pirate radio that exists today in the Southern Basque Country, and Hala Bedi Irratia is the second oldest one (Ramirez de la Piscina, 2010).…”

“…They are privileged informants because of their proximity, accessibility, trust, and first-hand information. We also undertook direct observation, a method which has historically been used to get basic contextualized information in order to assess hypotheses or to isolate dependent and independent variables (Ramirez de la Piscina, 2010). In addition to which, a search for complementary secondary sources has been carried out, and contrasted with the current reality.…”