Getting into a taxi at lunchtime and seeing The four Seasons, by Vivaldi, or some Beethoven symphony playing on the radio. Those who live in Rio de Janeiro have certainly had this experience in the last 39 years. the almost forty Radio MEC FMwho celebrates his birthday this Tuesday (10th), has already packed trips and other moments in the lives of listeners.
Retired accountant Roberto Betonte, from Niterói, is an assiduous listener who reinforces his affinity with the station. “It’s the only program that’s really worthwhile,” said Betonte, who doesn’t miss an edition of free jazz. He even won a jazz CD in a raffle at the station and visited the radio.
The passion for classical and choir music of the retired Lídia Pinheiro led her to MEC FM. Even in person. She is part of the Associação de Canto Coral do Rio de Janeiro, and in the early 2000s, she participated in an interview with the choir. Concerts, Gregorian music, jazz: the entire program follows the life of the resident of Niterói.
Writer Gisela D’Arruda listens to the station every day. One of our favorite programs is Aurea Musicwho has yet another fan at home: the cat Fumaça, who has even tried to turn on the radio at the time of the program to listen to it.
Emphasis on Brazilian music
Created in 1983 as an offshoot of Radio MEC and devoted to classical music, the MEC FM is present today in Rio de Janeiro (99.3 MHz) and Brasília (87.1 MHz). In addition to the classical genre, the station plays jazz and choro programming. And it privileges Brazilian music. It is not by chance that a part of the Brazilian Popular Suiteby Heitor Villa-Lobos, composes the vignette.
the manager of MEC FM, Thiago Regotto, reinforces that the objective is to have an identity very close to the classical music made in Brazil. In the collection of more than 60 thousand songs, a large part of Brazilian concert music is present.
Who opened this path for the work of Brazilian musicians right at the beginning of the station was producer Lauro Gomes, who passed away in 2021. He, who was already working at Radio MEC since the mid-1970s, moved to the MEC FMwhere he stayed until the beginning of the 2010s. In the new station, he did not limit himself to talking only about the great composers, but also looked for the interpreters of the works, reinforces Thiago Guimarães, researcher of the collection of Brazil Communication Company (EBC). “He had this ability to give a more accessible outfit to the concert music audience”, says Guimarães, who pointed out Lauro Gomes’ efforts to popularize the radio.
One of these programs was cycles, which honored composers and performers, such as Carlos Gomes, Francisco Mignone and Bidu Sayão. Check out a part of the program about the composer Francisco Mignone, which aired on June 5, 2011, with production and presentation by Lauro Gomes.
Open space for experimentation
In addition to Brazilian concert music classics, Lauro Gomes opened up space in the program to bring the public other experiences, such as choral music, lyrical singing and even Portuguese music from the period of the great navigations. Programs like Lyrical Excerpts, Choral singing and Collegium Musicum brought to listeners styles that didn’t have so much space on national radio.
Listen to an episode of the show below. Lyrical Excerptsdated June 5, 1984, produced by Ida Bocchino.
In the 2000s, the Music of Inventionproduced by Sérvio Túlio and Marcelo Brissac, performed on the waves of MEC FM sound experiments made by composers and inventors of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Remember the first program, September 2, 2005.
Listeners looking for the classics
Communication with the public, through various channels such as email, WhatsApp and even letters, helps to bring the station closer to the listener, who has the opportunity to choose, for example, what they want to hear on the program. Listener Classics. “Having the person asking for a song and guiding the radio is the main reason for the program to exist”, says Thiago Regotto, about the program that has existed since before the MEC FM be created.
Today there are at least 20 programs, including partnerships with foreign broadcasters, such as the BBC and Deutsche Welle, and with Brazilian orchestras, such as the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP). Part of the programming is shared with radio stations in other cities in the country, such as Rádio Cultura in Porto Alegre.
And this audience is not restricted to older people: according to the MEC, the listeners who have more affinity with the station are between 25 and 45 years old. This result reflects part of the strategy to reach younger listeners, with a closer language.
Today, one of the challenges of MEC FM is to be able to dialogue more with class C, which corresponds to 15% of its audience – class AB occupies the largest part, with 70%. Another plan of the station is to be present in more places, both with the return to concerts and live recordings, which were paralyzed at the beginning of the pandemic, and on social networks. The idea is to make “more radio, more live, for more people”,
The broadcaster has official site, a YouTube channelprofiles on Facebook, Instagram, twitter and Spotifywhere it maintains segmented playlists – like the one from concert halla program created by Lauro Gomes in the 2000s, which takes artists to play live in the studios – and other highlights of the station, such as Blim-Blem-Bom and free jazz.
commemoration
To celebrate 39 years, the MEC FM brings this Tuesday (10) a special program. Hourly, interprograms highlight the best moments of the station’s collection.
At noon, the MEC concert makes a selection of recordings made in the station’s studios. And at 10 pm, there will be a re-performance of the 35th Anniversary Concert MEC FM, recorded in 2018, at Sala Cecília Meireles. Watch the commemorative concert below:
*with research by Thiago Guimarães, from the Collection EBC
