Broadcast area Bogotá Slogan Nos oyen y nos creen First air date 1940 | Branding HJCE Frequency 890 kHz Format News / talk | |
Todelar is a system of radio stations that covers all of Colombia, founded in 1953 by Bernardo Tobón de la Roche. Its flagship station is Radio Continental of Bogotá, which joined Todelar (an acronym of the last names of its founder) in 1957.
Contents
As of 2015, the flagship morning news programme, Artunduaga por la mañana, is directed by journalist Édgar Artunduaga.
History
Bernardo Tobón de la Roche was the manager of Radio Pacífico, a station in Cali affiliated to RCN Radio, 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 and RCN Radio, respectively.
Todelar had its golden era in the 1960s and 1970s, broadcasting live sports events such as the Vuelta a Colombia, and the 1966 FIFA World Cup, or radioplays like La ley contra el hampa, a crime drama, or the Colombian version of the Mexican hit Kalimán.; 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; since Todelar is essentially a media company it has found difficult to compete in equal terms with those networks, owned by huge corporate conglomerates. Some stations have left the network and some timeslots, specially in the AM stations, are filled with paid programmes by shamans, naturist medicine laboratories and esoteric or religious groups.