Google translated from French:
February 24, the 66th anniversary of “Radio Rebelde, the broadcaster of the Cuban Revolution”. “Aqui Radio Rebelde La Voz de la Sierra Maestra, it is with these words that the radio of Ernesto Guevara known as Ché became known. The first transmission, which lasted 20 minutes, took place on February 24, 1958, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, followed by another at 9 o’clock. It began with the first notes of the Invading Anthem, Captain Luis Orlando Rodríguez, Station Director, then read an editorial on the founding of the station. “Radio Rebelde was created to contribute to the necessary and useful orientation of the people in this decisive hour of the country, to make known the true intention of this struggle and to encourage and practice virtue wherever it is found, and to come together and love and live in passion for the truth as Martí said. “
In 1957, a few months after the landing of the Granma, Che Guevara realized how necessary and useful it was to have a radio which served to coordinate combat actions between the rebel troops and to break the silence, imposed by the dictatorship, on the progress of the war in the mountains and transmit directives and slogans for the development of the global struggle against tyranny.
It was Che himself who ordered the transfer of the equipment to the island and its installation on the Sierra Maestra in the province of Granma.
The radio was installed in a small house located in Alto de Conrado, near Che’s camp in La Mesa, Sierra Maestra. The transmitter, which was placed on the table, behind the microphone, was of the American brand, it was a Collins, model 32-V-2. It had a power of 120 to 150w and broadcast on short waves in the 20 meter band.
To escape central power, failing to be able to install a powerful transmitter, the guerrillas quickly equipped each rebel column with a small radio station, thus forming the Freedom Channel. At the end of the war, 32 stations from the guerrilla columns were connected to Radio Rebelde. Rebel who played an important and unifying role in the Cuban revolution.
On December 31, 1958, by order of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, the station was dismantled from Che’s camp in La Mesa, Sierra Maestra and reinstalled in Palma Soriano. On January 1, 1959, it broadcast Fidel Castro’s speech to the people of Cuba live on Radio Rebelde.
It was in January 1959 that the clandestine radio station became the national transmitter of the new republic.
65 years later, Radio Rebelde broadcasts 24 hours a day a varied program of national and international music, news and sports programs in AM, FM and shortwave.
With the help of the Soviets, the station set up a national network and after the end of the USSR, it was China that helped Radiocuba – Señal Radio y TV
Another memory of the first broadcast still remains on the airwaves: the callsign of Radio Rebelde: the Invading Anthem is still the station sign used by Radio Habana Cuba Francés.!
Michel Fremy Facebook Page Radio Magazine (2024-02-24)