April 19, 1959, Cuba: A Day in the Radio Life 

• In Event: Radio and Revolution in Cuba and Beyond

Abstract

Newly digitized versions of the Cuban program “Universidad del Aire” allow us to listen in and across the array of voices that populated the Cuban radioscape of the 1950s and early 60s. This paper will follow listeners through a day of broadcasting shortly after the installation of the revolutionary regime in 1959.  April 19, 1959 held out many promises and temptations for listeners, including Buicks, Pepsi, a new radionovela entitled “Senderos de Libertad” (“Paths of Freedom”) and Nicolás Guillén reading a poem about Cuba’s ambiguous relationship to Puerto Rico. Rather than conceiving of this moment as one of transition from a capitalist regime to a communist one, I use the soundscape to linger in a day of excess. I argue that this moment presents neither a beginning or an ending but rather a proliferation of  performances stitched together by the norms of broadcasting, voice, and radio time. 

Author

• Alejandra M Bronfman, University at Albany, SUNY