Peronism and spectacle (1949-1951). The División de Acción Radial developing and its political intervention.

Abstract

This article studies how the radio propaganda developed by the Peronism government intervened in the political struggel. Since the formation of the División de Acción Radial, part of the Subsecretaría de Informaciones, multiple auditions took place as an integral part in the construction of hegemony. For this reason, the operation of this state agency is described, as well as the different formats developed by it, during the period of 1949 and 1951. This period begins with the government taking ownership of all radio stations and ends with the electoral campaign to re-elect Perón as president. This article uses concepts from media studies, culture, society and politics, with premises that have their origin in the Sociology of Culture, as well as in Cultural History and Media History. For its realization various archives were consulted such as the Departamento de cine, audio y video, as well as the Fondo Fiscalía Nacional de Recuperación Patrimonial, Comisión 21 “Secretaría de Prensa y Difusión”, both from the Archivo General de la Nación. It was also consulted spectacle magazines and newspapers of that period. On one hand the results of this study displays that the radio propaganda of Peronism, used the fictional radio genres for political communication; on the other hand, agents from the entertainment field were constantly summoned for their development. It is proposed that this appeal to the spectacle was not only effective in the political construction of Peronism, but also became a key element of its cultural matrix.