2016Voices of the Radio - First Day Cover

When, on 1 August 1935, the National Radio Broadcasting Service Emissora Nacional was inaugurated, it was the first great step towards the professionalization of radio in Portugal.
Radio became a great companion to the Portuguese. It made it possible to follow, up to the minute, great national and international events, and rapidly became the most important form of mass communication. On 1 September 1939, it was through the radio that the invasion of Poland by German troops, starting the World War II, became known throughout the world. Radio also became an effective tool of political propaganda, used by the regime until the revolution of 25 April and, afterwards, a constant target of attempts at manipulation. Having been the watchword and voice of the April revolution, radio definitively occupied a privileged place in the hearts of the Portuguese. And as if there were any doubt, it confirmed its huge capacity to generate strong waves of affection. It was, in fact, the first “social network”, long before the concept took on.