Huancabamba, Mendoza, Rioja, Juanjui, Santa Cruz, Cutervo, Chota,
Bambamarca, Huamachuco . . . the radio towns of northern Peru number
three or four dozen. For the most part, these towns are provincial
(county) capitals with 5,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. They are
commercial centers for the surrounding villages and farms, although a
few like Huamachuco depend on mining. There is little unique about
any of them.
Celendin, a typical northern Peruvian town, lies about a hundred
kilometers east of the city of Cajamarca
(52k jpeg photo of city),
five hours by dirt road on
the local bus. One sixth of the province's 70,000 inhabitants live
here. The Catholic church towers over the central Plaza de Armas. As
in many Peruvian towns, gardeners trim the plaza's shrubbery into
animals and geometric shapes. Celendin's dirt streets are flanked by
one and two story buildings of adobe or cement block, roofed with
moss-covered clay tiles. The scattered business district is comprised
of several general stores, a few basic and somewhat rundown hotels,
the bus company office, and a couple restaurants and bars.
At 8,500 feet above sea level, the surrounding Andean valley is one of
the garden spots of northern Peru. Although some small scale gold,
silver, and copper mining is done in the nearby mountains, it is
agriculture that keeps Celendin prosperous. The climate is perfect
for growing potatoes and barley, and for raising dairy cattle and
sheep. Celendin is known throughout the region as the best producer
of manjar blanco, a rich soft caramel made by slowly boiling milk
and sugar. The sweet is spread on bread and used to fill pastries.
Manjar blanco and other produce is trucked to the coastal city of
Trujillo.
Peruvian towns often have a special handicraft, and Celendin is no
exception. When a campesina (peasant woman) isn't cooking or
cleaning, her hands may be busily weaving a purse, a hat, or a small
basket out of thin straw called paja. The plant is cultivated
because the handicrafts bring extra income to the peasant households.
Some paja products are sold to stores in Celendin, but most are sold
in Cajamarca tourist shops.
Celendin is the staging point for journeys from Cajamarca to Peru's
northern interior. Buses don't make the trip, but for a small fee it's
easy to hitch a ride to Chachapoyas on one of the frequent cattle
trucks. The two day journey involves extremes of temperture and road
conditions: either clouds of dust or rivers of mud, depending on the
season. But, if one endures the ride, it's easy to continue on from
Chachapoyas to Rioja, Moyobamba, and Tarapoto.
Not long after Radio Moderna came on the air, Radio Celendin appeared
on 7054 khz. Celendin's third station, Radio Gran Pajaten, got its
start in mid-1983, on a highly variable frequency of around 4180 khz.
Radio Nuevo Eden broadcast briefly on 6815 khz from April to June
1984. In January 1985, Radio Frecuencia Siete, 7010 khz, added yet
another voice to the town's radio scene.
With so many shortwave stations, Celendin was high on my list of
places to visit when I traveled to Cajamarca department in mid-March,
1985. A look at the stations of Celendin would be a look at small
town Peruvian radio. Indeed, broadcasting in Celendin has been a
microcosm of broadcasting in Northern Peru.
The main business here was not broadcasting, but rather owner Gregorio
Sanchez Aruajo's electrical repair shop, located in the front room of
his house. Radios, turntables, and tape recorders were scattered
about in various stages of disammebly. Old calenders and posters
added color to the white adobe walls. The floor was unpainted cement.
The radio station occupied a corner in the back of the shop. The
entire station was setting on two rough, handmade wooden tables. The
fify watt transmitter, about twice the size of a shoebox, had been
made locally by a self-taught electrical engineer. Gregorio hoped he
could make it more powerful. Beside the transmitter was a cheap
turntable, similar to those found in U.S. discount store toy
departments. The station's record library consisted of about 100
forty-fives stacked on a shelf. There were no LPs.
A microphone and a "console" rounded out the equipment. The
console, a little wooden box with three knobs and a couple of wires
coming out of the back, looked just like a homemade antenna tuner.
There was not even a cassette deck or cassette recorder in the studio
corner, making it the first and only station I've seen without
cassette capability. Of course, Gregorio could always borrow one of
those in his repair shop. Provided he fixed it first.
A quiet man in his late 30s, Gregorio pointed out that the station had
begun transmitting on January 20, exactly two months before. He and
his teenage son were the sole announcers. So far the station was only
making a little money, through the sale of communicados (personal
messages) and record dedications. What little commerical advertising
there was in Celendin went to the more established stations. But
Gregorio still had his hopes for the future.
"Yes, we are very small. I started out by working as an announcer at
Radio Celendin and later Radio Moderna. I learned how to run a small
station, and I feel I know enough about the business to make mine the
best in Celendin. I hope to raise power little by little, buy new
equipment when we can. Eventually I would like to have 1,500 watts
and our own generator so we could transmit all day long. That would
be a first for Celendin. It will take time, but we will do it."
Gregorio was constantly thinking of the alternative: failure. The year
before, a friend of his had operated Radio Nuevo Eden, or "New
Eden" (this is what Celendinos like to call their green valley).
This Celendin station was reported by DXer Juan Carlos Codina in Lima,
but never heard outside Peru. Gregorio said it had operated with only
fifteen watts, but couldn't make it financially and finally had to
close down.
I had dropped by this station in the morning, before going to Radio
Frecuencia 7, but the door was locked and bolted. Since it only
broadcasts in the evening, there was no need for anyone to be there.
However, when I dropped by after lunch, teenage announcer Pompeyo
Silva Pereya and two friends were waiting for me. They had heard from
Gregorio that a visiting gringo was interested in seeing their
station.
Pompeyo explained that the station was owned by Herbert Palaez Chacon,
a businessman who lived in Cajamarca but rarely came to Celendin.
Senor Palaez also owned an AM-only Radio Moderna in San Marcos, south
of Cajamarca. The station manager, a local businessman, was out of
town for a few days. Pompeyo didn't know anything about the station's
plans or its brief history. His job was to spin discs and make
announcements, but he could give a friendly tour.
Upstairs, the eight by fifteen feet room had a roughly hewn wooden
floor and little furniture: a table with a manual typewrite and a
chair. Posters of Spanish singers adorned the walls. Along the back
wall, a window provided a glimpse of the cramped studio. It was as
small and stuffed as the other room was empty. A large console, two
turntables, and a cassette deck filled a little desk. Records, both
LPs and 45s, lined the walls overhead. The DJ barely had enough room
to sit down.
Through another doorway, the "guides" led me to a third small room,
housing the station gem: a 250 watt transmitter. A heavy coaxial
cable led the signal under the eaves and to the rooftop dipole. Two
beds were the only other furniture in the room. These, Pompeyo
explained, were for the announcers. Because the station didn't go off
the air until late at night after the power went off, the announcers
on duty slept at the station instead of walking home in the pitch
black streets. He then smiled and said they were occasionally used
for other purposes, too.
When my wife and I arrived about 7:30 pm, the double doors were
propped open. A bench and posters making a half-hearted attempt to
cover bare studs furnished the entryway. Over the inner door leading
to the studio was a beautiful painted wooden sign proclaiming the
station to be "a wave of love, peace, and culture".
Owner Jose Camacho Villar was spinning discs. The studio was a very
cramped little room, about 6x8 feet. Inside, two tables arranged in
an "L" were topped with two turntables, cassette player,
console, and tabletop transmitter. There was just enough room to
squeeze by the table and into the room.
Not long after our arrival, an announcer came and took over, freeing
Senor Camacho to talk to us, and to sign and stamp the prepared QSLs I
had brought along with several reports. He thanked us for our
compliments on his beautiful station sign, and pointed out that the
station had another motto on its official rubber seal, "transmitting
from blue skies of Eden." Influenced by that slogan, one of his
announcers started the ill-fated Radio Nuevo Eden.
A friendly, easy-going man in his late forties, Senor Camacho noted
that his station was actually the oldest in Celendin. He had been
broadcasting on and off for more than twenty-five years, whenever he
had working equipment and the time. In 1982, after Radio Moderna came
on the air, he bought a homemade Peruvian two-hundred watt tabletop
transmitter. Before that he used very low powered equipment, and had
never been heard (or heard of) outide Celendin. With other more
profitable business interests, he still plan to put much effort into
the station.
When I arrived in Celendin in mid-March, Radio Gran Pajaten was no
longer on the air. Walking around town, I discovered the station just
around the corner from Radio Moderna in another two story white adobe
building. A wooden station sign hung over the locked door. From a
neighbor, I learned that owner Milciades Echeverria Puitiza had gone
to Lima for replacement transmitter parts.
At Radio Celendin, Senor Camacho apparently decided that his other
businesses needed more of his energies. His station hasn't been
reported since December, 1985, when it changed frequency to 5085. In
June, 1985, a new station Radio Norandina, signed on higher powered
transmitter on 4460 khz. Though not common, Radio Norandina is logged
regularly in North America. This new competition probably helped do
Radio Frecuencia 7 and Radio Celendin in.
Radio Moderna is still there, however, and continues to broadcast on
4300 khz, where it is usually covered by a radioteletype station in
North America.
As for Radio Gran Pajaten, nothing has been heard from it since that
weak broadcast in early March 1985. Apparently replacement parts were
more expensive than the owner imagined. Since the fall of 1988, a new
station named La Voz de Celendin has been logged on Radio Gran
Pajaten's old frequency of 4485. Although well-heard by DXers in South
America, it has only been weakly heard in North America. In all
probability this is Radio Gran Pajaten's old transmitter. Possibly,
the owner finally had it fixed, and put the station on the air under
the new name. But name changes at Latin American stations are rare,
and my bet is that, in need of cash, he sold the useless transmitter
at a bargain price to someone else who had the money to fix it. The
real answer won't be known until someone at the station takes the
time to answer a DX report, and explains the station history.
So, of seven shortwave stations in Celendin, only three are still
around today. Radio Moderna and Radio Norandina are probably around
to stay, but La Voz de Celendin is so new that I wouldn't place any
bets on its survivial. Celendin's stations are not easy to hear.
But, if Latin American conditions seem to be good, and its between
2300-0500, try for the active ones on 4300, 4460, and 4485 khz.
Besides that, there are still Radio Celendin's 200 watt transmitter
and Radio Frecuencia 7's 50 watt transmitters unaccounted for. They
could pop up on the air anytime. Celendinos like to start radio
stations.
2007 Addendum: The use of shortwave in Peru has significanly declined over the past two decades. But, there are still a few dozen stations on the air. For a complete list of Peruvian shortwave stations, the best
references are the annual publications Passport to World Band
Radio and the World Radio TV Handbook . These are
available from various shortwave vendors.
This article is copyright 1989 by Don Moore.
This website is maintained by Don Moore,
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Radio History
Clandestine Radio
Celendin:
Radio Town of Northern PeruBy Don Moore
SHORTWAVE IN CELENDIN
Since June 1982, when Radio Moderna, 4300 khz came on the air,
Celendin has been a DX target. Though the history of radio here
has been rocky, Celendin has, in fact, been more active on shortwave
than most of the other towns of the region. The town has one of the
strongest municipal generators in Cajamarca department. Unlike many
other places where the municipal generators can't power radio
stations, potential stations in Celendin don't have the added expense
of buying their own generator. This has, however, restricted their
broadcasting hours. Since the generator is only on from 6 pm to
midnight (2300-0500 UTC), all of Celendin's stations follow that
limited schedule.RADIO FRECUENCIA 7
Radio Frecuencia 7 was the newest kid on the block when I visited
Celendin. Striking postal workers in the Plaza de Armas pointed me in
the direction of San Martin street. Two blocks away, above the door of
a typical one story adobe row house, the words Frecuencia 7
were painted in very small black stenciled letters. The roof top
antenna was simply a twenty foot wire sloping down from a ten foot
pole to the roof. RADIO MODERNA
On a side street, about seven blocks from the plaza, was a two story
while adobe building with a wooden Radio Moderna sign over the
door. Inside, the dirt-floored room had a table and chair in the
center and a steep wooden stair case on one end. This was the
station's reception room, where a staff member took down the
communicados (personal messages) that listeners paid to have read on
the air. Up the staircase, on the second floor, was the station. RADIO CELENDIN
Radio Celendin wasn't as easy to find as the other stations. But
finally, with the help of a storekeeper, I located it on Dos de Mayo
street, about five blocks from the plaza. There was no sign over the
old wooden double doors. The doors were locked throughout the
afternoon, and I realized I would have to drop by in the evening when
the station was on the air. RADIO GRAN PAJATEN
For the first year and a half of this station's existence, it was only
heard irregularly by a few South American DXers. Then, in December
1984, it changed frequency to 4485 and apparently added a newer, more
powerful transmitter. Suddenly it was well-heard in North America.
Three months later, it disappeared just as quickly. The DX world
learned why when a DXer received a verification letter mentioning that
some parts in the transmitter had burned out on February fifth. In
the beginning of March it was heard again once, but weakly. EPILOGUE
Since that visit, radio in Celendin has continued to develop and
change. Gregorio Sanchez's Radio Frecuencia 7 was occasionally heard
by DXers throughout 1985, and verified several reception reports. It
was last heard in March, 1986. In early 1988 a DXer received a
verification letter from Radio Moderna, signed by announcer Gregorio
Sanchez. Apparently Gregorio's dream of making Radio Frecuencia 7 the
best station in Celendin didn't succeed.
1996 Addendum: Since this article was originally published, the
broadcasting scene in Celendin has continued to change. The most
consistent and best heard stations for several years have been Radio
Norandina on 4460 and La Voz de Celendin on 4485. Like so many other
broadcasters in remote parts of Peru, neither of these stations are
officially licensed by the Peruvian government. They are, in effect,
common law stations - licensed in the eyes of their community. While
La Voz de Celendin has stayed on the air despite my predictions in the
above paragraph, Radio Moderna has been gone from shortwave for
several years. Perhaps the most significant develop in Celendin radio
is that in 1995 the town was connected to the national power grid,
allowing the stations to broadcast all day long. So, these stations
can now be logged during their morning sign-on period as well as
during the evening.
Association of North American Radio Clubs
DXer of the Year for 1995.
