29th March 1995 we built the first ponte…nas ondas! (bridge… over the waves). Along with the physical bridge that was inaugurated that day we put a bridge on the air that would value the common Galician-Portuguese heritage.
Twenty years ago two bridges were inaugurated, both of them to communicate and that was their value. People crossed both of them, they sang, they spoke, they told stories over them… but over our bridge the voices have remained, voices and images that you can listen and see at the special web that commemorates this anniversary and where we collect different material, compiling and publishing all the material of these 20 years of Ponte…nas ondas!
You still don’t know what Ponte…nas Ondas is? We are going to tell you!
Ponte… nas ondas! is an educational experience that has been developed since 1995 thanks to the cooperation among the primary and secondary schools in Galicia and the north of Portugal, with the participation of schools from other countries.
This is a session that started with the broadcast of 12 hours of radio programme fully performed by Galician and Portuguese students. Since 2003 it lasted up to 24 hours with programmes produced by the schools.
Students of primary, secondary and (since the IX edition) of university carry out live radio programmes (in the last editions on TV and Internet too) and in several formats: contests, varieties, music, interviews, live connections among the different studios, etc. Although Galician and Portuguese are the common languages, with the participation of schools from Argentina, Cuba, Chile and Colombia, Spanish is also used. During the session of communication children from all the participating countries follow the programming and have a very active participation.
The motivation to start this adventure was the inauguration of an architectonic bridge between Salvaterra de Miño (Spain) and Monçao (Portugal); then, a group of 16 schools decided to stablish a bridge of communication over the radio waves.
That year they used the studies of Ecos dá Raia de Monçao (Portugal) and a provisional one in the House of Culture in Salvaterra de Miño (España). The children were very excited with that first experimental session of cross-border radio and the success obtained forced to continue.
Celebration of the anniversary in Salvaterra
Besides, this 27th March, we will celebrate it in Salvaterra, from the House of Culture, where we will unveil a commemorative plaque of Ponte…nas ondas! At 16:00 Radio Galega will start a special programme from the library, the same place from where many sessions of Ponte…nas ondas! were made. You are invited to join us! Cross the bridge!