By Marco Hugo Barsotti MHB 
You are listening to a new special from am1575news, Francia24 and Radio Centrale Milano, in podcasting and on medium waves.
Barbara Marchand’s account reopens a fascinating window into a golden age of Italian broadcasting: that of StereoRAI. The historic presenter nostalgically recalled the internal dynamics of the studios in via Asiago, where the management of musical content followed strict rules that were often slowed down by stifling bureaucracy.
According to what emerged from the interview, daily programming required a speed that official channels could not guarantee. The main problem concerned access to the RAI archive’s musical catalog, whose request procedure was extremely long and laborious.
The fight against the bureaucracy of records
To be able to go on air with the necessary current affairs, presenters had to bypass the network’s technical timelines. The waiting time to receive a record from the archive was an entire week, a delay incompatible with the frantic pace of broadcasts that had to follow the day’s events.
This necessity led journalists and presenters to a practical but tiring solution: physically transporting their own musical collections. Barbara Marchand recalls entire suitcases of vinyls being brought to the studio every day, effectively transforming the job into a constant transport mission.
An incredible episode involving Herbert Pagani
One emblematic episode describes how difficult it was to manage the unexpected. Upon the news of Herbert Pagani’s passing, the presenter—who had not brought that record from home—went down to the RAI record library to get it: an infraction of the procedure, which required making a request a week in advance, and which was held against her for quite some time.
RAI’s internal programs followed the official procedure; StereoRAI’s, Barbara Marchand recounts, were instead “the crazy, pirate ones.” She and Federico Biagione hosted on Stereo 1 from 3 PM to 7 PM, Monday to Friday, while on Stereo 2 were Emilio Levi and Antonella Giampaoli. For them, November 8th, the start date of the stereo adventure, was “the first day of spring.”
From the world of radio to the new digital era
After experiences in the large national studios, Barbara Marchand’s career moved toward the world of web radio. Despite the time gap, the connection with the radio medium remained strong, through more informal and direct experiences with entities such as Radio Video Music.
In this new phase, hosting moved to digital platforms like Skype, making production more agile and less tied to physical structures. What once required suitcases of records and long waiting times today transforms into an immediate flow of content, while keeping the passion for musical storytelling intact.
That is all for now. From the newsrooms of Nice and Paris, this is am1575news, Francia24 and Radio Centrale Milano.
Source: AudioVisione – AM 1575 News