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Marcus Aurélio de Carvalho — journalist, professor and radio researcher — was a reporter, presenter and manager of stations, passing through Super Rádio Tupi in Rio de Janeiro, Sistema Globo de Rádio (Globo/CBN) and MEC AM. With all this baggage, he says that part of the problem with radio management lies in the misconception that taking an MBA or other management course alone guarantees enough experience to manage a station, a production company or any institution in the radio environment. . This is because, for him, the sector has a unique profile that does not allow good work without knowledge of the facts, adding to an understanding of the market and academic trends.
“Media convergence is an inevitable phenomenon. The converging media person who comes to direct is not always the radio person. For a person to manage a radio, at least they have to have some radio experience”, says the researcher.
For Marcus, the technologies applied to the radio medium brought a multitude of possibilities, but with two fundamental questions for managers: what to do with all these resources? How to use them efficiently without mischaracterizing the broadcaster or the medium? The answers lie in the manager’s attitude of having proactive attitudes in seeking to understand this “new world” and training his team to face these challenges with work. Which leads us to another fundamental question, in the opinion of the broadcaster: knowing who we are talking to…
He recalls that many professionals do a good job of managing the radio. Others, however, are unable to identify the characteristics of the audience for which content is being offered. In this way, communication is lost, as it “speaks” to one audience with the language of another. Or, even worse: microphones are used without a defined language.
An example of radio management
The broadcaster uses Rádio Globo de São Paulo as an example during the period in which he was manager, from 2007 to 2012. When he arrived in the capital of São Paulo, the station was already the audience leader among the radios in the segment. talk (spoken), but it had the mission of improving the profile of listeners to expand the work of the company’s commercial. That’s how, in five years with him responsible for managing the radio, the station went from approximately 24% of D/E audience to just 11% to 14% (depending on the month) and something around 86% to 89% of public A/B/C.
For Marcus Aurélio de Carvalho, the strategy only worked because of the commitment and engagement of the production teams, under his command, and of the others, such as the operations under the command of Alberto “Mamão” Pastre and Rosan Camilo Bento. The same happened in the sports department, which was led by narrator Oscar Ulisses and commentator and presenter Osvaldo Pascoal.
One has to have the humility to dive into books, research and materials on radio
In opposition to this case of success, Marcus recalls that there are also cases of professionals with a beautiful trajectory in the radio environment, but without training or radio management skills. Which leads to other mistakes, such as mismanagement of funds and inability to manage people.
The journalist and broadcaster gives the recipe for those who want to work in the radio management sector. “One has to be humble and dive into books, research and materials on radio. Also have to listen, listen and listen to the radio. This is the only way to understand the sector”, he analyzes.
This is perhaps the best choice that Marcus himself has made. He says that from an early age, his parents left a battery-powered radio in his crib to distract the boy, who was born in the neighborhood of Inhaúma, more precisely in the community of Fazendinha, a suburb on the west side of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The radio broadcaster’s father was a technician in radio and television repairs. That’s why the boy and his brother, Hélio, grew up amid transistors, TV tubes and equipment housings.
From challenges to radio management
Young Marcus Aurélio de Carvalho was born with congenital cataracts and glaucoma, which led to the loss of his right eyeball at age seven and having only 10% of vision in his left eye. The suburban boy faced the situation along with his mother, Marly, who was instructed to keep him in a regular school so that he could adapt to the reality that lay ahead. With that, Marcus ended up having a poor but happy childhood.
He says that, at the age of 12, he was already listening to many stations in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, as the radio had already become a companion for many hours. That’s when he decided he wanted to work in the radio business. And not only succeeded, but became the first field reporter with low vision to work on radio in Brazil. It took eight years, from 1984 to 1992, when he was a reporter for Super Rádio Tupi in Rio de Janeiro. However, it wasn’t easy. To be able to see the plays better, he used special glasses with another lens superimposed on the frame. With it, it was (and still is) possible to enlarge the image enough so that he could tell the listeners the details of the move that had just been made.
“I was behind the goal. But the problem is that the magnifying glass is cylindrical and doesn’t have a good visual field. So I kept hoping the player wouldn’t make a long throw because I got lost. Where is the ball? Because if I made the short pass, I’m following it with my eye there, with the magnifying glass. But if he made a long throw, I would be lost”, recalls the journalist.
Mary’s pride
Part of this winning story, Marcus attributes to his mother, Marly, who was the one who took him to the doctors and sought to help him with his special low vision needs.
In 1987, in the match of the Brazilian Championship between Flamengo and Internacional, he was chosen to accompany the match by Tupi, staying behind the goal. The narrator would call him and Marcus would enter commenting on the details that had taken place near the area — and he still spoke the name of the sponsor.
In that game, his brother says that the family was at his grandfather’s house watching when the goal was scored and Marcus came in to comment on the radio. It was then that Marly was called and they put the headphones on her and said: Marquinhos is giving details of the game on the radio! She was in disbelief, as she had realized that the boy she had helped count and do his homework had become a communications professional.
My mother won the Help Cup so that her son could build and fulfill his dreams
“Miss Marly died two years later, in 1989, but she saw the result of her struggle. She was very hardworking for me to study. So for her, it was a sensation. That Sunday, when Flamengo won the Copa União, my mother won the ‘Copa da Ajuda’ for her son to build and fulfill his dreams, because she must have thought: damn, if he managed to do that, I accomplished my mission! ”, says the broadcaster excitedly.
I work at ONCB
Currently, Marcus Aurélio de Carvalho is communication director of the National Organization of the Blind in Brazil (ONCB) and presenter of some programs on the radio maintained by the institution. The station focuses on programming aimed at blind and low vision people. Therefore, the vehicle seeks to carry out a series of inclusive and citizenship actions for its target audience. A good example of this: shows with audio description by artists such as Marília Mendonça, Bruno & Marrone, Maiara & Maraísa and Paralamas do Sucesso.
We always want to be perceived as the best and most qualified radio content for blind and low vision people in the country
The ONCB broadcaster also engaged in the provision of services, in times of Covid-19, producing a series of content on how its listeners could stay safe against the virus. About this work, the broadcaster explains what day-to-day is like. “We speak to a segment. We are a non-profit social organization, but we always want to be perceived as the best and most qualified radio content for blind and low vision people in the country”.
On the impact of technologies and the future of radio, Marcus recalls that digital tools are here to stay and have expanded the possibilities of using audio. And he cites the ONCB Radio as an example, where they use site, YouTube, Instagram and live audio and video broadcasts to engage Internet users in their programming. And remember that this type of inclusive work should be done by all communication vehicles, as there is legislation that determines this process.
And the future of radio?
About the future of the radio medium, Marcus bets on the convergence and expansion of audio consumption in different formats, such as podcast.
“podcast is a form of communication that has audio as its main thread. This product here is audio. We do not depend on the image to make this product (the podcast ‘Radio frequency’). He is a conversation, a talk show!”, points out the journalist with experience in radio management.
The podcast is what? Radio!
“A chat is a podcast. O podcast which is? Radio! It is any means of communication that communicates through sound, which connects through audio. This media convergence will continue. It will even increase… So, the radio will die? And why do I bet not? Why the podcasts They’re showing us that they don’t…”
Marcus Aurélio de Carvalho ends by saying that he is a man of reciprocated love. Among them, the radio.
And more: Millionaire audience: SP radios record more than 2 million reach
And yet: The podcast is the new radio?
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The interview with Marcus Aurélio de Carvalho was originally released in podcast format and can be heard in full on the Anchor.fm platform.