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Radio Nacional Espana at the FIFA World Cup 2010

Carlos Vanaclocha of Cadena COPE (left) and Radio Marca’s Rafael Sahuquillo Nuévalos

A Spanish flag with the words ‘Plaza de España’ adorns the wall in the corridor of Hall 6 which houses the radio broadcasters from Iberia. How­ever, if Spain defeat Germany tonight to reach the FIFA World Cup™ Final there will be no party on the Plaza as they will be busy relaying the atmosphere, ambience and action from Durban and various Spanish cities to their listeners.

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“We plan to connect with different cities around Spain,” explained Carlos Vanaclocha, Producer for Cadena COPE, “we will be where the people gather to watch the game in cities, towns and villages to take in the ambi­ence and emotion of the Spanish people.”

While the match itself is very much a visual experience the potential radio audience is huge thanks to the particular habits of the Spanish public. “Usually many people go to screenings in the streets in big cities and I think they watch the match on the big screen but listen to the commen­tary on the radio,” stated Arantxa Rodriguez, Producer for Onda Cero. The magnitude of the game certainly increases the pressure to deliver, but it is met with relish. “We can compare this to the Euro 2008 Final but the World Cup is bigger. I’ve been to three World Cups and we always look at the Brazilians, the French and the Italians in the big matches, we are quite nervous but we are sure this is going to be Spain’s time,” Arantxa added.

With the whole nation gripped in anticipation for Spain’s first FIFA World Cup™ semi-final there must be an expectation of superb audi­ence figures? “It is difficult to know how many people are listening but I am sure it will be a record,” Arantxa claimed. “This is historic for Spain, my family tell me the atmosphere at home is amazing.”

For Radio Nacional de España it has been an objective to maintain the link with home. “We try to constantly connect between Spain and South Africa,” explained Team Leader Jose Luis Toral. Specifically for the semi-final they are pulling out all the stops to reach every corner of Spain. “We will have several radio stations working for us in different parts of the country, including one in the village where David Villa was born.”

It is not just the football team that will be hoping to make history tonight. “We are just ten years old,” added Rafael Sahuquillo Nuévalos, Frequency Coordinator of Radio Marca, “so for us this is the most important broad­cast in our history. We will have a special programme from the fan park next to the Bernabéu stadium and three journalists will be in Durban.”