Possibilities and limits of university cultural extension, 1935-1954: university journals and radio stations in Colombia

Abstract

This article investigates the use of communication media for the development of cultural extension activities carried out by the Universidad de Antioquia and the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana between 1935 and 1953. On the basis of critical reviews on diverse documentary sources, it is described and analyzed how both institutions, following national and international benchmarks, developed strategies such as the publication of journals and the creation of radio broadcast stations over the years, which became relevant tools to extend and amplify the work carried out within their respective academic cloisters. The review of the Revista Universidad de Antioquia (1935), the Revista Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (1937) and the program bulletins and programming grids of Emisora ​​Cultural Universidad de Antioquia (1933) and Radio Bolivariana (1948), allowed us to state that, through their stations, magazines and classrooms, both universities tried to give the city, the region and the country their version of what they understood by culture. In doing so, they faced their own limitations, mainly the weakness of their infrastructure and the scarcity of their resources to participate in an increasingly competitive, professional, diverse market that was heading in a decidedly commercial direction. Added to this were the tensions and contradictions inherent to projects of this type, which faced the challenge of disseminating cultural expressions that, paradoxically, were considered minority and, in that sense, hardly acceptable and enjoyable beyond the layers with a prolonged formal education.