IT WILL not appear on any listings and will pounce without warning, day or night, on to the airwaves: first a harp playing folk music, then a familiar voice.
Welcome to Suddenly Chávez, Venezuela’s newest radio show and the latest effort by the country’s loquacious president, Hugo Chávez, to talk to voters, whether they want to listen or not.
“When you hear the pluck of a harp on the radio, maybe Chávez is coming,” he said on the inaugural show on Monday. “It’s suddenly, at any time, maybe midnight, maybe early morning.”
Mr Chávez seems to have calculated that ambushes will catch a wider audience that may have tuned into the state-run Venezuelan National Radio for a baseball game or salsa music.
Venezuelans are already accustomed to Mr Chávez interrupting scheduled programmes through a law which forces all radio and television stations to transmit live those speeches he deems important. Cable channels used to be exempt – prompting a surge in demand from viewers seeking respite – but the government has moved to close that loophole.
In addition to a weekly newspaper column, the president also regularly phones a late-night pro-government talkshow, The Razor Blade, to assail critics and make policy announcements.
With elections looming, Suddenly Chávez appears designed to use the president's charisma to woo back former supporters fed up with rampant crime, inflation and crumbling public services. – ( Guardianservice)