Motivated by the desire to analyze Korrika and alternative media, this article will investigate the impact that the live stream of Euskal Irratia can have on Basque speakers1. In fact, through this work we have incorporated the criteria of different researchers and social referents to try to define alternative media.
To characterize the Korrika (a massive and popular running performance in favour of basque language), we have incorporated both the work of Teresa Del Valle and the theory of emotional unity of the sociologist Émile Durkheim. This solid theoretical basis has given us a lot of content for three interviews. On the one hand, it should be noted that our research has been geographically limited to the three territories of the Northern Basque Country. In order to investigate the three radio stations that are part of the Basque Radio network, we interviewed a member of the Irulegi Radio of Baja Navarra, a former journalist of Gure Irratia de Lapurdi and a former technician of the Xiberoko Boza. Through these interviews, in which the characteristics of each alternative radio were made public, we wanted to know how and why the Korrika live was born. Finally, taking into account the identity characteristics of each radio station, we will talk about the positive influence of the live one: the emotion and the unifying character that the Korrika transmits to the audience also generates the forces of the live one. Thus, we will conclude that the live radio of Korrika can help the Basque speaker to feel part of the community, to be part of Korrika.
In addition, the Basque language, considered as the minorized language of the Basque Country, has a maximum presence in Korrika time, as it is considered a transversal struggle. Thus, the live radio shows that the minorized language of the Basques can have a social status, since it proudly promotes its presence in the Korrika time.
1. Introduction
We often hear that running is synonymous with joy. This collective strength and joy crossed the Basque Country in March-April2, after passing the witness person by person, and tied 2,792 kilometres. The witness has passed from village to village, from neighborhood to neighborhood, from association to association and from person to person, as in the first Korrika of 1980. The excitement of the last meters is what creates the greatest emotion and adrenaline among the members of the Korrika, but also among the rest of the Basque speakers, who are waiting for the message to be read, all eyes focused on the central stage. The main task of the media in Basque is to make an account of the race in favor of the Basque language that lasts ten days. Specifically, from the main media, to the local media, Korrika generates different types of live broadcasts: direct by waves or so-called streaming.
Although the latter has gained a lot of strength in recent times, the live radio was the first to broadcast Korrika live to the antenna. Through the telephone booth, improvised antenna or various tricks, although the power of Euskal Irratia was not great, the tracking of the Korrika has been improving over time. Today, while they are still alive, in addition to the mission that radio stations assume to spread the Basque language, they consider it essential to transmit the story of collective events of Basque speakers. This transmission, in our case the direct that links the Korrika with the listener, is important among the radio listeners, since in addition to promoting the event in Basque, it mobilizes the interior of each one.
2. Methodology
We have conducted in-depth interviews with the staff of the Basque Radio Stations and with the journalists who have participated in the different Korrika, in order to obtain as detailed information as possible. We are interested, of course, in collecting their opinions and experiences to treat the direct follow-up of the Korrika from different perspectives. Thus, confirming that we will use a qualitative methodology, as several researchers have done, we have also looked for the definition of the same interview.
We found different definitions. Eiroa and Barranquero (2017) refer to the planned interview and define it as “It can be said that dialogue is the acquisition of information, within the framework of the scientific method, through a systematically planned dialogue.”
By the way, qualitative methodologies become a source of comprehensive and understandable data on a phenomenon, since they provide highly accurate information. A decision
in addition to opinion, motivations and reasons, the implicit rituals underlying non-verbal communication and silences show a multiplicity (Eiroa and Barranquero, 2017). To do this, it is necessary to create a favorable environment between the interviewee and the interviewer (Juaristi, 2003).
It is important to know in depth the possibilities that dialogue offers us, essential to carry it out and to know its advantages and disadvantages. These options allow us to know quite precisely what the person explains and, in addition, it is important to create an environment conducive to acting freely. Finally, this type of dialogue (Juaristi, 2003) allows to address and analyze in depth the causes, causes and/or consequences of the topics analyzed, in order to obtain detailed information.
To do this, we have conducted three in-depth interviews. It should be noted that the interviewees have the same or very similar questions. From a geographical point of view, one of our main axes being the radio stations of Iparralde, a former technician of Xiberoko Boza, one of the founders of Irulegi Irratia and a former journalist of Gure Irratia have been selected as the interview profile. On the other hand, it should be noted that the three interviewees have work experience of all kinds. One was a technician, another was a radio creator and journalist and, finally, a journalist who worked in the station’s structural plant.
If we want to introduce the interviewees, let’s start with Jojo Bidart (Baigorri, 1956).
in 1981 he participated actively in the creation of Irulegi Irratia Radio. Journalist and teacher by profession, he has been spreading the Basque language through the waves of Navarra-Behere through Irulegi Irratia. Currently retired, he continues as president of Irulegi Irratia and works mainly in the promotion of the Basque language and Basque culture in Basaizea. Bidart has followed several Korrika on the occasion of his work as a journalist.
We then witness the journalist Franck Dolosor (Senpere, 1977). In fact, you can appreciate the experience of his work experience when presenting it. in 1996, outside the lyceum, he began working in Gure Irratia Radio at the age of eighteen. he continued to run the 1999 Korrika while working as a journalist at Gure Irratia and although he currently works at EITB, he has been through various media: He has collaborated for France Bleu Pays Basque, Radio Euskadi and, Ttipi-ttapa.
Finally, we collect the testimony of Allande Etxart (Altzai, 1950), a former technician and collaborator of Xiberoko Botza Radio. In addition to being a writer, Etxart was one of the founders of the Xiberoko Botza. He also actively participated in the creation of the ikastola of Sohüta (Zuberoa) and was manager, among others, of the publication Euskadi Información. Zuberoa continues to actively participate in the promotion of the Basque language.
3. Results
After a rich conversation and immersing ourselves in the results, we would divide them into three parts. On the one hand, before mentioning the continuation of the Korrika, let’s make a first stop in the context of the creation of the three radios. Secondly, let’s stop at the definitions that the interviewees have given of Korrika. Finally, we will talk about live radio tracking and its unifying role in the Basque speaking community.
3.1. Three alternative radios
Without forgetting the objectives of the work, it should be clarified that before addressing the direct monitoring of the Korrika, it is necessary to refer to the context in which the creation of radios in the Northern Basque Country takes place. It goes without saying that in the 1980s purely French radios dominated the wave signals. Bidart himself mentions that before joining Radio Irulegi he worked on the coastal radio Radio Adour Navarre. In this sense, Etxarte has also insisted that the Xiberoko Botza Radio was born outside the hegemonic media landscape of Zuberoa of the time: “From the newspapers Miroir de la Soule and Sud Ouest we lived a boycott, we had a feeling of drowning.” From the counter-hegemony, the Xiberoko Botza was the power to oppose these newspapers, being “a place to protest”, since the CGT union carried out the broadcasts, giving voice to the social struggles of the time in Zuberoa (La Soule). On the other hand, it was not at the time of the creation of Gure Irratia, but it has alluded to the hegemonic media in Spanish of the time. Immersed in their memories, they did not listen to Gure Irratia at home: “They listened mainly to Radio France Pays Basque, Europe 1 and RTL.”
Radio stations in Basque were born out of the need to spread the Basque language. Bidart recalls that the decline of the Basque language of the time led to the creation of Irulegi Irratia. These radios from the French Basque Country are created to act quickly in the process of normalization of the Basque language and are currently working on the same missions. Etxarte, for his part, has stressed that the flowering of the Xiberoko Botza should be associated with the creation of the ikastola: “At the time, I was also a student. When we started to think about alternative pedagogies in the ikastola, we also started to think about what kind of radio we wanted.” Apart from being another type of radio, there is no doubt that they are equivalent to a public service. Because radios represent the work that institutions have to do, according to Dolosor: "It"s a public service. Because the radio is entirely in Basque. It replaces the service we should have if we paid our taxes. Radio stations in Basque are fundamental, because they are the breathing spaces of the Basque language, a tool for Euskaldunization.”
Each of the interviewees has a definition of radio stations in the Northern Basque Country, but whether it is a “general radio in Basque” or a “single radio in Basque in Zuberoa”, Gure Irratia, Irulegi Irratia and Xiberoko Botza are the means of communication for the dissemination of the Basque language and the media that have brought the Basque speaking community to the center.
In the creation of these radios, the support of the people was essential and there is still a characteristic that today can be considered as the main axis of these radios. On the one hand, it has been mentioned several times that the roots of the creation of the three radio stations were based on the people. In the case of Irulegi Irratia, in 1981 Bidart and others began to adapt a shepherd’s attic, so that Irulegi Irratia would begin to disseminate information only in Basque: “We started at a friend’s house. First we set up a cabin and after a few months we set up something in the sheep’s house. We set up the studio with all the collaborators, delivering the antennas on the roof of the farm.”
The Irulegi Radio, Gure Irratia and Xiberoko Botza have started with the collaborators and have continued with them. Although jobs have been created in each radio station, Bidart still considers the role of auxiliary to be fundamental: “It has been a stabilization, because the figure of the workers has appeared or the radio has been professionalized, but we wanted to retain the collaborators and we have managed to get the citizens involved in the project.” Currently, the citizen has retained the role of collaborator-collaborator, as well as that of chronicler. On the other hand, the collaborators are at the center of the annual collection campaign, since they are the ones who pass from house to house to collect the economic support of the citizens. Therefore, in addition to promoting citizen participation, it is necessary to make an economic contribution to the project.
If we look at the economic model of free radios in Basque, we can see that they live in a simple way. It is clear that, on the one hand, citizen support forms the economic basis of these radios. In addition, a grant from the French Ministry of Culture (Fond de Soutien à l’Expression Radiophonique Locale) is being called for in general grants. On the contrary, from the institutions of the Basque Country, the radio stations are financially supported, in part, by the Euskararen Erakundea Public Entity (EEP) and several Herriko Etxeas. Finally, there are also people who spill money every month. They incorporate a little advertising, but the radio stations of the French Basque Country currently live mainly with public subsidies and with the support of the public.
3.2. Live Korrika: generalist and unifying
Before entering the core of the Korrika follow-up, we must not forget the definition that each of the interviewees has of the Korrika. Although in some points it may be different, they have all referred to similar elements.
According to Bidart, in addition to being a “showcase for the Basque language”, Korrika is a “cumulative and unifying” social event. Let’s not doubt that the profile of the participants in the Korrika has become generalist over time. In the words of Etxarte, Korrika is “a social flood” and “a campaign carried out by AEK”. It is clear that it is no coincidence that if so many people participate, it is because there is a lot of liver work. For Dolosor, today you see “large troops of people” in the Korrika, but all three have insisted that the Korrika of the beginning was less massive and “something militant”. Being so many Korrika, no one would think that what can be defined as a social fact would be exhausted over time. The images and witnesses tell us the exact opposite, although they see the difficulties of making people’s participation “an involvement in favor of the Basque language”.
It can then be concluded that, according to the three interviews, on the one hand, the Korrika involves the strengthening of the Basque speaking community, that is, of the Basque speakers. On the other hand, let’s assume that in the face of the current influx of people, Korrika is a tool to raise awareness of the Basque language.
In essence, Korrika has an open participation, although people are not Basque speakers, it is observed that there is a positioning in favor of the Basque language and that, by the way, Korrika itself gives the fight for the language in the center. Finally, it can be said that after the interviews, Korrika can be characterized as a network, because it really crosses the Basque Country as a whole and because, like a rope, it is a social event that also reflects the Basque identity: “It has emotion, creativity and frustration to be Basque.” It is “madness” according to Dolosor and, when he starts looking for a definition of Korrika, he defines it as “something exciting”.
For the Basque speaking community, Korrika is such a big event that, like all the big events, the radios follow the race for the Basque language live. When asked about the resources they had at the time, when Korrika began, Bidart and Etxarte remember how they made the live ones through the telephone booths. Specifically, in the 1980s, when radio stations in the Northern Basque Country began to try to make the Korrika live, journalists went in front of the first truck of the race, making a “connection between people” kilometre by kilometre. That is, they conducted interviews with people who were on the side of the road, by means of a recorder; they jumped into the car and went to the telephone booth as close as possible; from there they called and entered the antenna by telephone, and what was in the recorder was thrown glued to the telephone in the booth to the radio waves. Etxarte and Bidart have ridiculed the “poor quality” of what they did, but, as can be imagined, they had to adapt it with the available material.
However, after the start of the Korrika in 1985, the Xiberoko Boza people made an improvised antenna: “In that Korrika that departed from the Plaza de Atharratze, I remember that I did something as a sound equipment or antenna precisely on the terrace of the Piellenia Inn, and we were very happy to give direct relevance to the event.” Bidarte also remembers having used his improvised antenna. This antenna served to spread the waves of the live stream and, they point out, in some areas of Baja Navarra the signs of the Korrika’s departure spread widely. Improvisation prevailed to make the straight ones. In the case of Dolosor, in order to follow up on the 1999 Korrika, a retired technician came to their aid and built them “a fixed telephone, a kind of box”, which was connected to the electricity. If the recorder was attached to it, the message that was transmitted on the antenna was, in many cases, of higher quality.
From the telephone booths to the improvised antenna, the current ways of making the direct have changed. In fact, Dolosor remembers that they “jumped to the mini album” and how computers entered when they were about to leave the radio. The great technological advances materialized in a short time and the way of doing the direct. Nowadays, everything that enters through the micro can be recorded by a machine called quantum. This machine, used by radio journalists, also gives you direct access to the antenna.
In addition to direct monitoring, it can be said that the Korrika completely changes the information agenda of these radios. In Irulegi’s radio, for example, there is space in the news sections, that is, in the news programs. Just like the other two radios. In the case of Gure Irratia, in the mornings, at noon and in the afternoons there were ten-minute intervals on the antenna. It should be noted that if Korrika is given importance as it passes through the French Basque Country, the need arose to tell them on the radio as a great social event. Of course, radio stations are always trying to transmit that special moment to the audience in Korrika time. In short, to celebrate the Basque Country Festival, the programming changes accordingly.
3.3. Multi-emotional breathing apparatus
To close the part of results, it is convenient to talk about the importance of the direct. Taking into account the contextualization of the Korrika, as well as the generation of direct follow-up, it should be noted that the live radio broadcasts in great detail the local environment. Taking animation as a goal, in addition to the local environment, Korrika is a transmitter of emotions and, consequently, of the live. As Etxarte said, “turn on the radio in the car and the Korrika creates excitement”. In the emotional sphere, the direct has the strength to transmit “joy and pride”. Whatever the event is, that’s the strength of the live one: give the event the strength it needs so that the listener heals that it is there and that something important is happening around it. For Dolosor, the direct makes predictions, is the predictor of the following kilometers: The live atmosphere is the stimulant of the arrival of the race.
One of the objectives of the live is to transmit the echo of the korrika to the audience. As it is today, let’s make it clear that it has a lot of direct content, because in the case of Korrika many things can be told. Several interviews can be conducted during the live merger and, especially, in the case of Korrika, “it is possible to meet many new people” according to Bidart. On the other hand, the direct joins the kilometers and, above all, joins the people who go from kilometer to kilometer. For Bidart, “in the time, radio was the only link for people to know where the Korrika was going and when it was going to arrive.” As a result, in addition to transmitting the animation, the link and the content, the importance of the live one was even greater, being able to see that this was the only tool to know something about the arrival of the Korrika.
But the direct still has a lot of importance today. In addition to being able to tell the story in a simple way, it allows you to interview people from all walks of life. In fact, from the radio studios and social references that we have in addition to Korrika, the Korrika live shows the voices of different associations and citizens who are left out. Therefore, bringing diversity and the marginal to the center is what is done through the direct, to the extent that the Korrika itself allows it.
The importance of the direct in the audience can be generalist. To make it clear that in the French Basque Country the direct affects two types of audiences. On the one hand, Basque speakers are “satisfied” when they listen to the live one, they are breathtaking in some way and they do not lose the motivation to participate in the Korrika. Now, like the Korrika itself, the live stream is an awareness-raising tool for the Erdaldunes. “Pride” is transmitted from Korrika to show the whole society that we do great events in favor of the Basque language and that the Basque language serves for “many things”. The direct allows us to show that we give our language a “social status”. For all types of radio listeners, the live one has its own beast and its own “enchanting purpose”.
Being a tool to generate adhesion and valuable to warm the environment, what the direct one himself creates, like the Korrika, is indescribable. In times when the live stream is more intense than ever, let’s assume that the radio offers many details compared to the video stream. However, to the extent that it allows local counting, direct radio can be mentioned
that in addition to running, it makes the place speak, promoting the general interpretation of the sounds transmitted by the waves. To some extent, the radio is more accurate. Consequently, as long as the radio has a faithful listener attached, the direct wave will not lose its functions at all.
4. Conclusions
The radio stations of the Euskal Irratia network are means of communication created by the people. In addition to participating, they are radio stations with little economic capacity, which were born against the media hegemony of French. By force, if the language has been created against hegemony, it goes without saying that they give priority to marginal voices, placing the Basque language and the Basque speaker at the center. If the Basque language and the Basque speakers are considered alternative, from the hegemony of the Spanish language they are already underway, as we could also consider the Korrika as an alternative and participatory social event.
As it meets all the definitions of the alternative, the Korrika shows that it has the potential to breathe a community. With this great event that we Basque speakers need, we put aside all the frustrations that we carry as minorized speakers and, through emotional interaction, we recover, connect and network through the force, connection and emotion transmitted by the Korrika. Justly, incorporating these three key words of the Korrika, it can be shown that direct radio tracking plays a role in collective renewal. Among other things, because the live radio informs people kilometers by kilometers, it creates a connection between kilometers and offers the listener the information of the Korrika almost without stopping.
According to the results of the interviews, the live radio itself gives a lot of strength to any event to make the listener feel it. In addition to transmitting emotion and strength, the live stream transmits the feeling of being part of the event, whether for Basque speakers or for people who are not close to the Basque language. In addition, the popular media, in addition to being a transmitter of identity, build informative power. Through this informative power, direct follow-up becomes an instrument to support collective empowerment, in the case of Korrika. Basically, in the case of other large collective acts, they are also carried out directly. For example, Herri Urrats or Navarre Day. The mission of journalists is to transmit such important quotes and meetings, whether we know it or not, that we have a social impact on the empowerment of a collective.
So, like Korrika, the live radio also influences the breathing of Basque speakers, but also of people who do not know Basque, taking on the role of an awareness-raising tool. Considering that we live in a society of all kinds, let’s welcome the new social wave that is gradually collected from the margins to the center, without forgetting that Korrika is a race in favor of the Basque language and that, for this, the Basque language itself must live long if Korrika is to live, without leaving aside the popular media that do an ungrateful job.
5. References
Eiro, M, Barranquero, A. (2017). [Investigative methods in communication and its media]. Editorial Synthesis.
Juaristi, P. (2003). Social research techniques: theory and examples. Publications Service of the University of the Basque Country.
In-depth interviews:
Bidart, Jojo. Founder of Irulegi Irratia (2024).
Dolosor, Franck. Former employee of Gure Irratia (2024).
Etxart, Allande. Co-founder of Xiberoko Boza (2024).
1 This article is based on the Master’s Thesis on Multimedia Communication in Radio Stations in the Northern Basque Country. This work received the EITB Communication Award MAL in 2025.
2 We are talking about 2024.