“From the first RMC to Radio Liscio passing through Antenna3 Lombardia”

Antenna 3 Lombardy

In a year – 1977 – in which many private radios still used self-built mixers and turntables bought at the local shop, A3L was a digital startup ahead of its time: born with a crowdfounding (which we imagine the founder Renzo Villa called differently) and pay attention to geo-targetingA3L had equipped itself with five studios with never-before-seen cameras Ampex BCC 10 and professional equipment such as 2″ VCRs.

And it is precisely thanks to these devices – which recorded at the maximum possible resolution of the PAL (the famous 625 lines) – and to a bit of luck (the famous location in Via per Busto was never reused) that all the images from November 3, 1977, visible in full resolution at the end of this article. We will return shortly to talk about the opening night: but first let’s hear what one of the souls of A3L, the radio broadcaster Ettore Andenna, told us.

Ettore Andenna

FM-World (MHB): You started on the radio, in the first 205 meter RMC. Then you had a long television career and you’re recently back on radio. Today’s one, with hundreds of competitors and automated. How are you living this new/old experience?

Ettore Andenna: This new/old experience is very rewarding, because I still remember how to do it. And then here at Radio Liscio there is nothing automatedownership and programming they wanted to maintain, with me, an analogue form supported by new technologies.

As in boulevard Princesse Charlotte 16

So the ladder is handmade, my direction hits the mark, when I decide and can change things in real time in the lineup, so a real live broadcast from times gone by. This was asked of me and this is what I do, because the owners wanted an old time radio that highlighted the balance between entertainer and everything else.

Renzo and Ettore

FM World: How did you come into contact with Renzo Villa, how did he involve you in his crazy undertaking and how were the months preceding the launch of A3l?

EA: It was Renzo Villa who called me in early September 1977 to ask for a meeting. I went and, after some brief introductions, he explained the project to me. He told me who had already joined and asked me if I was interested in participating. His exact and unforgettable words were: “I know perfectly well how much you take to Telealtomilanese, I’ll offer you double, think about it.” I thought about it for 3 to 5 seconds and replied: “Okay!”

All live

FM World: In those years, the 70s, everything at RAI was recorded and perfect. It took almost four hours to record “Chissà chi lo sa'”, which lasted 30 minutes. But at A3l everything was live: have you ever had to manage difficult and/or unexpected situations?

EA: The beauty of A3L was the live broadcast and the involvement of the live audience. It was one of the determining secrets of the success, for the first time the public became participants in the broadcast. Of course there were difficult and unpredictable situations, but I came from a radio that was always live, RMC, so I limited myself to transferring my always being “in the know” from radio to television. And the others were good at doing this too, Flute came from vaudeville, Tortora had always been a master in this and he had worked a lot live, as well as having a high culture, so there was an exaltation of the live broadcast, I repeat, with the involvement of the public, which was no longer done elsewhere.

“Three” November 1977

Let’s get to the opening night. A few days ago, June 14, 2024 is been put online two reels of two hours each: the entire animated opening night broadcast by the founder Renzo Villa, by the co-founder Enzo Tortora, by Ettore Andenna and by Lucio Flauto. The event was repeated by many other broadcasters, even distant ones (we don’t know how they were connected, perhaps some reader can clarify this point for us: [email protected]).

Here’s what Wally Giambelli told us.

Wally and Renzo

FM World: Meanwhile, a few words to introduce yourself and to tell us about your current mission, saving the historical memory of Antenna 3.

Wally Giambelli: The presentation is very simple, I married Renzo Villa way back in 1972 and, through ups and downs, we were together until his death in 2010. I only worked with him starting from 1992, the year in which he “set up” Teletext for Antennatre.

Let us remember that, since 1987, his role in the broadcaster he had founded had become that of manager of the teleshopping spaces and then, indeed, also of televideo. When she wrote the book “Do you remember that evening?”, with our daughter Roberta, I too retraced the history of that period (1977-1986) which I had previously experienced a little marginally, as a privileged spectator but never as a collaborator. In recent years, after having founded the Friends of Renzo Villa Association with some friends and having brought an exhibition on Antenna 3 Lombardia to Milan and around ten locations in Lombardy, I dedicated myself to recovering and maintaining the memory of that period which, for the history of Italian television, was truly important.

To remember a TV, the best way is to review what was broadcast and therefore, with the authorization of the Management and together with Alessandro Di Milia, a friend and passionate historian of A3L, we started to the digitization-saving operation of the enormous A3L archive. Now we are at a good point, also thanks to the fact that the video cassettes have been perfectly preserved over the years. However, the Association’s objective was achieved two years ago, when the website www.viaperbusto15.it was put online, which takes its name from the historic address of A3L, and which I invite you to visit!

The tape library

FM World: How many cassettes are there in the A3l tape library and what historical period do they cover? Did they record everything?

WG: The Antenna 3 Lombardia tape library is very rich in recordings both from the period that interests me (1977-1985) and from the following one. There are hundreds and hundreds, just those of the first 10 years, because all the evening broadcasts were recorded (6 each week).

Short answers

FM World: Briefly tells how the rescue and restoration of the two-inch tapes relating to this first evening was achieved.

Note: Unable to contain Wally. The story is not exactly short, but compelling: we have separated it and it can be consulted here.

Publivores

FM World: Seeing a program like this, but also the very long live broadcasts of Bingo and Bustarella allows you to understand something of the history of our country: how people were dressed, what they laughed at, what objects they dreamed of buying. And commercials are truly a passion for many. Do you think that – in addition to the many broadcast segments – it will be possible in the future to have programs like “the night of publivores”, the best of advertising both live and produced by third parties, but broadcast on channel 52?

WG: TV programmes, I don’t think so and it’s not up to me. I try to recover the most interesting spots, in my opinionand I publish them on my Youtube channel and especially on my Facebook page.

Enzo Tortora

FM World: Enzo Tortora. Did you know him back then? What can you tell us?

WG: I had a lot of contact with Tortora, but outside his workplace… I respected him very much. He was highly cultured and his house in Milan was full of books.

A gentleman, all in one piece, severe and very rigorous in every hour of his life. Then, on holiday, he was a super hospitable and cheerful man. I remember the parties in Maremma, with many guests-friends. I also remember how much Enzo treated the famous writer and the farmer who took care of his barbecue with the same cordiality and respect.

FM World: Obviously Enzo was then the victim of a very famous judicial persecution which landed him in prison while many newspapers gave credence to the words of “a certain Pándico or Pandíco”. Few have not joined the blame chorus, we remember first of all Lelio Luttazzi and Marco Pannella. But Villa never stopped being on his side either, if we remember correctly.

WG: You remember very well. Renzo immediately sided with Enzo and he never failed to support him when he was in prison, through very frequent letters and telegrams. Antenna 3 Lombardia also hosted debates with journalists on the caseboth during detention and when Tortora returned free, acquitted and exonerated.

WG: I am fully convinced that the golden years ended a long time ago and that technological evolution has accelerated the process of shrinking the space that local TV can occupy.

Of course, if you carve out a niche, small or large, and work hard to keep the dialogue open with the public, the results are not lacking even today. The Mediapason Group, for example, focusing on football and sport in general, on dance music, on current events in Lombardy and, let me tell you, even a little on the I TOP program (which offers clips of old programs from Villa’s time), he defends himself very well also in the splitting of audiences caused by the advent of Digital Terrestrial.

Complete registration

Let’s close inviting you to view the complete recording in high definition (of the time) of the opening night of A3L which opens – a brilliant idea by Renzo Villa – with a cross fade that starts directly from the monoscope. (MHBarsotti for FM-World)

Note: some images in this article have been colorized thanks to the same AI as Content on Demand of 22HBG