Rede Gaúcha Sat

Rádio Sociedade Gaúcha was founded and began transmitting in 1927 in Porto Alegre (RS). Initially, it was a station that had more than 300 associates, with a programming focused on cultural and educative content, broadcasting classical music and scientific information. In 1937 the station was bought by Breno Caldas and Francisco Garcia e Garcia, owner of Casa Victor; the station’s programming focus gradually changed to sports and entertainment. In 1957 the station was bought by Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho and Arnaldo Ballvé, former broadcasters at the Farroupilha radio station, thus beginning the process that would constitute Grupo RBS, one of the largest communication groups in Brazil.

In 1994, Rádio Gaúcha started its satellite transmissions, thus creating Rede Gaúcha Sat, Brazilian's largest network in number of affiliates, with multi-territorial coverage: 147 radio stations in 8 Brazilian states, mostly in the Southern region (96 stations in Rio Grande do Sul, 26 in Santa Catarina, 15 in Paraná, 6 in Mato Grosso, 1 in Mato Grosso do Sul, 1 in Amazonas, 1 in Rondônia and 1 in Alagoas). The network head is Rádio Gaúcha, based in Porto Alegre, but it’s affiliates – both AM and FM – have different names. Many of these stations are leaders in audience in their cities.

The affiliates’ programming follows that of the network head, mainly sports content, but local news content is also produced in each state. The radio network also owns an online portal with news in text, audio and video, and in 2017 there was a fusion of the radio’s web content with that of Zero Hora’s news content through the GaúchaZH portal.