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For Station Owners: How to Verify Your Radio Station on LRS
October 17, 2024
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Listen to the best radio stations in Portugal and learn more about Portuguese radio stations. Find a full list top-rated Portuguese radio stations.
Radio in Portugal is a big thing, with millions of listeners regularly tuning in to listen to news, sports, and music on their local radio stations in Portuguese. At the moment, Portugal has hundreds of amazing radio stations and channels, both broadcasting in FM and online.
Below you can find the best radio stations in Portugal sorted by genre (and city). We also recommend reading up a bit on the history of radio in Portugal, as well as ways to enjoy radio broadcasting in Portugal (both via radio and online). We also made a list of the best Portuguese radio stations broadcasting news, talk shows, entertaining programs, and weekly top music hits.
Portugal’s history of radio begins in 1914 with Fernando Gardelho Madeiros and his Rádio Hertz. Rádio Hertz is the official first-ever radio station in Portugal, but the actual radio transmission officially launched in 1925 with CTI AA in Lisbon. Soon after Hertz was launched, it shut down only to reappear around 15 years later. Years later, the general public was again reintroduced to Hertz, but now under a different name – Rádio Continental. This station was firmly based in Lisbon, with several others appearing across the country - Rádio Aliança, Rádio Lisboa, and ORSEC, to name a few.
The golden year of Portuguese radio, though, is 1928, which is when Rádio Clube da Costa do Sol, later known as Rádio Clube Português, was launched in Parede. The 1930s were a bit tumultuous, and so the government seized control of all radio services and broadcasting by creating the General Administration of Radio Electric Services. This led to the creation of Emissora Nacional, the government’s official channel since 1935. A year later, Rádio Renascença appears, the church’s response to the growing popularity of the radio medium. Together with Rádio Clube Português, the Catholic and the pro-regime stations ruled the national radio network.
Thanks to its ever evolving and highly adaptive nature, radio in Portugal maintained its position as one of the preferred means of procuring information and entertainment. While television and the internet changed the social landscape quite dramatically, radio stations in Portugal persisted – mostly by adapting and going more and more niche – so there’s a massive radio audience in Portugal to this day.
Portugal does not have thousands upon thousands of radio stations. Instead, there are around 600+ radio stations in Portugal broadcasting news, cultural programs, music, and other types of content that might be of interest to you.
However, a curious thing about Portugal is that most of its radio stations are specialized, i.e., have a specifically crafted audience and theme that they rarely stray from it.
This makes for a fantastic scope of content that offers immense variety and abundance to radio listeners in Portuguese cities.
Here are the most popular 5 Portuguese radio stations that are the staple of radio listening in Portugal.
Music might be a major focus for Portuguese listeners, but many of them tune in to listen to news from culture, politics, daily affairs, and sports. Perhaps the biggest surprise novices might have been that Portugal’s biggest radio station is actually a religious channel broadcasting religious content. However, if you want to find other radio stations in Portugal, you can scroll down where we listed the most popular Portuguese radio stations by genre.
The best radio stations in Portugal are right here, at your fingertips. You can listen to the best online radio stations from Lisbon, Faro, Madeira, and other Portuguese cities directly on any device you want. We offer you a chance to enjoy the sounds of soulful fado, get the latest news and updates, and hear top hits circulating top music lists straight from our website right here!
The only thing you need to do is pick the genre you want to listen to, or browse stations sorted by city, and that’s it. Leave the rest to us.
The filters are here to help you narrow down your search should you find it difficult to decide what you want to listen to. We also included a variety of other options carefully crafted to bring you additional comfort and entertainment. Use the Dark mode theme to avoid bright lights – cozy if you listen to Portuguese radio during the night – or open our tab and switch to others for uninterrupted fun! That way, you can enjoy music and your favourite sounds without any hassle whilst browsing the web.
Don’t forget to bookmark your favourite radio stations. That way, they are always waiting for you as soon as you open the website again, so you won’t be wasting any time. In the case that you forget to bookmark them, rest assured, there’s still a way to access them. Locate your listening history and find stations in Portugal that piqued your interest with a few easy steps.