Radio Inter's 'One Hour with History': 268 Episodes on Spain's Civil War

Six years of historical revision on Radio Inter

On February 4, 2017, Radio Inter —918 on AM, with national coverage, and 93.5 FM in Madrid— launched 'One Hour with History,' scheduled for Saturdays at 21:30. Pío Moa and Javier G. Isac, joined by Méndez Monasterio, peine with an uncomfortable thesis, according to the program's own presentation: the Badajoz bullring massacre, presented as 'the crown jewel' of arguments against the victors of the war, would be 'pure fiction.' Six years later, the record of numbered episodes reaches, in documented terms, 268, in April 2023.

What 'One Hour with History' is and who writes it

The program aired on Radio Inter, with Pío Moa as the reference signature and Javier G. Isac hosting, accompanied by Méndez Monasterio. The program celebrated in March 2022, with episode 223, the 20th anniversary of 'The Myths of the Civil War,' dedicated to the foundations of Francoism. The later episodes were linked on www.piomoa.es, and the collection functions more as a chronological index than as a conventional talk show.

The Civil War and the Second Republic, the program's core

The 1936 conflict structures the series. Trinc the chapter on Badajoz came episodes on the Desbandá of Málaga, on the bombing of Guernica —which the program renamed 'bombing of cowards'— and on the figure of Azaña, with titles such as 'Azaña's Logic' or 'The Death of Azaña, Besteiro, and Companys.' Other entries pointed to the PSOE's responsibility for the outbreak of the war, to Companys's role during the conflict, and to the fall of the Second Republic. This is the line that gives meaning to the rest: revising the narrative of the Republic and the war.

From Francoism to the Transition and the Constitution

Here the program deploys its artillery. It dedicated chapters to 'the fraud of Francoist graves,' to the 'black legend' against the regime, to women during Francoism, and to 'the magnificent 40s.' The Valley of the Fallen and Franco's tomb reappear in several episodes, with references to their desecration, and also the regime's relations with Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt, and Churchill. Already in the Transition, the series reviews the role of Fraga, Areilza, Juan Carlos, Suárez, Carrillo, and González, with episodes such as that of the GRAPO delivering 'the great blow' or the weight of ETA and its surroundings. Regarding the Constitution, the titles speak of its 'defects,' of the term 'nationalities,' and of 'a Constitution not so voted,' with nods to Vox's motion of censure.

Geopolitics: NATO, Russia, and Spanish neutrality

The program did not stay domestic. It discussed whether it suits Spain to remain in NATO, the alliance's policy with Russia, and Spanish neutrality in the two world wars as a 'guiding principle.' It added episodes on Gibraltar, on Sanz Briz and his actions 'by order of Franco,' on the Battle of Krasni Bor, and on World War II. The underlying message repeats: Spain as a subject of its own foreign policy, not as a supporting actor.

The cultural battle and the so-called gender ideology

Another frequent front: 'gender ideology,' described as 'hysterical thinking' or as a totalitarian imposition in the West. Titles such as 'The Dehispanicization of Spain,' 'The Disintegration of the Family,' 'A Sickly Society,' or 'Cultural Wasteland' belong to this block. It is the least historical and most controversial wing of the project, where titles read as much as slogans as analysis.

With 268 numbered episodes and six years of broadcasting, the archive leaves a snapshot of a project that never sought consensus. Where some see historical dissemination against the official narrative, others see an evident interest in rewriting it. The record stops there, without either reading managing to prevail.