The book on the history of telecommunications in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul gained an important chapter this Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
At 96 years old, Antonieta Ries Coelho is now a character for eternity, leaving as one of her legacies the contribution to making the arrival of television a reality, first in Campo Grande, then in Cuiabá.
Dona Antonieta, as she was known at RMC (Rede Mato-Grossense de Comunicação), was an employee of the Zahran group in the 1960s, when she played a prominent role in the concession of the first TV stations.
Antoinette herself revived the memory of her participation in the history of regional TV, during an interview given in 2015, during RMC’s 50th anniversary.
In conversation with journalist Maureen Mattiello, where she lived in Coxim, she said that in 1965, when she lived in Rio de Janeiro, she helped businessman Ueze Elias Zahran organize the documentation to obtain the concession for the group’s first TV station, together to the National Telecommunications Council, the former Contel, now the Ministry of Communications.
“He called me and said, Antonieta, you are there in RJ now and I wanted you to follow the documentation for a television channel that I requested for Campo Grande”, he recalled.
“And then, when the authorization to operate on an experimental basis came out, because in the past it was six months on an experimental basis, right, then I said, I’m going to Campo Grande to take this authorization to operate the first television station, the 14th or 15th in Brazil, which is TV Morena.”
From dream to practice
Dona Antonieta was invited to be the first director of the new TV station, helping the Zahran brothers to put TV Morena on the air on December 25, 1965.
At that time, people didn’t have devices at home, many didn’t even know the technology. So, the Zahran family started selling the devices door to door.
“Mister Ueze thought of making a factory, so he made a television called Michigan, because they wanted to sell a television that was cheap and would serve everyone, right! And so it really was”, Antoinette recorded.
The following year, she moved to Cuiabá, to make history once again. In the capital of Mato Grosso, she worked with the Zahran brothers to put another TV station on the air.
“I got into this more because I wanted to do the Cuiabá station. I really wanted to because I love Cuiabá because it was the city where I grew up, where I made so many friends, who I don’t forget and won’t forget.”
Dona Antoinette
The challenge was one of those giants. To put TV Centro-América on the air, it was necessary to sell at least 1,500 television sets. Then Dona Antoinette and a friend took to the streets.
“We went from office to office, me making a speech about how I had to sell so many devices in order for the Cuiabá station to be approved…pápápá… Sales talk, right!
Dona Antoinette
“I made a form, the person signed it saying that in the future they would receive a television, that they would pay so many installments, or in cash and many people paid on the spot”, he adds.
TV Centro-América was opened in 1967.
In the interview recorded in 2015, looking at photos from the time, Dona Antonieta fondly recalled many stories from the early years of RMC stations.
“This is me teaching the girl how to advertise on television”, he pointed out, laughing. Then, she mentioned the newspaper presenter, a Banco do Brasil employee.
“He had a beautiful voice”
Dona Antoinette
- “Here I and my mother were on TV’s birthday, people thought they had to go to TV to see it, to see it…”, he commented.
- “Here is one of television’s anniversaries, look at the number of people in the studio”;
- “This is where the first tower was built”
Antonieta Ries Coelho saved part of the history of television in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. This April 23rd, the family says goodbye to a loved one. And the Mato Grosso communication network says goodbye to a pioneer.
Dona Antonieta was born in Coxim, her mother’s hometown, daughter of a father from Rio Grande do Sul. The wake will be this Wednesday, at Pax Real do Brasil, located at Avenida Bandeirantes, 795. The burial will take place in Parque das Primaveras.
