By Gabriel Kahn, ITALY DAILY STAFF

In its 25 years as feisty broadcaster always looking to take on the status quo, Radio Radicale has often staged vocal protests to make a point. Now, it has taken to begging.

In a bold two-page ad in Corriere della Sera Monday, the station, which is owned by the Radical Party, implored anyone with pockets deep enough to sign on as an official sponsor or partner. Otherwise, the station warned, the frequency would be sold within ten days for 80 billion lire.

"Could it really be that in Italy there is no businessman, financial group foundation or publisher willing to sponsor the life and growth of Radio Radicale...?" the ad challenged.

Listeners have become accustomed to the often iconoclastic methods that the radio has employed to attract attention. This April, when the country was about to go to the polls for a referendum to change the electoral laws, Radical Party founder Marco Panella took to the airwaves, urging people to "Turn us off and go vote!" The radio then resorted to one of its best-known programming tricks: broadcasting the uncensored messages left by listeners on the station's answering machine.

In 1995, during another referendum campaign, station employees and Radical party officials of all ages pranced around nude on a stage before hundreds of people in an effort to reveal the "naked truth".

But in addition to its frequent publicity stunts, the station has also pursued serious programming dedicated to current events and world news. It is best known, however, for being the first station to broadcast live sessions of Parliament. It later added political conventions and labor congresses. While the content was rarely interesting enough to hold listeners' attention, it supported one of the principal themes of the civil rights-oriented Radical Party: bringing transparency to a closed, elitist political culture.

"We don't sell diapers," said Radio Radicale's station manager Ada Pagliarulo, proudly citing the radio's no-commercial policy. Nor does it accept free records from record labels.

Gags aside, the station takes itself extremely seriously. In fact, in the advertisement it boasted that "no one else in the mass media enjoys the prestige and unanimous recognition from both friends and adversaries."

However, as an official party organ, it was never clear where the station's high-minded ethics and political mission intersected. The talk shows were often centered around Radical Party initiatives and it always gave ample coverage to Mr. Panella and his frequent hunger strikes.

And even the station's current financial crisis, some say, is a result of the difficulty of balancing its editorial and political missions. The Radical Party spent a fortune on a television and newspaper advertising campaign to promote the candidacy of Emma Bonino in the June elections for European Parliament. While Ms. Bonino's List won an impressive 8.5 percent of the vote, it left the party coffers dry.

"We spent a lot and we spent well," said the party's honorary president, Bruno Zevi. But he said the current dire straits were "totally" the result of

See RADIO Page 2

the party's decision to bet the farm on the European elections.

Speaking of the future of the radio, he said, "I think this will end in the worst way possible." On Monday, the Radical Party declined to give any comment on whether its plea was working or not.

It is not the first time that the party, or the radio, has faced difficult times. In 1987, Mr. Pannella threatened that the party would collapse unless it registered 10,000 new members.

Though the Radical Party has always decried financing political parties with taxpayer money, in 1994 it worked out a deal some found questionable: receiving state funds for the service.

While the parliamentary broadcasts were free of any political bias, the 10 billion lire it received from the state allowed it to produce its party-promoting programming as well.

When Parliament voted that state-broadcaster RAI should be the one to RAI should be the one to European commissioner at the time, led a sit-in in front of Parliament, demanding that the radio's privileged position not be touched. Radio Radicale argues that it provides the service at a fraction of the cost racked up by the RAI.

About the radio's programming choice, Mr Zevi said, "It has always been a very boring but important service. It might have put you to sleep, but it taught you a lot."