Before television, radio or digital platforms, the history of RBS began with a microphone, a speaker and in a square in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. It was in this way that Maurício Sirotsky took the first steps of the group, which years later would become one of the largest regional media conglomerates in Brazil.
There, the vocation of an entire family for communication was also born. In an interview with From Zero to TopNelson Sirotsky, son of the founder of RBS, rescues this beginning that, according to him, defines the company’s DNA to this day.
“My father didn’t like going to my grandfather’s store. He liked going to Passo Fundo square to work in a loudspeaker service. At the age of 14, he would pick up the microphone and broadcast commercial messages in the city square”, recalls Nelson, now publisher and president of the Management Board of Grupo RBS.
With more than 50 years dedicated to communication, Neslon led the transformation of the company, which today earns around R$1 billion per year and has become a true business and journalism ecosystem with the integration of TV, radio, newspapers and online platforms
“We celebrate the year 1957 as the beginning of Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho’s entrepreneurship in the area of communication through his shareholding in Rádio Gaúcha”, states the publisher.
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The communicator became a businessman
The turning point came when Nelson’s father stopped being just an announcer to become a partner in a broadcaster. This movement gave rise to what would become RBS, a company that grew based on a logic of media expansion and diversification.
“He was called by the owner of Rádio Gaúcha to be a partner. From that moment on, he became a businessman too.”
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Decades later, the company established itself as one of the main regional groups in the country. With structured governance and low debt, the company now looks to the future.
“The company ended last year with revenue of around 1 billion reais. We are creating new content, new initiatives and new relationships with people. We have always worked with this multimedia concept, taking content through different channels,” concludes Nelson.
If the expansion to radio, TV and other platforms guaranteed scale, it was the focus on local content that consolidated RBS’s relevance. Since the beginning of television, the company chose a path that deviated from the purely national standard.
For Nelson, this was one of the group’s strategic pillars and also one of the factors that helped shape the communication model in Brazil.
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“We needed to have highly relevant national content, but we couldn’t give up local content. Local content as an element of integration, as an element of connection with our audience”, he reveals.
The decision to invest in regional production, according to the publisher, became not only an editorial issue, but also a business one. For the executive, this model remains current and is still a competitive advantage in the digital scenario.
“Each state or each region of our country has its own personality, has its own culture. We have 12 micro-regional centers covering the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Our greatest asset is this relationship with the public, regardless of where they are.”
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To find out more details about the trajectory of Grupo RBS, see the full episode on . The program is available in its podcast version on the main streaming platforms such as , , , and
About From Zero to Top
The Do Zero ao Topo podcast is a production of InfoMoney and brings, every week, the stories of prominent women and men in the Brazilian market to tell their story, sharing the biggest challenges faced along the way and the main strategies used in building the business.
