Juan Sánchez Ferrer was born in 1944 in Archidona, Andalusia, in the south of Spain. Archidona is a city with a long history. Remains from the Paleolithic period have been found in the town. The Greeks were already trading there, somewhat north of Málaga; later, it was the Romans and the Muslims who dominated the area.
Juan Sánchez Ferrer began to take an interest in radio and electricity from a very young age. As a young man, he founded his own company and began collecting old radios. Over the course of 60 years, Juan Sánchez Ferrer assembled more than two hundred radios and technical devices, such as gramophones and record players, some of which are more than 120 years old. To preserve the collection, Mr Sánchez, in cooperation with the Town Council of Archidona, decided in 2023 to create a museum and donate his entire collection to the town. The Town Council made premises available to him in a historic building in the centre of the city, the Municipal Museum, in the “La Cilla” Building, where the entire collection can be viewed today. The museum also houses two recording devices by Edison, the so-called phonographs. This museum, located in the heart of Andalusia, is a must for anyone interested in old manual and electrical apparatus and devices. It is very likely that visitors will also meet Juan Sánchez Ferrer there, the founder and donor of the museum. His explanations of the old devices delight both experts and laypeople in the field. In an interview with Xecutives.net, Juan Sánchez Ferrer talks about his life and the radios, and explains why he decided to donate his entire collection, as an act of philanthropy, to the town of Archidona, which, thanks to this, can boast one of the most interesting museums in Andalusia.
Xecutives.net: Mr Sánchez Ferrer, we are here at the Municipal Museum “La Cilla” Building in Archidona, in Andalusia. During the time of the Duke of Osuna, this place was a granary and, later, the building was used as a warehouse for many years. Today we are standing in front of around two hundred old radios and technical devices that you have donated to the town to create this Radio Museum. Tell me a little, where were you born? Have you always lived in Archidona?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: I have always lived in Archidona. I was born in 1944, which means I am now 82 years old, and in 1960 I began studying radio by correspondence with a school in Barcelona, Escuela Radio Maymó, which sent me the material to my home every month. I began this collection that you see here, little by little, until I managed to acquire around these two hundred devices, although I have some more, including phonographs, gramophones, record players and everything you see; ninety percent of them are currently working.
Xecutives.net: During your childhood, did your father or grandfather already have an interest in radio or other electronic devices?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: No, my interest in radio came about because my father listened every night on the radio to the BBC, Radio Paris, Radio Andorra and other foreign stations to hear news about the post-war period, because my father had also lived through the Civil War. From then on, I saw my father sitting at home listening to the radio, paying a lot of attention, and from there I became interested in it. But my father was not a technician; he worked in the countryside, he was a farmer.
Xecutives.net: And when you remember your childhood, what was the environment here like in the 1950s, for example? What was happening in Archidona and the surrounding area?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: There was a lot of agriculture, construction work, and those who worked in this archive. My father worked in the countryside, and I, as I told you, from that date onwards I began studying radio. There was still no tourism whatsoever; we were in the post-war period, and there was a great deal of hunger and misery, until little by little, thanks to the great sacrifice of our ancestors, our parents and others, the economy began to recover. Until 1975, life in Spain was wonderful. Well, it was from the 1960s onwards that Spain began to recover, because in the previous years, during the post-war period, there was poverty, because after a confrontation between brothers, what you get is hunger and misery, until little by little the nation began to recover. And as I say, the happiest years of my life were in the 1960s. There was complete security in the homes. I remember my mother when we went shopping for provisions, when I was five or six years old, she would say to me, “Boy, put a chair behind the door, we are going shopping.” We would put a chair behind the door and nobody would come in.
Xecutives.net: During your studies of radio and at high school, did you already have the idea of creating a collection, or was that something that came to you later?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: No, I started the collection in 1965. By then I was already a television and radio technician, and when I went to customers’ homes to repair a television, there might be a lady who had a radio set, like the one you have there, and she would say to me, “Well, I no longer use the radio, I like television better, if you want, I’ll give it to you,” and she would give it to me. Others, when I was interested and the device was good, I would ask the lady, “How much do you want for that device?” And I would buy it from her. She would then continue watching television, which at that time, in the years 1960–1965, was what everyone was focused on; that was what there was. The whole family would sit in front of a screen and spend hours watching television, well, two channels, because there were only two channels. There was the first and the second channel, UHF and VHF, which were the two television channels there were. Broadcasting began in the morning; it was not like now, when it is on all day. In the morning, I think it started at twelve noon until three, and in the afternoon until eleven or twelve at night. When the broadcast ended, the national anthem would play, some cartoons for children would appear and they would sing (sings the song), and at twelve midnight the broadcast ended, and there was no more television programming. Everyone went to bed. It was a world completely different from today.
Xecutives.net: But at the beginning, very few people could afford a television.
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: Yes, of course, at the beginning very few people had the means to buy a television set; they were the few. The people who had one were well-off people, who were financially comfortable, prosperous, and they bought the set. Specifically, on my street, there were four or five families out of twenty who had a television, so we would all go to those families’ homes to watch television there.
Xecutives.net: It was a social event!
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: Exactly, we were all in one room, we sat there watching a television programme and afterwards everyone went back home.
Xecutives.net: And afterwards, did you have your own business?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: I had a television business, an electronics shop and so on. I founded it with a friend, a business partner; the two of us set it up.
Xecutives.net: Does this business still exist?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: Yes, it still exists, but it is more modernised. I am no longer the owner; my business partner, who is younger than me, has taken over the business, he has kept the shop. I retired about eight or ten years ago, although I go there from time to time to have a look around, but nothing more.
Xecutives.net: When did you come up with the idea of creating a collection?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: The idea of creating a collection came to me around 1968–1970. From that time onwards, I began going to antique shops, flea markets and second-hand markets. I also bought some devices in Barcelona, because I worked there for four years in the 1970s. There was a very popular flea market there, and I bought some radio sets.
Xecutives.net: Which were the first radios you acquired?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: The first device I had was this device you see here, which is a Marconi. My father bought this device; it cost him very little money. He paid for it in instalments over three or four months and went to the shop every month to pay. Marconi was one of the first devices; they were manufactured in Spain, before the 1960s, by a very important factory, one of the best. They even exported to other countries. It has now disappeared; it disappeared about eight or ten years ago. There was also another Spanish radio factory in Barcelona, Lavis.
Xecutives.net: Was there any radio factory in Andalusia?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: No, radios were not produced in Andalusia. But in almost all towns, in the more important ones, there were radio stations, for example, here nearby in Antequera, Radio Antequera, or Radio Marbella. There were radio stations in all the provincial capitals of Spain, Radio Nacional de España in Seville, in Córdoba, in Cuenca. I listened to Radio Juventud de Málaga every night.
On the other hand, we young people organised guateques, parties, with record players. At a friend’s or relative’s house, we would organise our little parties. My mother or the lady of the house would prepare some little tapas with a soft drink. That is how we had a wonderful time, singing and dancing. As I say, for me the best period in Spain was from 1960 to 1975, wonderful. Because in the first years, I was born in 1944, there was hunger and misery, which was logical after a post-war period. And that is how we gradually got back on our feet.
I remember there was a very famous advertisement for Cola-Cao, advertisements for Fagor washing machines. There were also radio serials such as Zorro, or La Saga de los Porretas. We all knew the songs from the advertisements.
We listened to stations such as Intercontinental in Madrid, the BBC in London, or Radio Andorra, which I remember began its programming with “Here Radio Andorra, broadcasting from the Principality of Andorra, broadcasting across the fields of…” and then it would tell you the frequency on which it was broadcasting.
Xecutives.net: These are anecdotes and facts that young people do not know, but which move people who lived through that period. The same applies to the music that was listened to in those years, such as the records that can be found on top of the radios on display.
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: The records you see there are the music that was listened to in the 1960s:
Rumba Tres, Americanos, Los Paquiros, Natalie Colen, El Dúo Dinámico, Antonio Molina, Juanito Valderrama; these were the singers of that period. Here there are other records by Rafael, Peré, who is a Catalan singer, La Niña de Antequera, Juanita Reina, Manolo Escobar and Marchena, who is a flamenco singer.
Xecutives.net: Has the internet helped you find other devices for your collection?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: No, I have not searched on the internet. I left it; I have been disconnected for eight or ten years now, and I have not searched for anything else. Besides, what you find on the internet, although there are old devices, from those times, are too modern, too much plastic, you cannot see the quality. You can find some device, but no longer like these that you see here.
Xecutives.net: Many people, out of ignorance, will have thrown away devices like the ones you have here, and I imagine that this could still happen. That must hurt you a lot as a collector and lover of these devices.
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: You are right, it is a shame. A lot of material has been thrown away because people did not know how to appreciate it. As I told you earlier, when television appeared, people abandoned radio. The families who used to sit together to listen to the radio at night, to a radio serial or a programme, from 1965 or the 1970s onwards began to disconnect from radio and concentrated on television.
Until recently, I came across devices in the town that were wonderful, thrown away. That is why, if I had not created this collection and donated it to the town, these jewels would disappear one day. At least young people who come to the town can see what existed in earlier times. Some will still keep a device in their homes, especially older people.
Xecutives.net: It is very interesting to see how these devices worked, with long wave, short wave, with the names of the stations and the frequencies.
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: On the dials of many of the radios, the stations appear, for example, Radio Tarragona, Ireland, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, on short wave. Most of the brands of the devices have disappeared over the course of time.
Here you have a model from the Invicta brand, a radio on which you could switch from long wave to short wave. My father bought a device like this one, manufactured in Spain in the 1960s.
On these radios there are more records by Sarita Montiel, Jorge Sepúlveda from Mallorca, Antonio Machín, Conchita Piquer and Enrique Montoya, a flamenco singer.
Xecutives.net: Looking at this enormous collection, I wonder where you could have stored all these devices, at home?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: At my home, at a relative’s home, at my brother’s home, spread out everywhere. When we decided to set up the museum, we concentrated everything here, because I was afraid that one day everything could be lost. So, to prevent that from happening, I decided to donate it to the town of Archidona.
Xecutives.net: When did you make the decision to give it to the town and to found a radio museum?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: About three years ago, the Town Council, which knew about my collection, contacted me and offered to create the radio museum. They restored this place, which had previously been a warehouse where wheat and oil belonging to the Duke of Osuna were stored, and transformed it into this museum. I have donated all my assets, the collection of devices that I had accumulated throughout my entire life, to the town.
Xecutives.net: Who are the visitors to the museum, where do the people who want to see this collection come from?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: Many buses come, from Granada, from Málaga, from the north of Spain. Most of them are older people, and when I play them a record that I have selected for the occasion, I have seen some of them cry because they remember their parents, or their youth. Sometimes I become emotional when I see them.
Xecutives.net: There are two exceptional Edison phonographs. How did you find them?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: I found one of them in the window of an antique shop in Málaga. It is the oldest device in the entire collection, from 1898, the first sound music player that was manufactured in the world. One of many; they must have manufactured thousands of this model. Look at the motor it has and the cylinder in its original case.
Here you will also find the brand “La voz de su amo”. As you can see, the dog is the logo of the brand and of the slate cylinders, which have a very curious history. At the time of the invention of the phonograph, two brothers lived who used to listen to and record their voices. Over time, one of the brothers died. When the surviving brother played the cylinder with the voice of his deceased brother, the latter’s dog would sit next to the phonograph because it recognised its owner’s voice. That is why the idea occurred to him to use the name La voz de su amo as a brand.
Xecutives.net: Do you have more of those original cylinders?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: Yes, I must have around fifty with different songs, some English, others German and others Spanish, all original. I have very few cylinders with Spanish songs, flamenco ones, which are priceless. You can no longer find these.
Here we have this other galena radio device from 1910. Galena is a mineral that has the property of rectifying the wave, a lead sulphide mineral. This device has a crystal that rectifies the signal coming from the antenna, it passes through here, rectifies it and passes it to low frequency, although the music can be heard very quietly. It also has a tuner, although it picks up very few stations. It is an English product.
Xecutives.net: Is there any device with which you have a special connection?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: The phonograph and my father’s first Marconi radio. But also the devices that remind me of those we had in the town during my youth.
Xecutives.net: Are you here every day?
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: No, no, I come here if there is a large group, unless a friend of mine comes or, as in your case, a special case.
Xecutives.net: So if someone is interested in coming with a group, you guide them.
Juan Sánchez Ferrer: Indeed, they call me and I come to explain to them the evolution of the devices found here.
Xecutives.net: Mr Sánchez Ferrer, I thank you for this wonderful guided tour through the old rooms of the museum and wish you, both personally and the museum of Archidona, much success and all the best for the future. I am sure that, with your museum, you will make the hearts of many people beat faster.
© 2026 by Christian Dueblin. All rights reserved. Other publications are only allowed with the explicit permission of the author.
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