The field of Communication and Health in Brazil has been developing and getting stronger after each National Health Conference (NHC). In the final report of the XII NHC, in 2003, there was clear recognition that community radio is an instrument for the dissemination and treatment of issues related to the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). This study seeks to analyze the relationships that are established between health professionals, listeners/users and popular communicators as a means of understanding the nexus between a radio program on health and the imaginations of the listeners. A qualitative methodological approach was used of ethnographic and media audience methodologies. The field was a radio program about health, Bloco Mulher Saúde, broadcast by the Rádio Comunidade FM 104,9 in Nova Friburgo, State of Rio de Janeiro. The discussions were divided into analytical categories. The conclusion drawn is that community communication can be a cultural and political mediator for the expression of the demands of the community on health; the predominant medical jargon is maintained and reproduced by the physicians when participating on radio; community communication can contribute to the creation of strategies that broaden the social control of SUS.
Health and communication; Community communication; Community radio; Democratization of the media; SUS