Regulation and Business in the Origins and Development of the Mass Media: Radio Broadcasting in Spain

Wireless telegraphy ranks as the third groundbreaking 19th-century contribution to modern telecommunications, after the electric telegraph and the telephone. Initially of little interest, it gained widespread acceptance and became a commercial communication system that was fiercely fought for by the world's major powers. One feature of radiotelegraphy is broadcasting¸ which has developed with great impetus among the economic powers. In Western Europe, state control over broadcasting predominated from the first regulation in the 1920s until the 1980s. This was the case in Spain, where the State imposed a system of concession for the construction and operation of the network of stations by public tender. Finally, the development of broadcasting was inferior to that of the major powers but superior to that of other Mediterranean nations, as indicated by the sixth position it occupied in a selected list of countries. This study is performed to analyze broadcasting penetration from a dual perspective of supply/demand and the economic and business angle, mainly from primary sources.