Unione radiofonica italiana or URI (the "Italian Radiophonic Union"), was an Italian radio broadcaster founded in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

on 27 August 1924. It was the exclusive radio broadcaster of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

History

Establishment

On 8 February 1923, the Royal decree n. 1067 gave to the State the exclusive rights for the radio broadcasts to be exercised through a concessionaire company. In consequence, three companies were born in order to achieve the licence, all of them were related to American and British manufacturers of radio devices: * The "Società italiana radio audizioni circolari" (SIRAC), founded by

Riccardo Gualino Riccardo Gualino (25 March 1879 – 6 June 1964) was an Italian Business magnate and art collector. He was also a patron, and an important film producer. His first business empire was based on lumber from Eastern Europe and included forest concess ...

and representative of

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

for Italy * The "Società Anonima Radiofono - Società italiana per le radiocomunicazioni circolari" (Radiofono), founded in September 1923 by Guglielmo Marconi through the British

Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 189 ...

* The third competitor was engineer Luigi Ranieri, publisher of '' L'Araldo Telefonico'' and, accordingly to a provisional licence, the experimental ''Radio Araldo'', formed after an agreement with Western Electric. Negotiations lasted more than a year, but Minister of Post Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesarò seemed to want to give the licence to Ranieri. However, at the beginning of 1924, Di Cesarò resigned from the government and he was replaced by

Costanzo Ciano Costanzo Ciano, 1st Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (; 30 August 1876 – 26 June 1939) was an Italian naval officer and politician. He was the father of Galeazzo Ciano. Biography Early life Born at Livorno the son of Raimondo Ciano and wife A ...

, who preferred Marconi. Ranieri succeed to achieve a technical test. On 20 March 1924, Radiofono installed a test station in the Centocelle district of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, but it failed to broadcast a speech of Benito Mussolini in the Costanzi theater on the next 23 March probably due to electric interferences. On 3 June 1924, Minister of Communications Costanzo Ciano addressed a letter to the companies who requested the licence, inviting them to find an agreement. A compromise was reached with the formation of a united company, without however the joining of Radio Araldo which did not have enough capital in order to take part to it. On 27 August 1924, the URI was founded by Radiofono and SIRAC through the subscription of a share capital of 1,400,000 lire (82.9% of Radiofono e 17.1% of SIRAC). Enrico Marches from FIAT was appointed as president, while Luigi Solari, close to Guglielmo Marconi, as deputy president.

Broadcasts

On 6 October 1924, at 9 pm, the first URI station of San Filippo in Rome, produced by Marconi, broadcast the first regular announcement read by Maria Luisa Boncompagni: Shortly after, Ines Viviani Donarelli, from the Roman station of Corrodi Palace, presented the first programme: The programme, lasted one hour and half, broadcast

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

, chamber and classical music along with a weather report and news about the stock exchange. On 27 November 1924, the government gave to URI private company the exclusive licences of radio broadcasting for six years (extendable to other four), accordingly to an agreement signed on 27 November 1924 and the Royal Decree n. 2191 of 14 October 1924. With that decree, URI was considered as the only Italian radio broadcaster to be authorized to spread news of public interest and the government was the only to approve the news broadcasting from press agencies different from

Agenzia Stefani Agenzia Stefani was the leading press agency in Italy from the mid-19th century until the end of World War II. It was founded by Guglielmo Stefani on 26 January 1853 in Turin, and was closed on 29 April 1945 in Milan. History The beginning '' ...

, the official source as well as the first Italian press agency founded in 1853 by

Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri (, 10 August 1810 – 6 June 1861), generally known as Cavour ( , ), was an Italian politician, businessman, economist and noble, and a leading figure in the movement tow ...

. The URI announcer was Maria Luisa Boncompagni from ''L'Araldo Telefonico'' and ''Radio Araldo''. On 18 January 1925, URI published the first issue of '' Radiorario'', a weekly magazine which provided the broadcast schedules and publicized the new media to the public. The radio station of Rome was followed by the one of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

(8 December 1925) and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(14 November 1926). In October 1926, adverts began to be broadcast and the advertising space was provided by

Sipra Sipra (also known as Sapra, Sipru, Sipraw or Supra) is a Jat clan in the Punjab region of Pakistan. Notable people * Saqlain Anwar Sipra Muhammad Saqlain Anwar Sipra is a Pakistani politician who had been a Member of the Provincial ...

. The radio broadcasting phenomena, initially hindered by prohibitive costs for a very poor Italy, took off in the thirties due to the initiatives promoted by the Fascist regime which gave to each

casa del Fascio A ''casa del Fascio'', ''casa Littoria'', or ''casa del Littorio'' () was a building housing the local branch of the National Fascist Party and later the Republican Fascist Party under the regime of Italian Fascism, in Italy and its colonies. ...

a radio device and promoted the spread of economical devices like Radiorurale and radio Balilla. According to the Royal Law Decree n. 2207 of 17 November 1927, URI became the

Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR, "Italian Body for Radio Broadcasting") was the public service broadcaster in Fascist Italy and the only entity permitted to broadcast by the government. History The company was established in 1 ...

(EIAR) in January 1928.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Radio in Italy Radio stations established in 1924 Publicly funded broadcasters

History

Establishment

Broadcasts

See also

References

Bibliography