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Radio Nacional de España (acronym RNE, branded rne, "National Radio of Spain") is the national
state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...
public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...
radio broadcaster in Spain. RNE is the radio division and
Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea. T ...
(TVE) is the television division of
Radiotelevisión Española The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...
(RTVE), the public corporation which has the overall responsibility for the national broadcasting public services under a
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
-appointed
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
who, in addition to being answerable to a board of directors, reports to an all-party committee of the national parliament, as provided for in the Public Radio and Television Law of 2006. RNE launched its first station on 19 January 1937. It is currently headquartered at Casa de la Radio at Prado del Rey in
Pozuelo de Alarcón Pozuelo de Alarcón () is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Bordering the Moncloa-Aravaca district of Madrid proper to its west, Pozuelo de Alarcón is surrounded by large Mediterranean pine-tree forests: the Casa de Campo, the M ...
.


Origins of RNE

RNE officially came into existence in
Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...
on 19 January 1937, at the height of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
(1936–39), and was dependent upon the recently created ' (State Delegation for Press and Propaganda). The station's studios were in Palacio de Anaya, the headquarters of the ' (Office for Press and Propaganda), whose first directors were also those of RNE. RNE's first
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
, which had a broadcasting power of 20 kW and was constructed by
Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...
, was a gift from the government of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
to
Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...
. It was at this time that the immense propaganda potential of radio became apparent, and from 14 June 1937 RNE became the nationalists' leading radio station. That distinction had until then been held by ', which produced the information and propaganda that all of the radio stations that had fallen into the hands of the nationalist forces were obliged to carry.


After the Spanish Civil War

On 6 October 1939, at the conclusion of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, the leader of the victorious Nationalist forces, General
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
, issued an order subjecting private radio broadcasting to censorship by the official political party of the state, ', and furthermore granting RNE the exclusive right to transmit
news bulletin Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...
s. In consequence, all broadcasters (private as well as public) were obliged to connect twice daily with RNE and re-transmit the government-approved news bulletins produced by the official radio channel. These bulletins, normally broadcast in the early afternoon at 14.30 and in the late evening at 22.00, were officially entitled ''Diario Hablado'', although – given their origin in the war dispatches (''partes de guerra'') of 1936–1939 and their continued militaristic tone – they were long popularly referred to as '. The only other sources of information available to radio listeners in Spain at that time were the Spanish-language bulletins broadcast by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and by French Radio from
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, as well as the programmes of Radio España Independiente, which was a radio station established by the Communist Party of Spain in exile in Moscow (although known as ' since it was believed to broadcast from a location somewhere in the Pyrenees). Although from the time of the Civil War there had already been foreign broadcasts in various languages, it was not until April 1945 that the installation of the central
short wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...
transmitter at Arganda del Rey (Madrid) would provide 40 kW of broadcasting power, which was very strong for this period. Foreign broadcasting thus acquired a great importance, with transmissions (in Spanish as much as in English) directed especially at
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. In 1940, RNE's headquarters were transferred to
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. During this post-
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
and early
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
era – before the Allied arrival in Italy in 1943 and the German retreat from
Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...
– RNE collaborated with the
Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
in retransmitting in Spanish news from the official radio stations of Germany and Italy. It was from this moment on that the slow journey of Spanish public radio began, motivated by the poor quality of the media on the one hand, and the international block on the other which impeded, until 1955, the entry of RNE into the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...
. The end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s saw the introduction of advanced technologies such as
frequency modulation Frequency modulation (FM) is a signal modulation technique used in electronic communication, originally for transmitting messages with a radio wave. In frequency modulation a carrier wave is varied in its instantaneous frequency in proporti ...
(FM) and transmissions in stereo. A parallel commercial channel, ''Radio Peninsular'', was also created.


The 1960s and 1970s: a time of growth

1964 was the first year of a major restructuring exercise at RNE which was to see the establishment of a network of regional broadcasting centres equipped with powerful 250 to 500 kW
mediumwave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM broadcasting, AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. Duri ...
transmitters. These gave RNE full coverage of not just the national territory but a good part, too, of the rest of Europe (especially at night). The regional transmitters normally all broadcast the same signal, relayed from the main studios in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, although provision was made for them to
opt out The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This option is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as e-mail marketing or direct mail. A list of th ...
at certain times of day and transmit regional news from their own local studios. This was the foundation of today's Radio 1 (now Radio Nacional). In November 1965 RNE opened a second network, using FM transmitters and specializing in music – taking advantage of the superior sound quality offered by this method of transmission. This network eventually became the RNE channel which is today known as Radio Clásica. In 1971 a new
shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...
transmitter was inaugurated at Noblejas in the
province of Toledo Toledo () is a Province (Spain), province of central Spain, in the western part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid Province, Madrid, Cuenca Province (Spai ...
. Intended for the broadcasting of RNE's external services (now Radio Exterior), this transmitter was much more powerful than its predecessor sited at Arganda del Rey. These services were to undergo a far-reaching reform in 1975 when broadcasts in Russian and other
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...
, directed at audiences behind the "
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
", were withdrawn in favour of programmes intended for
Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...
and other Spanish-speaking people abroad.


The democratic era

The arrival of democracy to Spain after the death of Franco in 1975 produced several changes. One of these was the end, on 25 October 1977, of the private broadcasters' obligation to connect with RNE for the transmission of daily news bulletins. From then on, each broadcaster was free to determine the content of its own news programmes. By the end of the 1970s, the broadcasts of ' (now Radio 3), which until then had only been transmitted in Madrid, were extended to the whole of Spain. RNE 3 offered educational and cultural programming, which was enlarged to include programmes on musical themes. Throughout Francoist Spain a number of semi-official radio stations (''autorizadas'') had functioned in parallel with the private broadcasters and RNE, and belonged to organisations such as ' (National Confederation of Trade Unions), ', and ' (The Spanish Youth Organisation). These stations were merged in 1978 into ''Radiocadena Española'' (Spanish Radio Network). However, some of the transmitters had to be closed down because their
frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...
were not included in those assigned to Spain in the international agreements covering the distribution of the radio broadcasting spectrum. ''Radiocadena Española'' was merged in 1988 into Radio Nacional de España to form Ràdio 4 (broadcasting in Catalan) and Radio 5 (All-news radio station broadcasting in Spanish).


RNE today

In 1989, ''Radiocadena Española'' and ''Radio Nacional'' were combined to produce the current format of six themed radio channels: * Radio Nacional (previously Radio 1) – Generalist channel with a broad spectrum of mostly speech-based programming. * Radio Clásica (previously Radio 2) – Concerts and classical music in general. * Radio 3 – RNE's "youth station", concentrating on pop, rock, world music, folk, and related cultural events. * Ràdio 4 – Regional broadcasting in the
Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...
. * Radio 5 – 24-hour news. * Radio Exterior
International broadcasting International broadcasting consists of radio and television transmissions that purposefully cross international boundaries, often with then intent of allowing expatriates to remain in touch with their countries of origin as well as educate, inform ...
service on short wave, with an audience of 80 million listeners (surpassed only by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and Vatican Radio). This station is also transmitted via DAB for Spain and by
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
. Transmissions are in Spanish, French,
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, Ladino, Portuguese, Russian and English. These stations are also availabl
online
and via
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
(see External Links below). Integrated into the state public broadcasting body RTVE (Radiotelevisión Española) in 1973, RNE today has been assigned the role of "state public radio service, which is an essential service for the community and for the cohesion of democratic societies". Like its television broadcasting sister organisation, TVE, ' is wholly financed by public funds and does not air commercials in its programming. In January 2012, RNE celebrated its 75th anniversary in the presence of Felipe, Prince of Asturias and Princess Letizia.


Logo history

RNE (1956-1962).png, Logo of Radio Nacional de España (RNE) between the official birth of TVE in 1956 and 1962. Logo RNE, años 70.svg, Logo of RNE between the change of RTVE logo in 1962 and 1971. RNE (1971-1976).png, Logo of RNE between 1971 and 1976. RNE (1976-1980).png, Logo of RNE between 1971 and 1976. File:RNE 1978.png, Logo of RNE between 1976 and 1980. RNE.png, Previous logo, used between 1980 and 2008. Logo RNE (1989-1991).png, Blue version of the logo, used during the unification of the image of RNE radios, between 1989 and 1991 Logo RNE.svg, Current logo of RNE, used since 2008


Station logos

File:Logo RNE.svg, Radio Nacional File:Radio Clásica RNE Spain.svg, Radio Clásica File:Radio 3 RNE Spain.svg, Radio 3 File:Ràdio 4 RNE Spain.svg, Ràdio 4 File:Radio 5 RNE Spain.svg, Radio 5 File:Radio Exterior RNE Spain.svg, Radio Exterior


See also

*
List of radio stations in Spain This is a list of radio stations broadcast in Spain. National public radio service RNE is Spain's national public radio broadcaster and operates six stations: * Radio Nacional - General service of mostly speech-based programming * Radio Clásica ...


Notes


External links


History of radio in Spain from Portalmundos.com (in Spanish)Official website of Radio Nacional de España (in Spanish)
*[https://archive.today/20130213044918/http://www.rne.es/FRONT_PROGRAMAS?go=111b735a516af85c434ac767f82084febab4c327bc2b44a18dbab4b238fd3abdfebb3df275811e20aba39ef1821025aa13939f3e5970214b1a0c8a78a7c3fdefbe512f0651108424 RNE podcasts (in Spanish)]
Official website of RTVE (in Spanish)English version of the ''Radio Exterior de España'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radio Nacional de Espana Radio stations established in 1973 Radio stations in Spain RTVE