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Radio

In Spain, radio is considered a very influential medium, owing to its very large audience, much greater than in any other European nation. The radio audience is approximately of 17 million listeners, a figure that has remained stable during the last two years (1994 and 1993).

However, Spanish radio bradcasting went through a very difficult situation throughout many years, as a consequence of the political control of the medium by the previous regime. Although the first stations began to operate in 1924, the medium was not widely listened to until the middle of the 1930's. The outbreak of the Civil War paralysed the development of the radio, which was being subjected to severe restriction from then on. Since 1939, news broadcasts were prohibited, as this activity was the exclusive right of the network RADIO NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA, directly controlled by the Government. Only groups close to the regime were given licenses, and in 1960 all radio stations were legally required to broadcast simultaneously the news programmes of RADIO NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA.

The medium underwent a total change with the recovery of freedom. In 1975, the average number of radio listerners was calculated to be around 7 million. From this date on, the transformations were radical and were produced over a very short space of time. The promulgation of the Decree of Informative Liberty in 1977 and the concession of new licenses for FM stations, between 1979 and 1981, were two decisive events of that period.

In scarcely seven years, the radio has more than doubled the number of daily listeners and has achieved great social influence.

The business structure of Spanish radio is now a mixed system permitting the coexistence of both public and private stations.

With respect to public radio, the two great public networks, Radio Nacional de España and Radio Cadena Española, merged in 1988. With the union of these two, the resulting network, also called Radio Nacional de España, became the biggest medium, with regard to budget, number of stations and personnel, although its audience level is at certain hours somewhat inferior to that of the private networks. Radio Nacional de España has at present four different stations and Radio Exterior de España which emits in short wave practically all over the world. For information about bradcasting frequencies of Radio Exterior de España, please write to:

RADIO EXTERIOR DE ESPAÑA.
Apartado 156.202
28080 MADRID
Spain

The SER network (Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión) ranks first in terms of listeners. It controls four different networks, the SER, a news networks par excellence; the 40 Principales or a hit parade, devoted exclusively to popular music and its stars; Cadena M 80 which is aimed at a more adult public between 25 and 40 years of age; and Cadena Dial a round the clock station broadcasting exclusively Spanish music. The SER is the leading Spanish group in terms of listeners and publicity. It has been using a network connected to the INTELSART satellite since 1988 to distribute its programs all over the country.

The COPE (Cadena de Ondas Populares)is the second largest system of private stations. It has two networks, one being Medium Wave, directed to an adult public, and the other is FM, with an essentially musical content.

Onda Cero has bought up a number of private networks, and thanks to its adquisition of the Cadena Rato, is now the owner of 176 stations.

In 1994, Antena 3 de Radio disappeared as such and was newly desgined as a musical/news formula under the name of Sinfo Radio Antena 3, which is broadcasted by fourteen stations. The rest of Antena 3's stations left the network to join regional ones or were taken over by the SER.

With the development of the Autonomic regions there appeared, during the 1980's, a number of autonomic radio networks run by their respective governments.

In 1991, the following were bradcasting: Catalunya Radio, Canal Sur, Eusko Irratia, Onda Madrid, Radio Galega, Onda Regional de Murcia and Canal Nou in the Valencian Community, some of these with several stations.

Spain also has a great number of local or municipal stations, some of which belong to the Coordinadora de Emisoras Municipales. In 1988 nearly 300 stations were members and in 1991 more than 2,000 stations of this type were created. The total number of stations, more than 750 public and some 800 private, operate in FM, which means that there are fewer stations broadcasting in MW.

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Radio audience (Monday thru Sunday).
Networks/Stations with a common programming.
(Thousands of persons)
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STATION                            OCT-NOV, 1994
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MW.........................................5,730
FM........................................13,265
CONVENCIONAL..............................11,667
FÓRMULA....................................7,889          
           SER CONVENCIONAL................3,419
           COPE CONVENCIONAL...............3,023
           CADENA 40 FÓRMULA...............2,996          
           ONDA CERO CONVENCIONAL..........2,123
           RADIO 1 CONVENCIONAL............1,900
           DIAL FÓRMULA....................1,426
           CADENA 100 FÓRMULA................632
           M 80 FÓRMULA......................501
           ONDA CERO FÓRMULA.................350
           TOP 40 FÓRMULA....................344
           RADIO 3 FÓRMULA...................327
           RADIO OLE FÓRMULA.................279
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TOTAL AUDIENCE............................17,894
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Source: EGM
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According to figures from the latest General Media Study (January, 1996), Spanish radio has beaten its own listener record, with 20,410,000 people over the age of 14 who listen to the radio every day. This figure puts Spain amongst the countries which show greatest loyalty to this medium.

Conventional radio as a whole is followed by a total of 14,051,000 listeners, while the rest listen to musical programmes. The SER network, with 4,166,000 listeners, heads conventional radio. Next comes the COPE network, with 3,560,000 listeners. Third is Onda Cero, which is followed by 2,639,000 people, and fourth Radio Nacional de España, with 2,179,000.

As for music stations, the 40 Principales network is the one with most listeners (2,960,000), followed by Cadena Dial (1,760,000), Cadena 100 (951,000), M-80 (545,000), Top Radio (416,000) and Radiolé (350,000).

Spanish Radio Stations on the Web

The following is a list of links to Spanish radio stations. More will be added as the stations provide us their URL's.

Real Audio broadcasts for Spanish language Radio Stations on the Web

The following is a list of direct links to Spanish language broadcasts in Real Audio. More will be added as the stations provide us their URL's.

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