This is the Uruguayan History section of
The Broadcast Archive
Maintained by:
Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Uruguayan Broadcasting:
- History
- Regulation
- Station Identifications
Uruguay Broadcast History:
Early in 1921 the General Electric Co. in Montevideo started to sell
galena radio receivers. Of course, at that time, there were no radio transmitters on
air aside from
the government telegraph station. So, the listeners were hearing the magic of
dots and dashes ... and nothing else.
Then in the spring of 1922 General Electric put a 10 Watt transmitter on air in
order to provide something for the receiver buyers to listen to. There is no
specific data for the precise date, but it is accepted that it was few days
before the BBC was on air in April 1922.
By October 1, 1922, the first soccer radio transmission was on air. Some
have suggested it is the first soccer game to be broadcast in the world ...
In 1923 this station became CWOS, "Radio Sud América General
Electric," with a powerful 1 kW transmitter.
On May 15, 1931, the station changed its name to the current one, "Radio El
Espectador", on 810 kHz.
On May 2, 1960, the first FM broadcasting, "Radio Rio de la Plata",
was on air in Montevideo. Its official name is "Del Plata FM, 95.5
MHz".
Today there are about 100 AM and 100 FM stations in the country. The
official governmental broadcasting service is SODRE
(Servicio Oficial de Difusión, Radiotelevisión y Espectáculos.
Formerly, it meant Servicio Oficial de Difusión Radio Eléctrica.) It runs the stations on
650, 1050 and 1290 in Montevideo, as well as an FM at 97.1 and TV Channel
5.
Among the more popular programs on Uruguayan radio are the Football
(Soccer) matches.
Stay tuned for more!
Regulation: Uruguay is a a republican
country, divided into 19 "Departamentos". It is not a Federal country,
so each "Departamento" has a great dependence for the Central
Government. There is no Federal Laws. Montevideo is one of the 19 "Departamentos"
and it is the capital city.
Early regulation of broadcasting
The current regulatory body is the DNC
(Dirección Nacional de Comunicaciones).
Station Identification:
My sincere thanks to Jose Vargues
for his kind assistance information on this page.
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