Misplaced Pages

#54945

31-599: On 8 February 1923, the Royal decree n. 1067 gave the State the exclusive rights for the radio broadcasts to be exercised through a concessionaire company. In consequence, three companies were founded in order to achieve the licence, all of them were related to American and British manufacturers of radio devices: Negotiations lasted more than a year, but the Minister of Post Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesarò seemed to want to give

62-501: 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 in 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

93-560: The Allied invasion of Italy progressed, the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini decided to try to emulate the German radio's Axis Sally broadcasts of Mildred Gillars . In the summer of 1943, EIAR hired the 30-year-old Rita Zucca with this aim in mind, despite her losing a typing job in 1942 for copying an anti-Fascist pamphlet. Zucca was teamed with German broadcaster Charles Goedel in

124-608: The Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR) in January 1928. Unione Radiofonica Italiana. 1-RO, stazione di Roma. Concerto sinfonico inaugurale. Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesar%C3%B2 Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesarò (1878–1940) was an Italian noble and politician who was the leader of the Social Democracy . He also served as the minister of post and telegraphs between 1922 and 1924 in

155-577: The Mussolini Cabinet . He was known as the " anthroposophist duke". Colonna was born in 1878. From 1907, he started his political career and became a member of the parliament in the period 1909–1921. He founded and published a magazine entitled Rassegna contemporanea which is among the early anthroposophical publications. As of 1914, he was a member of the Italian National Olympic Committee . Following

186-466: The Opus 7 string quartet, I and II half. The programme, which lasted one hour and a half, broadcast opera , chamber and classical music along with a weather report and news about the stock exchange. On 27 November 1924, the government gave 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

217-618: The EIAR began transmitting a second, separately programmed radio service in major cities. Between 1929 and 1939, the EIAR presented the first television broadcasting tests in Italy. On 22 July 1939, the first television transmitter at the EIAR station came into operation in Rome, which performed a regular broadcast for about a year using a 441-line system that was developed in Germany. In September of

248-457: The EIAR, the majority of programming in the early years was uncontroversial, entertainment and music-led. Mussolini was deeply suspicious at first of the radio as an instrument of mass media, and his diffidence only began to abate in the early thirties, when the regime began systematically to use the microphones of the ElAR to celebrate national events, to chronicle public manifestations, and to offer

279-488: The Royal Decree n. 2191 of 14 October 1924. With that decree, URI was considered the only Italian radio broadcaster to be authorized to spread news of public interest and the government was the only one to approve the news broadcasting from press agencies different from Agenzia Stefani , the official source as well as the first Italian press agency founded in 1853 by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour . The URI announcer

310-561: The advertising space was provided by Sipra . 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 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

341-465: The first Italian radio broadcasting service. Thereafter, by means of an exclusive 6-year concession, the state entrusted the provision of circular radio listening services to URI. Three years later, by Royal Decree (Royal Decree No. 2207 of 17 November 1927), URI became the Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR). The new company was granted an exclusive concession for broadcasting for

SECTION 10

#1732772487055

372-463: The first political commentary. By the 1930s the amount of propaganda broadcast by EIAR increased considerably. In 1931, only 22% of EIAR radio programmes had clear propaganda content. This percentage increased to 33% in 1938. In the summer of 1936, the Italians heard the first dissenting voices when antifascist propaganda was broadcast from Spain. The ElAR countered with a series of programmes singing

403-460: The first programme: URI (Unione Radiofonica Italiana). 1-RO: station of Rome. Radio wavelength 425 meters. Our greeting and good evening to all the listeners. It is 9 pm of 6 October 1924. We broadcast the inaugural concert of the first Italian radiophonic station, for the circular radio hearings service. The quartet formed by Ines Viviani Donarelli, who is speaking, Alberto Magalotti, Amedeo Fortunati and Alessandro Cicognani, will perform Haydn from

434-502: The following 25 years. In 1931, EIAR was indirectly controlled by SIP (Hydroelectric Company of Piedmont): in 1933, SIP gained the absolute majority shareholding in EIAR. Although formally autonomous, EIAR was subject to strict government regulation with regard to political broadcasting. Before the appointment, the president and the managing director had to be approved by the Italian Government. The man chosen to supervise all

465-423: The general elections on 15 May 1921 Colonna was named as the minister of post and telegraphs in the cabinet led by Giovanni Giolitti . He was appointed minister of posts to the cabinet headed by Luigi Facta on 25 February 1922, but he resigned from office soon being succeeded by Luigi Fulci in the post. In 1922, Colonna established the Social Democracy party and joined the government of Benito Mussolini as

496-487: The imminent participation in the war is believed to have played a role in this decision. After Operation Achse , EIAR transmitting equipment was relocated to Germany by the German troops. Lately, it was returned to Italy. During the first years of radio broadcasting, the Italian government showed little interest in the new medium, perhaps still unaware of its immense potential. Although Mussolini's speeches were broadcast by

527-616: The intervention of the Italian Empire through his writings in Rassegna contemporanea which also reflected his radical national views. However, Colonna did not have a consistent political ideology. Instead, he adopted different political views depending on the conditions. Following his retirement from politics Colonna became an anti-Fascist. Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche ( EIAR , "Italian Body for Radio Broadcasting")

558-630: The licence to Ranieri. However, at the beginning of 1924, Di Cesarò resigned from the government and he was replaced by Costanzo Ciano , who preferred Marconi. Ranieri succeeded to achieve a technical test. On 20 March 1924, Radiofono installed a test station in the Centocelle district of Rome , 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

589-480: The mass market. In May 1937 Radiobalilla was born; it cost only 430 lire (or around $ 22 ). These three-tube tuned radio frequency receivers were manufactured until 1944 in several versions, all sporting the symbol of Fascism, the fascio littorio . In 1940 the EIAR reached 1,200,000 subscribers. In conjunction with the spreading of the radio, the circulation of Radio Orario , the official magazine of EIAR, reached 8 million copies per year. On 21 March 1938,

620-478: The minister of post and telegraphs, which he held until his resignation in February 1924. He was replaced by Costanzo Ciano in the post. Following this incident, Colonna retired from politics. His another magazine was Lo Stato Democratico (Italian: The Democratic State ) which also published anthroposophical articles. Close to the environments of esotericism and Roman neopaganism of those years, Colonna

651-570: The music on the new radio network was the famous opera composer Pietro Mascagni . The regular broadcasting of news started on 7 January 1929 when, at the insistence of the government, a radio journal was created called Radiogiornale , which provided daily coverage of the most important national and international news. Under EIAR, radio broadcasting became the major means of mass communication in Italy. EIAR demanded annual (paid) subscriptions from every radio owner. The number of subscribers grew dramatically from 40,678 in 1927 to 800,000 in 1937. However,

SECTION 20

#1732772487055

682-529: The praises of Franco 's Spain. During World War II, EIAR became one of the most important tools of Fascist propaganda. Between 23 January 1941 and 28 March 1945, American poet Ezra Pound recorded or composed hundreds of broadcasts for EIAR. Broadcast in English , and sometimes in Italian, German , and French , the EIAR programme was transmitted to England, central Europe, and the United States. As

713-570: The programme Jerry's Front Calling . Much to Gillars' chagrin, Zucca was also referred to as Axis Sally. Zucca's trademark sign-off was "a sweet kiss from Sally", and she was often mistaken for Gillars. After the Armistice of Cassibile , all the local stations in southern Italy were taken over by the Allies, and from 23 September, the broadcasting station at Bari (one of the most powerful in Italy)

744-532: The same year, a second television transmitter was installed in Milan, making experimental broadcasts during major events in the city. An early signing to the TV station in 1939 was the Italian singer Lia Origoni and a film was made to record her performance. The broadcasts were suddenly ended on 31 May 1940, by order of the government, allegedly because of interferences encountered in the first air navigation systems. Also,

775-648: The spread of radios throughout the national territory was markedly slower in Italy than in the other main European countries or in America. Despite its growth, EIAR's subscription rates were still below those in Nazi Germany and the UK , respectively 2,000,000 and 2,500,000 subscribers. Realizing that the radio was a powerful tool of control and propaganda, the Fascist government urged companies to build cheap devices for

806-415: 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 (8 December 1925) and Naples (14 November 1926). In October 1926, adverts began to be broadcast and

837-491: Was appointed as president, while Luigi Solari, close to Guglielmo Marconi , as deputy president. 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: Italian Radiophonic Union. 1-RO, Rome station. Inaugural symphonic concert. Shortly after, Ines Viviani Donarelli, from the Roman station of Corrodi Palace, presented

868-758: Was occupied by the Americans who immediately made it the organ of their headquarters in Algiers . The EIAR, whose Head Office had always been in Turin (far from the front line), continued to broadcast throughout the Italian Social Republic period. Fascist leader and journalist Ezio Maria Gray replaced Giancarlo Vallauri, the longtime president of EIAR. In the last years of the War, another important radio broadcasting in Italy on both medium and short-waves

899-456: Was part of the UR Group which was established in 1927 (perhaps with the pseudonym of "Arvo", or with those of "Krur" and "Breno"). Colonna was married to Barbara Antonelli, a noblewoman of Russian origins, and their daughters were Mita and Simonetta Colonna di Cesarò . He died in 1940. Colonna was an advocate of colonialism and democratic imperialism. During World War I he supported

930-417: Was still largely in the experimental stage. The origins of radio broadcasting in Italy date to 1924, when URI ( Unione radiofonica italiana ) was set up, its share of capital being divided between Radiofono (Italian Company for Circular Radio Communications) which was the majority shareholder, and SIRAC (Italian Company for Circular Radio Listening). In the same year, on 6 October, the Rome station of URI began

961-592: Was the public service broadcaster in Fascist Italy and the only entity permitted to broadcast by the government. In spite of the fact that the radio was chiefly the result of the work of the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi , when Mussolini seized power in October 1922 Italy was considerably behind other countries in the development of a nationwide broadcasting system. Indeed, not one regularly operated broadcasting transmitter has been built in Italy and radio

Unione radiofonica italiana - Misplaced Pages Continue

#54945