South of the border: The NBC and CBS Radio networks and the Latin American venture, 1930–1942

In 1930 two American radio networks, NBC and CBS, first extended their programming activities to Latin American countries. By the end of the decade theirs were the only informational sources countering the anti‐American voices beamed to these neutral countries. By 1942, in light of the continuing barrage of Nazi‐Fascist propaganda, U.S. national policy shifted from isolationism to a more active position in the shortwave field. As a result, our Government entered this field in a unique partnership with both networks.

The NBC‐CBS venture was important in providing the technological and programming foundation for wartime shortwave activity (and the eventual outreach of The Voice of America); it also gave the networks a clearer perception of the program tastes of foreign audiences toward non‐slanted news and entertainment programs —which some critics have viewed as the roots of the cultural dependency of foreign markets on American programming.