Havana as a 1940s-1950s Latin American Media Capital

Abstract

This essay examines the Cuban broadcasting industry's prominent position in the 1940s and 1950s Latin American media landscape by analyzing the transformations of Havana-based radio and television and the media exchanges between Cuba, the U.S., and Latin America. The author pays special attention to the ways in which the concentration of creative talent in Havana, in addition to industrial, legal, economic, and cultural factors, fostered the growth of Cuba's commercial broadcasting. In addition, the essay traces Havana media connections across the region and conflictive economic, industrial, and political moments that provoked the migration of Cuban media professionals to various Latin American countries before the 1959 Cuban revolution. The project argues that during the 1940s and 1950s Havana was one of the most important commercial broadcasting centers in the region, which facilitated the incorporation of Cuban exiles into the Latin American and U.S. Spanish-language media workforce during the 1960s and 1970s.

Keywords:

• Cuban Commercial Television
• Media Capital
• Regional Media Exchanges
• Latin American Television History

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Stephen Berrey and Michael Curtin for their helpful suggestions.

Notes

1. According to John Sinclair (2005, p. 196), a geo-linguistic region “is defined not just by its geographical contours, but also in a virtual sense, by commonalties of language and culture.” These commonalities of language and culture also include dispersed diasporic populations around the world.

2. In this essay I focus exclusively on Havana as a Latin American media capital. This piece could be seen as a starting point for future comparative work between Havana and other Latin American media industries during the 1940s and 1950s.

3. Based on the communication laws published in the Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, the first broadcasting laws were instituted in 1934. In 1938 the government established the Comisión Nacional de Radio (the Radio National Commission), which regulated all legal, cultural, and business aspects of radio broadcasting. In 1939, the government modified some of the laws instituted in 1934, and in 1942 the 1939 broadcasting laws were eradicated (Batista et al., 1942, pp. 1355–1361).

4. Los ‘boleros’ se quedam en Marte. (1954, March 28). Bohemia, 46, p. 47

5. ‘Cuba y Puerto Rico son …’ (1954, August 22). Bohemia, 46, pp. 44–45.

6. Nuevos mercados. (1954, May 16). Bohemia, 46, p. 44.

7. “Y despues no quieren que digan …” (1957, April 7). Bohemia, 49, pp. 52–53.

8. As in Colombia, the first television station in Venezuela launched in 1952 was public. Nonetheless, a year later, Caracas had two commercial stations: Televisa and Radio Caracas-TV (Espinet Borges, 1953).

9. While disconnected from broadcasting, one of the most important media transformations after the triumph of the Cuban revolution was the establishment of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC). Through the ICAIC's films, Havana became a Latin American center of film production, creating a new style of cinema that defied Hollywood's ideological, aesthetic, and commercial conventions (see Chanan, 2004).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yeidy M. Rivero

Yeidy M. Rivero is Associate Professor in the Departments of American Culture and Screen Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan