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Sala Radio
"Please turn your radio down"
At 9 o'clock in the evening on 6 October 1924, a concert inaugurated Italy's first radio broadcast, kicking off the era of radio that was to have such an impact on the country's life, mindset and habits. Fascism soon realised the communication potential of the radio, which "allowed even the illiterate to read", and 1928 saw the establishment of the Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche, E.I.A.R., the public body that became the regime's mouthpiece. One family in five owned a radio by the late 1930s, but there were also radios in the Case del Fascio, in schools and in bars, and loudspeakers were set up in public squares to broadcast the Duce's speeches—an extraordinarily effective tool of propaganda whose purpose was underscored by the announcers' pompous, rhetorical style.
But above all the public appreciated the radio as a means of escapist distraction. Dance music, sports commentaries and I Quattro Moschettieri, a review broadcast from 1934 to 1937, were among the most successful programmes. When the racial laws were introduced in 1938, Jews were banned from owning any kind of broadcasting equipment.
At 9 o'clock in the evening on 6 October 1924, a concert inaugurated Italy's first radio broadcast, kicking off the era of radio that was to have such an impact on the country's life, mindset and habits. Fascism soon realised the communication potential of the radio, which "allowed even the illiterate to read", and 1928 saw the establishment of the Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche, E.I.A.R., the public body that became the regime's mouthpiece. One family in five owned a radio by the late 1930s, but there were also radios in the Case del Fascio, in schools and in bars, and loudspeakers were set up in public squares to broadcast the Duce's speeches—an extraordinarily effective tool of propaganda whose purpose was underscored by the announcers' pompous, rhetorical style.
But above all the public appreciated the radio as a means of escapist distraction. Dance music, sports commentaries and I Quattro Moschettieri, a review broadcast from 1934 to 1937, were among the most successful programmes. When the racial laws were introduced in 1938, Jews were banned from owning any kind of broadcasting equipment.
