This dissertation studies the early history of radio in Mexico by analyzing the complex ways in which border stations, Mexico City national networks and the Mexican government interacted and competed over the Mexican audience in the United States between 1923 and 1946.Following the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), the government implemented an extensive reconstruction project which sought to unify Mexico and transform its people through cultural and educational reform. Radio, along with rhetoric, art and educational policy were enlisted by the government to inculcate literacy, nationalism, notions of citizenship, sobriety, hygiene and hard work. My research shows that as early as 1923 commercial and official stations in Mexico targeted the Mexican population in the rural areas of the nation and in the United States through powerful transmitters. To station owners, the airwaves were intended to project the true national folklore of Mexico, display the best manifestations of Mexican culture through music, and, through advertisements and songs, create consumers.The study of radio in Great Mexico proves that the U.S.-Mexico border region had not accounted for a border since the 1920s due to the absence of legislation banning these transmissions and the power of radio to send signals across great distances. This dissertation argues that the interests of the Mexican government concerning its radio industry went beyond the national boundaries of Mexico. Situating radio within the industrialization, urbanization and mass communications technological innovations of the 20th century redefines the role of mass media and industry growth and development within Mexico. What is more, by mid-century the results were unforeseen: the government's plan failed to materialize and singers and artists migrating back and forth between Mexico and the United States along the circuit provided by radio realized they had to leave Mexico in order to become true cultural ambassadors.
Read
