Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

Action stations

Spain boasts a huge number of radio stations.

Coming up with a precise number is difficult –

estimates suggest there are twice as many stations as

there are licences to broadcast. Sticking with the major

players, there are two key organisations to be aware of.

Firstly, there’s the Cadena SER(Sociedad Española de

Radiodifusión), the largest commercial radio group and,

in terms of listeners, the largest group overall. It has a

broad portfolio of programmes covering music, culture,

news and sport and is part of the influential Grupo

PRISA company that also controlsEl País.The other

leading player in Spanish radio is the aforementioned

RNE, a state-owned network that has undergone

some major changes since its days as a Nationalist

mouthpiece.Today it consists of six main stations, five

of which broadcast within Spain, plus Radio Exterior de

España, which broadcasts globally to an estimated 80

million listeners (this makes it the third most listened-to

station on the planet after the BBC World Service and

Radio Vaticana).

RNE 1

The prime station on the state’s radio network has a varied mix of news, current

affairs and general interest programmes.

Radio Clásica

RNE’s second station plays classical music around the clock.

SER

The most listened-to radio station in Spain blends a mix of chat, news and sport.

Catalunya Ràdio

Probably the strongest of Spain’s myriad regional stations, this one broadcasting

exclusively in Catalan.

Los 40 Principales

Spain’s prime pop music station takes its name from the weekly chart of 40 records.

Five big Spanish radio stations

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1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

Wireless hotspot
Spain’s most listened-to
radio programme is
Hoy por hoy, a mix of
news and current affairs
presented by Carles
Francino each weekday
morning on Cadena SER.

Fine of the times
In July 2007, Telefónica,
Spain’s largest company,
received a record fine
from the EU’s competition
commissioner. They’d
been engaging in anti-
competitive practices –
basically charging
competitors too much to
use their lines – and were
fined€152m as a result.