Radio broadcasting and its political use in Italy between the two world wars

Radio broadcasting started in Italy in 1924 when URI (Unione Radiofonica Italiana) was founded, followed three years later by EIAR (Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche) and in 1944 by RAI (Radio Audizioni Italiane). Broadcasting was used for entertainment, for news reports, for commercial advertisements and for political propaganda. Radio made it possible, in particular, to disseminate speeches by Benito Mussolini, immediately reaching places that press did not. It was also used by the Government to educate people, particularly in rural areas. The paper investigates the political use of radio broadcasting in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, a period characterized by a policy of national self-sufficiency and no reliance on imports.