ABSTRACT
On 14 November 1924, Darío Rumeu, the mayor of Barcelona, along with numerous political, military and religious authorities, officially inaugurated Radio Barcelona. The momentous event took place at the station’s original studio, on the sixth floor of the Grand Hotel Colón on Plaça Catalunya, in the heart of the city. Two 29-metre antennas crowned the roof of the building, heralding the beginning of commercial radio broadcasting in Spain. Indeed, Radio Barcelona operated under the EAJ-1 official license, where the number 1 denoted the first official permit for a radio station. This permit had been issued exactly four months before, on 14 July, by the National Communications Office, according to the earliest Regulations of Radio Broadcasting in Spain, which had been approved on 24 June. The station finally received permission to start regular broadcasting on 12 November, although test transmissions had already been carried out for some time. And soon enough, its waves were piercing the air of the city, day by day, for those who had a radio set, from 6 to 11 pm. 2
