ABSTRACT
Privately-owned commercial radio is a business which offers on-air time for advertising in the form of commercials, musical pieces and sponsored programming. The fact that radio transmissions were live meant an opportunity for XEW to publicize the popular Mexican cultural figures who performed in its four studios from which the station produced and broadcast its programs and radio theater pieces. The moment the Costa Rican government declared that the aim of radio was to promote culture and entertainment, commercial radio in that country took off. It adopted the same programming techniques: comedy, radio drama or soap operas, radio theater programs, news and musical presentations. Commercial radio broadcasting developed the way it did in Central and South America due to the strong influence of the business model of US-based radio stations, showing a preference for private ownership and programming oriented towards entertainment.
