Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950-1960

265 Pages·2015·1.437 MB·English

by  Yeidy M. Rivero

Broadcasting Modernity
Console-i ng Passions
Television and Cultural Power
Edited by Lynn Spigel
BROADCASTING
MODERNITY
Cuban Commercial Television,
1950–1960
Yeidy M. Rivero
Duke University Press
Durham and London
2015
© 2015 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞
Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan
Typeset in Minion Pro by Copperline
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Rivero, Yeidy M.
Broadcasting modernity: Cuban commercial television,
1950- 1960 / Yeidy M. Rivero. 
pages cm — (Console-i ng passions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0 - 8223- 5859- 6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0 - 8223- 5871- 8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Television broadcasting — Cuba — History — 20th century.
2. Television and state — Cuba — History — 20th century. 
I. Title. II. Series: Console- ing passions.
he8700.9.c9r58 2015
384.55097291'09045 — dc23
2014036010
isbn 978- 0- 8223-7 568-5 (e- book)
Cover art: Illustration by Courtney Baker, based on
two images: a promotion for Noticiario Unión Radio and
“En la Televisión se hizo historia,” Bohemia, July 26, 1959 (both
courtesy of the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of
Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida).
Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges
the University of Michigan, College of Literature,
Science, and the Arts, and Office of Research,
which provided funds toward the publication
of this book.
To Agustín Rivero Quintero
and
To the witty and gifted coquí who,
for more than twenty years,
inspired me

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
I ntroduction. Broadcasting Modernity,
Spectacles, and Television 1
1
P relude to the Spectacles: Constituting
a Modern Broadcasting System through
the Law, 1923 – 1950 23
2
Spectacles of Progress:
Technology, Expansion, and the Law 45
3
Spectacles of Decency:
Morality as a Matter of the Industry
and the State 75
4
Spectacles of Democracy and a Prelude
to the Spectacles of Revolution 102
5
Spectacles of Revolution:
A Rebirth of Cubanness 129
6
From Broadcasting Modernity to
Constructing Modernity 163
Epilogue 176
Notes 181
Bibliography 221
Index 233

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The idea for this project began in Puerto Rico, while I was conducting re-
search for my book Tuning Out Blackness. During the research process, I
engaged in numerous formal and informal conversations with several media
professionals who had worked in Cuban television before the Cuban Revo-
lution of 1959. While listening to their stories and to the anecdotes of Puerto
Rican producers who were familiar with Cuban television, it became clear to
me that Cuba had played a pivotal role in the development of the medium
in Latin America. My first words of gratitude, then, go to these late Cuban
and Puerto Rican producers and creators who, without realizing it, sowed
in me the seeds of curiosity.
While my interest began in Puerto Rico, my passion for the project de-
veloped at the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection (chc). It
was at the chc that I had the privilege of meeting and working with one
of the most knowledgeable Cuban studies librarians in the United States:
Lesbia Orta Varona. Lesbia introduced me to a wide range of sources, was
always on the lookout for information that could help my research, and
even scanned materials on a tight schedule so I could have all the sources I
needed for my analysis. Lesbia also put me in contact with her good friend
Dr. Araceli García Carranza, the head librarian at the Biblioteca Nacional
José Martí in Havana, Cuba. I am immensely grateful for Lesbia’s ongoing
support and enthusiasm for this project. I also want to thank the chc’s new
director, María Estornio Dooling, and new librarian, Meiyolet Méndez, who
digitized many of the images included in this book. A big thanks goes to all
members of the chc’s previous and current teams: Esperanza de Varona,
Gladys Gómez Rossie, Zoe Blanco- Roca, Annie Sansone- Marínez, and Rosa
Monzon- Alvarez. Their helpfulness, friendliness, and daily cafecitos made
the research at the chc an enjoyable experience.