Vehicles years Communication 50

1950: Radio and Television to the rescue

The 1950s, as we'll see, mark an important turning point in popular culture.

Italy is facing the aftermath of the Second World War and the need to rebuild; reconstruct not only the infrastructure and industry, but also the culture and morale of the population.

You know the means that have allowed all this very well; were television and radio.

From radio to television

The radio had continuously marked the most important hours of the war years as a source of information recognized by all, but with the mass production of consumer goods, the growth of the population employed in the industrial and tertiary sectors and the general increase in economic well-being it becomes possible to have a large and dispersed audience reachable by a mass media such as television.

Already born in the late thirties, television is stopped due to the outbreak of the war, in which it is the radio that reigns supreme as it is technologically more advanced.

At the beginning of the fifties, instead, the television, improved and perfected, begins to enter the homes of Italians and takes his place next to the radio.

3 January 1954, and goes on the air

Il 3 gennaio 1954, Italy is witnessing the first national black and white programming by RAI.

The first image transmitted, it is that of the announcer Fulvia Colombo who announced the official start of regular television broadcasts, followed by the airing of the first program "Arrivals and departures" conducted by Mike Bongiorno.

We are officially on the air.

Television becomes a social phenomenon of historical significance: not only does it change habits and lifestyle, but it also becomes a means of information, education.

Television has, infatti, a fundamental role in the formation of a national language and in the fight against illiteracy thanks to the program of Dr. Alberto Manzi.

The radio changes

With the advent of television, the radio must change and conquer its own space in order to survive.

If television is the inevitable prime time appointment, la radio moltiplica l’offerta per restare “accesa” 24 his 24 and night programming develops.

If television is a means of education and information, new radio programs tend to increasingly capture the attention of young audiences and housewives.

Radio programming adapts to competition from TV programs and emphasizes the difference between the two mediums.

The radio later became an expression of freedom, soundtrack of the desire to move, in search of the future with infinite possibilities.

E’ così che attraverso la radio arriva la voglia di ribellione dei giovani, the dissemination of free programs, giradischi e l’americano Rock ‘n’ Roll segnano definitivamente la svolta culturale, a definitive detachment from music, fashion and style of previous years.

As you can imagine, the 1950s, through these two very powerful means of communication such as radio and TV, profoundly marked the progress of modern communication, shifting information towards an increasingly mass diffusion.