SHAPING MÉXICO LINDO: RADIO, MUSIC, AND GENDER IN GREATER MEXICO, 1923-1946 By Sonia Robles A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY History 2012 ABSTRACT SHAPING MÉXICO LINDO : RADIO, GENDER AND MUSIC IN GREATER MEXICO, 1923-1946 By Sonia Robles This dissertation studies the early history of radio in Mexico by analyzing the complex ways in which border stations, Mexico City national networks and the Mexican government interacted and competed over the Mexican audience in the United States between 1923 and 1946. Following the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), the government implemented an extensive reconstruction project which sought to unify Mexico and transform its people through cultural and educational reform. Radio, along with rhetoric, art and educational policy were enlisted by the government to inculcate literacy, nationalism, notions of citizenship, sobriety, hygiene and hard work. My research shows that as early as 1923 commercial and official stations in Mexico targeted the Mexican population in the rural areas of the nation and in the United States through powerful transmitters. To station owners, the airwaves were intended to project the true national folklore of Mexico, display the best manifestations of Mexican culture through music, and, through advertisements and songs, create consumers. The study of radio in Great Mexico proves that the U.S.-Mexico border region had not accounted for a border since the 1920s due to the absence of legislation banning these transmissions and the power of radio to send signals across great distances. This dissertation argues that the interests of the Mexican government concerning its radio industry went beyond the national boundaries of Mexico. Situating radio within the industrialization, urbanization and mass communications technological innovations of the twentieth century redefines the role of mass media and industry growth and development within Mexico. What is more, by mid-century the results were unforeseen: the government’s plan failed to materialize and singers and artists migrating back and forth between Mexico and the United States along the circuit provided by radio realized they had to leave Mexico in order to become true cultural ambassadors. Copyright by SONIA ROBLES 2012 Dedication To my parents: J. Ascención Robles Flores, whose stories of life in Mexico City during the 1940s inspired me to take this journey and tell a story and to my mother, Connie Robles, whose enthusiasm for life will always keep me looking up. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the financial support of Michigan State University. A University Enrichment Fellowship allowed me to focus solely on course work and dissertation research for two years, which eased my transition from undergraduate to graduate school. In the in-between years, I benefitted from a Tinker Foundation grant which provided preliminary research trip to Mexico City. Most recently, a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate School allowed me to focus on completing this dissertation in a timely manner. Staff members at various archives and libraries in Mexico and the United States were invaluable tools in this process. In the United States, archivist Michael Stone at U.C.L.A. shared some valuable insight into the history of “Mexican” Los Angeles with me. Colin Gunkel and Josie Martin, other graduate students at U.C.L.A., also offer valuable help and conversation. In Mexico City, the archivists at the various places I visited including the Archivo General de la Nacion, Archivo de Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores , the Fideicomiso Archivo Francisco Torreblaca and the Hemeroteca Nacional . Many thanks to Roberto at the Archivo Histoico de la Secretaria de Educacion Publica for help and great conversation. I am grateful for the support I have received from my dissertation committee over the years. I’d like to begin by thanking my advisor, Dr. Javier Pescador, for his belief in this project, his honesty and respect for me as a scholar. I’ve learned just as much from watching him teach as I have from our conversations and mostly, I’ve been encouraged knowing he believed that in this dissertation I was creating something that was important. vi Dr. Dennis Valdés, whom I quote often in class, has also been influential in the formation of this process and most importantly, in my arrival at Michigan State. I have always been challenged by his pursuit of knowledge, and I admire his life-long dedication to both writing and exploring the plight of Mexicans in the United States. Dr. Erica Windler, who challenged me to think about gender in Latin America, has been a supportive in this process from the beginning. As a T.A. for her class, I learned the challenged of teaching Gender and I admire her approach and dedication to this field of study. Lastly, Dr. Ben Smith has been extremely valuable in shaping my graduate school experience. Not only was he always available and eager to talk about Mexican current events, culture, and history, but his knowledge motivated me to seek reliable sources and to look beyond the “obvious.” A number of graduate student colleagues from Michigan State have offered their assistance during this process including Heath Bowen, Andrea Vicente, Lindsey Gish, Micalee Sullivan, Jamie McLean Dalyrymple, and Ahimsa Bodhrain. Outside of Michigan State I’d like to extend my gratitude to Susanne Eineigel and David Carletta, friends and colleagues who opened up their home to me during the darkest of times and offered shelter, food, support encouragement, good conversation and much, much more. There is no doubt in my mind that this dissertation would have been completed had it not been for them. I remain eternally grateful! My family in Mexico and the United States has cheered me on since my first day of graduate school. In Mexico City, I was fortunate to have the support of my aunt, Maria Elena Robles Valenzuela, and my cousins, Jovita and Jorge. Not only did they fill my days with stories, laughter and good food, but living with them and talking about what I was doing each day helped me put the entire dissertation project, and academia in general, in perspective. The vii greatest of thanks to other members of my family including my brother and sister and in Mexico my uncles Pablo and Raúl, my aunt Gloria, my cousins Alejandra, Ulises, Omar, Israel, Gilberto, Gerardo, Ernesto, Pilar and their families. The encouragement of personal friends and loved ones such as Sarah Postma, Kate Jones, Brook Albanis, Tamar Lawrence-Samuel, Ernesto Medina, Carlos Zavala, Kelly McGlynn, Jason Fenton and Chris Flecknoe motivated me to not lose sight of the end result. And, finally, to my parents, Chon and Connie Robles, for their unending support and love over this difficult and at times, unnerving journey, los quiero mucho! viii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I: THE BIRTH OF “LA NUEVA MARAVILLA” : RADIO ARRIVES IN MEXICO ................................................................................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER II: FROM “LA HORA DEL HOGAR” TO “LA HORA NACIONAL” : NATION- BUILDING AND OFFICIAL RADIO BROADCASTING IN MEXICO ............................... 59 CHAPTER III: CREATING LISTENERS THOUGH THE AIR: MEXICAN BORDER RADIO ENTREPRENEURS AND THEIR OVERSEAS AUDIENCE, 1930-1950 .............. 91 CHAPTER IV: CRAFTING AN AUDIENCE: MUSIC, MASS MEDIA AND RADIO IN “MÉXICO DE AFUERA” ......................................................................................................... 124 CHAPTER V: FROM MICHOACÁN TO THE MILLION DOLLAR: MEN, WOMEN AND MUSIC IN THE TRANSNATIONAL RADIO INDUSTRY ...................................... 166 CHAPTER VI: CULTURAL AMBASSADORS OF THE AIR: THE INTERNATIONAL CAREERS OF RADIO SINGERS ................................................................................................. 201 EPILOGUE: THE END OF AN ERA: CENSORSHIP, TELEVISION AND SINGLE- NETWORK CHAINS ....................................................................................................................... 243 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................. 259 ix Introduction Radio was a force aimed to unify and shape Mexican communities in post-revolutionary Mexico. It was an excellent educator, training listeners how to love, laugh, sing, forget, dream, cry, and, by the middle of the twentieth century, become first-rate consumers. Radio transmissions crossed geographic terrain with ease and thus had an advantage over other cultural forms like theater or film connecting communities in Mexico to the U.S. Southwest. In the United States, radio gave Mexican audiences the opportunity to feel connected to other members of the Patria, or Motherland, wherever they were located; in Mexico, it taught and reminded the population that the nation was growing, modernizing and that the future was promising. The arrival of radio to Mexico in 1923 coincided with important national events; most notably the post-revolutionary cultural project of the Mexican government which claimed art, music, folklore and other objects as part of the official discourse. “Revolutionary educational policy sought to inculcate literacy,