 | |
 Radio Martí broadcast studio | |
| Type | International broadcasting |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Availability | Americas |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, United States |
| Owner | U.S. Agency for Global Media |
Launch date | May 20, 1985 (radio) March 27, 1990 (television) |
Official website | www |
| Language | Spanish |
Radio y Televisión Martí is an international broadcaster based inMiami, Florida, financed by thefederal government of the United States through theU.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly Broadcasting Board of Governors, BBG). It transmits its programs inSpanish toCuba and its broadcasts can also be heard and viewed worldwide through their website and onshortwave radio frequencies.
Named after theCuban national hero and intellectualJosé Martí, Radio Televisión Martí was established in 1983 and TV Martí was added in 1990. The 2014 budget for the Cuba broadcasting program was approximately US$27 million.[1]
Radio y Televisión Martí is overseen by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB),[2] and is an element of theInternational Broadcasting Bureau (IBB).
On 14 March 2025,[3] thesecond Trump administration issued an executive order dismantling the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, the parent agency of the Cuban Broadcasting Bureau, which oversees radio and television.[4] As a result, all Radio Televisión Martí employees were placed on administrative leave with pay, and instructed not to seek to access buildings or computer systems.[4]
On 26 March 2025,[3] the U.S. Agency for Global Media, through its Office for Cuba Broadcasting, notified federal employees, who had been placed on leave on 15 March 2025, that they could return to work at Radio Martí inDoral, Florida.[3]
On 26 March 2025, Radio Martí announced it was returning to the air onX (formerly Twitter), and the Martí Noticias website resumed publishing.[3]
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In the early 1980s, the U.S. Government planned to create a radio station to be known as Radio Free Cuba, modeled onRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the mission of fightingcommunism in the hope of hastening the fall ofCuban PresidentFidel Castro. The station – renamedRadio Martí after Cuban writerJosé Martí, who had fought for Cuba's independence fromSpain and against U.S. influence in theAmericas – was established in 1983 byPresidentRonald Reagan at the urging ofJorge Mas Canosa. ExistingNorth American broadcasters objected strenuously to the establishment of Radio Martí, fearing that its broadcasts would lead Cuba to retaliate byjamming existing commercialmedium-wave broadcasts from Florida.
On May 20, 1985, Radio Martí began broadcasts to Cuba from the United States. The first day of broadcasting was chosen to commemorate the 83rd anniversary ofCuba's independence from United States rule on May 20, 1902. The fears of broadcasters proved well-founded, when Cuba-based transmitters briefly broadcast powerful signals on the medium-wave band in 1985, disrupting U.S.AM radio station broadcasts in several states. Cuba continues to broadcast interference against U.S. broadcasts specifically directed to Cuba in attempts to prevent them from being received within Cuba.
After the collapse of theSoviet Union at the end of 1991, the budget for all U.S.-government-run foreign broadcasters, with the exception of Radio Martí, was sharply reduced. In 1996, Radio Martí's studios were moved fromWashington, D.C. to Miami, Florida. The move, in addition to placing the station's studios closer to its target audience, also underscored its growing independence from theVoice of America, another U.S.-government-run foreign broadcaster with which Radio Martí had previously shared studios.
Today, Radio Marti broadcasts a 24-hour radio program overshort-wave transmitters inGreenville, North Carolina, and amedium-wave transmitter inMarathon, Florida (GC:24°41′58″N81°5′19″W / 24.69944°N 81.08861°W /24.69944; -81.08861). Its studios are located in Miami, Florida. Cuba jams both the medium-wave and shortwave signals, but the shortwave program is heard throughout the Americas.[5]
Two hours of Radio Martí's news programs are carried each night, 10:00 PM to midnight local time, by Miami'sWSUA (Caracol 1260 AM). It is also available at various times to subscribers ofSiriusXM Satellite Radio on its bilingual channel 153,La Politica Talk.[6]
Radio Martí operates with about 100 employees and a budget of $15 million. Its mission, in its own words, is to provide "a contrast to Cuban media and provide its listeners with an uncensored view of current events." Former prisoners in Cuba andCuban exiles often speak on Radio Martí, and on Saturdays a Spanish-language version of the U.S. president's weekly radio address, as well as the opposition's response, are transmitted.[7]
There is much debate about the effectiveness of these broadcasts.[clarification needed] As with Radio Free Europe during theCold War, there is no way to judge the station's true audience through the usual listener surveys. Thus, the actual number of listeners is open to speculation. However, after the fall of the communist Soviet satellite governments ofEastern Europe in 1989 and of the Soviet Union itself at the end of 1991, aHoover Institution conference reviewing reports from citizens in newly independentRussia,Poland,Czechoslovakia,Hungary, and other countries tended to substantiate the effectiveness of RFE and U.S. Voice of America broadcasts both in providing information and bolstering pro-liberal democracy movements within those countries, despite attempts at electronic jamming and counter-propaganda.[8]
The watchdog group Cuban Americans for Engagement (CAFE) has been critical of the radio and television station for broadcasts critical of warming relations and cooperative efforts with U.S. organizations.[clarification needed] A report by the Committee on Foreign Relations in 2010 stated that less than 2 percent of Cubans listen in. U.S. SenatorMark Pryor (D-Arkansas) andU.S. House of Representatives memberBetty McCollum introduced the Stop Wasting Taxpayer Money on Cuba Broadcasting Act to shut the stations down. The Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy has also been critical of the stations.[1]
In 1990, the U.S. Government created TV Martí to broadcast television programming to Cuba. It began broadcasting on March 27, 1990, beaming daily programs in Spanish via a transmitter affixed to anaerostat balloon – nicknamed "Fat Albert" by people in the area – tethered 10,000 feet (3,048 m) aboveCudjoe Key, Florida.[9] Weather affected the broadcasts; "Fat Albert" sometimes was hauled down because of high winds, once broke loose and drifted into theEverglades in 1991, and was destroyed byHurricane Dennis in 2005. After the aerostat's destruction, TV Martí in October 2006 began to usefixed-wing aircraft to transmit its signals, first a militaryC-130 Hercules which proved too expensive to operate, and then aGulfstream twin engine airplane flying a figure-eight pattern offKey West, Florida. One of these aircraft has since been retired.[10]
The first TV Martí broadcasts took place in the very early morning hours to avoid interference with Cuban domestic television programming. This combined with Cuban jamming of the signal has led to low viewership of TV Martí in Cuba, where, according to a U.S. official who was stationed inHavana in the station's early days, it is known asLa TV que no se ve ("The TV that can't be seen"). U.S. Government telephone surveys in 1990, 2003, 2006, and 2008 reported Cuban viewership of TV Martí of less than one percent; the U.S. Government ceased the surveys after 2008, claiming that obtaining accurate Cuban domestic television viewership statistics was too difficult.[10]
Despite the frequent reports of its low viewership in Cuba, TV Martí's defenders cited continuing Cuban government jamming of its signal as evidence of its importance, and U.S. Government funding of it continued, with TV Martí broadcasting daily programs in Spanish. In 2012, the administration of PresidentBarack Obama asked theUnited States Congress to cease funding of the program, but Congress however continued to provide money for it.[10]
Like Radio Martí, TV Martí is an element of the International Broadcasting Bureau. TV Marti airs half-hour early and late evening newscasts which a low-power Miamitelevision channel,WGEN-LD, Virtual digital Channel 8.1 (RF digital Channel 8.1), carries along with other programming.[11] The pay-TV platformDirecTV, which is pirated by many people in Cuba, also carries TV Martí.
In May 2013, the U.S. Congress eliminated funding for the operation ofAero Martí, the lone aircraft still committed to TV Martí broadcasts. However, funding for the preservation and maintenance of the plane continues, and it remains in storage in ahangar inCartersville,Georgia, ready to return to service if funding of its operations resumes.[10]
Fabio Leite, deputy director of the Radiocommunications Office of theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU), has condemned radio and television transmissions to Cuba from the United States as illegal and inadmissible and more so when they are designed to foment internal subversion on the island. The director emphasized that this constant U.S. attack is in violation of ITU regulations, which stipulate that radio transmissions within commercial broadcasting on medium wave, FM, or television must be conceived of as a good quality national service within the limits of the country concerned.[12]
The Radio Martí broadcasts are directed at Cuba, but can be picked up throughout North, Central, and South America when Cuba is not jamming them. However, Radio Martí programs cannot be specifically directed at U.S. citizens under the same law that restricts Voice of America broadcasts.[13]
On November 15, 2007, delegates to the World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 declared illegal the U.S. government's use of airplanes to beam the signals of Washington-funded Radio y Televisión Martí into Cuba, stating "A radio broadcasting station that functions on board an aircraft and transmits only to the territory of another administration without its agreement cannot be considered in conformity with the radio communications regulations."[14][15]
A report by the U.S.Government Accountability Office accuses the station of engaging in political propaganda in the forms of editorializing, use of offensive and incendiary language in broadcasts, use of unsubstantiated reports coming from Cuba, and presentation of individual views as news.[16] The claims of unprofessionalism are strongly rejected by the station's management.National Public Radio'sOn the Media program has pointed out that while "the U.S. has spent close to a half billion dollars on TV and Radio Martí, the Cuban government has managed to effectively block the transmission signal, at least on the TV side. Viewership on the island is estimated to be a third of one percent. One study several years ago found that nine out of ten Cubans had never even heard of the channel."[17]
Democracy Now! went on to state that a senior TV Martí executive was indicted by federal prosecutors for providing kickbacks in trade for certain contracts and theinspector general's office has launched a review into the operations of theOffice of Cuba Broadcasting which oversees Martí. In addition, the program indicates thatMassachusetts CongressmanWilliam Delahunt has also promised to hold hearings on TV Martí.[18]
Other critics consider the actual ineffectiveness to reach a Cuban audience, the risk of the broadcaster's purposes for heavy budget-cuts and the fear of limited editorial independence in order to be manipulated by right-wing Cuban exiles and their political agenda for personal political gain.[7]
In May 2018, Martí broadcast video segments attacking George Soros as a "multimillionaire Jew of Hungarian origin" threatening Latin American democracy. The videos were based on assertions byJudicial Watch. In October 2018 the employees responsible for producing the videos were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into their conduct.[19][needs update]
Shortwave radio stations located in the United States  | |
|---|---|
| Government stations | |
| Private stations | |
| Defunct stations | |
| See also | |
Radio stations in theFlorida Keys | |
|---|---|
| ByAM frequency | |
| ByFM frequency | |
| Bycall sign | |
| Defunct | |
| |
