Not All Noise Is an Interruption

Radio noise caused by interference was part of the experience of tuning into near and distant stations by seasoned radio hobbyists in the 1920s and early 1930s. Yet as radio became a mass medium and listeners learned how to tune in stations, the static produced by other stations on similar frequencies became a nuisance, and public noise complaints rose. In Mexico City, government authorities addressed the problem of radio interference by forcing a handful of radio stations to move from the downtown district beyond the city limits. The higher the transmitter power of the station, the farther away from the city center they were required to move. This article explains the context for this 1930s' directive and traces the ways in which radio noise shifted from being part of an experience to a reason to file a complaint before the authorities. Finally, it illustrates how stations continued to use antennas and radio towers in their iconography years after they moved their infrastructure outside of the city center.