The lessons of Spain's blackout for radio's future

19.05.2025 - Spain

Gorka Zumeta reflects on the lessons learned from the events of 28 April: Radio has shown, as a medium, that it is capable of reassuring a frightened country, it is capable of informing when no one else can, and it is capable of bringing light into the darkness. But we must draw from this crisis the main lesson, which is none other than the channel: terrestrial radio, the one transmitted over the airwaves, is the safest in the face of a catastrophe or emergency, in the face of which the internet is weak and defenceless. The blackout on 28 April at 12:33 collapsed the country's entire media system, except for radio. The lack of electricity supply meant that television was useless, and the digital press did not work.

(Gorka Zumeta) Read more