CMQ (Cuba)

CMQ (call letters) began as a radio station in Havana, Cuba and later expanded into radio and television networks. As a radio network it was a heated competitor of the RHC-Cadena Azul network.

Pre-revolutionary Cuba was an early adopter of new technology, including TV. Cuba was the first Latin American country to have television. In December 1946 station CM-21P conducted an experimental multi-point live broadcast. Regular commercial broadcasting began in October 1950 with Gaspar Pumarejo's Unión Radio TV. This was followed by Goar Mestre Espinosa's CMQ-TV on channel 6 on December 18, 1950. CMQ would officially launch March 11, 1951, and would become an NBC affiliate. By 1954, CMQ-TV had expanded into a seven station network. With the CMQ network, Cuba the second country in the world, only after the United States, to have a national TV network.^[1][2]

Timeline

Source: Encyclopedia of Television, Volume 1, Horace Newcomb, p.636

• 1952: Video network linking the provincial capitals established
• 1952: regular use of the kinescope
• 1954: CMQ-TV transmits the World Series between the U.S. and Cuba using an airplane as a relay
• 1957: direct transmission of regular, live signal between the U.S. and Cuba, using the "Over the Horizon" system

References

1. Encyclopedia of Television, Volume 1, Horace Newcomb, p.636
2. "Cuba Baseball & TV- 1955 World Series", Cuba 1952-1959, February 2007