A BRIEF HISTORY OF RADIO MARIA
Radio Maria is a private Catholic radio station owned by the Radio Maria Association.
The Radio Maria Association was founded on 12 January 1987 and has its registered office at Via Milano 12, Erba, in the province of Como.
The first President of Radio Maria was Emanuele Ferrario (who served from 1987 to 2015) and passed to the Father’s house on 8 July 2020.
Emanuele Ferrario built the technical and administrative structure of Radio Maria and expanded it throughout Italy and subsequently across all five continents, thanks to the steadfast commitment of its Italian listeners.
The first Director of Radio Maria and Directors’ Adviser to the World Family of Radio Maria is Father Livio Fanzaga, a member of the religious Order of the Piarist Fathers. Father Livio had already been involved with the small parish radio station since 1986 and became its Director in 1988.
Upon his appointment as Director, Father Livio conceived Radio Maria as a Catholic radio station that calls people to conversion, proclaims the Gospel, promotes Marian devotion and Christian social values, in communion with the Catholic Church.
Roberta Zappa has also been involved with Radio Maria since 1986, when it was still a small parish radio station, and has continually shaped its broadcasting format, adapting it to the needs of the times.
Vittorio Viccardi has been President of the World Family of Radio Maria since 2015.
Radio Maria has expanded beyond Italy after receiving requests from various ecclesial realities, eventually reaching every continent: the Americas in 1992, Africa in 1993, Asia in 2002 and, finally, Oceania in 2007.
The World Family of Radio Maria was established in 1998. With the mandate and support of Radio Maria Italy, it helps to spread Radio Maria throughout the world and has its registered office at Via Rusticucci 13 in Rome.
In Italy, Radio Maria broadcasts throughout the country via 850 FM transmitters and on the DAB digital radio network. It operates without advertising and accepts no sponsorship or funding from private organisations that could restrict its freedom.
The radio station reaches people from the humblest backgrounds as well as the educated, the elderly and the young alike, and has become the most widely listened-to Catholic media outlet in Italy. One in every ten Italians listens to Radio Maria, and there have been countless testimonies of conversion.
Radio Maria is at the service of the whole Church. Bishops, priests, male and female religious, and laypeople are all involved in the development of its programming. Parishes, religious communities, monasteries, hospitals and even prisons also take part in leading the station’s daily prayers, through two or more live connections each day.
THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF PRESIDENT EMANUELE FERRARIO IN THE MAKING OF RADIO MARIA (by Father Livio)
Prayer Written by St. John Paul II for Radio Maria
Mary, guide us in our major decisions and give us strength in times of trial so that we may, with humble courage, follow the hidden ways of Heaven, keeping faith with God and mankind so that we can bring the joyful message of Christ, the Savior, to the hearts and minds of all.
Mary, guiding star of evangelization, be with us. Be with Radio Maria as guide and be its protector.”