300 millones

Spanish TV series or program

José Joaquín Marroquí
Gustavo Pérez Puig
Enrique Llovet

Theme music composerAlfonso SantistebanCountry of originSpainOriginal languageSpanishProductionRunning time1 hour (approx)Production companyTelevisión EspañolaOriginal releaseNetworkTVE-1 and other OTI stationsRelease26 June 1977 (1977-06-26) –
22 March 1983 (1983-03-22)

300 millones is a weekly Spanish musical and cultural television variety show produced by Televisión Española (TVE). It aired between 1977 and 1983 on TVE-1 in Spain and transmitted via satellite to all member stations of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) in Hispanic America and the United States, which aired it in their countries. It was also aired in Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines and the Netherlands Antilles.

Format

300 millones is a weekly variety show with musical performances, cultural and news reports, interviews and contests.^[1] It had a large-budget and top Spanish and Hispanic American guests, with each episode running for around an hour.^[2] Top international performers also appeared on the show to break into the Spanish-speaking market. The name of the show comes from the number of Spanish-language speakers around the world at the time, 300 million people.

The show had several presenters throughout its history, including: Jana Escribano (1977), Lalo Azcona (1977), Ricardo Fernández Deu (1977), Guadalupe Enríquez (1977–1983), Tico Medina (1978–1983), Paca Gabaldón (1977–1978), José Antonio Plaza (1978), Alfredo Amestoy (1977–1981), Kiko Ledgard (1978–1979), Marisa Abad (1979), Pepe Domingo Castaño (1979–1983), Lola Martínez (1981–1982) and Cristina García Ramos (1982).^[3]

Broadcast

The show was produced by Televisión Española (TVE) in its studios in Prado del Rey and had the support of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI).

It was broadcast on TVE-1 in Spain^[a] and transmitted via satellite to the OTI member stations in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, which broadcast it in their territories. In the United States it was broadcast on the Spanish International Network (SIN). It was also broadcast in Equatorial Guinea and on Spanish-language stations in the Philippines and the Netherlands Antilles.

It was initially broadcast live on Sundays which, due to the time difference between continents, meant producing and airing it in peninsular Spain after midnight –actually on Monday–, at the time when domestic TVE broadcasts used to close earlier.^[5] Three versions of each episode were made later, one for Spain, another for the United States and Puerto Rico and a third for the rest of the countries, similar to the one for Spain but adding a few minutes of information about football, that were broadcast at a more convenient time.^[6]

Notes

^ The pilot first episode was broadcast live on TVE-2 on Sunday 26 June 1977 just after midnight –which was actually Monday 27 in peninsular Spain–.^[4] On 24 July, it started its weekly edition that, due the good reception of the pilot, was broadcast on TVE-1.^[5]

References

^ Sempere, Antonio (22 October 2018). "'300 Millones': Cuando TVE hizo las Américas". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
^ Garrido Reyes, María Luisa (1 October 1977). "Presupuestos y gasto de "300 millones"". Informaciones (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 November 2022.
^ Cervera, Rafa (20 April 2018). "'300 millones': dame la mano hermano americano". Plaza (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
^ Pérez Ornia, José Ramón (25 June 1977). "Mañana se emite "300 millones", un programa para el mundo hispanohablante". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 November 2022.
^ ^a ^b Pérez Ornia, José Ramón (10 July 1977). ""Trescientos millones" pasa a la Primera Cadena". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 November 2022.
^ Pérez Ornia, José Ramón (10 October 1982). "Auditores de TVE descubren corrupción en '300 millones'". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 November 2022.