Dramatic productions have for centuries been an important part of the religious, political, and cultural dimensions of Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. However, it was in the 1920s and 1930s that Latino theater in New York experienced its "golden era," with productions targeted to the small communities of Spanish-speaking Spaniards and Latin Americans. As Latino communities grew, local theaters were utilized to exhibit Spanish-language films from Mexico, Argentina, and Spain and to put on variety shows, which involved comedy, drama, and music. Theaters, such as El Teatro Puerto Rico in the Bronx, New York, dotted Latino communities throughout the United States. They showcased local and nationally and internationally known talent from other countries. Many of these theaters continued to be used as late as the 1980s to hold Menudo, electric boogie, and talent contests.

A major shift occurred in Latino theatrical production in 1954, when Roberto Rodr�guez put on, first in Spanish and later in English, a then little-known play by Ren� Marquez, La Carreta. The enthusiastic audience response led to the founding of the C�rculo Dram�tico and then to the establishment (by Miriam Col�n) of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre. This theater, which had its first production in 1968, was different from its predecessors in three ways. It performed both in English and in Spanish; it had training units; and it took theater to the streets, performing in many Latino barrios a variety of original, as well as more classical, works. (It was in this sense similar to, and occurred at the same time as, Luis Valdez's Teatro Campesino, which also brought "theater-for-free" to common people and conveyed important social messages.) These theaters and others, such as the Repertorio Espa�ol, Pregones, Nuyorican Poet's Caf�, Intar, and the Gala Theatre in Washington, D.C., continue to present some of the best in Latino performing arts. Along with the early community-based theatrical productions, strongly Latino-themed plays such as Homme and Short Eyes were being performed in Carnegie Hall and on Broadway for the first time in the 1970s.

Although the written record of early Spanish-language radio in the United States is woefully underdeveloped, there are indicators of its existence since the earliest period of radio. In particular, Spanish-language programs, musical segments, and amateur hours and shows were found in cities with large concentrations of Latinos, such as New York, Chicago, and the Washington, D.C., area. Julio Roqu�, a Puerto Rican dentist from Aguadilla, probably began the earliest Spanish-language radio program in New York City in 1924. His program, Revista Roqu�, aired "the exotic melodies of Spanish America." Local and visiting artists performed, and the program featured Roqu�'s orchestra as well as many of his own compositions. This tradition of promoting musical talent is carried on today by others, including Ralph Mercado, owner of the world's largest family-managed Latin music corporation, RMM Records and Video Corporation, and Jellybean Ben�tez, chief executive officer and chairman of Jellybean Productions, whose records have sold one billion copies worldwide.

Rosa and Salvador Merced, from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, were also early pioneers, inaugurating in 1931 (and continuing for fifteen years) Spanish-language radio programming in New York City. By 1954, when the Puerto Rican migration greatly expanded the size of Latino communities in the Northeast and in northern portions of the Midwest, a survey by the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters indicated that 171 stations were carrying Spanish-language programs. New York, for example, had four stations that broadcast Spanish-language programs at the time (WBNX, WEVD, WFUV-FM, and WHOM) while Chicago had three (WEDC, WGES, and WSBC).

From the late 1950s and into the 1960s, a number of shows had become hallmarks of the community. La Voz Borinque�a (the Voice of Puerto Rico), hosted by Santiago Grevi of Playa de Ponce, was probably the most popular show within the Puerto Rican community, but many other shows included news, sports, music, and commentary on events, serving as vehicles through which community issues, such as housing problems and legal rights, were discussed. By the 1960s in New York City, the upper end of the radio dial was referred to as the Spanish Main because WADO's 1280, WBNX's 1380 and WHOM's 1480 were all Spanish-language broadcasting stations. In 1998, WSKQ (also known as La Mega) reached the top of the ratings chart.

Spanish-language radio provided one of the earliest venues for Latino performers to display their talents in music, comedy, and drama, but Spanish-language television expanded opportunities for performers to work within a more visual medium. Although this medium is recognized as officially beginning in 1961, with the establishment of the Spanish International Network (SIN), there is evidence of earlier pioneers. In New York two well-known radio personalities, Don Pessante and Don M�ndez, are reputed to have hosted the very first U.S. Hispanic-oriented television entertainment programs in the late 1940s by brokering time on one of the English-language channels. During the early 1950s there was El Show Hispano, which had musical and comic segments and a fifteen-minute news section, hosted by An�bal Gonz�lez-Irizarry.

With the establishment of SIN in 1961, Spanish-language television in the United States became�and was for the first twenty-five years of its existence�a U.S. subsidiary of a Mexican company, Televisa. During this period it provided avenues for a host of Latino talent in a wide variety of areas, for example, Myrta Silva's variety shows and Cheo Feliciano's weekly taped half-hour show that was also syndicated to Spanish-language stations throughout Latin America. SIN also was the first U.S. broadcaster to distribute its signal by satellite, using microwave technology to interconnect its five western stations so as to sell regional audiences to advertisers. This was in 1972, a full ten years before Ted Turner was heralded for taking such a risk and establishing Cable News Network (CNN), his "superstation," which is generally agreed to have led to the growth in U.S. cable television.

In 1999 Univision, one of three Spanish-language networks, was the fifth most-watched (English- or Spanish-language) network in the entire United States, reaching an average of 1.4 million households during prime time. Spanish-language radio stations and television can also be heard in practically every region of the United States, and in some major metropolitan cities there is a variety of Spanish stations to choose from. This dimension, which continues to expand with increasing immigration, truly distinguishes Latinos from previous immigrants to the United States. It enables them to keep ties to their countries of origin, enjoy a diversity of entertainment shows, and be part of the news and cultural developments (in the United States, as well as around the world) in the Spanish language.