Radio
As of 2014, according to data from the Instituto Nicaragüense de Telecomunicaciones y Correos (Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services - TELCOR), there are 285 radio stations at national level, half of which transmit from Managua. The majority of radios (90 percent) broadcast in FM band and very few transmit in AM. Young people tend not to consume programmes with spoken content, as most use radio to listen to music. The most popular genres are reggaeton, ballads, cumbias, gruperas bands, merengue and pop.
Only 4 radios that transmit from Managua have national coverage: Radio Sandino, Radio Nicaragua, Radio Corporación and Radio Ya. Radios Sandino and Ya are owned by the family of the Sandinista party leader Daniel Ortega (President of Nicaragua since 2007) and transmit the official bulletins of the Sandinista government and the propaganda of the Sandinista party. Their audience is mainly constituted by Sandinista sympathisers, mostly urban and rural adults. Radio Nicaragua, is the State’s official means of communication, but like radios Ya and Sandino, it is at the service of the Sandinista government propaganda. Radio Corporation is owned by Ortega’s opponent, Fabio Gadea Mantilla (former presidential candidate in 2011); it holds a conservative line and most of its audience is composed by adults critical of Sandinismo. The greatest number of listeners lives in rural areas, so the radio programming includes content aimed at rural people.
As of 2019, there are around 20 radios owned by women's collectives, organisations of the civil society or small businesses. These community radios are affiliated with the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and offer a variety of programmes focusing on political and social issues and aimed at adult audiences with low and medium levels of education.
Other stations in Managua that broadcast informative and political content are Radio La Primerísima (akin to the Sandinista government), Radio Mujer (feminist collectives), Radio Universidad (Jesuit station with varied programming), Radio Mundial (conservative station, the oldest in the country), Radio 800 (akin to the Sandinista government), Radio 580 (akin to the Sandinista government), Radio CEPAD, Radio Maranatha and Radio Restoration (of the evangelical church).
The majority of radios that broadcast in Managua feature mainly musical programming and have limited coverage reaching the capital and surrounding departments such as Masaya, Carazo, Rivas, Granada, Leon and Chinandega. In the rest of the country’s departments there are an average of 3 to 8 local radios whose coverage is limited to the department where they broadcast. Currently about 30 radios broadcast throughout the Caribbean coast, where 15 percent of the Nicaraguan population lives. These radios are aimed at a mostly rural public made up of fishermen, illiterate farmers and peasants, and almost half of them broadcast content in indigenous languages, Miskito and English. The most influential ones are Juvenile Radio of the city of Bilwi in the Autonomous Region of the Northern Caribbean Coast and Radio La Costeñisima in the city of Bluefields in the Autonomous Region of the Southern Caribbean Coast.