Jaime Yankelevich

Jaime Yankelevich (1896 — 1952) was an Argentine engineer and businessman who was a pioneer in the development of his country's radio and television media.

Jaime Yankelevich was born into a Jewish family in Bulgaria, in 1896. His parents emigrated to Argentina in 1899 and settled in the province of Entre Ríos. The Yankelevich family relocated to Buenos Aires in 1914, where Jaime found work in one of the city's many theatres as a backstage hand. Trained as a theatre electrician, Yankelevich eventually opened an electrical supply store in the Constitución section of Buenos Aires. The store specialized in radio valves and other equipment, which became in great demand following the advent of the medium in 1920. Increasingly skilled in his field, he created many of these parts by hand.

The sale of a failing early radio station gave Yankelevich the opportunity to pursue his interest directly and in 1924, he purchased the ailing broadcaster. Known at the time as "LR3" (for its being the third station on the dial), Yankelevich pioneered the use of artistic contracts in radio, by which artists were paid a salary in return for his commitment to limit broadcasts of their work to live performances in lieu of recordings. The practice made the newly christened "Radio Belgrano" the most coveted employer in Argentine radio and by the 1930s, it enjoyed the nation's highest ratings. Growing acquisitions allowed Yankelevich to form the Radio Belgrano chain in 1937. Venturing into other areas, he co-produced Two Friends and One Love, a 1937 romantic comedy film, with Francisco Canaro, a well-known Argentine tango bandleader. Later that decade, he pioneered late-night broadcasting in Argentina, and in 1942, united numerous low-wattage radio stations into the Argentine Broadcasting Chain, which preserved or reopened a number of smaller, local stations nationwide.

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