Initially it was inspired by the appeals made by the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, and in more recent years based on the Marian messages from Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, pleading for worldwide conversion.

The World Family of Radio Maria was formed in 1998 out of its subsequent international growth in the 1990s, and pursuant to the 1987 speech by Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square addressing the need for a new evangelization.

Emanuele Ferrario (inspired by the Pope's words to form a new evangelization) is the founder and president of Radio Maria, Inc., which has since grown into an association of 40 multilingual broadcast operations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.

Radio Maria's programming mostly emanates from one centrally located studio or station in a given region or country, and is then re-broadcast (or "simulcast") on a network of repeater transmitters on the AM and FM bands.

Since the emergence of the internet, audio-streaming has been used extensively as a means to help fill in gaps left by the unavailability of AM or FM frequencies in metropolitan areas already taken up by commercial, public, or other religious broadcasters.