It was launched in 1 January 1989 as the first 24-hour rolling radio news service in Spain.

It is the only nationwide rolling news radio service in Spain.

Although almost all its programming is in Spanish and is the same for all of Spain, RNE has territorial centers in every autonomous community and produces and broadcasts some local news bulletins in regional variations in each of them in the corresponding co-official language.

It began broadcasting on 1 January 1989, following a reorganization of public radio services that took place after the dissolution of Radiocadena Española, and in its early years it included both conventional and local entertainment programming.

[1] In 1994, when Jesús Vivanco was director of the station, it adopted the format of a news radio station specializing in public service and current affairs under the name Radio 5 Todo Noticias.