In 2007, a headline of the newspaper La Nación announced free Wi-Fi and full cellular phone communications in the underground subways of Buenos Aires. In practice, the cellular connections were clear and the technology seemed better than in most subways in North American cities. Robert Claxton would have nodded at the headline, knowing that ‘Argentines have used communication medias, including radio, as much as people in western Europe or the United States have and to a greater extent than most other nations’ (p. xxvi). We need to remember that in the early twentieth century Argentina had a highly developed telecommunications infrastructure, and was well ahead of most nations.
Beginning with the early stages of radio development during 1920–1944, From Parsifal to Perón is a unique book about how and why Argentine society developed commercial and non-commercial radio broadcasting, and how new radio technology influenced the social and economic tastes of radio listeners. Though Claxton begins the book with some interesting facts about Argentina's leadership in telecommunications in the twentieth-century, his story goes beyond giving us a simple history of early radio; he discusses the importance of radio as medium of information and national unity. In six chapters, plus introduction and conclusion, he examines the connections between radio, technology and nationhood, and the potential influence of radio on democracy.
In the introduction, Claxton guides the reader through colourful images of a modernising city and country that was ready to absorb and spread radio technology. It is easy to be drawn into these guided descriptions and the arguments of the book by the book's readability. And the images of technologically curious radio amateurs are somewhat similar to the ones described in Beatríz Sarlo, La imaginación técnica. Sarlo also discusses the rise of Argentina's technological obsession in the 1920s. The curious radio amateurs were simply known as aficionados.
In the first chapter, ‘Beginnings of Radio in Argentina’, Claxton argues that radio technology emerged from the milieu of a rapidly growing, changing and modernising society. In the 1920s, Argentine society was flourishing. Buenos Aires, in particular, was a modern city with all the technological and cultural amenities of any major North Atlantic city. It attracted immigrants, foreign investment, and was home to excellent cultural resources. Ambitious and middle-class young men from the cities became interested in radio technology and broadcasting. In this environment, where technological advancements and popularity of the radio materialised, on 27 August 1920, five medical doctors who were also aficionados, managed to broadcast a three-hour performance of Richard's Wagner opera, Parsifal. This success was a clear sign of a bright future for radio in Argentina.
By 1928, the country had a free and enterprising radio broadcasting system. Chapters two and three detail the success and failure of nineteen broadcasting stations, demonstrating that radio technology and broadcasting were homegrown processes developed by amateurs. Unlike the foreign ownership of the telephone, urban transport system, and the railroads, the radio was mainly a domestic innovation and nationally owned. As a result of the curiosity, ingenuity and high literacy of the amateurs, radio technologies were created and improved and by the 1930s, radios became smaller, user-friendly, and more affordable for the general audience. While commercial radio attracted a wide array of listeners, non-commercial broadcasting, as discussed in chapter four, did not fare so well. Claxton discusses four non-commercial stations that were pioneering and experimental, and demonstrates that the surviving stations remained only because the radio managers eventually turned them into something resembling their commercial counterparts.
In chapter five, ‘Radio and Argentine Nationhood’, Claxton discusses how broadcasting became ‘a great national classroom’ (p. 90). Before 1930, Argentina grew from the influx of European immigration. The population of Buenos Aires City grew from 1.5 million in 1914, to 4.7 million by 1947. Claxton argues that radio broadcasting helped educate and entertain immigrant and native born residents. Radio stations provided programming that listeners from broad and diverse backgrounds could say they identified with. Claxton, defining nationhood rather broadly, as a shared sense of identity among people who speak the same language and enjoy a traditional past, argues that ‘broadcasting stations linked remote corners of Argentina’ contributed to the consolidation of this identity by giving everyone a gaucho past and fusing polar opposites such as the country and city, the immigrant and native born, and urban tango and rural music.
In the final chapter, ‘The Influence of Radio’, Claxton concludes that radio broadcasting had little effect in promoting political democracy in the 1920s and 1930s. Instead, successful radio broadcasting focused on entertaining its listeners through distinctively Argentine dramas and programmes. Radio also introduced advertising, helping to build consumerism.
This is a seminal work, though the book is difficult to locate within a specific genre. Arguments maintained throughout the book include the pioneering efforts of self-taught radio amateurs in Argentina, comparisons with radio broadcasting in the United States, and the connection between nationhood, radio technology and broadcasting. Claxton has done a fine job researching the broad importance of radio technology and broadcasting in Argentina, but future studies could focus on just one topic given in any of the chapters. It would be interesting, for example, to learn more about why radio broadcasting seemed to be regulated but not heavily censored. Also, chapter five could benefit from specific examples of how radio became to function as a great national classroom in people's homes. The connection between radio technology, import substitution, and domestic innovation also needs more clarity. The four appendices at the end of the book are helpful and could assist scholars trace the trajectory of pioneering radio broadcasters, dealers and regulations. Future studies on radio broadcasting and its effects on Argentine society should be inspired to follow this work.
