Today there are many books published on the development of mass media in Spain (cinema, television, internet), but most of them avoid the significance of music in their evolution and social relevance. This also happens when considering the progress of the radio. Thus, one of the aims of Julio Arce's book is to explain the presence of music in the early years of radio in Spain, as a key component for the success of this medium among the Spanish population. In fact, music was the main content for radio stations in those years, since they invested a lot of money in music productions and they filled much of their programmes with music.

This book outlines the music scene in Spanish cities (especially Madrid) at a time when cultural industries were being developed and the evolution of media technology was generating new practices of consumption. The noticeable sales of radio receivers since the mid-1920s increased the impact of musical performances on radio stations, and this is something that improved the relationship between this medium and several relevant Spanish composers, musicians and theatre managers. Radio broadcasters travelled hundreds of kilometres, and this served to bring listeners closer to the spectacles and performances of distant cities, as well as making it possible for people living in the suburban and rural areas to get in touch with the cultural life of the city. In this sense there was a sort of pedagogic intent in the stations’ programmes, which broadcast all kinds of repertoires (from opera and string quartets to zarzuela, cuplé and other popular music genres) from different periods (classical, romantic, contemporary). On the other hand, it was possible for Spanish listeners to receive music emitted by radio stations from France and the United Kingdom. Thus, as Arce states, radio became a sign of modernity and cosmopolitism in Spanish society, attracting a young generation of composers that ‘aimed to renew music creation and to become part of modernity, as it was happening in other European countries’ (p. 120).

Julio Arce analyses the different repertoires aired on Spanish radio stations in their early years, at a time when there were no thematic programmes and popular, traditional and classical music were broadcast at random. The audience preferred zarzuela and brass bands who used to play an eclectic repertoire that included traditional songs and new popular dances, such as the Foxtrot and Charleston. Arce pays especial attention to the new genres that emerged due to the evolution of radio itself, such as radiosainete (‘radiocomedy’) and radioteatro (‘radiotheatre’) – a type of play created for the radio that included a particular use of music to illustrate the atmosphere of a scene or to reinforce a character's personality.

Arce is concerned with the determining role of technology in performances during the early years of the radio. Therefore, he explains the adaptations of several compositions in order to allow them to be played in this medium, including the problems of big orchestras and particular instruments playing together with an acceptable quality of sound, and the recommendations to musicians to select an appropriate repertoire and technique, etc. These illustrate some of the common problems that had to be dealt with in different media during these years. They allow us to establish a link with other technologies which were being developed at the time. In fact, the directors of the main radio stations in Spain (Unión Radio and Radio Barcelona) played an important part in the development of sound films and television in Spain.

The evolution of sound technologies also affected practices within radio's broadcasting of music. Before 1929 most of the music aired was played live at the studios, because the machinery of gramophones was too noisy and so not appropriate for broadcasting. These circumstances made radio studios into a new space for music performance and into a relevant source of income for musicians in the main cities. Once an electromagnetic device was added to the gramophone in 1929, it was possible to obtain a better quality of sound from recordings to be broadcast and radio stations began to play records. This situation resulted in a decrease in the number of contracts of musicians and orchestras but, at the same time, radio stations purchased many records and began to create important record collections and music archives. These events also marked the beginning of a new relationship between radio and the record industries, as companies started to advertise their artists and albums on the radio.

This book ends with a chapter explaining the significance of music in radio advertisements. Advertising was a central source of income for every radio station at that time, since there were no public stations in Spain until 1937 (Radio Nacional de España). Thus, there was a saturation of advertisements which resulted in different strategies designed to gain audiences’ attention. Music and sound effects appeared to be successful tools to this end, and in a short period of time there was a significant evolution in the relationship of music and advertising. In the early years, musicians in the studios used to play live while the speaker was reading the text of the advertisement, but by the time the use of gramophone became more common, new advertising formats, such as jingles, were introduced.

The title of the book establishes the chronological limits of this research (1923–1936), namely the years of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923–1930) and the Second Republic (1931–1936). It is a period characterised by important political, economic and social reforms which contributed to the development of Spain. It was a time of optimism that ended with the Civil War in 1936. In this context, the set-up of radio and other media technologies were seen as a sign of progress for the country within the cultural effervescence of the period, known as the Edad de plata (‘Silver Age’). Música y radiodifusión. Los primeros años (1923–1936) is an inspiring work that fills a significant gap in the study of Spanish popular music during the 1920s and 1930s. It focuses especially on the evolution of the country's main radio station (Unión Radio), offering the reader the possibility of approaching the musical urban scene in Spain through the perspective of the radio.