Risso, Linda (Author)
If the Cold War was a war of ideas and ideologies for the `soul of mankind' 1 , radio was definitely one of the weapons of choice. Radio played an important role in the ideological confrontation between East and West as well as within each bloc and, as archival documents gathered here reveal, it was among the most pressing concerns of contemporary information agencies. Radio broadcasts could penetrate the Iron Curtain and directly address the `enemy'. This was extremely important in the early Cold War. For the audiences behind the Iron Curtain, Western broadcasting opened an alternative channel for the flow of new information and ideas and it contributed to the erosion of public support for the government. If recently published figures are correct, one-third of Soviet urban adults and around half of East European adults were regular listeners of Western broadcasts.2 Given the widespread listenership and the perceived destabilizing role of Western programming, it is not surprising that the Communist regimes spent considerable time, energy, and resources fighting foreign broadcasts through jamming, censorship, and a renewed propaganda effort of their own national radio broadcasts. Radio was equally important to keep sustained levels of support among the home public and the public of friendly nations. In the early Cold War in particular, listeners in the West had to be persuaded of the need for higher defence spending levels and a policy of containment. Later, even if other media -- and in particular television -- had become more important, radio continued to be used widely. In the 1970s, the public had to be told about the challenges that came with détente, when Western governments had to carry out costly weapon modernisation programmes while at the same time engaging in diplomatic talks about arms reduction with the East. (from the first three paragraphs)
...MoreDescription Contents:
Article Webb, Alban (2013) Cold War Radio and the Hungarian Uprising, 1956. Cold War History (pp. 221-238).
Article Kind-Kovács, Friederike (2013) Voices, Letters, and Literature through the Iron Curtain: Exiles and the (Trans)mission of Radio in the Cold War. Cold War History (pp. 193-219).
Article
Kind-Kovács, Friederike;
(2013)
Voices, Letters, and Literature through the Iron Curtain: Exiles and the (Trans)mission of Radio in the Cold War
(/isis/citation/CBB001213834/)
Article
Joanna Walewska‐Choptiany;
(2019)
Listening Through the Iron Curtain: RFE and Polish Radio in the “Fog of War”
(/isis/citation/CBB441884312/)
Book
Alejandra M. Bronfman;
(2016)
Isles of Noise: Sonic Media in the Caribbean
(/isis/citation/CBB588899427/)
Article
Lovell, Stephen;
(2011)
How Russia Learned to Listen: Radio and the Making of Soviet Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB001231484/)
Book
Ehrlich, Matthew C.;
(2011)
Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest
(/isis/citation/CBB001212490/)
Book
Ross, Corey;
(2008)
Media and the Making of Modern Germany: Mass Communications, Society, and Politics from the Empire to the Third Reich
(/isis/citation/CBB001232126/)
Article
Helen Piel;
(2020)
Scientific Broadcasting as a Social Responsibility? John Maynard Smith on Radio and Television in the 1960s and 1970s
(/isis/citation/CBB544967395/)
Book
Johns, Adrian;
(2011)
Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age
(/isis/citation/CBB001021857/)
Article
Webb, Alban;
(2013)
Cold War Radio and the Hungarian Uprising, 1956
(/isis/citation/CBB001213835/)
Book
Gonza lez de Bustamante, Celeste;
(2012)
“Muy buenas noches”: Mexico, Television, and the Cold War
(/isis/citation/CBB001202061/)
Article
Yermolov, Pavel;
(2012)
The History of Radio Technology Evolution in Crimea (1899--1920). Part 2
(/isis/citation/CBB001321283/)
Article
Slotten, Hugh Richard;
(2012)
The International Telecommunications Union, Space Radio Communications, and U.S. Cold War Diplomacy, 1957--1963
(/isis/citation/CBB001200574/)
Book
Cummings, Richard H.;
(2009)
Cold War Radio: The Dangerous History of American Broadcasting in Europe, 1950--1989
(/isis/citation/CBB001231470/)
Book
Lovink, Geert;
(2007)
Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB000953891/)
Article
Stoneman, Timothy;
(2009)
A Bold New Vision: The VOA Radio Ring Plan and Global Broadcasting in the Early Cold War
(/isis/citation/CBB000951926/)
Book
Frost, Gary Lewis;
(2010)
Early FM Radio: Incremental Technology in Twentieth-Century America
(/isis/citation/CBB001020402/)
Book
Tom Lewis;
(2021)
Empire of the Air: The Men who Made Radio
(/isis/citation/CBB405487638/)
Book
Anduaga, Aitor;
(2009)
Wireless and Empire: Geopolitics, Radio Industry, and Ionosphere in the British Empire, 1918--1939
(/isis/citation/CBB000954791/)
Article
Slotten, Hugh R.;
(2008)
Radio's Hidden Voice: Noncommercial Broadcasting, Extension Education, and State Universities during the 1920s
(/isis/citation/CBB000950453/)
Book
Ketterer, Ralf;
(2003)
Funken---Wellen---Radio: zur Einführung eines technischen Konsumartikels durch die deutsche Rundfunkindustrie 1923--1939
(/isis/citation/CBB000831038/)
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