I recently made a contribution about the x-ray audio project and the role that shortwave radio played in the story of the X-ray discs for a program for KMTS radio (Listen HERE) - a channel that is dedicated to short wave broadcasting (thanks to Pete Polanyk).
Up to 25 years ago, shortwave radio was a major source international news and media. The BBC World Service, Radio Moscow —the mouthpiece of Soviet propaganda, Voice of America —the mouthpiece of US propaganda, Radio Netherlands, Radio Berlin International, Radio Havana, Kol Yisrael, All India Radio and many more all broadcast their messages over vast distances via shortwave. The BBC estimated global listenership to be more than 120 million people weekly.
The advent of the internet brought a decline - many broadcasters decreased or stopped their shortwave transmissions altogether - the BBC World Service no longer transmits via shortwave to America and most of Europe - but there is still a lively community of shortwave enthusiasts, listening (SWling) clubs and technical hobbyists.
During the cold war, adapted and hacked shortwave radios were one of the main ways that Soviet youth could access Western jazz and rock’n’ roll’ in the 50s and 60s - and were an important source of tunes for bootleggers to cut bone discs.
"The Invisible Battle of the Cold War Airwaves’ an episode of my Bureau of Lost Culture show, explored three stories of cold war era radio in the USSR.
I met with Russian broadcaster Vladimir Raevsky to talk about radio jamming. As the East and West super powers squared up to each with nuclear weapons, a parallel invisible war was being fought on the airwaves. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on broadcasting propaganda and music into the USSR - and by the Soviet authorities.on attempting to block them from being heard by using electronic signals to interfere with the transmission.
We also hear about the strange story of the ‘Russian Woodpecker’, a dystopian broadcasting station near the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which allegedly attempted to 'brainwash the West' using radar. (In fact, it was more likely part of the Soviet early warning anti-nuclear defence system)
And BBC Russian Arts correspondant Alex Kan, sat with me in a London cafe to tell of the brave young ‘Radio hooligans' who broadcast their own individual pirate radio shows during his youth in the USSR.
You can listen below - or subscribe to all the Bureau’s transmissions HERE