Radio Moscow
In the mid 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, WNYC was one of few American stations to broadcast recordings from Radio Moscow, the international news service of the USSR.
It is unclear how many recordings from this collection made it onto the air and which were set aside as soviet propaganda. Eventually concerns about the broadcasts made their way to the FBI and were discontinued at the insistence of city attorneys.
Shows like Moscow Mailbag, in which the folksy and candid host, Joe Adamov, responds to questions from Americans, illuminate the tensions between these two countries and their particular style of domestic branding. The Truth About the Vietnamese War takes the United States to task on the escalation of the war, "Washington's mad, irresponsible course of suppressing national liberation movements" is compared as worse than Hitler. Rather, the recordings that were most likely aired, focus on Soviet daily life, culture and scientific advancements such as an investigation of the mysterious Tungus Meteorite or a dramatization of the landmark film I Am Twenty.
Featured Shows
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Moscow Mailbag
Science and Engineering
What is Communism
Moscow Meridian
Spotlights on Soviet Life
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