Under the Radar

Tracking Western Radio Listeners in the Soviet Union
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-963-386-762-4
Verlag: Central European University Press

Buch, Englisch, 426 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 614 g

Western democracy is currently under attack by a resurgent Russia, weaponizing new technologies and social media. How to respond? During the Cold War, the West fought off similar Soviet propaganda assaults with shortwave radio broadcasts. Founded in 1949, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast uncensored information to the Soviet republics in their own languages. About one-third of Soviet urban adults listened to Western radio. The broadcasts played a key role in ending the Cold War and eroding the communist empire.

R. Eugene Parta was for many years the director of Soviet Area Audience Research at RFE/RL, charged among others with gathering listener feedback. In this book he relates a remarkable Cold War operation to assess the impact of Western radio broadcasts on Soviet listeners by using a novel survey research approach. Given the impossibility of interviewing Soviet citizens in their own country, it pioneered audacious interview methods in order to fly under the radar and talk to Soviets traveling abroad, ultimately creating a database of 51,000 interviews which offered unparalleled insights into the media habits and mindset of the Soviet public. By recounting how the “impossible” mission was carried out, Under the Radar also shows how the lessons of the past can help counter the threat from a once and current adversary.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Parta, R. Eugene

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Massenmedien & Massenkommunikation
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Mediengeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften Fernsehen & Rundfunk
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Marxismus, Kommunismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction. Why a History of Audience Research at Radio Liberty?

Prelude. My Road to Radio Liberty (amabile)

First Movement (1965-1970). Early Years of Audience Research (andante)

Second Movement (1970-1980). First Steps in Audience Interviewing (accelerato)

Third Movement (1981-1985). Audience Research Breaks New Ground (sforzando)

Fourth Movement (1986-1990). Perestroika Changes the Game (fuocoso)

Fifth Movement (1991-1994). The End of the USSR and the Post-Soviet Transition (vittorioso, capriccioso, lamentoso)

Postlude. Past Successes, Future Challenges (coda)

Afterword. Ukraine 2022: The Information War (agitato)

Appendix 1: Charts Referenced in Narrative
Appendix 2. Some of Those Who Crossed My Path: Max Ralis, Ross Johnson, James Crichlow, Morrill "Bill" Cody, Ralph Walter, James Buckley, Eugene Pell, William W. Marsh, Viktor Nekrasov, Andrei Sinyavsky, Victor Grayevsky, Irina Alberti, Helmut Aigner, Christopher Geleklidis, Steen Sauerberg, Copenhagen interviewer
Appendix 3. The MIT Connection and Computer Simulation
Appendix 4. Some Examples of SAAOR Reporting and Surve Questions Asked
Appendix 5. Profiles of the SAAOR Team
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Parta, R. Eugene
R. Eugene Parta is former director of Soviet Area Audience and Opinion Research at RFE/RL and of Media and Opinion Research at the RFE/RL Research Institute.