It is difficult to imagine a subject with more elusive data than this. The source and location of clandestine radio broadcasts are, by definition, secret. `White' stations openly identify themselves (such as Radio Free Europe), and `gray' stations are purportedly operated by dissident groups within a country, although actually they might be located in another nation; but `black' stations transmit broadcasts by one side disguised as broadcasts by another. . . . [This] is an extraordinary book. It belongs in every research library concerned with war and revolution and international communications. A valuable appendix lists known clandestine radio stateions, 1948-1985. Choice In this ambitious and impressive study two academic specialists in the field of political communication have endeavored to cover the history of such broadcasts from the beginnings in the 1930s through the use of psychological warfare and deception of World War II to the manifold practice of `gray' and `black' propaganda that had punctuated the conflict of the postwar period. Foreign Affairs

Published for the first time, the history of the CIA's clandestine short-wave radio broadcasts to Eastern Europe and the USSR during the early Cold War is covered in-depth. Chapters describe the "gray" broadcasting of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in Munich; clandestine or "black" radio broadcasts from Radio Nacional de Espana in Madrid to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine; transmissions to Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Ukraine and the USSR from a secret site near Athens; and broadcasts to Byelorussia and Slovakia. Infiltrated behind the Iron Curtain through dangerous air drops and boat landings, CIA and other intelligence service agents faced counterespionage, kidnapping, assassination, arrest and imprisonment. Excerpts from broadcasts taken from monitoring reports of Eastern Europe intelligence agencies are included.

"It was not a matter of propaganda ... black and white ideological broadcasts ... What made [Radio Free Europe] important were its impartiality, independence, and objectivity."---Vaclav Havel "Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were critically important weapons in the free world's competition with Soviet totalitarianism---and without them the Soviet bloc might even have not disintegrated ... The account in this book of their activities is therefore not only informative, but critical to understanding recent history."---Zbigniew Brzezinski "The studies and translated Soviet bloc documents published in this book demonstrate the enormous impact of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Voice of America during the Cold War. By promoting democratic values and undermining the monopoly of information on which Communist regimes relied, the Radios contributed greatly to the end of the Cold War."---George P. Shultz "I know of no other mass media organization that has done more than RFE/RL to help create the Europe in which we live today---a Europe not divided into two opposing camps."---Elena Bonner Examines the role of Western broadcasting to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the Cold War, with a focus on Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. It includes chapters by radio veterans and by scholars who have conducted research on the subject in once-secret Soviet bloc archives and in Western records. It also contains a selection of translated documents from formerly secret Soviet and East European archives, most of them published here for the first time.

Shortwave broadcasting originated in the 1920s, when stations used the new technology to increase their range in order to serve foreign audiences and reach parts of their own country not easily otherwise covered. The early days of shortwave radio were covered in On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening in the Pioneer Days of Radio, published by McFarland in 1999 (paperback 2007). Then, two companion volumes were published, picking up the story after World War II. They were Listening on the Short Waves, 1945 to Today (McFarland, 2008; paperback 2010), which focuses on the shortwave listening community, and the present Broadcasting title, about the stations themselves and their environment. The heart of the book is a detailed, year-by-year account of the shortwave bands in each year from 1945 to 2008. It reviews what American listeners were hearing on the international and domestic shortwave bands, describes the arrivals and departures of stations, and recounts important events. The book describes the several categories of broadcasters--international, domestic, private, religious, clandestine and pirate. It explains the impact of relay stations, frequency management, and jamming. It also addresses the considerable changes in shortwave broadcasting since the end of the Cold War. The book is richly illustrated and indexed, and features a bibliography and extensive notes.

It is difficult to imagine a subject with more elusive data than this. The source and location of clandestine radio broadcasts are, by definition, secret. `White' stations openly identify themselves (such as Radio Free Europe), and `gray' stations are purportedly operated by dissident groups within a country, although actually they might be located in another nation; but `black' stations transmit broadcasts by one side disguised as broadcasts by another. . . . [This] is an extraordinary book. It belongs in every research library concerned with war and revolution and international communications. A valuable appendix lists known clandestine radio stateions, 1948-1985. Choice In this ambitious and impressive study two academic specialists in the field of political communication have endeavored to cover the history of such broadcasts from the beginnings in the 1930s through the use of psychological warfare and deception of World War II to the manifold practice of `gray' and `black' propaganda that had punctuated the conflict of the postwar period. Foreign Affairs

Although television is now dominant, radio surprisingly remains a medium of unparalleled power and importance. Worldwide, it continues to be the communications vehicle with the greatest outreach and impact. Every indicator--economic, demographic, social, and democratic--suggests that far from fading away, radio is returning to our consciousness, and back into the cultural mainstream. Marilyn J. Matelski reviews radio's glory days, arguing that the glory is not all in the past. B. Eric Rhoads continues Matelski's thoughts by explaining how and why radio has kept its vitality. The political history of radio is reviewed by Michael X. Delli Carpini, while David Bartlett shows how one of radio's prime functions has been to serve the public in time of disaster. Other contributors discuss radio as a cultural expression; the global airwaves; and the economic, regulatory, social, and technological structures of radio. Collectively, the contributors provide an intriguing study into the rich history of radio, and its impact on many areas of society. It provides a wealth of information for historians, sociologists, and communications and media scholars. Above all, it helps explain how media intersect, change focus, but still manage to survive and grow in a commercial environment.

During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty broadcast uncensored news and commentary to people living in communist nations. As critical elements of the CIA's early covert activities against communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the Munich-based stations drew a large audience despite efforts to jam the broadcasts and ban citizens from listening to them. This history of the stations in the Cold War era reveals the perils their staff faced from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania and other communist states. It recounts in detail the murder of writer Georgi Markov, the 1981 bombing of the stations by "Carlos the Jackal," infiltration by KGB agent Oleg Tumanov and other events. Appendices include security reports, letters between Carlos the Jackal and German terrorist Johannes Weinrich and other documents, many of which have never been published.