Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following Radio Moscow ephemera from 1972. This media is also posted on Archive.org:
I first began listening to shortwave radio in December 1969 at the age of 15. My parents were very supportive of this newfound hobby and allowed some space in the basement for a listening post, in addition to permitting external antenna wires to be run across their property. Various pieces of radio equipment, audio cassettes, shelves of reference books and printed matter including albums filled with QSL’s were accumulated over the next several years, and it all followed me when I moved out. Or so I thought! While clearing out my parents estate in 2016, I came across some ephemera received from Radio Moscow in 1972, that was mixed in with a pile of old papers.
These included a leaflet announcing a Quiz to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the USSR, a frequency guide for their North American service from May to October 1972, and a small 12 page program guide for their North American and Pacific Coast Services.
Today’s listeners would probably be shocked at how strong the evening broadcasts from Radio Moscow came into the East Coast during their heyday on 7150 kHz in the winter and 15150 kHz in the summer. Always with their distinct hum in the background.
The VOA and Radio Liberty were no slouches either. They had to overcome extensive Soviet jamming networks. Most who listen to shortwave over the last 30 years have no concept of how noisy the SW broadcast bands once were.
Here is my recording of their IS and sign on to North America in 1971
https://archive.org/details/radio-moscow-1971
Of course you didn’t actually need a fancy short wave radio to listen to radio Moscow, or any kind of radio. I first picked up RM on a cheap electric guitar amp my granny bought me from woollies. My ATU was wiggling the mains lead around and touching certain parts of the front panel. Even today I listen to an American gospel station on an old 80’s home stereo system.
Notice the number of signals they sent within the same bands at the same time. I recall that the audio quality wasn’t all that great and often they interfered with other stations I really wanted to hear.
Lewis of Ringway Manchester has a much more clear-eyed perspective of what the bands were like back then. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHi-eom6A0o
All of you who remember this as a “better” time are looking back at it with rose colored glasses. There are a lot of things I don’t miss at all.
SWl’ing lead to my radio career. In 1970 or so I wrote to Radio Prague about how to demodulate SSB by use of an inexpensive broadcast band transistor radio along with a shortwave receiver NOT equipped with a BFO. They read the letter over their DX radio show. The next day my parents received a note in the mailbox to come to the post office. For several days they received their opened and searched mail only at the post office. This stopped after saying to my mom “I think they are listening to us” while we watched a vehicle that had been parked outside our house on the local highway since our mail was taken away. Almost immediately, the vehicle sped away. My parents wouldnt let me write Radio Moscow after this encounter.
Unfortunately we are reaching now the same point. The democratic West is not democratic anymore, (if it ever was)
I can almost smell that paper.
I was a big shortwave listener from the late ‘50s until the late ‘60 (approx 10 to 17 years old) when more important things entered my life ?. I started when my parents gave me their old Zenith AM/SW radio. It was a 1940 model tube set. I started to send signal reports and show contents to stations all over the world for WSL cards. The USSR was a prolific literature sender. In about 1963, our postman told my father that he was delivering a lot of envelopes from communist countries, to include the USSR. He said we needed to be aware that mail from communist countries was, especially the USSR, was reported to the “government.” What ever that meant. I don’t listen to SW that much because so much of it is now on the internet. Still have the old Zenith, but it’s just for display and memories now.
Fun stuff. Of course it was all an illusion, Soviet propaganda; and eventually it all came crashing down. But it was fun while it lasted.
Great memorabilia of a better time.