{"id":2895,"date":"2012-03-06T17:05:35","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T21:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=2895"},"modified":"2012-03-07T07:00:44","modified_gmt":"2012-03-07T11:00:44","slug":"willis-conovers-jazz-a-secret-weapon-in-the-cold-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/willis-conovers-jazz-a-secret-weapon-in-the-cold-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Willis Conover’s Jazz: A secret weapon in the Cold War"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"David Goren, Shortwaveology<\/a>\u00a0author and producer for\u00a0Jazz at Lincoln Center<\/a>, released a JazzStories Podcast<\/em> today featuring VOA broadcaster, Willis Conover. Willis Conover<\/a> is a noted name in both Jazz music and international broadcasting. His characteristic deep and articulate voice guided many shortwave listeners behind the iron curtain, into the realm of Jazz music.<\/p>\n

Here is the description of the podcast from \u00a0Jazz at Lincoln Center<\/a>:<\/p>\n

During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the United States had a secret weapon: Willis Conover’s “Jazz Hour,” carried on the shortwave radio signals of The Voice of America across Russia and Eastern Europe:. Starting in 1955 and running for over forty years, ‘Jazz Hour’ nurtured generations of jazz musicians who grew up under the restrictions of Communism. On this edition of Jazz Stories we hear Willis Conover and two outstanding jazz musicians, Czech bassist George Mraz and Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev \u2013 both of whom learned about jazz from his broadcasts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can preview this podcast on the Jazz at Lincoln Center podcast page<\/a> (look under “Jazz and the Cold War”) or simply subscribe and download it on iTunes<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Goren, Shortwaveology\u00a0author and producer for\u00a0Jazz at Lincoln Center, released a JazzStories Podcast today featuring VOA broadcaster, Willis Conover. Willis Conover is a noted name in both Jazz music and international broadcasting. His characteristic deep and articulate voice guided many shortwave listeners behind the iron curtain, into the realm of Jazz music. Here is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[508,56,288,43],"tags":[174,943,939,944,941,940,942],"class_list":["post-2895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-2","category-broadcasters","category-radio-history","category-shortwave-radio","tag-david-goren","tag-iron-curtain","tag-jazzstories","tag-shortwaveology","tag-voa-jazz","tag-willis-conover","tag-willis-conover-voa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-KH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8795,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/shortwave-radio-recordings-voice-of-america-circa-1968\/","url_meta":{"origin":2895,"position":0},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of America, circa 1968","author":"Thomas","date":"February 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows and, thanks to his generosity, we will be posting these recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14144,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/the-wsj-features-willis-conover\/","url_meta":{"origin":2895,"position":1},"title":"The WSJ features Willis Conover","author":"Thomas","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Wall Street Journal via Any Sennitt) The Radio Broadcaster Who Fought the Cold War Abroad but Remained Unheard at Home By DOUG RAMSEY During the Cold War, listeners in captive nations behind the Iron Curtain huddled around radios in basements and attics listening to the imposing bass-baritone voice of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14591,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/the-unt-willis-conover-archive-is-now-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":2895,"position":2},"title":"The UNT Willis Conover Archive is now online","author":"Thomas","date":"September 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Regular\u00a0SWLing Post readers know that I\u2019m a huge fan of the late\u00a0Willis Conover. I just learned, via the Arts Journal blog, about an amazing collection of Conover\u00a0audio archives that are now being shared online: \"The music program at the University of North Texas has graduated hundreds of jazz artists who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31414,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/wunc-on-jazz-americas-coolest-weapon-during-the-cold-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":2895,"position":3},"title":"WUNC on Jazz: “America\u2019s Coolest Weapon During The Cold War”","author":"Thomas","date":"March 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: WUNC's The State of Things via Kim Elliott) During the Cold War, the U.S. Department of State sent jazz musicians around the world to sell the American way of life. This initiative took place in the 1950s, during segregation and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Jazz was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13104,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/support-a-willis-conover-us-postage-stamp\/","url_meta":{"origin":2895,"position":4},"title":"Support a Willis Conover US postage stamp","author":"Thomas","date":"May 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're a fan of the iconic Willis Conover, you might consider signing this petition supporting a postage stamp in his honor. Marie Lamb writes: Those of us at the Willis Conover Facebook page are trying to get support for a postage stamp in honor of the great Voice of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willis Conover, The Voice of America (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/614px-Willis_Conover_1969.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7095,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/arturo-sandoval-listened-to-voa-every-single-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":2895,"position":5},"title":"Arturo Sandoval listened to VOA “every single day”","author":"Thomas","date":"August 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Voice of America provided Cuban\u00a0jazz\u00a0trumpeter,\u00a0pianist\u00a0and\u00a0composer, Arturo Sandoval with a source of inspiration through Jazz. In a recent interview with NPR, Sandoval stated: \"We used to listen every day, every single day, [to] Voice of America. [It] was a shortwave radio program, and they play everything in jazz music. That\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"220px-Arturo_Sandoval_photo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/220px-Arturo_Sandoval_photo-211x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}