Airy Curtains

Abstract

After the Second World War, the infrastructural connections between the Western and the Eastern part of Europe were subsequently cut. The sealing of the passages through the Iron Curtain did not, however, succeed entirely. One increasingly important breach was generated by radio frequencies, which carried broadcasting programs, for example, from Radio Free Europe, straight across the Iron Curtain. This paper analyses the negotiations on the broadcasting map of Europe by focusing on the broadcasting conference of Geneva 1974/75, which moved the “Airy Curtains” much more westward. Three factors explain the Eastern European success. First, Eastern European delegations followed a coordinated strategy in contrast to the Western European ones. Second, the hierarchical ussr leadership made sure that the Eastern European countries stuck to their strategy, whereas Western European countries preferred to depend on themselves. Third, the Eastern bloc let politics and politicians rule, while in Western Europe, to the contrary, frequency allocation was a battle that was largely fought by technicians. The gap between the “political East” and the “technical West” was an important advantage for the East. Focus in this article is put on the radio stations which were situated in Berlin because the city was an important bridgehead for Western broadcasters on socialist territory.