Cowboy Songs from a Cold War Adversary: Listening to RIAS as Portrayed in the East German Press

Abstract

For much of the Cold War, East Germany attempted to prevent Western media content from reaching its populace. The US government–run radio station Radio in the American Sector (RIAS), broadcasting from West Berlin, emerged as a significant threat in the view of the East German regime. However, analysis of the East German press's treatment of East Germans listening to RIAS during the early postwar period indicates that the coverage was far from uniform. RIAS appeared initially as a competitor to East German radio before being cast as an enemy broadcaster by the early 1950s, revealing shifts in official East German attitudes toward outside propaganda messages. Such attitudes—competing with enemy media, counterpropaganda, educating citizens about propaganda, or blocking messages seen as threatening—remain relevant today.