The “Radiofication” of the Soviet Union

Abstract

Stephen Lovell, Russia in Microphone Age: A History of Soviet Radio, 1919- 1970. xi + 237 pp. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. ISBN-13 9780198725268. $59.95. Anyone who has ever traveled to Soviet Union and Russian Federation is used to more or less steadily playing radio in kitchen. After World War II, radio became most popular background medium of industrialized countries. Despite radio's global impact, our knowledge about its history is very uneven from a geographical standpoint. The trajectory of radio historiography after mid-1990s went from a national focus on radio as a central agent in building national communities to exploration of complex transnational interdependencies that not least included questions of Americanization and of the war of airwaves after 1945. (1) In his new book, British historian Stephen Lovell convincingly tells history of Soviet radio as a success story in long run. Although historians and media and communications scholars have already painted a vivid picture of national radios for some West European countries, United States, and Western foreign broadcasting stations during Cold War, there are only a few studies on Soviet radio. (2) Against this background, Stephen Lovell confidently claims to present the first history of Soviet radio in English. The investigations on Western radio cover a variety of topics ranging from radio technology, content analysis, entertainment and news programming, development of genres, and political propaganda to biographies of radio producers, audience research, and consumer practices. (3) Hence adjective full raises some expectations that book does not fulfill in end, as it would have been too challenging to examine all different aspects of media history. Still, Lovells book sets benchmark for any study in field of radio history, as it gives many insights on a bunch of these topics. The book is based on a broad and thorough archival groundwork from central and local archives. Lovell further refers to oral history interviews, which currently represent one of best sources to get information about daily life and listening practices of ordinary citizens. The author analyzes his materials in seven chronologically arranged chapters. The first three chapters explore birth of new technology, how it spread into Soviet society; how people handled new medium, gathered in front of receivers; how early radio producers conceptualized their programs; and how they spoke and addressed socially and culturally diverse Soviet audience. From beginning, radio exerted a high degree of fascination. It attracted enthusiasts of technology, revolutionary avant- garde of 1920s, Bolsheviks and many ordinary listeners. Focusing on these different groups Lovell highlights considerable extent to which any medium and attitudes toward technology are framed by people and social practices. Early on, author illustrates that technological progress is always promoted, as well as hampered, by competing perceptions and ideas. He convincingly explains Soviet radios development from a perspective of sociocultural and political interests, as well as economic opportunities. Language was an important issue, especially in early years of new medium, when it was still struggling for its place in hierarchy of arts, culture, and political communication. In 1930s, debates on appropriate style of speaking and broadcasting became very heated. Many observers requested that speakers' delivery should represent proletarian culture--whatever this meant. These uncertainties left radio announcers working on a shaky foundation, as potential pitfalls were ever-present but unfortunately not always predictable. To render a proletarian style of delivery compatible with regimes claims to make high culture accessible to all was as a complicated task as broadcasting ordinary voices by letting workers and farmers speak on air. …