I came across a photo album with personal photographs of people who worked in the 70s as part of archaeological expeditions in Karelia. The album contains photographs from 1972 to 1980 and a little less than a hundred photographs. An interesting detail present in some pictures from different years is the VEF 12 radio.
A little history about radio:
The first radio broadcasting in the USSR began in 1919 from the Nizhny Novgorod laboratory.
On August 21, 1922, radio broadcasting began for ordinary listeners, who were now able to receive a radio signal over a large area — the Central Radiotelephone Station, the first broadcast radio station in Russia, began operating in Moscow, carrying out test transmissions, which gradually became quite regular. The first speech programs appeared: “Radio to All” and “Radio News”, music was broadcast.
Thus, on September 3, 1922, the Izvestia newspaper published a note: “One of these days, the first radio concert with the participation of the Bolshoi Theater artists and professors of the Conservatory will be given at the newly built Central radiotelephone station in Moscow. Artists will perform their numbers near a regular telephone receiver. All cities of the RSFSR, where there are ordinary radio receivers, can listen to the concert. The names of the participants, the program of the concert, the day and hour of the start will be communicated by a radiogram. "
On September 15, 1922, a radio message was broadcast with the following content: “Everyone, everyone, everyone! Tune in to a wave of 3 thousand meters and listen! On Sunday, September 17, at 3 pm, standard time, the first concert will take place at the Central radiotelephone station of the People’s Commissar. The program includes Russian music. “In March 1925, the radio began broadcasting thematic literary and musical programs” Cultural Heritage for Children “, the first programs of the cycle were devoted to the works of Pushkin, Krylov, Beethoven and the theme” Nature in Music “.
In June 1925, under the agitprop of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), the Radio Commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was created under the leadership of N.K.Krupskaya and A.V. Lunacharsky. In November of the same year, the Radio Commission heard the report of the Radio Transmission Society. The resolution adopted on the basis of the results of the report said: “The main tasks of the‘ Radio transmission ’are recognized: 1) the organization of agitation and cultural and educational broadcasting with the installation of the necessary installations, both transmitting and receiving, and 2) radiocommunication of the Village. To strengthen the political radio campaign, it was deemed necessary to establish a closer connection between the ‘Radio transmission’ cultural department and the Central Committee’s agitation and propaganda department. ”
On November 7, 1925, the first live radio coverage of the festive parade from Red Square was carried out. At the same time, the reportage was conducted not only for the USSR, but also for a foreign audience in English, German and French.
On November 7, 1929 (according to other sources in October 29), broadcasting was launched to France, England and the United States in German and English.
In response, the BBC, for example, began to regularly release programs in Russian only from March 26, 1946. “Voice of America” began broadcasting in Russian in 1947. Italian Radio and Radio Vatican began broadcasting in Russian in 1948, and Radio Canada in 1951. Naturally, since the programs were of an agitational nature, then the means of combating “enemy propaganda” were also found.
Since February 1948, Voice of America broadcasts have been systematically jammed with so-called jammers (jamming radio stations) — powerful generators of electronic noise. In the official language it was called “radio protection” (“jamming”, “radio suppression”, “jamming”, “radio countermeasures”, “jamming of anti-Soviet radio broadcasts”, “electronic warfare”). It was built about
1,400 specialized stations with a total capacity of 14,600 kilowatts, which made it possible to jam up to 40-60% of broadcasts.
In 1960, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution “On measures of active opposition to hostile radio propaganda.” Foreign propaganda agencies tried to break through radio protection by placing transmitters closer to the borders of the USSR and increasing their power. The jamming of foreign radio stations in the USSR was completely stopped at the end of November 1988. Due to the peculiarities of the propagation of radio waves, jamming was effective only near jamming stations, that is, usually on the territory of large cities and in the immediate vicinity. In rural areas, there was practically no interference.
Thus, by the beginning of the 70s, there were quite a lot of all kinds of radio stations on the air, broadcasting both entertainment and propaganda materials. The population in Karelia in 1970 was about 700 thousand people, most of whom lived in the capital of the republic, the population density is 3.5 people per square meter. kilometer. Perhaps there was one of the “jammers” in Petrozavodsk, but most likely on the border with the Finns, it could no longer interfere with the reception of foreign radio stations.
We can only assume what these people were listening to, but it is obvious that this radio was an important part of their life and was used both on expeditions and between them in everyday life.
Related links:
Колчина А.С. Место и роль западных радиостанций в информационном пространстве СССР и новой России (на примере радиостанций: “Голос Америки”, Би-би-си и “Радио Свобода”) // Медиаскоп. 2016. Вып. 4. http://www.mediascope.ru/2241
Вражеские голоса: как в СССР боролись с иностранными СМИ
https://www.rbc.ru/politics/17/11/2017/5a0ec5469a79471f313552b6
Иностранное вещание на территорию СССР
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/История_радиовещания_в_России
“Вражеские голоса”. Прошлое, настоящее и будущее
https://www.bbc.com/russian/society/2011/03/110321_western_soviet_radio_voices
