Voice of Russia

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For the blues rock band, see Radio Moscow (band).
Russian National Broadcasting Company "Voice of Russia"
Image:voice_of_russia.gif
Type Radio network
Country Flag of Russia Russia
Availability International
Owner Public ownership
Key people Armen Garnikovich Oganesyan (Chairman); Vladimir Zhamkin (Editor-in-Chief, World Service in English)
Launch date 29 October 1929
Former names Radio Moscow
Website
ruvr.ru

Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service. Its predecessor 'Radio Moscow' was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Contents

[edit] Early years

A 1969 Radio Moscow QSL card
A 1969 Radio Moscow QSL card

Radio Moscow began broadcasting in 1922 with a transmitter station RV-1 in the Moscow region. In 1925 a second broadcasting centre came on air at Leningrad. Radio Moscow was broadcasting (on mediumwave and shortwave) in English, French, German, Italian and Arabic by 1939. Radio Moscow did express concern over the rise of Hitler in Germany during the 1930s, and its Italian mediumwave service specifically was jammed by an order of Mussolini during the late 1930s.

[edit] The Cold War years

The U.S. was first targeted by Radio Moscow during the early 1950s, with transmitters in the Moscow region. Later Western North America was targeted by the newly constructed Vladivostok and Magadan relay stations. The first broadcasts to Africa went on the air in the late 1950s in English and French.

In 1961 Radio Moscow for the first time spoke in three African languages: Amharic, Swahili and Hausa. Over time, listeners in Africa got a chance to tune in to Radio Moscow in another eight African languages.

The first centralized news bulletin went on the air in August 1963 and reached out to listeners all over the world. In the years of the Cold War most news reports and commentaries focused on the relations between the United States and Soviet Union.

Sound
info
help
LISTEN TO A SAMPLE of a RADIO MOSCOW shortwave broadcast from the 1980s.

In the 1970s the cream of Radio Moscow's commentator teams united in a radio journal, called "News and Views". Taking part in the ambitious project were Viktor Glazunov, Leonid Rassadin, Yuri Shalygin, Alexander Kushnir, Yuri Solton and Vladislav Chernukha. Over the years the journal grew into a major information and analytical program of the Radio Moscow foreign service.

[edit] Changes 1980s–1991

In the late 1970s its English language service was renamed Radio Moscow World Service. The project was launched and supervised by a long-time Radio Moscow journalist and manager Alexander Evstafiev. Later a North American service, African service and even a "UK & Ireland" service (all in English) operated for a few hours per day alongside the regular (24 Hour) English World Service as well as services in other languages, the "Radio Peace and Progress" service and a small number of programmes from some of the USSR republics.

Broadcasting Soviet information was Radio Moscow's primary function. All programmes (except for short newsbreaks) had to be cleared by a "Programming Directorate", a form of censorship that was only removed in 1991.

At its peak, Radio Moscow broadcast in over 70 languages using transmitters in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Cuba.

Radio Moscow's interval signal was 'My Country's Vast' (Russian: Широка страна моя родная), played on chimes. This has been changed to Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky in 1991. A move has been made in an attempt to drift away from the image of the communist propaganda media.

One of the most popular programmes on air in the 1980s, due to its informal presentation that contrasted with most other shows, was the 'Listeners’ Request Club' hosted by prominent radio presenter Vasily Strelnikov. Another popular feature which began on Radio Moscow was Moscow Mailbag, which answered listeners' questions about the former Soviet Union and later about Russia. For almost five decades, between 1957 and 2005, the programme was presented by Joe Adamov, who was known for his command of the English language and his good humour.

Radio Moscow continued to broadcast until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and was renamed the World Service of the Voice of Russia.

[edit] Transmission network

Radio Moscow's and Voice of Russia's shortwave (SW) transmission network has never been equalled in its transmission power, directivity and reach. During the stations peak in the 1980's the same programmes could often be heard on a dozen or more frequencies on the (heavily overcrowded) shortwave bands although the station never published its complete or accurate time/frequency schedule. Shortwave hobbyists generally assumed the programming staff did not actually know what frequencies were being used.

The transmission network consisted of at least 30 high-power transmission sites (West to East, with first transmission dates):

The transmission network is partially documented here: http://www.tdp.info/rus.html

The Voice of Russia can also be heard online online.

[edit] Range of Languages

Voice of Russia currently broadcasts in 32 languages:

[edit] VOR output compared to other broadcasters

For a comparison of VOR (RM) to other broadcasters see

Estimated total direct programme hours per week of some external radio broadcasters
Broadcaster 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996[1]
Flag of the United States VOA, RFE/RL & Radio Marti 497 1,495 1,907 1,901 2,611 1,821
Flag of the People's Republic of China China Radio International 66 687 1,267 1,350 1,515 1,620
Flag of the United Kingdom BBC World Service 643 589 723 719 796 1,036
Flag of Russia Radio Moscow / Voice of Russia[2] 533 1,015 1,908 2,094 1,876 726
Flag of Germany Deutsche Welle 0 315 779 804 848 655
Flag of Egypt Radio Cairo / ERTU 0 301 540 546 605 604
Flag of Iran Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting 12 24 155 175 400 575
Flag of India All India Radio 116 157 271 389 456 500
Flag of Japan NHK World Radio Japan 0 203 259 259 343 468
Flag of France Radio France Internationale 198 326 200 125 379 459
Flag of the Netherlands Radio Netherlands 127 178 335 289 323 392
Flag of Israel Israel Radio International 0 91 158 210 253 365
Flag of Turkey Voice of Turkey 40 77 88 199 322 364
Flag of North Korea Radio Pyongyang / Voice of Korea 0 159 330 597 534 364
Flag of Bulgaria Radio Bulgaria 30 117 164 236 320 338
Flag of Australia Radio Australia 181 257 350 333 330 307
Flag of Albania Radio Tirana 26 63 487 560 451 303
Flag of Romania Radio Romania International 30 159 185 198 199 298
Flag of Spain Radio Exterior de España 68 202 251 239 403 270
Flag of Portugal Radiodifusão Portuguesa Internacional 46 133 295 214 203 226
Flag of Cuba Radio Havana Cuba 0 0 320 424 352 203
Flag of Italy Radio RAI International 170 205 165 169 181 203
Flag of Canada Radio Canada International 85 80 98 134 195 175
Flag of Poland Radio Polonia 131 232 334 337 292 171
Flag of South Africa Radio RSA / Channel Africa 0 63 150 183 156 159
Flag of Sweden Sveriges Radio International 28 114 140 155 167 149
Flag of Hungary Magyar Rádió 76 120 105 127 102 144
Flag of the Czech Republic Radio Prague[3] 119 196 202 255 131 131
Flag of Nigeria Voice of Nigeria[4] 0 0 62 170 120 127
Flag of Yugoslavia Radio Belgrade 80 70 76 72 96 68

Source: International Broadcast Audience Research, June 1996

The list includes about a quarter of the world's external broadcasters whose output is both publicly funded and worldwide. Among those excluded are Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea and various international commercial and religious stations.

Notes:

  1. 1996 figures as at June; all other years as at December.
  2. Before 1991, broadcasting for the former USSR.
  3. Before 1996, broadcasting for the former Czechoslovakia.
  4. Nigeria's external service is now off air.

In 1996, the USA's international radio consisted of 992 hours per week by VOA, 667 hpw by RFE/RL, and 162 hpw by Radio Marti.

[edit] USSR Shortwave broadcasting milestones and innovations

The USSR pioneered the use of HRS 8/8/1 antennas (horizontal dipole curtain, eight columns, eight rows, with electrically steerable pattern) for highly targeted shortwave broadcasting long before HRS 12/6/1 technology became available in the west. HRS 8/8/1 curtain arrays create a 10-degree beam of shortwave energy, and can provide a highly audible signal to a target area some 7,000 km away.

The full extent of Russia's shortwave antenna directivity research is unknown, although it is understood that some ionospheric heating experiments were carried out at the Kamo and Dushanbe relay stations in the late 1980s to 1990.

HRS 6/4/1 and HRS 12/6/1 curtain arrays are sold by an U.S. company TCI [1] in California. Marconi (UK) sold two HRS 6/4/1 antennas to Voice of America-BBG before terminating all sales and service for its longwave/mediumwave and shortwave products in the late 1990s.

The full list of available shortwave relay stations is only known by the Russian Ministry of Communications. These transmission facilities can be rented by contractual agreement. The Voice of America, Deutsche Welle and other international broadcasters have leased facilities in the past and currently possess lease agreements with Russia's MOC.

All shortwave relay station facilities in Russia and the former USSR are owned and operated by the Russian Ministry of Communications, with a few exceptions where the facilities were ceded to national governments.

[edit] See also

There was also a radio station for Soviet soldiers in former East Germany called Radio Wolga, until 1990.

[edit] External links

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World Radio Network