Under the Radar : Tracking Western Radio Listeners in the Soviet Union.

Under the Radar : Tracking Western Radio Listeners in the Soviet Union.

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Parta, R. Eugene.
Imprint:Budapest : Central European University Press, 2022.
Description:1 online resource (429 pages)
Language:English
Subject:
Cold War.
Radio audiences -- Soviet Union.
Radio broadcasting -- Soviet Union.
Radio audiences.
Radio broadcasting.
Soviet Union.
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/13553311
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9789633864562
9633864569
9789633864555
Notes:Print version record.
Summary:Western democracy is currently under attack by a resurgent Russia, weaponizing new technologies and social media. How to respond? During the Cold War, the West fought off similar Soviet propaganda assaults with shortwave radio broadcasts. Founded in 1949, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast uncensored information to the Soviet republics in their own languages. About one-third of Soviet urban adults listened to Western radio. The broadcasts played a key role in ending the Cold War and eroding the communist empire. R. Eugene Parta was for many years the director of Soviet Area Audience Research at RFE/RL, charged among others with gathering listener feedback. In this book he relates a remarkable Cold War operation to assess the impact of Western radio broadcasts on Soviet listeners by using a novel survey research approach. Given the impossibility of interviewing Soviet citizens in their own country, it pioneered audacious interview methods in order to fly under the radar and talk to Soviets traveling abroad, ultimately creating a database of 51,000 interviews which offered unparalleled insights into the media habits and mindset of the Soviet public. By recounting how the "impossible" mission was carried out, Under the Radar also shows how the lessons of the past can help counter the threat from a once and current adversary
Other form:Print version: Parta, R. Eugene. Under the Radar. Budapest : Central European University Press, ©2022 9789633864555
Standard no.:10.1515/9789633864562
Table of Contents:
  • Frontmatter
  • About the Author
  • Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction Why a History of Audience Research at Radio Liberty?
  • Prelude (1953-1965) My Road to Radio Liberty (amabile)
  • First Movement (1965-1970) Early Years of Audience Research at Radio Liberty (andante)
  • Second Movement (1970-1980) First Steps in Audience Interviewing (accelerato)
  • Third Movement (1980-1985) Audience Research Breaks New Ground (sforzando)
  • Fourth Movement (1986-1990) Perestroika Changes the Game (fuocoso)
  • Fifth Movement (1991-1994) The End of the USSR and the Post-Soviet Transition (vittorioso, capriccioso, lamentoso)
  • Postlude (2022) Past Successes, Future Challenges (coda)
  • Afterword Ukraine 2022: The Information War (agitato)
  • Appendix 1 Charts Referenced in Narrative
  • Appendix 2 Some of Those Who Crossed My Path
  • Appendix 3 The MIT Connection and Computer Simulation
  • Appendix 4 Some Examples of SAAOR Reporting and Survey Questions Asked
  • Appendix 5 Profiles of the SAAOR Team
  • Bibliography
  • Index

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