186. Ukraine’s Radio ROKS: Heavy metal (and hackers) for brothers in arms

Summary

Summary of "Click Here" Podcast Episode 186: "Ukraine’s Radio ROKS: Heavy Metal (and Hackers) for Brothers in Arms"

Released on November 26, 2024 by Recorded Future News

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Introduction: The Power of Radio in Crisis

In this compelling episode of Click Here, host Dina Temple-Raston explores the pivotal role of Ukraine’s Radio Rocks station during the ongoing conflict with Russia. Drawing a parallel to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s historic radio address after Pearl Harbor, the episode delves into how Radio Rocks has become a beacon of hope, information, and unity for Ukrainians amidst war.

Historical Context: Radio as a Unifying Force

The episode opens with an archival snippet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s December 9, 1941, speech announcing war after the Pearl Harbor attack. Dina Temple-Raston highlights FDR’s choice of radio for its intimate and reassuring connection with the public:

“There’s an intimacy to radio, something reassuring about listening to just the sound of someone's voice.” – Dina Temple-Raston [00:58]

Radio Rocks: From Rock ‘n’ Roll to Resistance

Radio Rocks, Ukraine’s sole international rock and roll station, began in the 1990s as a symbol of freedom and Western cultural influence post-Soviet era. Host Serhii Zenin recounts his lifelong passion for rock music:

“When I was six years old, my father brought me a present. He brought six albums by Scorpions. And since that moment, I've started listening to rock...” – Serhii Zenin [08:40]

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Radio Rocks transformed its programming to support Ukraine’s war effort. The station adopted a dual approach: dedicating half of its airtime to war coverage and the other half to uplifting rock music, aimed at inspiring resilience and unity.

Adaptation and Community Support During War

Radio Rocks’ shift included live dispatches from the front lines, call-in shows for real-time information, and requests from soldiers seeking moments of normalcy through music. Serhii Zenin explains the station’s strategy:

“We need to help people, to inspire them for fighting, to get them some hope through the music.” – Serhii Zenin [11:38]

Listeners, including those on the battlefield using Starlink, found solace in the station’s blend of news and music. Personal messages from soldiers, like Oleksandr Ponomarenko’s heartfelt greetings to his family, underscored the station’s role in maintaining morale:

“Boys, we will all win and return home. All the best. Patience. Glory to Ukraine.” – Oleksandr Ponomarenko [13:30]

Facing Cyber Threats: The Russian Hack

As Radio Rocks intensified its support, it became a target for Russian cyber-attacks aimed at disrupting Ukrainian morale and spreading disinformation. In the summer of 2022, hackers infiltrated Tavar Media’s servers—owner of Radio Rocks—and broadcast a false message claiming President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in critical condition:

“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in critical condition and had to be taken to intensive care.” – Hacked Broadcast [15:04]

The erroneous broadcast caused immediate panic until Radio Rocks swiftly countered with official statements clarifying the misinformation. Zelenskyy himself addressed the false claims, reaffirming his safety and the resilience of the Ukrainian people:

“I am not alone. There are 40 million of us. I'm in my office and I'm healthier than ever. Glory to Ukraine.” – Volodymyr Zelenskyy [16:05]

Personal Sacrifice: Serhii Zenin’s Dual Role

Amidst the turmoil, Serhii Zenin exemplifies dedication by balancing his role at Radio Rocks with active military service. After the invasion, Serhii enlisted, joining the 412th Battalion known for its drone unit, Nemesis. Reflecting on his dual responsibilities, he shares:

“I want to do my best to bring the victory, and I want to come back to this life, to work on the station... I want to get back to that life again.” – Serhii Zenin [18:45]

His perspective as both a broadcaster and a soldier deepens his connection to the music he once played purely for passion. Serhii poignantly describes how songs like Dire Straits’ "Brothers in Arms" resonate differently now:

“Every time I hear this particular song, I start crying, or I am very, very close to that.” – Serhii Zenin [19:08]

Conclusion: Music as an Anthem of Resistance

The episode underscores how Radio Rocks serves not just as a music station but as a lifeline for connection and hope. Through its strategic programming and unwavering commitment, the station fosters a sense of community and resilience among Ukrainians. Serhii’s reflections highlight the intrinsic link between rock music and the Ukrainian spirit of resistance:

“Freedom, love. These are the things that you have to fight for, and these are actually one of those things that we believe in and we fight for them.” – Serhii Zenin [20:36]

As the war persists, Radio Rocks continues to adapt, serving as a testament to the enduring power of music and communication in times of conflict.

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Additional Cyber and Intelligence Highlights

While the main focus remains on Radio Rocks, the episode briefly touches on significant cyber and intelligence developments, including:

• The Onion’s Attempt to Acquire Infowars: The satirical outlet won a bankruptcy auction to buy Alex Jones’ conspiracy site, infowars, amid legal battles over election rigging accusations by Jones. [Timestamp: 25:26]

• US Charges Against Scattered Spider Members: Five individuals were indicted for orchestrating phishing campaigns and stealing $11 million in crypto, facing up to 25 years in prison. [Timestamp: 25:26]

• Sabotage of Baltic Sea Fiber Optic Cables: Germany's defense minister attributes the deliberate severing of critical communication cables to Russian sabotage efforts in response to European support for Ukraine. [Timestamp: 25:26]

• Coca-Cola’s AI-Generated Holiday Commercial Backlash: The use of generative AI in Coca-Cola’s latest holiday ads sparked criticism as audiences felt disenchanted with the lack of human touch. [Timestamp: 25:26]

These segments provide listeners with a broader understanding of ongoing cyber and intelligence challenges globally.

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Produced by: Megan Dietrich, Sean Powers, Erica Gaeda, and Jade Abdul Malik
Edited by: Karen Duffin
Sound Design: Martin Peralta
Music by: Ben Lovingston and Blue Dot Sessions

Join us next Tuesday for a new episode of Click Here, and tune in on Friday for our favorite interview of the week on Mic Drop.

Transcript

[Dina Temple Rasta]

From Recorded Future News and prx, this is Click here.

[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. My fellow Americans. The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Japanese in the Pacific provide the climax of a.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

On December 9, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke to the American people to tell them the country was at war.

[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]

Now, in this war, we're all in it, all the way. Every single man, woman and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

The nation was rattled. The Japanese had just attacked Pearl Harbor. And in this time of peril, FDR decided to step up to the mic, not for a press conference, but for a chat. As much about informing people as comforting them.

[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]

We must share together the bad news and the good news, the defeats and the victories.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

I know I might be a little biased here, but perhaps FDR chose radio because of what it does best, maybe better than any other medium. There's an intimacy to radio, something reassuring about listening to just the sound of someone's voice. So when we heard the story of another wartime radio broadcast almost 100 years later and nearly half a world away, we couldn't resist bringing it to you. Though the soundtrack, well, it's a little different this time. Radio Rocks. Ukrainian rock. Radio Rocks is the only radio station in Ukraine that is completely dedicated to international rock and roll. And the station provided a different kind of soundtrack, a western soundtrack to a part of the world that had limited exposure to this kind of music.

[Serhii Zenin]

As you are, as you were, as.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

I'm Nirvana, ac, dc, Metallica. It was like a sonic testament to how far Ukraine had come from its Soviet bloc days. And Western rock and roll blasting from radios seemed to just underscore that for more than a decade, a rock and roll mission was enough for Radio Rocks, or at least seemed to be. But then the Russians invaded in 2022, and what happened after that stole a page from FDR's playbook, though with a modern twist and some very modern complications. I'm Dina Temple Rasta, and this is Qlik here, a podcast about all things cyber and intelligence. We tell true stories about the people making and breaking our digital world. Almost exactly a year ago, we traveled to Ukraine to see for ourselves how technology was shaping the war. Hello, I'm Dina. Doctor. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. This is Shanta. Today we have a story that's more about heart than head. I think it's safe to say that in the past thousand days or so, Ukraine has defied every expectation. And part of that is because nearly Every corner of society has found a way to pitch in to band together during a difficult time. And that includes one of the nation's most popular destinations for hard rock and roll. Stay with us.

[Tim Harford]

Do nice guys really finish last? I'm Tim Harford, host of the Cautionary Tales podcast and I'm exploring that very question. Join me for my new miniseries on the art of fairness. From New York to Tahiti, we'll examine villains undone by their villainy, monstrous self devouring egos, and accounts of the extraordinary power of decency. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

From. Recorded Future News. This is Click Here. I'm Dena Temple. We met Serhii Zenin quite by accident during a reporting trip in Ukraine last year. Senior supervising producer Sean Powers and I were in the outskirts of Kyiv and a guide was taking us on a tour of something called Unit City.

[Serhii Zenin]

The pleasure working at Unit City, which is an innovation park, is you meet so many people.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Unit City is filled with shipping containers converted into office buildings. Everything is painted bright primary colors and the corporate campus is surrounded by these velvety green lawns and life size chessboards. It all feels very Silicon Valley esque. The Radio Rock studio was stashed in one of those buildings. It's on the ground floor with big glass windows so you can see them while they work.

[Serhii Zenin]

This is the largest telecommunication holding in Ukraine. They don't broadcast now all the time because of the war.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

And our guide had stopped just long enough to tell us about it when Serhii Zenin, one of radiorock's hosts, overheard us talking.

[Serhii Zenin]

I hear you're talking about us.

Yeah, come to us, tell us.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Turns out, sir, he knew our guide, Unit City's cfo. They'd been in military drone school together for one week.

[Serhii Zenin]

We were in a mud and we were learning that Syrian practice how to fly like five types of drones. And then we met at Unit City.

Yes, at the end of the currency, we understood that we work at the same space. Yeah.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Oh, that's amazing. They are trainees and colleagues. That happens a lot in Ukraine these days. Serhiy explained that to understand the role Radio Rocks is playing in the war now, you need to go back a few years to a different kind of war, the Cold War, to those days in the old Soviet bloc when rock and roll wasn't just music, it was a political statement. One of the most famous instances of this happened in 1987. David Bowie played a three day open air concert in Berlin in front of the Reichstag. And the stage was so close to the border that many East Berliners gathered along the Wall just to listen, like dolphins. And then David Bowie started singing Heroes, a song about two lovers, one from East Berlin and the other from the West. And it became a kind of soundtrack for freedom. Heroes.

[Serhii Zenin]

Just want to.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

The Berlin Wall fell just two years later. Radio Rocks was born out of that tradition. When it started in the 1990s, it was the first international rock and roll and heavy metal station in Ukraine. And given this mythic quality that rock and roll had at the time, it became wildly popular.

[Serhii Zenin]

Like Radio Rocks right now is one of the top radio stations, totally in Ukraine, not only among rock lovers, but this station, I can say, and I believe in it, we made a lot of people fall in love with rock music.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Serhi grew up devoted to hard rock of every kind. Dire Straits, Black Sabbath, AC dc and Serhi's personal childhood favorite, Scorpions.

[Serhii Zenin]

When I was six years old, my father brought me a present. He brought six albums by Scorpions. And since that moment, I've started listening to rock, then metal, nu metal, alternative rock, everything.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

He couldn't get enough. He was always on the hunt for bootleg tapes. And then Radiorox 103.6 came along and all the music he loved so much was literally at his fingertips. And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he fell in love with the station. So when he got a little older and heard Radio Rocks was looking for a new host, it was a no brainer.

[Serhii Zenin]

And at that very moment, I understood that I have to send my CV and I have to get an opportunity to work there. It was a magical moment for me to play the music I love to people, to talk about this music, you know, and make it become my career.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

And then in February 2022, that dream job became a calling. Tonight, Vladimir Putin unleashes a tidal wave of violence as Russia launches a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Radio Rocks immediately knew they wanted to do their part to find some modern version of what FDR did with his fireside chats. Not just comfort people, but inform them, maybe even raise a call to action.

[Serhii Zenin]

We were talking about what is going on. We were talking about fundraising processes, about helping our soldiers, about helping civilians.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Russia wanted to divide the Ukrainian people to crush their morale and make them feel alone. Serhiy and the team at Radio Rocks wanted to figure out a way to bring people together. Lots of forms of communication might get disrupted by the fighting, they thought, but.

[Serhii Zenin]

Radio probably wouldn't some people in some villages, they didn't have any Internet electricity. They had only like car radios in their cars, or they had old radios working on batteries. And this was also the way to get some information.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

So the station decided to make a huge shift. It would split the broadcast 50, 50. Half the time they would cover the war almost like a talk radio station, with things like dispatches from the front lines. They'd offer call in shows to answer questions about the war. Like in this case, where the host asks what kind of skills the military wanted recruits to have.

[Serhii Zenin]

Now each civilian skills may be used in the military, for example.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Now, in addition to pilots, in addition.

[Oleksandr Ponomarenko]

To operators, we also need people who.

[Serhii Zenin]

Are good at social media.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

The other half the time they would still play rock and roll, but with more of a Bowie esque intention.

[Serhii Zenin]

And also we started playing inspirational music. We understood that somehow we need to help people, to inspire them for fighting, to get them some hope through the music.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

And sir, he did whatever he could to provide something uplifting for listeners. Like the time he started singing a Proclaimer song on the air in Ukraine. Of course. How could a song like that not cheer up a beleaguered nation, even for a moment? Radio Rocks even started taking requests from the battlefield. Soldiers sometimes stream the station with Starlink and the song requests seemed to offer a moment of normalcy.

[Oleksandr Ponomarenko]

Hello everyone, this is Arp and I'm in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. I want to request a song by Zhardan and Sabak.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

It felt like that late night Delilah show in the us. It's wildly popular, but no one seems to want to admit that they actually listen to it. It's late. Did you just join us? Have you missed the whole night's worth of music and stories, you knucklehead? Where have you been? We're here to talk to you. She takes calls from listeners, offers them advice, and then dedicates a song to someone in their life. Radio Rocks added segments like that.

[Oleksandr Ponomarenko]

My name is Oleksandr Ponomarenko. I am a serviceman of the territorial Defense Forces 98 DNIPRO. I would like to send my greetings to my wife Svetlana, my son Roman, all my relatives and friends. Boys, we will all win and return home. All the best. Patience. Glory to Ukraine.

[Serhii Zenin]

It is very important for any person who is facing harm. Cruel moments to have that moment of rest and emotional release, to stay connected with their civil life, trying to provide.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Both practical information and moral support.

[Serhii Zenin]

It is very important for them that the station that they used to Listen when they were civilians, supports them and understands them now that they became soldiers.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

And their shift toward the war effort was going great, maybe too great. Because in the summer of 2022, Ukrainian cities weren't the only ones to come under attack. The Russians took aim at the nation's radio stations too. Not with missiles, but with hackers.

[Serhii Zenin]

We are the part of the Ukrainian informational space. Of course, Russians could try to do something to harm our media sources, and they always try to do it. So it was not a surprise for us that this hack happened.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

That's after we come back. Stay with us from Recorded Future News. I'm Dina Temple Reston, and this is Click Here. Radio Rocks is part of a family of radio stations in Ukraine owned by a company called Tavar Media. And in the summer of 2022, listeners to a handful of its radio stations heard some shocking news coming out of the speakers. This is audio from the broadcast that day, and it said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in critical condition and had to be taken to intensive care. Thing was, it wasn't true. Someone had hacked into Tavar Media servers and managed to intercept the broadcast. The voice wasn't one of the regular hosts, sounded a bit robotic and hard to believe. In a way, the hack was kind of a backhanded compliment, an understanding of the power of radio. And for a moment, radio listeners in Ukraine felt their heart sink, which is what the hackers wanted. But it worked only briefly. To have our media posted about the hack almost right away, telling listeners that the President was just fine, thank you very much. But the broadcast reached enough people that Zelensky felt compelled to personally respond. He posted a video on Instagram to prove that he was alive. Don't worry, he said. This was just a Russian disinformation campaign. I am not alone. Zelensky says there are 40 million of us. Then, with a little dig to Putin, he says, I'm in my office and I'm healthier than ever. And then, half smiling, he added, with all due respect to the older people, 44 is not 70. Glory to Ukraine. And with that, Radiorox and its fellow radio stations return to regularly scheduled programming, perhaps even more sure of their mission.

[Serhii Zenin]

The role of radio is important to people. After the war began, I started understanding it more and more because we always got feedback from our listeners, and they always were telling us how important is what we do to them.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

As soon as the war started, Serhi did keep working at Radio Rocks, but he also signed up for the military, joining the Long lines of men who flocked to military recruitment offices after the invasion, though he wasn't called up until just a few months ago.

[Serhii Zenin]

My father called me and said that you have the note from the recruiting center. They are waiting for you. So I went there and told them that I'm ready to join the army.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Sir. He joined the 412th Battalion this summer, and while he wouldn't say exactly what he was doing, they are known for having a rather famous drone unit called Nemesis. And while some soldiers are still listening to radio rocks on the front lines, Serhi told us he wasn't able to. The vehicle his unit has access to doesn't have a radio. And the radio silence just puts these days of war in starker relief. He misses his peacetime life.

[Serhii Zenin]

I want to do my best to bring the victory, and I want to come back to this life, to work on the station, to play this music, you know, to hang out with my friends. I want to get back to that life again.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

Serhi says the way he listens to music is different now. He hears songs with the ears of a soldier.

[Serhii Zenin]

And a lot of songs, by the way, started sounding quite differently for me personally. Like, for example, I always liked the song by Dire Straits, which is called Brothers in Arms. But I never felt it so much like I do right now. Every time that, for example, I hear this particular song, I start crying, or I am very, very close to that. This is our country. We love it. And these are our brothers and sisters. We love them. How can you not support the ones you love? How can you not fight for the ones you love? I think it was always a part of the real Ukrainian DNA.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

It's no wonder that rock and roll is his anthem. What's more rock and roll than resistance, camaraderie and fighting for what you love. Turn on any song by Scorpions or David Bowie or Mark Knopfler, and they're all singing about the very things at stake in this war.

[Serhii Zenin]

Freedom, love. These are the things that you have to fight for, and these are actually one of those things that we believe in and we fight for them.

[Dina Temple Rasta]

On the ground, the war grinds on. Ukraine is looking for small wins that will provide leverage in any ceasefire negotiations. Moscow is elevating threats of nuclear war. And President elect Donald Trump, who claims he could end the war in 24 hours, will be inaugurated in January. This is Click here. Here are some of the top cyber and intelligence stories of the past week. It seemed like the deal was all done. The Onion, a satirical outlet based in Chicago won a bankruptcy auction to buy infowars, the conspiracy site. And then in a twist, a judge has put the sale of Alex Jones site on hold while he investigates how the auction was conducted. Things have gotten a little messy. A bidder associated with Alex Jones raised a last minute objection to the sale. The auction is part of a broader effort to satisfy some $1.5 billion in damages that Jones owes to families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. For years, Jones lied about the 2012 shooting, saying that it never happened or that the government staged it in an effort to take away American guns. And he said the families were part of the plot. The families who lost their children in the shooting were subjected to death threats and worse. As a result, they support the Onion's purchase of infowars and have offered to contribute to the Onion's efforts to buy it. Alex Jones lawyers are arguing that the auction was rigged to help the Onion win the bid. A Houston bankruptcy judge will be reviewing the bidding process this week. US Charges Scattered Spider Members According to an unsealed indictment, California prosecutors charged five members of the Pernicious Threat Group, the group behind the MGM casino hack last year. Scattered Spider is under the gun. Last week, the Justice Department unsealed charges against five men accused of running phishing campaigns, which provided hackers access to employee credentials and other sensitive data. The men, ranging in age from 20 to 25, stand accused of stealing $11 million worth of crypto from at least 29 victims. Four of the suspects are American, and they're being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, among other things. They face up to 25 years in prison. A criminal investigation has now been opened into the severing of two fiber optic cables at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Germany's defense minister has called the damage to two fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea last week an act of sabotage. One of the cables connects Finland and Germany and the other links Lithuania and Sweden. The German minister of defense said nobody believes the this was an accident. He says he believes the attack on the cables are a reprisal for European support of Ukraine in its war with Russia. The disruption hasn't affected Internet traffic because other cables are available, but this appears to be the latest episode in a broader campaign of unexplained fires and other acts of sabotage all over Europe over the past year. Holidays are coming, Holidays are coming, Holidays are coming. Coca Cola launched their annual holiday commercial, but this year there's been a serious backlash on social media. The ad with its iconic depictions of polar bears, Christmas trees and trucks delivering Coke, had another uncanny quality to it's blatant use of generative AI. The commercials, digital animals and computer generated revelers exchanging smiles has people up in arms because AI programs, not human artists, created it. But Coca Cola has pushed back, arguing they've always been at the forefront of cutting edge advertising and marketing. The holiday magic might seem a little dimmer, but it's unclear whether it'll hurt the brand in any way.

[Jade Abdul Malik]

Today's episode was produced by Megan Dietrich, Sean Powers, Erica Gaeda and me, Jade Abdul Malik. It was edited by Karen Duffin, Back checked by Darren Ancrum and contains original music by Ben Lovingston with some other music from Blue Dot sessions. Our staff writer is Lucas Riley and our illustrator is Megan Goff. Martin Peralta is our sound designer and engineer. Click Here is a production of Recorded Future News. Tune in on Friday for Mic Drop, which features our favorite interview of the week. We'll have a new episode of Click Here on Tuesday. We'll see you then.

[Unnamed Host]

Looking for more of the cybersecurity and intelligence coverage you get on Click Here? Then check out our sister publication the Record from Recorded Future News. You'll get breaking cyber news from reporters in New York, Washington, London and Kyiv, among others. And you'll see for yourself why it attracts hundreds of thousands of page views every month. Just go to therecord Media.