From “On the Media” ’s “Divided Dial”: “Fishing in the Night”

Summary

The New Yorker Radio Hour: From “On the Media” ’s “Divided Dial” – “Fishing in the Night”

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Hosted by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker, The New Yorker Radio Hour presents a compelling episode titled “From ‘On the Media’’s ‘Divided Dial’: ‘Fishing in the Night’”. Hosted by Katie Thornton, a senior producer for the series, this episode delves deep into the intricate world of shortwave radio, tracing its evolution from a beacon of global communication to a tool for propaganda and, ultimately, a platform for extremist messages. This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting key discussions, insights, and notable quotes.

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1. Introduction to “Divided Dial”: “Fishing in the Night”

The episode opens with Vincent Cunningham discussing the intersection of media and the papacy, setting a tone of deep analysis and storytelling. Adam Howard then transitions listeners to introduce the special feature from On the Media's second season, “Divided Dial”, focusing on the enigmatic realm of shortwave radio.

“The Catholic Church was made for this moment... oil painting is not enough.”
— Adam Howard [00:12]

Katie Thornton, the host, provides an overview of the episode, emphasizing the historical and contemporary significance of shortwave radio. She contrasts Season One's focus on the rise of right-wing talk radio with Season Two's exploration of shortwave's faded yet potent influence.

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2. The Legacy and Art of Shortwave Radio

Katie shares her personal journey into the world of shortwave radio, recounting her experiences with David Goren, a passionate shortwave enthusiast and member of the Library of Congress's Radio Preservation Task Force. Their collaboration highlights the allure and technical marvel of shortwave radio.

“There's something magical about tuning into the world, training my ear to listen through the crackle, hearing the distance.”
— Katie Thornton [02:14]

David Goren reminisces about his childhood fascination with shortwave, introduced by his uncle in the 1970s, illustrating how shortwave opened a window to the world beyond his immediate surroundings.

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3. Shortwave Radio in the Early 20th Century

The narrative shifts to the origins of radio broadcasting, beginning with AM radio in the 1920s. Initially designed for local transmission, AM radio's limitation in range gave rise to the phenomenon of long-distance signal reception at night, known as “fishing in the night”.

“Long distance telephone calls were the costly domain of dignitaries and government officials... a disembodied voice without a wire.”
— Adam Howard [08:39]

Listeners in the early days were captivated by mysterious broadcasts emanating from distant cities, fueling both fascination and myths about radio communication.

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4. The Emergence of Shortwave Radio

Shortwave radio emerged as a solution to AM's limited range. Contrary to initial skepticism, shortwaves proved capable of transmitting signals over vast distances, sometimes spanning up to 10,000 miles. This breakthrough transformed radio from a local affair to a global medium.

“Shortwave could use the ionosphere as a springboard. And this changed the game for AM broadcasters who wanted their station to reach more people.”
— Adam Howard [12:35]

Amateur radio operators, or "hams," played a pivotal role in demonstrating shortwave's potential, laying the groundwork for commercial and governmental use.

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5. Shortwave as a Tool of War and Propaganda

The 1930s marked a turning point as governments recognized shortwave radio's strategic value. Germany's state-run shortwave service, for instance, shifted from cultural programming to overt Nazi propaganda in multiple languages, aiming to influence international audiences, particularly in the United States.

“They were trying to persuade Americans that... it should be more than clear to us that if we are ever going to be free, we must liberate ourselves.”
— Michelle Helms [28:34]

In response, the Allies established their own shortwave networks. The Voice of America (VOA) launched in 1942, broadcasting in numerous languages to counter Axis propaganda. The BBC expanded its World Service, providing pro-Allied news to a global audience.

“The Voice of America was very highly respected and many people think that it... did a great deal to help us win the war.”
— Michelle Helms [21:37]

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6. The Cold War: Shortwave Becomes a Battleground

During the Cold War, shortwave radio became a central arena for ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Radio Free Europe (RFE) emerged as a clandestine operation funded by the CIA, aiming to deliver anti-communist messages and support pro-Western sentiments in Eastern Europe.

“Radio Free Europe was a flame throwing anti communist shortwave network.”
— Adam Howard [25:31]

The Soviet Union countered with Radio Moscow, broadcasting extensive propaganda in over 70 languages. Both superpowers invested heavily in shortwave infrastructure, recognizing its power to shape public opinion and influence global politics.

“The Cold War was over. On this medium that seemed almost tailor made for propaganda. There was vacancy, airtime for rent.”
— Vincent Cunningham [32:16]

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7. Cultural Influence: Music as a Propaganda Tool

Music played a strategic role in shortwave broadcasting. The United States leveraged jazz and later rock music to promote cultural values and counter Soviet narratives. Programs like the VOA Jazz Hour featured American jazz legends, symbolizing freedom and cultural superiority.

“The music of jazz parallels the freedom that we have in America. Something that not every country has.”
— Willis Conover [27:08]

Similarly, rock bands like Metallica and Motley Crue were broadcasted to showcase Western rebellion and appeal to younger audiences, contrasting sharply with the censored and controlled music scenes in communist states.

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8. The Decline of Shortwave and Rise of Extremist Messaging

With the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the geopolitical landscape shifted, leading to a decline in shortwave's strategic importance. Deregulation under President Ronald Reagan further altered the medium, prioritizing government-funded propaganda over public broadcasting.

“Reagan's administrators wrung their hands over what to do about rock music... but decided to keep the rebellious racket going on the short waves.”
— Adam Howard [31:06]

As traditional shortwave audiences dwindled, fringe groups and extremist movements began exploiting the medium to disseminate radical ideologies. These groups leveraged the left-over airtime to build movements that eventually influenced mainstream US politics.

“You must form your militia unit. Pay no heed to the federal government which is a counterfeit enemy foreign government.”
— Extremist Broadcaster [33:41]

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9. Conclusion: The Transformation of Shortwave Radio

“Fishing in the Night” encapsulates the remarkable journey of shortwave radio from a hopeful connector of global communities to a potent tool for propaganda and, ultimately, a medium for extremist factions. Katie Thornton and her co-hosts illustrate how technological advancements and political climates shape media landscapes, leaving lasting impacts on society.

“In its first seven decades of life, shortwave transformed from an idealistic experiment in global cooperation into a hardened government tool of information warfare.”
— Adam Howard [32:27]

The episode serves as a poignant reminder of the power of media in shaping narratives and influencing global events, emphasizing the delicate balance between communication and control.

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Notable Quotes with Attribution and Timestamps

• “The Catholic Church was made for this moment... oil painting is not enough.”
  — Adam Howard [00:12]

• “There's something magical about tuning into the world, training my ear to listen through the crackle, hearing the distance.”
  — Katie Thornton [02:14]

• “Long distance telephone calls were the costly domain of dignitaries and government officials... a disembodied voice without a wire.”
  — Adam Howard [08:39]

• “Shortwave could use the ionosphere as a springboard. And this changed the game for AM broadcasters who wanted their station to reach more people.”
  — Adam Howard [12:35]

• “They were trying to persuade Americans that... it should be more than clear to us that if we are ever going to be free, we must liberate ourselves.”
  — Michelle Helms [28:34]

• “The Voice of America was very highly respected and many people think that it... did a great deal to help us win the war.”
  — Michelle Helms [21:37]

• “Radio Free Europe was a flame throwing anti communist shortwave network.”
  — Adam Howard [25:31]

• “The music of jazz parallels the freedom that we have in America. Something that not every country has.”
  — Willis Conover [27:08]

• “Reagan's administrators wrung their hands over what to do about rock music... but decided to keep the rebellious racket going on the short waves.”
  — Adam Howard [31:06]

• “You must form your militia unit. Pay no heed to the federal government which is a counterfeit enemy foreign government.”
  — Extremist Broadcaster [33:41]

• “In its first seven decades of life, shortwave transformed from an idealistic experiment in global cooperation into a hardened government tool of information warfare.”
  — Adam Howard [32:27]

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“Photography captures the visible world, but radio captures the invisible connections that bind us across continents and ideologies.” This episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour masterfully unpacks the complex legacy of shortwave radio, offering listeners a nuanced understanding of its profound impact on global communication and political discourse.

Transcript

[Vincent Cunningham]

From the online spectacle around Leo XIV's election to our favorite on screen cardinals this week on Critics at Large, we're talking all things Pope.

[Adam Howard]

The Catholic Church was made for this moment. I think 2,000 years ago. The Catholic Church basically anticipated TikTok, Instagram X. You don't have those little, you don't have those little Swiss Guard outfits and think they're not being photographed. Oil painting is not enough.

[Vincent Cunningham]

I'm Vincent Cunningham. Join me and my co hosts for an episode on what can only be described as Pope Week. New episodes of Critics at Large drop every Thursday. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katie Thornton]

Hi, I'm Adam Howard, a senior producer for the New Yorker Radio Hour, and we wanted to share something special with you on the podcast this week. This comes from our friends at OnTheMedia and it's an episode from the second season of their series the Divided Dial. Season one was all about the rightward shift of talk radio and it won a Peabody Award. In season two, reporter and host Katie Thornton travels to a lesser known end of the radio spectrum. Here's Katie Thornton reporting for on the Media.

[David Goren]

Hi, this is ETH Transoceionics.

[Adam Howard]

This is such a cool radio with the little Last summer I met up with a journalist and radio fan named David Goren.

[David Goren]

These were like beautiful radios up for a few.

[Adam Howard]

I went to his house in Brooklyn, New York so that we could listen to the radio together. Not any old radio, not AM or fm, nothing you can pick up in your car, but shortwave radio, the little known cousin of AM&FM with fuzzy stations that can reach insanely far distances. David's been listening to shortwave since he was a kid in the 70s when his uncle gave him a radio and.

[David Goren]

I turned it on and it's like the radio like leapt out of my hand. With the North American service of Radio.

[Adam Howard]

Moscow, Suddenly the world was all within reach, available to him right there in this box.

[David Goren]

In the seventh grade, I became the expert on the next five year plan in the Soviet Union, the, you know, the economic plan.

[Adam Howard]

Today he's part of the Library of Congress's Radio Preservation Task Force. And together on a sweaty Thursday afternoon last July, quick and dirty, we sat down to hear what we could find on the shortwave dial. Today, just like when David was a kid, we heard lots of government run stations like Radio Marti, the US Broadcasting.

[David Goren]

News and information to Cuba, place of Islamic Republic of Iran, China Radio International broadcasting in Spanish. Let's see, anything else Strong the Voice.

[Adam Howard]

Of Italy broadcast in Italian. On other days, David has picked up English language shows from North Korea.

[David Goren]

They have very strident, you know, military.

[Adam Howard]

Stuff and news from Cuba.

[David Goren]

This is Radio Rebelde. Radio Rebel. And it goes back to the revolution.

[Adam Howard]

On the short waves. The global tussle for influence plays out 24 7. But we didn't just hear news and propaganda.

[David Goren]

Well, let's just go up the benchmark.

[Adam Howard]

There were beeps and bloops, coded messages sent between amateur radio operators or between government officials who used the shortwaves to send military data or secret instructions.

[David Goren]

Let's see what else we have.

[Adam Howard]

And some of what we heard just sounded like normal radio with lots of music and preaching, strong in the Lord.

[Vincent Cunningham]

And the power of his might against the wiles of the devil. It was hidden just to hide the meaning and the power of the divine.

[Katie Thornton]

Name that is inherent in the name of Yah.

[Adam Howard]

That's an end times ministry that also preaches that the earth is flat, which.

[David Goren]

Is very interesting because short wave radio wouldn't propagate in a flat earth, you know. But details, details.

[Adam Howard]

In just about an hour of surfing the short waves, we heard prayer and propaganda, news and conspiracy theories. So many languages and some really decent jams from all over the globe. I felt like I had been welcomed into a club that was somehow secret and yet right there for anyone to join. And I know it's cliche, but there was something magical about tuning into the world, Training my ear to listen through the crackle, hearing the distance. As it turns out, this practice of scanning the dial, finding out what you can hear and from how far away, is a century old art. It was popular among radio's early adopters. These early distance fiends, as they were known, uncovered something very strange about how radio waves traveled through space. And what broadcasters did with that information completely altered the trajectory of the 20th century. This is season two of the Divided Dial. I'm your host, Katie Thornton. I've worked in radio since I was a teenager, sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes behind the Mike. In season one, I investigated how Right Wing Talk took over AM&FM radio. But in all my years of radio research, I'd never really learned about shortwave radio before. And listen, I'm not going to tell you that shortwave radio is as influential today as the AMNFM talk radio we covered in season one. It's not. But I, and I think you love the medium of radio. So this season we're diving into the often failed promise of a medium that was once ubiquitous, connecting people around the world long before the Internet ever did. But like the Internet, shortwave also took a turn for the chaotic. Over the next four episodes, I'm going to explain how shortwave radio became a propaganda tool for governments at war and then a propaganda tool for American right wing extremists and cults. And we'll explore what a little known battle playing out on the shortwaves right now between radio fanatics and Wall street can tell us about what happens when we cede control of our public airwave. That's all coming up on this season of the Divided Dial. But let's get back to the story. Radio broadcasting, as in from one to many, it didn't start on short wave. It started on AM taking off around 1920. And AM was inherently local.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Daniel Larsen and Mrs. Lester Larson. Happy birthday.

[Adam Howard]

Signals reached up to 50, maybe 75.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Miles, by the way, down Texas, where your home state bow. Is it out? I will. Taylor up there in Lake Geneva says Happy birthday to us. You know it's her birthday too.

[Adam Howard]

But at night, those listening at home noticed something strange. As the sun set, more stations emerged from the static. And they weren't coming from down the street or the next town over. Sometimes listeners in New York Edison Studios waam, located at one barn, would hear stations from Chicago. A listener in Kansas might hear an opera or a boxing match from the East Coast. After dark, it was like the world cracked open and distant stations faded in and out on ghostly, mysterious winds. Most people had never heard a faraway voice, period. Long distance telephone calls were the costly domain of dignitaries and government officials. And even those were fed across long, scratchy copper lines. A disembodied voice without a wire, without a fee, from hundreds of miles away. That awed and baffled people, even scientists, some of whom believed that radio perhaps could be used to communicate with the dead. But of course, there was an explanation for these voices in the night.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Let us follow through the steps and the processes in transmitting or sending radio messages.

[Adam Howard]

Here's what was happening. The way AM normally works is that radio waves get shot from the top of a tall tower, which is often on top of a tall hill.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The radio messages leave the antenna as electromagnetic waves and travel with the speed of light.

[Adam Howard]

The waves travel over the ground, basically line of sight from the tower to you. It's called a ground wave, and it's the thing that fades out a few dozen miles from the tower. But when you shoot out an AM signal, there's another thing that happens, almost a byproduct.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Radio waves are sent out in all directions.

[Adam Howard]

It's called a sky wave and the sky wave goes up into the atmosphere.

[Susan Douglas]

The lower layers of the ionosphere, which are about 45 to 75 miles above the Earth's surface, they're like a huge sponge during the day, and they absorb the signals that pass through them.

[Adam Howard]

Susan Douglas, a professor of communication and media at the University of Michigan, she says that these lower layers of the atmosphere are made up of ions that get all charged up by the sun. And in the daylight, those layers are where radio waves go to die.

[Susan Douglas]

But at night, when the sun sets, these layers disappear, and the ones above them, they combine to form a dense layer and it acts like a mirror to sky waves.

[Adam Howard]

At night, these sky waves, the sort of byproduct of AM transmission, they keep going until they bounce off this other layer of the ionosphere and they come back down to Earth vast distances away.

[Vincent Cunningham]

When these waves strike the antenna of a receiving set, this entire process is reversed. We hear sound originating at that very moment hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

[Adam Howard]

That's what these late night AM radio listeners were hearing. A radio wave that had ricocheted off the ionosphere to get to them, and it rocked their world. Long distance channel surfing became a fad called fishing in the night, with listeners casting out into the ether and seeing what they could catch.

[Susan Douglas]

They had a map on the wall with map tacks, and every time they reeled in a station, they would put a map tack on where that broadcast emanated from. Was it Kansas City? Was it Washington, D.C. wherever?

[Adam Howard]

Radio manufacturers ran ads with slogans like concerts from 14 cities in one evening. In newspaper editorials, distressed housewives and sometimes husbands lamented that their significant other was spending every evening out in their Radio Shack. But while AM broadcast listeners burned the midnight oil to marvel at all the faraway stations, there was one group of people who weren't so surprised by radio's ability to go long. They were the amateur radio operators, what you might know as ham radio. Basically, guys who weren't broadcasting but were tinkering with radio equipment just to chat one to one. Like long distance walkie talkies. Back in the days before broadcasting, almost all radio transmission was one to one. The radio waves were mostly used by ship captains or the military and the hams who were just having fun. But In World War I, the US government got worried about interference on those AM airwaves. So they eventually assigned specific frequencies for ships, for the military, and for those meddling amateurs.

[Susan Douglas]

They were kicked down to the waves that were thought utterly worthless. Short waves.

[Adam Howard]

Back then, people thought the shortwaves with short wavelengths. Picture a really tight squiggly line. Just wouldn't go very far. Even Guglielmo Marconi, the father of radio, thought that longer wavelengths would mean longer distances. But the amateurs weren't put off.

[Susan Douglas]

They began experimenting with them.

[Adam Howard]

And as it turned out, the shortwaves weren't the short end of the stick.

[Susan Douglas]

They were getting really far. They were getting stations in Australia and New Zealand, or stations in England and France.

[Adam Howard]

For the most part, reception was clearer at night, but it didn't have to be dark to go the distance.

[Susan Douglas]

Amateurs reported spanning distances as great as 10,000 miles, which was unthinkable. Australia and New Zealand were described in the fall of 1923 as a bedlam of Yankee signals.

[Adam Howard]

The amateurs proved something huge shortwave could do round the clock what AM could only do at night. It could use the ionosphere as a springboard. And this changed the game for AM broadcasters who wanted their station to reach more people. In 1923, Pittsburgh's KDKA, the country's first commercial radio station, they got their station on shortwave and reached as far as South Africa. New shortwave stations started up in Switzerland and Japan and Venezuela. And with the scars of World War I still fresh, this burgeoning international medium was a source of hope.

[Michelle Helms]

There was a lot of utopian discourse around radio that, you know, having allowed people to communicate across all these borders, you know, would there be no more wars?

[Adam Howard]

Michelle Helms is a retired professor of media studies who has written a lot about radio.

[Michelle Helms]

It would, you know, solve all kinds of problems. A huge enthusiasm over the possibilities of shortwave as a medium.

[Adam Howard]

Entire magazines were devoted to helping people discover new shows on international radio. Listeners would write to far flung stations and the stations would reply with these beautifully decorated cards branded with the station name and maybe some imagery that evoked the national culture of wherever they were broadcasting from. They're called QSL cards. It's international code for I confirm receipt of your transmission. Shortwave listeners around the world amassed collections of these ornate cards, tangible evidence of their part in an ethereal global community. By the late 1930s, almost all home radio sets had AM and shortwave settings. But the peacenik aspirations for shortwave didn't last.

[Michelle Helms]

It was the first time that human beings had had it in their power to be heard around the world. And a lot of governments figured out that this could be a really powerful tool for the common good, but also, of course, for the waging of wars.

[Adam Howard]

Lots of the world's governments had taken to the short waves by the 1930s. But no nation used them quite like Germany.

[Vincent Cunningham]

This is Germany. Cohen. We are going to present tonight a radio play entitled Vision of Invasion.

[Adam Howard]

Ziessen. Germany's state run shortwave service had spent years building a large following in America and around the world, playing things like orchestral music. But in time they started pushing out Nazi propaganda tailored for specific countries in 12 different languages. And with its own festering Nazi movement, the US was a key target.

[Michelle Helms]

You had people like Axis. Sally.

[Vincent Cunningham]

This is Berlin corner.

[Michelle Helms]

And I don't.

[Adam Howard]

I'd like to say that when Berlin.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Ground, it paid to listen.

[Michelle Helms]

She was an American living in Berlin. She became the first American woman to be convicted of treason after the war that she was broadcasting into the United States on short wave.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Women of America waiting for the one you love. Thinking of a husband who is being sacrificed by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

[Michelle Helms]

You might have heard of a person called Lord Haw Haw.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The great exodus from Britain is well underway.

[Michelle Helms]

He was a British man named William Joyce who was working in Germany broadcasting on their shortwave service.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The rich and affluent are removing themselves and their valuables as fast as they can.

[Adam Howard]

There was also a big band called Charlie and His Orchestra run by the German Ministry of Propaganda. They'd take popular big band and swing songs and add or change lyrics to berate Roosevelt or denigrate Jewish people.

[Vincent Cunningham]

All the Jewish people. Emily has a brand new heir. He dear join heaven sent. And they proudly present Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones.

[Michelle Helms]

They were trying to persuade Americans that, you know, that the Germans had the right side in the war and that it was crazy for them to fight non intervention.

[Vincent Cunningham]

How he shows us his decision to send troops along.

[Adam Howard]

The US government had banned all editorializing on domestic radio stations during the war, making it illegal for Americans to promote the Nazi cause on the AM airwaves. But the feds didn't have any control over shortwave broadcasts beaming in from Germany. So the content was still there for the many Americans who wanted to listen. Journalists at CBS and NBC launched counteroffensives.

[Susan Douglas]

The networks had what were called shortwave listening posts.

[Adam Howard]

New York, Susan Douglas again.

[Susan Douglas]

And they had people who were fluent in foreign languages monitoring international shortwave broadcasts.

[Adam Howard]

And then they turned their findings into entertainment, like the hit CBS radio series hosted by a popular detective novelist named Rex Stout. It was called Our Secret Weapon.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The truth is a weapon that isn't secret in our country, but it's a big secret to the people who live in Germany, Japan and Italy. Our enemies don't have this weapon. They don't dare let their People know the truth.

[Adam Howard]

Every week, radio sleuth Stout debunked enemy shortwave propaganda.

[Vincent Cunningham]

First, a broadcast to the official German News Agency on August 2. The meeting between Churchill and Stalin was very excited and hysterical. It assumed a dramatic on August 8, being that England this morning Churchill shook hands with Stalin at the Kremlin. As we now know, Churchill actually arrived in Moscow on August 12. You can't beat that for a scoop.

[Adam Howard]

The rest of the Allies were also busy fighting Germany's shortwave radio propaganda. It was during World War II that the BBC ramped up what would come to be known as the World Service on shortwave.

[Vincent Cunningham]

This is London calling in the overseas service of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

[Adam Howard]

They broadcast news to the world with just a bit of pro ally spin.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The Danes have already had a taste of what German protection means. A better word for it would be plunder, for the Germans are seizing goods and property at will.

[Adam Howard]

And in early 1942, the US followed suit. The federal government debuted its shortwave radio service, the Voice of America, with an in language broadcast to Germany.

[Vincent Cunningham]

This is a voice speaking from America. Our voices are coming to you. From New York, across the Atlantic Ocean to London.

[Adam Howard]

The Voice of America started as a government run radio show and they partnered with networks like NBC and CBS to get it out worldwide. NBC and CBS were already broadcasting overseas via shortwave. But shortwave quickly proved so central to the war effort that the US government did something unprecedented. They nationalized all the roughly one dozen shortwave stations broadcasting from US soil, filling the international airwaves with approved broadcasts daily.

[Vincent Cunningham]

At this time we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.

[Adam Howard]

And for the most part they did that, if a bit selectively.

[Michelle Helms]

Michelle Helms they were walking a fine line between willful propaganda and sort of putting a good spin on things.

[Adam Howard]

As the US sent more troops into battle, it used shortwave to boost morale.

[Susan Douglas]

They began to transmit entertainment programming via shortwave to the troops.

[Adam Howard]

Susan Douglas again.

[Susan Douglas]

And this was so important during holidays like Christmas and New Year's, when there you are, freezing and alone and scared.

[Michelle Helms]

They had programs that would allow troops to speak to people back at home. You know, oh, here's Mailbag. And we have letters from soldiers and they would read them aloud.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Dear Mother, tonight I'm very lonely. I've never written that before and maybe it's a shock to you. And then again, maybe you've read between the lines and I've known it all along.

[Michelle Helms]

There was a very popular program called GI Jive with Jill.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Here's Jill and the GI Jive. Hi, you fellas. This is GI Jill with GI Jive.

[Susan Douglas]

You know the World Series, the 1942 World Series broadcast. You gotta have the World Series.

[Michelle Helms]

The Voice of America was very highly respected and many people think that it, you know, did a great deal to help us win the war.

[Adam Howard]

By the end of the Second World War, the Voice of America blanketed much of the world. It ran in about 40 languages. But they were about to get lots of company on the airwaves because in the Cold War, the shortwaves exploded. That's coming up after the break. This is the Divided Dial from On the Moon Media.

[Michelle Helms]

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[Adam Howard]

A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways from tech billionaires to the bond market to. Yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chavkin.

[Michelle Helms]

And I'm Stacey Vanek Smith.

[Adam Howard]

So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. CPD this is on the Media. I'm Katie Thornton, host of OTM's Divided Dial series. We're right in the middle of episode one of our second season. Before the break, we heard about how groups like the VOA dominated the shortwaves at the end of World War II. But during the Cold War, shortwave would become so much more. Radio pk.

[Vincent Cunningham]

This is Tehran Radio Iran, the Australian Forces Radio. You are tuned to the North American service of Radio Moscow.

[Adam Howard]

The voa, the BBC, the Soviet Union, China, Egypt, Iran, Argentina and the and so many others were on shortwave broadcasting their national identity to the world in stories and song. They were joined by newly decolonized nations like Libya and Ghana, whose leaders saw the shortwaves as a way to promote their independence and to fuel an international anti colonial movement. But the global superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union were two of the most dominant voices on shortwave. And shortwave became one of the most ferocious battlegrounds of the Cold War. At bat for the Soviet Union was Radio Moscow. Founded in 1929. The USSR's government run network broadcast in over 70 languages with news, propaganda and human interest stories. It offered a Soviet alternative to the BBC and the voa.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The Merrick hit a new high in crime and according to FBI reports to the President, nearly half of the criminals were young people. The causes of this menacing situation are well known. The pornographic pictures distributed among adolescents and the exhibitions of abstract paintings and statues that say nothing to either the heart or the mind.

[Adam Howard]

The BBC and the VOA were expanding too, sending more and more coverage over the Iron Curtain. But the United States government wanted to reach people in Eastern Europe with messages that weren't so obviously propaganda as the literal voice of America. So they lied.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Radio Free Europe gets through with the truth every day.

[Adam Howard]

Debuting in 1950, Radio Free Europe was a flame throwing anti communist shortwave network.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Into the closed communist countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania go the facts the people are not allowed to hear the truth. The truth that helps them hold onto the will and the drive.

[Adam Howard]

It was portrayed as grassroots, run by emigres and exiles, and it did employ those folks. But secretly it was funded by the CIA which was busy meddling in global politics and supporting pro capitalist coups. During these Cold War years, staff at Radio Free Europe launched weather balloons into the Eastern bloc and airdropped over 300 million leaflets instructing listeners on how to tune in. The Soviet Union did not like any of this. They spent tons of money trying to drown out western broadcasts. They'd flood the shortwaves with ear splitting noises that listeners recalled sounding like a buzzsaw or a machine gun. Sometimes the battle went beyond the airwaves, like when a Czechoslovakian double agent poisoned the salt shakers at Radio Free Europe's Munich office. That plot was foiled before any of the 1,200 plus employees sat down for lunch. Years later, a Radio Free Europe journalist died after allegedly being stabbed with a poison tipped umbrella. But these US run shortwave stations weren't just beaming out journalism.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Willis Conover speaking. This is the Voice of America Jazz Hour. The music of jazz parallels the freedom that we have in America. Something that not every country has.

[Adam Howard]

In the 1950s and 60s, music, especially jazz, was a key component in the US government's shortwave campaign.

[David Goren]

This, this is the Voice of America.

[Adam Howard]

The federal government ran a jazz ambassador program that sent musicians like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington on tours around the world. They focused on countries that the Soviet Union was also hoping to win over. All the while though, many of these Very same musicians faced racism and segregation at home and on the short waves. Radio Moscow and others were ready to exploit this contradiction.

[Vincent Cunningham]

The revolutionary people of Cuba sympathize with all people who struggle for social justice.

[Adam Howard]

In the early 1960s, Cuba's government run service, Radio Havana regularly beamed this show, Radio Free Dixie, up to the United States.

[Vincent Cunningham]

It is in this spirit that we proudly allocate the following hour in an act of solidarity, peace and friendship with our oppressed North American brothers. Radio Free Dixie invites you to listen to the free voice of the South.

[Adam Howard]

Radio Free Dixie was hosted by US Black power activist Robert F. Williams. He was on the lam in Cuba fleeing drummed up charges that were later dropped. And he broadcast a perspective that couldn't be found in the mainstream US media.

[Vincent Cunningham]

1 Negro goes to the White House as a member of the President's cabinet while another is gunned down like a wild dog for using a white folks toilet. It should be more than clear to us that if we are ever going to be free, we must liberate ourselves.

[Adam Howard]

Outlets like Radio Moscow and Radio Havana want followers around the world. With their mix of propaganda and just factual reporting on civil rights abuses in the U.S. governments saw winning people over on shortwave as a key path to winning the Cold War. So Even after the CIA's secretive role at Radio Free Europe was revealed in the early 70s, not much changed. In fact, Congress increased its budget and they kept pumping out news and tunes. Increasingly they played the defiant and oh so American sound of rock music which was heavily censored in the USSR and eastern bloc. On the US government run taxpayer funded shortwave stations, they broadcast groups like Metallica and Motley Crue to listeners around the world. By the early 1980s, the US government's shortwave stations reached an estimated 80 million people each week. It took tons of manpower and it was a huge infrastructure project too. The government had miles upon miles of fields filled with antennas. But one man didn't think that was enough.

[Vincent Cunningham]

We're as far behind the Soviets and their allies in international broadcasting today as we were in space when they launched Sputnik in 1957.

[Adam Howard]

On the home front, Ronald Reagan had vetoed public broadcasting budgets and overseen a massive deregulation of the airwaves that allowed for big businesses to and conservative and religious broadcasters to dominate AM and FM radio. You know, season one of the divided dial. But on international radio, on shortwave, the great deregulator had no qualms about spending taxpayer dollars. He poured public money into the VOA and Radio Free Europe.

[Vincent Cunningham]

I'm pleased to call on Director Wick and Minister Filali to sign this agreement, an important step towards strengthening the signal of the Voice of America.

[Adam Howard]

Reagan's administrators wrung their hands over what to do about rock music. Lots of them didn't believe it represented the best of Western culture. But after long internal debates, they decided to keep the rebellious racket going on the short waves. Meanwhile, on the journalism side, Reagan led a shakeup by sidestepping one of the Voice of America's long held tenets, the idea that a free press is the U.S. s best advertisement. Sure, that idea hadn't always been perfectly executed, but Reagan opted instead for more heavy handed anti communist propaganda. Reagan's VOA ran explicit editorials on behalf of the administration. Many longtime leaders resigned, replaced by more amenable colleagues, including Richard W. Carlson, father of right wing bloviator Tucker Carlson. And it was Reagan who launched a costly new shortwave service targeting Cuba with hardline anti communist messages.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Today I'm appealing to the Congress, help us get the truth through, to support our proposal for a new radio station, Radio Marti, for broadcasting to Cuba.

[Adam Howard]

While public broadcasting floundered at home, government subsidized propaganda and bad hair metal reverberated on short waves from the US to the world. In its first seven decades of life, shortwave transformed from an idealistic experiment in global cooperation into a hardened government tool of information warfare. And then in the late 1980s, much of the medium's reason for being crumbled.

[Vincent Cunningham]

In Eastern Europe, which the Soviets had held by force Since World War II, Mikhail Gorbachev said that Moscow would no longer interfere. Serious fighting begins in the early morning, a staccato of machine gun bursts punctuated by cannon fire. In the last weeks and months, we've seen one Communist party after the other in Eastern Europe knocked off its perch by the people.

[Adam Howard]

The Cold War was over. On this medium that seemed almost tailor made for propaganda. There was vacancy, airtime for rent. And in the US a particular group of people was ready to snatch it up.

[Vincent Cunningham]

You must form your militia unit. Pay no heed to the federal government which is a counterfeit enemy foreign government.

[Adam Howard]

Are you a white woman such as.

[Vincent Cunningham]

Myself who is sick of being harassed and tormented? Call Aryan nations for a whiter, brighter America. We don't want to have to kill you. We hope to not have to kill you. But we can kill you. And if need be, we will kill you. Well, what are a few lives in the grand scheme of liberty? I'm sure you are now seeing the reports of some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today.

[David Goren]

These stations and the programs grew and they took over. They dominated. What is associated in the public's mind was shortwave. It's no longer the people, now it's the guys who helped Timothy McVeigh bomb a federal building.

[Adam Howard]

Next time on the Divided Dial, it's the shortwave story you've never heard the private citizens who took over a fringe medium with a fringe message and used it to build a movement that fundamentally changed mainstream US Politics. The Divided Dial is written and reported by me, Katie Thornton and edited by OTM's executive producer, Katya Rogers. Music and sound design is by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our Technical director. Fact Checking by Graham Hacha the series was made possible with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

[Katie Thornton]

For more episodes of the Divided Dial, you can follow the podcast on the Media and this is the New Yorker Radio Hour. Thanks for joining us.

[Adam Howard]

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