FOREIGN RADIOBROADCASTING RECEPTION POTENTIAL IN THE USSR (RR PR-82)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00309580
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 227
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 28, 2023
• Case Number: F-2022-01319
• Publication Date: October 21, 1954

Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
acTesefeef
7 9 g
*. CIA -HSTORCAL -P iA Pwf
",
� t.--;.17...; plQ
- a '`" ��� . a r � C
� , v.) .
5-Rpmjs1O_ NTELLIGENCE REPORT
NjitaIDIO.J3R_
MIS-TINGMEC 4!
Hanti, ARNIUHROTSSRi
MENIMISrai' itgalr.O.Ma
Mt:MY '..tgtiNirc-AYAqteRplicik
11 F 1
NVA1.
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
�
?.;;;;.
.!�
� ;.'11-: 1:41:
" 1.!ist... � ,!,;,"i i��!
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
-ebfft-tantrRE
'IS OFFICIALS ONLY
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
2.��13' -eL"nr-TZT
US OFFICIALS ONLY
PROVISIONAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
FOREIGN RADIOBROADCASTING RECEPTION POTENTIAL
IN THE USSR
CIA/RR PR-82
(ORR Project 40.295)
NOTICE
The data and conclusions contained in this report
do not necessarily represent the final position of
ORR and should be regarded as provisional only and
subject to revision. Comments and data which may
be available to the user are solicited.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
CONTENTS
Page
Summary and Conclusions
I. Transmission Facilities of Foreign Broadcasters
into the USSR (Aural)
A. Voice of America (VOA)
B. British Broadcasting Company (BBC)
C. Italy: Rome Overseas and RPM() Vatican
D. Clandestine and Quasi-Clandestine Broad-
casters
1
7
11
14
14
14
1.
Radio Free Russia (RFR)
15
2.
Radio Liberation
15
E.
Other Non-Communist Broadcasters
16
F.
Foreign Communist Broadcasters
17
II.
Radiobroadcasting System of the USSR
18
A.
Development of the System
18
1.
Early- History
a. Special Circumstances Which Faced the
18
USSR in Radiobroadcasting .....
b. Soviet Concepts of the Functions and
18
Qualities of Radiobroadcasting
20
c. Early Soviet Planning
20
2.
Development of Facilities
21
3.
Administrative and Planning Changes,
1924-40
23
a. 1924-28 . .
23
b. 1928-40
24
c. Over-all Functioning
25
B.
Wartime System
26
,esii�D43-1414
1,G9I+FeWt=='gis
__Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Page
C. Postwar Developments
1. Postwar Administration
28
28
a. Over-all Administration i/ 28
b. Administration of Programming 30
c. The Soviet Domestic Radiobroadcasting/
System 30
d. Administration at the Local Level . . . 34
(1) Programming 34
(2) Installation, Operation, and
Maintenance of Radio and Wire-
diffusion Networks 35
e. Administration of Soviet Foreign
Radiobroadcasting 37
2. Postwar Transmitting Facilities 38
a. Domestic Service 38
b. International Service 41
c. Television and Frequency Modulation � � � 48
(1) Television Facilities 48
(2) Frequency Modulation (Ultra
High-Frequency) Broadcasting � � � 52
III. Receiving Equipment in the USSR 55
A. Number, Characteristics,and Distribution of
Radiofication Facilities(Aural) 56
1. Number 56
2. Characteristics 65
a. Independent Radiobroadcasting
Receivers
65
(1) Superheterodyne Receivers 66
(2) Tuned Radio-Frequency Receivers .
(TRF) 68
(3) Fixed Tuned Receivers 68
-iv-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Page
C. Postwar Developments
1. Postwar Administration
a. Over-all Administration
b. Administration of Programming
c. The Soviet Domestic Radiobroadcasting
System 30
d. Administration at the Local Level . . � � 34
28
28
28
30
(1) Programming 34
(2) Installation, Operation, and
Maintenance of Radio and Wire-
diffusion Networks 35
e. Administration of Soviet Foreign
Radiobroadcasting 37
2. Postwar Transmitting Facilities 38
a. Domestic Service 38
b. International Service 41
c. Television and Frequency Modulation � � � 48
(1) Television Facilities 48
(2) Frequency Modulation (Ultra
High-Frequency) Broadcasting � � � 52
III. Receiving Equipment in the USSR 55
A. Number, Characteristics) and Distribution of
Radiofication Facilities (Aura]-) 56
1. Number 56
2. Characteristics 65
a. Independent Radiobroadcasting
Receivers 65
(1) Superheterodyne Receivers 66
(2) Tuned Radio-Frequency Receivers
(TRF) 68
(3) Fixed Tuned Receivers 68
- iv -
frgrEor
-
Approved
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
(4) Crystal Receivers
b. 'Wire-Diffusion
Page
68
68
(1) General Account of Development of
Wire-Diffusion
68
(a) In Large Cities
68
(b) Spread into Suburban Areas
69
(c) In Rural Areas
70
(2) Equipment Used, in Wire-Diffusion
Systems
'71
(a) Equipment Used in City
Systems
71
(b) Equipment Used in Rural
Systems
73
(3) Recent Developments in Wire
Broadcasting
74
3.
Distribution
77
B.
Production, Import, and Export of Radiobroad-
casting Equipment
80
1.
Production
80
a. Radiobroadcasting Receivers
80
b. Loudspeakers
83
2.
Imports
85
3.
Exports
85
C.
Availability
86
1.
Availability of Receiving Equipment
86
2.
Maintenance and Repair Facilities
86
3.
Legal Restrictions
87
4.
Economic Factors
88
- v -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Page
a. Cost
b. Licensing Fees
D. Television
1. Number, Characteristics, and Distribution /
of Television Receivers
a. Number
b. Characteristics
c. Distribution
2. Production and Import of Television
Receivers .. � �
3. Television Wire-Diffusion
4. Availability and Maintenance of Television
Receivers
88
91
93
93
93
94
95
95
97
98
a. Cost 98
b. Repair 98
IV. Regulations and Conditions of Listening 100
A. Regulations
100
1. All-Union Laws 100
2. Local Area Laws 101.
a. Moscow 101
,
b. Belorussia 102
c. Ukraine 102
d. Caucasus 102
e. Central Asia, Far East, and Siberia � � � 102
f. Baltic Republics 102
3. Reasons for Registration of Receivers . � � � 103
4. Official Attitude Toward Listening to
Foreign Broadcasts 103
5. Effectiveness of Listening Regulations � � � 105
- vi
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
nt-r-or.
4
Page.
B. Conditions of Listening 105
1. Controlled 105
2. Public 106
3. Private Listening 106
C. Jamming 107
1. History 107
2. Jammer Locations. 108
3. Frequency Coverage 108
4. JammerTower 109
5. Jammer MAdulation 109
6. Number of'Jammers 110
7. Jamming Probedures 111
8. Jamming 0rga4zation 111
9. Jamming Effectiveness 112
10. Atmospheric Conditions 113
V. Effectiveness of Foreign Broadcasts 114
A. Size of the Audience 114
1. Direct Listening Audience 114
2. Indirect Audience 115
B. Nature of the Audience 116
1. Military 116
2. Prisoner-of-War and Labor Camps 117
3. Civilian Population 117
C. Popular Stations, Languages, Timesland
Frequencies for Listening 118
1. Popular Stations and Languages 118
2. Best Listening Times 120
3. Popular Frequencies 120
D. Reactions to Western Broadcasts 120
� vii
�Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
1. Official
a. International
b. National
2. Individual
/'
a. Reasons for Listening
b. Programs Listened For
c. Opinions of Foreign Broadcasts
E. Economic Effects of Foreign Broadcasts
VI. Trends
Appendix A.
Appendix B.
Appendix C.
Appendix D.
Appendix
E. Soviet International Service
Appendix F.
Appendix G.
Appendix H.
Television Stations of the USSR, 1 May
1954
The All-Union Scientific Technical Society
of Radio Engineering and Electrical Com-
munications imeni A. S. Popov (VNORiE). . � � 163
Page,
120
120
121
123
123
123
124
125
127
Appendixes
Frequencies Used to Broadcast VOA Programs
to the USSR 131
Schedule of VOA Broadcasts to the USSR . � � � 133
USSR Radiobroadcasting Transmission Data � � 139
Discussion of the Radiobroadcasting
Coverage Maps (Nos. 2-4) 155
159
161
Reported Distribution of Radiofication
Facilities of the USSR
165
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Page
Appendix I. Characteristics of USSR Television
Receiving Facilities, 195O-5 169
Appendix J. Law for the Defense of Peace, USSR Supreme
Soviet, 12 March 1951 173 /
Appendix K. Methodology 175
Appendix L. Gaps in Intelligence 177
1. Gaps 177
2. Filling Gaps 179
Appendix M. Sources and Evaluation of Sources 181
1. Evaluation 181
2. Sources
Tables
1. Estimated Size of Major Groups in the Soviet
Population
182
2, Foreign Radiobroadcasting in Russian and Other
Soviet Languages, May 1954 9
3. Foreign Radiobroadcasting to the USSR, by
Language, May 1954 10
4. Frequencies Used by VOA in the US and Abroad 12
S. VOA Weekly Programming, Original and Repeat � � � � � 13
6. Expansion of the Soviet Radiobroadcasting System
from Its Inception in 1922 39
7. Comparative Weekly Output of Program Hours 45
8. Estimated Number of Radiobroadcasting Reception
Facilities in the USSR, 1940 and 1946-60 56
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Page
9. Characteristics of Vacuum Tube Receivers Manufactured
in the USSR 67
10. Partial Distribution of Radiofication Facilities
in the USSR 79
11. Estimated Production of Radiobroadcasting
Receivers, 1945-54 81
12. Estimated Total Production of Radiobroadcasting
Receivers in the USSR by Classes, 1945-53 83
13. Estimated Production of Loudspeakers in the
USSR, 1946-54 84
14. Average Retail Prices of Soviet Radiobroadcasting
Reception Facilities 89
15. Schedule of Subscriber Fees for Broadcast Receivers
in the USSR 92
16. Estjnisted Number of Television Receivers in the
USSR, 1951-56 94
17. Estimated Production of Television Receivers in the
USSR and USSR-Owned Plants in East Germany
1940 and 1947-53 96
18. Percentages of Interviewees Citing Word-of-Mouth
Media as Regular and as Most Important Source of
Information in the USSR 115
Illustrations
Following Page
1. VOA Twenty-Four Hour Schedule by Language 13
2. USSR - Organization and Administration of
Radiobroadcasting 28
-x -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Following Page
3. USSR - Organization of the Domestic Radio-
broadcasting System 31
L. USSR - Channel Hours of High-Frequency Radio-
broadcasting - 1953 48
S. USSR - Estimated Production of Radiobroadcasting
Receivers - 1945-54 80
Maps
1. USSR - Domestic Regional Broadcasting System
2. USSR - Area Coverage of Domestic Low-Frequency
Radiobroadcasting Transmitters
3. USSR - Area Coverage of Domestic Medium-Frequency
Radiobroadcasting Transmitters
4. USSR - Domestic Targets of Soviet High-Frequency
Radiobroadcasting Transmitters
5. Soviet International Radiobroadcasting Effort
6. USSR - International Radiobroadcasting Trans-
mitters and Program Targets 41
7. USSR - Radiobroadcasting Jamming Facilities 108
-A -
32
40
40
40
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
--GaNfltellTIAr"
CIA/RR PR.- 82 ga.a.R4Lier--
(ORR Project 40.295)
FOREIGN RADIOBROADCASTING RECEPTION POTENTIAL IN THE USSR*
Summary and Conclusions
Slightly more than une-half of the total foreign radiobroadcasts
beamed into the USSR are in the Great Russian language. Radio
Liberation leads the field in terms of total transmission hours per
week, but the Voice of America (VOA) employs six times as ma/17
frequencies, and its total potential audience is greater insofar
as radio-wave propagation is concerned.
The combined total of VOL and Radio Liberation broadcast time
represents 85 percent of total foreign radiobroadcasts into the USSR.
Many radio transmissions not specifically designed for or beamed
to the USSR are receivable there, both technically and linguistically.
These broadcasts have not been included in this report because they
lack directness.
The physical facilities of the radiobroadcasting transmitting
system in the USSR are quite extensive, with a total of 167 trans-
mitters operating on low-, medium-, and high-frequencies in the
domestic and international services. After 1947, coordination of
important stations of the Satellite countries into the USSR radio-
broadcasting system has resulted in 13 additional transmitters
carrying Moscow programs in the international service. The stabili-
zation in the growth of radio stations in the USSR indicated since
1950 is misleading for it is known that use is being made of
Satellite transmitting stations in the international service of the
USSR. The total power output of USSR transmitters has increased
steadily since World War II. The stabilization in growth of the
number of transmitters is not to be taken as an indication that
the Soviets are relaxing their efforts to propagandize the Western
world. The constantly increasing power output of transmitters,
* The estimates and conclusions contained in this report represent
the best judgment/of the responsible analyst as of 1 June 1954. How-
ever, some material of a later date has been included.
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
the improved technical efficiency of transmitting facilities, and
the use of transmitters more advantageously located in Satellite
countries, have resulted in a noticeably improved reception in
Europe and North America of Soviet radiobroadcasts, an expanded
coverage of Soviet originated programs to include the Satellite
countries, through the use of the domestic systems in the countries,
and a domestic system which is estimated to have achieved fairly
good coverage over the USSR through the use of a complex of trans-
mitters and wire-diffusion* networks. While perhaps some few
additional transmitters may be added to the radiobroadcasting -
transmitting base in the near future, it is believed that the Soviets
will probably concentrate on the improvement of the system through
the use of increased total power outputs, technical improvements in
transmitting facilities, and in the selection of more advantageous
transmitting locations.
The Soviet Radiobroadcasting System is administered by the Main
Administration for Radio Information which is subordinate to the
Ministry of Culture, USSR. The Ministry of Communications provides
technical services to the broadcasting system by providing and
maintaining the radio transmitters and wire-lines necessary for
the operation of the transmitting system, plus operation and main-
tenance of some of the wire-diffusion networks. In addition there
is coordination between the Ministry of Culture Ministry of Com-
munications, and the Ministry of Radio-Technical. Industry on matters
pertaining to research, development, and production of technical
equipment, and on means for improving the system. Programming
policies are under the control of the Main Administration for Radio
Information, but are closely supervised by the Department of
Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party. Supervisory responsibility over local programming content
and quality is placed on local organs of the Communist Party. The
subordination of the Soviet radiobroadcasting system under the
Ministry of Culture in 1953 accomplished the centralization of all
* Wire-diffusion radio is a system of loudspeakers which are connected
to a central program distribution point by either telephone circuits or
by specially strung wire lines. The program distribution points are,
in turn, connected to the broadcasting station by either wire lines,
or, in the case of small places and remote areas, by radio receiving
4
units. 'In effect it is State control of program and station selec-
tion.,/
- 2 -
Er�C!"..rer.A...r
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 000309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
propaganda-information functions under a single head, thus facilitating
the dissemination of the current "party line" through all media, and
making it possible to more efficiently and effectively place respon-
sibility for various functions on other appropriate ministries.
The development, quality, and use of television in the USSR is
believed to be in the developmental stage. Technical and economic
problems of its expansion, including also expansion of transmitters
and receivers, will probably continue to occupy the attention of
those responsible for television in the USSR. It is doubtful that
television for the general public of the USSR will be realized except
in a few large cities, for some years to come.
The use of frequency modulation for broadcasting in the USSR
will probably-be delayed for some time in view of economic factors
involved in inaugurating a system which is somewhat competitive with
the existing aural system, and possibly also with television, which
probably has higher priority.
The estimated number of radiobroadcasting reception facilities
in the USSR increased from 1 million independent receivers in 1946
to approximately 5.5 million in 1953, and from 6.7 million loud-
speakers in 1946 to 11.4 million in 1953. (The actual increase of
receivers and loudspeakers over these 7 years was approximately the
same.) The number of receivers in use in 1953 was 5.5 times as many
as in 1946, while the number of loudspeakers in use in 1953 was 1.7
times the number used in 1946. It is probable that the present
aural reception base of the USSR will continue to expand into rural
areas and that independent tube receivers, crystal receivers, and
wire-diffusion loudspeakers will be employed, as appropriate to a
given circumstance. Notwithstanding the current drive to radiofy
the countryside by use of wire-diffusion systems, the over-all
proportion of loudspeakers to receivers is decreasing. It is ex-
pected that this trend will continue.
The plan to increase the reception base to 20 million units in
the USSR by 1954 and to 30 million units by 1955 is fantastic. The
possibility of increasing the reception base to 30 million units
by 1960 would appear more reasonable. The inadequacy of wire-line
facilities, especially in rural areas, will probably delay completion
- 3 -
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
%lionapmErMOM.R644661
of radiofication* of the USSR for some years to come.
The estimated total production of class 1, 2, and 3 receivers
(those with high-frequency reception capabilities) in the USSR since
World War II is around 3 million units; class 4 receivers (those
with low- and medium-frequency reception capabilities only) about
2 million units; and crystal receivers, about 4 million units.
During the early postwar years the annual production of class 1, 2,
and 3 receivers constituted more than 90 percent of the very modest
total production, but by their production had decreased to 10
percent of the total. The production pattern again changed in 1952
and for the years 1953 and 1954 the total estimated annual production
was 1.6 and 2.3 million of this Class receiver respectively --
amounting to approximately 30 percent or more of the total annual
production. It is probable that the rate of production of small
independent tube receivers will continue to increase, but that
production of receivers with high-frequency reception capabilities
will not increase substantially above the present rate, and for this
type of receiver the rate may level off to as low as 25 percent of
total receiver production. It is believed that the annual rate of
production of crystal receivers will continually decrease over the
years.
The potential reception base of the USSR as a target for foreign
radiobroadcasts should increase somewhat during the next few years.
The employment of battery-powered tube receivers in rural areas,
where police supervision is more difficult than in urban areas, may
afford some increased possibility of listening to foreign broadcasts
without detection.
Conditions of listening in the USSR are considerably different
from those in the free world. The majority of the USSR radio
audience must listen over wire-diffusion system loudspeakers. The
content of programs and the installation and operation of the
systems are strictly controlled by trusted Communist Party members.
It is quite evident that the authorities intend to keep the wire-
diffusion system as the core of the USSR reception base, and to take
other measures to build up a ncaptiveaudience, forced to listen to
* Radiofikatsaya (Radiofication) is a general Russian term meaning
the development of radio on the consumer side, thus it includes the
manufacture and distribution of radio receivers and loudspeakers as
well as the organization of listening.
- 4 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
....45.woceentIVI"-*
only Communist programs. This situation, combined with the increase
in jamming facilities and techniques, especially in urban and in-
dustrial areas, indicates a decreasing reception potential for
foreign broadcasts.
Group listening to Soviet broadcasts is encouraged by having
listening points in factories, schools, recreational centers, squares,
and other public areas.
Listening to Western broadcasts is usually done surreptitiously.
Home listening within the fAmily circle seems to be a normal prac-
tice. By various techniques the listeners can be assured of not
having to listen in a hurried or furtive manner. Those who do listen
to foreign broadcasts appear to do so daily or several times a week,
conditions permitting.
USSR jamming of foreign broadcasts varies according to time of
day, time of year, program, frequency, and location. Jamming is
systematically and regularly applied against Russian language pro-
grams directed into the USSR. In the Moscow area foreign broadcasts
in the English language are not subject to such intensive jamming as
are broadcasts in the Russian language. Jamming in urban areas
appears to be more effective than in rural_areas.
In the USSR as of January 1954, there is estimated to be one
receiver for every 39 persons. However, the number of receivers with
high-frequency reception capabilities is estimated to range from
one receiver for every 82 to 128 persons. The largest potential
audience is concentrated in the urban and industrial centers of the
European USSR. It is believed that the better classes of receivers
are in the hands of the intelligentsia, the ruling class, and the
armed forces personnel.
Radiobroadcasts of all Western countries directed into the USSR
are listened to by the Soviet people. The programs of the Voice of
America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are
considered the most popular.
The severe attacks made by press and radio upon foreign radio-
broadcasts subsided ijit 1953 but were resumed again in 1954. From
these attacks and through word-of-mouth dissemination of information
a very large proportion of the Soviet population at least becomes
aware that foreign radiobroadcasts to the USSR are being made.
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
This awareness should tend to increase the size of the listening
audience. As more persons learn of the validity of foreign radio-
broadcasts this too should increase the audience.
The effects of foreign radiobroadcasting can be judged by the
number of defectors from the USSR, the thought and discussion
provoked among the Soviet populace, and the dissatisfaction with
the present working conditions.
Monetarily, the broadcasts serve as a continual drain on the
Soviet economy. It is estimated that the Soviet jamming network
employs roughly 10,000 technicians and costs approximately 5 times
more than the total costs of US broadcasts to the whole Orbit.
It is also believed that the foreign broadcasts have been one
of the prime factors causing the Russians to intensify-their radio-
fication programs.
- 6 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
I. Transmission Facilities of Foreign Broadcasters into the
USSR (Aural).
It has been necessary to treat the radiobroadcasting reception*
potential of the USSR in a somewhat different manner than was the
case with the other papers in this series. 1/**
Among the many factors involved here are: the vastness of the
land mass, which creates complication in the reception of radio
waves; the relatively high incidence of bilingual and multilinRpal
people, even in the lower "strata" of that "classless society"; the
sharp urban/rural dichotomy of reception facilities; and the many
ethnic groups (see Table 1) and the variety of native languages.
Table 1 lists the sizes of the most important ethnic groups.
Table 1
Estimated Sizes of Major ;_iroups in the Soviet Population 2/
1940
Group
Millions
GrouF
Millions
Great Russians
100.0
Georgians
2.3
Ukrainians
36.0
Estonians
2.3
White Russians
8.5
Lithuanians
2.2
Jews
5.0
Armenians
2.2
Uzbeks
5.0
Latvians
1.6
Tatars
4.5
Mordovians
1.5
Kagakhs
3.2
Chavashi
1.4
Moldavians
2.5
Tadzhiks
1.3
Azerbajdzhans
2.4
Of the dozens of languages spoken daily in the USSR, this report
is concerned with those which are specifically beamed to the USSR.
The most widely used of these, of course, is Great Russian, commonly
referred to as the Russian language.
* Hereafter, th?/expression "radiobroadcasting reception" will be
in most cases shortened to "reception."
** Footnote references in Arabic numerals are to sources listed
in Appendix M.
-7-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
-E -T
There are many programs* on the air waves which, though not
specifically beamed to the USSR, are nonetheless physically and
linguistically receivable there. An outstanding example is programs
in the Polish language, which is understood not only by the millions
of native Poles who are now situated within the confines of the
USSR due to territorial acquisitions of the World War II period,
but also by many other Soviet citizens-.
Another important language is Hebrew, which is not beamed into
the USSR although there are many Jews scattered throughout the
country.**
These peripheral linguistic phenomena have been lightly treated
or ignored in this report, because it is felt that the line must
be drawn somewhere and there is a common denominator in the pro-
gramming hours compiled in this study, viz, deliberate propaganda.
For example, the programs broadcast by the Iranian government in
the Azerbaydzhani language are designed for the northern Iranian
peoples, not for the southern Soviet peoples. Thus although the
people of Soviet Azerbaydzhan can receive these foreign broadcasts,
and may well be affected by them, still the programs were not
designed for Soviet consumption, and therefore do not represent a
deliberate attempt on the part of a foreign country to propagandize
the Russians.
Although Polish is much more widely understood in the USSR than
any other language except Russian and Ukrainian, and although many
hours of Polish language broadcasts beamed to Poland are technically
receivable in the USSR, still these broadcasts have not been in-
cluded in Table 2***, because it is felt that inclusion of such
transmission in the over-all figures would distort the picture.
Indeed, the reception of Polish language VOA broadcasts by Russians
might induce a negative reaction, since Poles have for centuries
been anti-Russian. Thus a program designed to stir the heart of
the Pole might well be repugnant to the Great Russian, the Lith-
uanian, or the Ukrainian.
Many other languages, such as Arabic, Armenian, German, Greek,
* The term "programr unless specifically stated otherwise, means
a radiobroadcast program.
** Set Table 1.
*** Table 2 follows on p.9.
,/
- -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Table 2
Foreign Radiobroadcasting in Russian and Other Soviet Languages a/ b/ 3/
May 1954
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Hours_per week
Broadcaster
Original Programming
Rebroadcast
Grand Total
Frequencies
Other Soviet
Russian Languages Total
Russian
Other Soviet
Languages lotal
Russian
Other Soviet
Languages Total
VOA
17.50
28.00
45.50
108.50
73.50
182.00
126.00
101.50
227.50
77
BBC (excluding relay of14A)
12.25
12.25
12.25
12.25
10
Italy (excluding Radio Vatican)
7.00
4.67
11.67
7.00
4.67
11.67
5
Vatican Radio
0.75
2.75
3.50
0.75
2.75
3.50
6
Canada
7.00
3.25
10.25
7.0C
3.25
10.25
2
Ecuador
8.00
1.50
9.50
8.00
1.50
9.50
2
Philippines
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
4
Spain
3.00
0.75
3.75
3.00
0.75
3.75
1
Greece
2.50
2.50
2.50
2.50
2
UN Radio
2.50
2.50
2.50
2.50
1
Iran
1.75
175
1.75
1.75
3
Lebanon
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
2
Total Western (except clandestine)
67.25
41.92
109.17
108.50
73.50
182.00
175.75
115.42
291,17
RFR
18.00
18.00
18.00
18.00
2
Radio Liberation
17.50
14.00
31.50
178.50
175.00
353.50
196.00
189.00
385.00
9
Total Non-Communist
102.75
55.92
158.67
287.00
21_116_2_
�5.50
389.75
304.42
694.17
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Poland
Rumania
Yugoslavia
2.50
2.50
4.00
1.75
7.00
7.00
2.50
2.50
4.00
1.75
7.00
7.00
2.50
2.50
4.00
1.75
7.00
7.00
2.50
2.50
14.00
1.75
7.00
7.00
2
1
2
14
3
Total Communist
24.75
24.75
24.75
24.75
Total Foreign broadcasts
127.50
55.92
183.42
287.00
2148.50
535.50
414.50
304.142
718.92
7157-a breakdown or the non-Russian Soviet languages, see Table 3.
b. Entertainment omitted.
9
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Hindi, Kannadian, Kurdish, Ladino, Persian, Pushtu, Telugi, Turkish,
Urdu, and Yiddish, broadcast regularly by the Home and/or Regional
Services of countries contiguous to or near the USSR, would be under-
stood by at least a small segment of the Soviet population. All such
programming has been disregarded in this stilt., not because it lacks
effectiveness, but because it lacks directness. This section is
concerned with broadcasts beaned to the Soviet people by foreign
countries, both Communist and non-Communist. The most significant
broadcasters, in terms of total hours of programming per week and
total hours of transmissions by the various languages, are shown
in Table 3.
Table 3
Foreign Radiobroadcasting to the USSR, by Language* 2/ h/
May 1954
per week
Broadcaster
Rus- Arnie- Belo-
sian nian ruSsian
Esto- Geor- Lat-
nian gian vian
,Triong
Lithua- Ukrai-
nian nian Total
VOA
BBC
United
Nations
Italy (Rome)
Vatican
Spain
Philippines
Canada
Ecuador
Greece
Iran
Lebanon
Yugoslavia
Rumania
Hungary
Bulgaria
Czechoslo-
vakia
17.50 3.50
12.25
2.50
7.00
0.75
3.00
5.00
7.00
8.00
2.50 b/
1.75 -
1.00
7.00
7.00
4.00
2.50
2.50
0.25
5.25
3.50
3.50
0.50 �
5.25
2.33
1.00
7.00
2.33
1.00
0.75
3.25
1.50
45.50
12.25
2.50
11.66
3.50
3.75
5.00
10.25
9.50
2.50
1.75
1.00
7.00
7.00
4.00
2.50
2.50
* Footnotes fpir Table 3 follow on p. 11.
-10 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
.....Iderlwrer4+..E.."11��������
Table 3
Foreign Radiobroadcasting to the USSR, by Language a/ /1/
Nay 1954
(Continued)
Hours per week
Rus- Anne- Belo- Esto- Geor- Lat- Lithu- Ukra-
roadcaster sian nian Russian nian gian vian nian nian Total
oland 1.75 1.75
FR 18.00 18.00
adio
Liberation 17.50 3.50 1.75 3.50 31.50 c/
Total 127.50 8.00 2.00 5.25 7.00 4.00 8.58 15.83 183.41
. Original programs only; that is, no repeat broadcasts are included. Radio
iberation programs in Caucasian and Middle Asian languages are not shown.
. 45 minutes of this time is comprised of a 15-minute program broadcast 3
lines a week by Central Greece Armed Forces Services.
. Includes languages not specified in the table.
A. Voice of America (VOA).
The VOA programs are the most significant Western World broad-
asting effort in Soviet languages, at least in terms of totallseekly
rogramming and number of frequencies employed. VOA uses 77 fre-
uenc.ies to originate and repeat a total of 227.5 transmission hours*
o the USSR. Of this, 126 hours are in Russian and the remainder
s divided among 7 other Soviet languages.**
Table 4 shows the number of frequencies in each frequency
ange employed by V0A291* It includes transmitters in the US and in
unich, Germany, the two points from which all VOA programs emanate,
nd also the relay transmitters in Tangier, Salonika, and Stuttgart.
Transmission hours,ds used in this report, refers to original
rogram time plus all:rebroadcast time.
* See Table
-* Table 4 follows on p. 12.
-11-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Also included are the 5 frequencies of the US Coast Guard cutter
"Courier," as well as the BBC frequencies used to relay VOA
scheduling.*
�
Table 4
Frequencies Used by VOA in the .US and Abroad
Band Number
VHF a/ none none
HF 12/ 17 mc 5
15 MQ 15'
11 mc 16
9 mc 16
7 mc 9
6 mc 8
5 mc 2
3 mc
Subtotal 72
MF 2/ 4
LF d/ 1
Total 77
a. Very-high frequencies (VHF) extend from 30 to 300 megacycles (mc)
and are often referred to as "very short waves."
b. High frequencies extend from 3,000 to 30,000 kilocycles (3 to
30 mc) and are often referred to as "short waves."
c. Medium frequencies extent from 300 to 3,000 kilocycles (kc) and
are often referred to as "medium waves."
d. Low frequencies extend from 30 to 300 kilocycles and are-often
referred to as "long waves."
Much of the total transmission time of VOA consists of
For more detailed listing of frequencies, see Appendix A.
-12-
0 It B
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
repeats of previous broadcasts; the total of original VOL New York
and VOL Munich programming is only 45.5 hours, for Russian and non-
Russian Soviet languages combined. The Great Russian language is
used for 17.5 hours of these programs, and the other 28 hours are
divided as shown in Table S.
Table 5
VOA Weekly Programming, Original and Repeat .�./
Original Program
Language
Hours
Repeats
Total
Russian
17.50
108.50
126.00
Armenian
3.50
14.00
17.50
Estonian
5.25
12.25
17.50
Georgian
3.50
17.50
21.00
Latvian
3.50
8.75
12.25
Lithuanian
5.25
14.00
19.25
Ukrainian
7.00
7.00
14.00
Total
45.5o '
182.00
227.50
During 126 of the 168 hours in a week, a Soviet citizen with
a suitable receiver can receive a VOA broadcast in the Russian lan-
guage. Of the remaining 42 hours in the week, 17.5 hours are
blanketed by VOL broadcasts in other Soviet languages. Figure 1
shows a 24 hour VOA schedule, by language as of 16 May 1954.* All
.but one of the original programs are clustered in the late evening
and early morning hours, Moscow time.
Most of the programs originaced by VOA are carried simul-
taneously on a great number of frequencies; one program, for example,
is transmitted on 1 low and 35 high frequencies.
Although all program and frequency assignments are subject
Following p.137 Appendix B shows the same schedule in table
form.
-13-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
twr=1"--1
to change from day to day, it is considered doubtful that these
changes would substantially alter the general impression to be gained
from this presentation.
B. British Broadcasting Company,(BBC).
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) initiated its Russian
language service on 24 March 1946, 1./ and by 1954 was beaming 12.25
weekly hours to the Soviet Union, all in Great Russian. In addition
to this original programming, BBC relays most of the VOL schedule,
amounting to another 35 hours of transmission time. Since the re-
lays by BBC occur simultaneously with the original VOL broadcasts,
this transmission does not appear in Table 2. Y
BBC transmits its Russian-language programs on 1 low fre-
quency, 3 medium frequencies, and 6 high frequencies. The high,-
frequency transmissions are in the 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 17 mega-
cycle bands, and the exact frequency within each band varies from day
to day in order to minimize the effect of Soviet jamming. * 2/
C. Italy: Rome Overseas Service and Radio Vatican.
The combined Italian radiobroadcasting (Overseas Service and
Radio Vatican) into the Soviet Union amounts to about 15 hours a
week of original programming, with no repeat transmissions. Vatican
Radio concentrates mainly on the non-Russian languages -- Lithuanian,
Ukrainian, Latvian, and Belorussian -- with only 45 minutes a week
in Russian. Rome Overseas Service transmits 7 hours a week in
Russian and 2.33 hours each in Lithuanian and Ukrainian. 12/
D. Clandestine and Quasi-Clandestine Broadcasters.
A "clandestine" broadcasting station is one which operates,
uslInlly without overt legal registration, from an unannounced
location, with the principal intent of subverting the target aud-
ience. It usually speaks for an illegal or exiled group, and
typically attempts to conceal its true location and sponsorship.
A "quasi-clandestine" broadcasting station is one which has
some, but not all, of the attributes of a clandestine station.
* Fora discussion of jamming, see Section 175C, p.108.
-14-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
ARMENIAN
ESTONIAN
GEORGIAN
LATVIAN
LITHUANIAN
UKRAINIAN
RUSSIAN
VOA TWENTY-FOUR HOUR SCHEDULE
By Language
(As of 16 May 1954)
I r
........
0000 0100 0200 0300 0400 0500 0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500� 1600 1700 1800 1900 2009 2100 2200 2300 2400
.......
Greenwich Mean Time
la Original programing
13364 CIA, 7-54
at:i:Pt3e� � � � .� � � � � � � � � � � ��� � � � � ���
Programs originating in Munich
Repeats of previous programs
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
1. Radio Free Russia (RFR).
Radio Free Russia is operated by the Natsionalnoy
Trudovoy Soyuz (National Worker's Union -- NST), an anti-Communist
group with headquarters in-West Germany.
RFR beams 18 hours a week of Russian language broad-
casts into the USSR, using two mobile transmitters; one operates in
the 6 megacycle band, while the other uses 11-12 megacycles. The
frequencies vary widely within these bands to prevent jamming, and
BBC reported in 1951 that its signal was receivable, in June of that
year, about 75 percent of the time. 11/
2. Radio Liberation.
Radio Liberation is a quasi-clandestine anti-Communist
station, with headquarters in Munich, West Germany. It is supported,
at least in part, by the American Committee for Liberation from
Bolshevism, Inc. 12/
Although the Russian language scheduling of Radio Libera-
tion has been fairly consistent since its inception in March 1953,
the Caucasian and Soviet Middle Asian programs have been sporadic. L/
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) reported on 2 July
1953 that "broadcasts in languages other than Russian" by Radio
Liberation had "not been heard recently." 14/ The same source re-
ported on 14 July 1953 that "from 1800 to 2200 LMT7 programs in
Azerbaydzhani are heard on the hour, in Armenian aE 15 minutes past
the hour, and in Avar at 45 minutes past the hour." lf/ By late
1953, Radio Liberation had apparently settled down to a fairly
consistent scheduling in its non-Russian language broadcasts, using
five frequencies in the 6, 7, 9, and 11 megacycle bands beamed to
Soviet Middle Asia, and two frequencies in the 9 and 11 megacycle
bands beamed to the Caucasus area.
In mid-1954 a major schedule change was effected by Radio
Liberation which resulted in a substantial increase in total trans-
mission time. The number of frequencies employed also increased.
It now Uses 13 high frequencies, three each in the 11, 9, 7, and 6
megacycle bands, and one in the 3 megacycle band. Ten of these
frequencies are us9d for the major Russian language broadcasts,
which are beamed to East Germany and Austria as well as to the USSR.
This beaming �pea-fates around the clock, with two daily hours of
- 15
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
basic programming repeated continuously. Thus the weekly total of
original (basic) programming is 14, and total weekly transmission
time, on this beaming, is 168. 16/
Another half-hour Russian-language program is carried on
the Caucasus beaming, and is repeated 7 times for a daily total of
4 transmission hours. Thus the total of Russian-language broadcasts
by Radio Liberation amounts to 196 hours a week, of which 17i hours
are original programs, and 178i are repeat broadcasts.*
It will be noted in Table 2 that the Radio Liberation
schedule is heavier than that of VOA in terms of total transmission
time. It should be pointed out, however, that VOA employs 77
frequencies, many of which are in higher bands -- 15 and 17 mega-
cycle bands -- which greatly increases the area of coverage. Thus
tne reception potential would appear to be greater for VOA than for
Radio Liberation.
Radio 1Jiberation now has a significant schedule in other
Soviet languages. Armenian, Azerbaydzhani, Georgian, and one of the
North Caucasian languages (Avar, Chechen-Ingus, Cherkess, Karach-
Balher, or Osetian) are carried daily on the Caucasus beaming in
addition to the Russian-language program mentioned above. Belorusbian
is broadcast on a special beaming to East Germany and the USSR. The
fourth beaming -- to Soviet Central Asia -- is also a very significant
broadcasting effort. The Bashkir language is carried daily on this
beaming, in addition to one of the Turkic languages (Kazakh, Turkmen,
or Uzbek). 11/
The total weekly transmission time of Radio Liberation,
as shown in Table 21 is 385 weekly hours -- more than half of the
total foreign radiobroadcasting transmission time beamed to the
USSR. VOA is second with 227.5 total transmission hours, and all
other broadcasters combined represent a total of 106.5 hours.
E. Other Non-Communist Broadcasters.
Seven other non-Communist countries and the US employ 15
frequencies to broadcast a total of 36.25 weekly hours in Soviet
languages. Most of this time, 30.75, is in Great Russian.
* SeeiTable 2.
-16-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
France does not originate any Soviet-language broadcasts,
but uses one high frequency to relay the UN Russian-language program.
Canada and Ecuador are the only countries in the Western
hemisphere, except the US, which carry Soviet language material in
their international service. These two countries broadcast 8 and 7
hours a week, respectively, in Great Russian. Each country has a
Ukrainian program as well.*
F. Foreign Communist Broadcasters.
Communist countries, including Yugoslavia, use 20 frequencies
to broadcast a total of 25 weekly hours in the Russian language to
the Soviet Union 4 None of these broadcasts are repeated. 1.1.31
Almost one-third (7 hours) of this broadcast time is comprised
of Yugoslav programs, and an equal amount is transmitted by Rumania.
Approximately one-half of the Satellite broadcasts consist of press
reviews for Radio Moscow. No Soviet language is used for these broad-
casts except Great Russian.
Communist China inaugurated Russian-language broadcasts in
November 1952 to commemorate the Sino-Soviet Friendship Month, but
these broadcasts were discontinued early in December of the same
year, 19/ and have not been noted since that time. Therefore it is
not included in the tables.
* See Table 3, p. 10, above.
-17 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
II. Radiobroadcasting System of the USSR.
A. Development of the System.
1. Early-History.
Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917 there had been
no practical radiobroadcasting* of voice and music as we know it
today. There hadbeen, as a result of the newly discovered vacuum
tube, voice modulation tests of radio waves prior to and during the
First World War. But although its practicability was established,
organized broadcasting to the public did not develop until after
1918. Similarly, the practical value of organized propaganda as
a tool of governmental policy had not been recognized until the
experiences of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution were
assimilated into political thought. 22/ The coincidence in time
of these three events; the development of broadcasting to the
practical state, the confirmed usefulness of propaganda as a
political tool, and the seizure of power by a hardened group of
revolutionaries, had important consequences in the development of
broadcasting methods and techniques in the USSR.
a. Special Circumstances Which Faced the USSR in
Radiobroadcasting.
The USSR presented problems in broadcasting which
differed greatly from those of the more advanced industrial nations
of the West, and these problems restricted the development of
broadcasting. The Bolshevik inheritance of basic needs, facilities,
and resources in the field of radio, together with their generally
over-ambitions plans for industrial development created a complex
of problems in priority allocation for broadcasting.
The vast physical extent of the USSR plus the great
fariability in population density, developed resources, climate,
topography, and radio wave propagation characteristics, created
problems in the choice of equipment to be produced, frequency
allocations, transmitters, powers, and locations, and connecting
facilities between transmitters and studios. These factors were
* Hereafter, the expression "radiobroadcasting" is most cases
will be shortened to broadcasting.
-18-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
conditioned by yet another unique feature, the linguistic and cul-
tural diversity of the population of the USSR. Whereas many of these
problems could have been resolved by the utilization of different
types of equipment according to-location, and by stations
serving areas according to population density and national origin,
these solutions were not acceptable by those in power. The Communist
viewpoint was oriented strongly toward strict control from the cen-
ter, and toward standardization of equipment for economic reasons.
An important decision was called for concerning
priorities of development, and hence allocations ot resources between
communications facilities and other industrial investment, and be-
tween broadcasting and the creation of the basic telecommunications
network. The USSR had an extensive overhead telegraph and telephone
system, but it was mainly concentrated in the Western areas, and
threaded very thinly eastward toward the Pacific. Many radio
facilities existed to overcome wireline deficiencies. In general,
telecommunications equipment was neither adequate nor up-to-date,
and heavy investment was necessary. 21/ The resources of the country
in technical manpower were scarce, and production facilities appar-
ently were insufficient to meet the needs of a nation becoming in-
dustrialized, The distribution of electric power, upon which radio
normally depends, had not been extended by Czarist Russia to any
great extent beyond a few large cities. 22/
The immediate over-riding inheritance of the Bolsheviks,
however, was the political, social, and economic chaos stemming from
the War and Revolution and the period of War Communism. This chaos,
together with the immensity of the other problems, effectively pre-
cluded any early, concerted effort to attack the problem of radio-
broadcasting other than in the densely populated urban-industrial
areas, and even this was on a small scale.
As a result of all these circumstances Soviet broad-
casting remained considerably behind the development of Western
broadcasting. Nevertheless, efforts werebeing made to overcome
the deficiencies in material, technical personnel, and industry,
to the point where greater quantities of resources could be diverted
from basic economic and military needs and toward the development
of a broadcasting system.
- 19 -
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
b. Soviet Concepts of the Functions and Qualities of
Radiobroadcasting.
Perhaps the most important factor in the determina-
tion of the role to be played by Soviet radio and its organization
is the Bolshevik view that no social service to the population can
be disassOciated from strict government control and supervision.
Radio is important in the USSR as a solidifying link and a "trans-
mission belt" by which the party can mobilize the population for
the attainment of the Kremlin's goals. From the beginning the
Soviet leaders had a deep practical awareness of the potential
of broadcasting as an administrative tool and as a means of
Communist indoctrination and agitation of the populace. From
this concept of radio the Soviet leaders have designed and re-
designed the broadcasting apparatus to give it maximum effective-
ness in much the same manner as they have developed other mechanisms
of control and supervision. Included in this idea of state monopoly
Is the desire to expand the mass audience to the full limit of the
population and to prevent penetration by foreign broadcasting ser-
vices into the USSR.
c. Early Soviet Planning.
As has been mentioned earlier, because of the
chaotic economic and social situation and the special problems faced,
progress of radiobroaacasting was slow in the first few years of
Communist rule. It was not until 1924 that systematic broadcasting
was begun and an organization set up to administer the system. De-
tailed information of early Soviet planning for the development of
broadcasting is not available. During this period it seems that the
development of broadcasting was given a priority relatively below
the demands for capital investment in heavy industry and the needs
of the basic communication nets. Nevertheless, of the 80 kilowatts
of transmitting power reportedly radiated over Europe in 1925, the
USSR may have accounted for about half of it. 22/ By 1924 plans had
apparently progressed to the point where a mechanism to administer
broadcasting became desirable. To this end, in October 1924, the
council of People's Commissars established a "Joint-Stock Company
lor Radiobroadcasting," known as "Radioperedacha," which stock was
held jointly-by the Moscow Council of Trade Unions and the Public
Education authorities. During the same month the "Sokolnicheskaya"
radio sfation, operated by the Moscow Council of Trade Unions,
went 0 the air. 21/ This marked the beginning of systematic
-20-
-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
broadcasting in the Soviet Union.
2. Development of Facilities.
The first major broadcast in the USSR was transmitted on
17 September 1922 by a 12 kilowatt medium frequency station at Mos-
cow alleged to be the most powerful station in the world at that
time. (US stations began transmissions officially in 1921 but
broadcasting was carried on experimentally several years before.)
Lenin, recognizing the value of broadcasting as a part of the Soviet
plan to control the minds of the masses, quickly set about to take
over this powerful medium of agitation and propaganda.
In 1925-26 the Soviet radio system made great strides,
setting up more than 30 broadcasting stations of one or two kilo-
watts each and inaugurating wire-diffusion exchanges in Moscow,
Leningrad, and several other large cities.
Although the development of broadcasting was given a
lower priority than, for example, heavy industry, the USSR is be-
lieved to have had a total broadcasting output of about 40 kilowatts
in 1953, or half of the broadcasting power output reportedly radiated
by European transmitters.
By 1927 the number of transmitters in use in the USSR was
at least 23 (including a new 45 kw transmitter at Moscow) with a
total power output of 126.5 kilowatts.
By 1929 the USSR was operating over 40 principal broad-
casting transmitters in some 40 cities, averaging over 5 kilowatts
each in power output, and providing, except in a few cases, coverage
in the immediate area of the respective transmitters.
It is interesting to note that in 1929 the Radio-
Electric Conference of Prague was held to deal, among other things,
with the allocation of frequencies to all European broadcasting
stations. At this conference it became clear that the Russians
intended to continue the illegal operation of broadcasting stations
in frequency bands which had been reserved by the Washington Confer-
ence of 1927 for maritime, aeronautical, and other special services.
The Conference propos4d a 60 kilowatt maximum power output for the
future but it was not accepted as binding, and within a year the
All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions opened a 100 kilowatt
-21-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
station in a suburb of Moscow.
By the end of the First Five Year Plan, in 1932, the USSR
reportedly had 57 broadcasting stations in operation, with a total
power output of 1503 kilowatts as compared to 23 stations and a
total output of 126.5 kilowatts at the beginning of the Plan in 1928.
According to information from the Soviet Radio itself, more than
50 dialects or languages were used in "broadcasting" by the end of
1932. Part of the total power increase during the First Five Year
Plan can be attributed to the installation of the 100 kilowatt
station of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in a Moscow
suburb in 1929, and to the conversion of the Moscow, Leningrad, and
Novosibirsk stations to 100 kilowatt output between 1930 and 1932.
The following year saw the inauguration of the gigantic 500 kilowatt
low-frequency "Comintern" transmitter at Moscow, the largest in the
wrld at that time. No high-frequency stations of any consequence
were as yet in operation. In fact, in 1930 there were only three
such transmitters in use in all of Europe.
When Nazi Germany entered the field of international
high-frequency-broadcasting in 1933 the Soviet broadcasting service
began transmissions in German and other European languages on the
new 500 kilowatt Comintern transmitter. No details are available as
to the extent of this first international broadcasting service. To
counteract German high-frequency propaganda broadcasts, the USSR,
France, and the UK hurriedly entered the field. Italy was already
broadcasting propaganda in Arabic to North Africa and the Near East
at this time *via the powerful Bari radio station.
BY 1934 the USSR's broadcas-ping service operated about
60 main transmitters averaging over 15 kilowatts each in power.
Six of these were 100 kilowatts or more and one was 500 kilowatts.
Of the 55 cities listed as having broadcast stations, only two,
Moscow and Khabarovsk, appear to have had high-powered high-frequency
transmitters. In addition, there were some low-powered high-
frequency stations providing regional coverage. The number of
listeners in the USSR was reported to be about 10 million, with 22.5
million in the remainder of Europe. In 1934 the total number of
broadcast hours was estimated to be about 330,000 hours for the year,
with over 60 languages represented.
The Second Five Year Plan (1932-37) resulted in an in-
crease to 77 stations in 67 cities of which seven were 100 kilowatts
- 22 -
-S R E-T
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
...S.Fraawaftwrpoi.
or more, having a total power output of 1765 kilowatts. Only four
cities, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tashkent, and Khabarovsk were listed
as having high-frequency transmitters.
-----
During the Third Five Year Plan (1938-42) the Russians
apparently concentrated on expansion of the wired network facilities
and improvement of existing transmitter facilities. By 1940 the
number of broadcasting stations, according to the Berne List of
Broadcasting Stations, numbered 81 in 69 cities, an increase of
only 5 transmitters over 1937. According to Soviet statistics,
broadcasting was conducted in 62 languages or dialects by 1940,
either by radio or through the 11,000 wired exchanges then in
existence, of which about one-third were under the operational or
technical management of the Ministry of Communications. By June
of 1941 the number of loudspeaker sets in the wired exchanges
totaled 5 million according to the newspaper Izvestia.
3. Administrative and Planning Changes, 1924-40.
a. 1924-28.
With the establishment of Radioperedacha the Russians
entered a period of concerted effort to plan economically and admin-
istratively for resolving their handicaps and goals. The compara-
tively slow tempo apparently decided upon permitted the next few
years to be. a period of experimentation both in equipment and organ-
ization. Economic resources were not invested in this program to
a degree where commitment to a particular pattern of transmission
or reception was unnecessary. Since there was no possibility of
making radiobroadcasting receivers* or reception facilities avail-
able to the minority peoples of the USSR the problem of central
control was not acute. Similarly, radiofication of the entire
nation was out of the question. As a result there was concentration
on the European part of the USSR, principally the urban-industrial
region. Radioperedacha operated with the Sokolnicheskaya radio
station as its base. The Cultural Section of the Moscow Council of
Trade Unions directly operated the station. They in turn added to
the active audience by instituting the first wire-diffusion ex-
change. 25/ The use of wire lines to distribute aural broadcasts
was to become one of the most significant developments of the Soviet
* Hereafter, the expression "radiobroadcasting receivers" will be
in most cases shortened to receivers.
- 23 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
..16�E��3�4iGNE.46.
system. This manner of broadcasting is known under different names
and it fulfills different functions. In Eastern Europe radiofication
is also known as telediffusion, radio-distribution, relay-exchanges,
re-diffusion, etc. It is indirect reception, mostly_from a small
radio receiver, with an amplifier which feeds dozens, hundreds, or
even thousands of small loudspeakers. This type of system usually
serves as an intermediary-, relaying programs from other points, but
it can also be used to initiate broadcasts. The honest purpose of
such wired indirect reception, and most likely the original purpose
for its use in the USSR, is to overcome economic difficulties in
equipment production, and technical difficulties such as electrical
noise in industrial areas. The system recommends itself to poor
countries where the majority of the people cannot afford an indi-
vidual receiver but can acquire or hire a loudspeaker. There is
also the obvious advantage for a totalitarian state in that the
relay point is in complete control of the programs. The man who
controls the relay point is in a position to determine just what
will be broadcast. .2�./ The continued and expanded use of this
system in the USSR in undoubtedly due to the fortuitous combination
of economic considerations and political advantages to the Communist
Party.
b. 1928-40.
Changes in the administration of broadcasting occurred
at the outset of the First Five Year Plan (1928-32), and again in
the Second Plan (1933-37), reflecting the degree of change which had
occurred in the technology, the economy, and the political adminis-
tration of the country.
In July 1928, Radioperedacha was dissolved and the
control of broadcasting was transferred to the Commissariat of Posts
and Telegraphs. 21/ The transmission and reception base of the coun-
try, while still in its infancy, had expanded to the point where
there was a need for administration on an All-Union level. Also
the international development of radio had raised the need for a_
central authority-to represent the USSR at international conferences
dealing with frequency allocations, power regulations, and general
radio procedure. The Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs was a
natural choice.
The administration of broadcasting and reception
was apparently not satisfactory under these auspices however, and
- 2L -
SECRgT
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
C -L -T
with the aim of achieving more centralized control of radio work
the All-Union Committee for Radiobroadcasting and Radiofication
(VRK) was established under the Council of People's Commissars in
January 1933. 28/ Nine months later the Council, in a regulation
dated 27 November 1933, defined the authority and powers of the VRK,
and charged it with the "organization, planning and operational
direction of all radiobroadcasting in the USSR, including wire-
diffusion by lower broadcasting exchanges in district centers, Machine
Tractor Stations, etc." The subordination of the VEK directly
under the Council of Ministers was apparently due to the realization
that an activity with so many cultural, social, economic, technical,
and political ramifications could not adequately be administered by
a specialized technical and economic commissariat.
Thus it appears that by 1934 the format of the Soviet
broadcasting system, its reception pattern, and its organization
and management, had been firmly established. The description which
follows will in general apply to the period from 1934 until the
present, although in section II, paragraph B, the system will be ex-
plored in greater detail, in light of more recent knowledge.
c. Over-all Functioning.
Moscow was the central station with a complex of
transmitters. On low- and medium-frequencies Moscow was serving
radio receivers in the area by radio, aid loudspeakers by wire.
The Moscow distribution system served the so-called local (regional)
stations in the various Republics and regions either by or
by radio. These local stations relayed Moscow programs, and also
originated their own local programs in the proper language or lan-
guages. The local stations served radio receivers in their own
areas and also distributed programs by wire-line to loudspeakers in
their own immediate areas and probably also to some more distant
cities and villages. In this system all radio levels below Moscow
relayed programs from the higher levels and could originate programs
for wire transmission. 22/ This systematization gave Moscow a
command channel down to the lower levels of social and economic
activity.
The general outline of the present reception was
also formed in the ,930s, and has continued essentially unchanged
in the postwar period, except that certain changes in emphasis have
occurred which will be discussed later. Chief among the steps
- 25 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
taken taken at various times to form the reception system are as follows: 211.
,The extensive use of wired radio nets.
Prohibitive purchase prices for tunable receivers. �
Installation of loudspeakers and receivers for group
listening.
Registration and licensing fees for receiving equip-
ment.
Jamming foreign broadcasts beamed into the USSR.
B. Wartime System.*
Shortly after the outbreak of the war with Germany in 1941,
the Soviet broadcasting system quickly began to show signs of de-
centralization due to the rapid German advaace in the western USSR.
Many of the large republic and local transmitters were destroyed or
captured by early 1942 in the Baltic area, the Belorussian SSR, the
Jkraine, and parts of the RSFSR. At the beginning of the war the
principal Moscow high-frequency traasmitters were: RV 96 of 100
kilowatts, RKI of 25 kilowatts, RNE of 20 kilowatts, RAN of 20 kilo-
watts, and RV59 of 20 kilowatts or more in power output. By October
of 1941 these transmitters ceased to operate and the powerful low-
frequency Comintern station likewise disappeared from the air waves.
A number of emergency transmitters then appeared, mostly of extremely
poor quality. All in all, broadcasting conditions for the western
part of the USSR were poor during this period. The number of Russian
broadcasts for home consumption decreased and the original division
of the home service into four broadcasting zones was abandoned tem-
porarily. This reorganization, in late 1941, involved a substantial
decentralization of the Russian and foreign language broadcasting
services. Radio Center Moscow lost much of its importance, and
other centers, notably Kuybyshev, the temporary Soviet capital,
came into the foreground. The services maintained by regional cen-
ters replaced programs previously-broadcast by Moscow, especially
those destined for the various national zones.
In January 1942 the USSR inaugurated three powerful high-
frequency transmitters at Komsomol'sk in the Soviet Far East, which,
were constructed by RCA and known to have an output of 50 kilowatts
each. These transmitters served, and still serve, purely as relay
* This, subsection prepared by FBID, 11 May 1954. It is based on
nonitoed broadcasts. For further information check with FBIO.
- 26 -
�Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 000309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
S.4�4�ERTE"-"lb
stations for Moscow and Khabarovsk programs, both national and inter-
national. Some of the programs were relayed from Moscow via the tele-
phone line installed along the Trans-Siberian Railroad in 1939,
while othenswere received by high-frequency radio for retransmission.
Other high-frequency stations known to have been in operation during
the early part of the war include: Khabarovsk, Vladivostok,
Kuybyshev, Leningrad, Tbilisi, Alma Ata, Sverdlovsk, Magadan,
Petropavlovsk, Novosibirsk, Yerevan, Kamchatka, and Tashkent.
By thebeginning of 1942, Moscow had resumed some of its
functions which were temporarily carried by regional centers.
Greater attention was paid to the quality of transmitters and to
necessary adjustments for good reception. The improved military
position at that time made development toward centralization possible.
The five Kuybyshev high-frequency stations abandoned the Soviet home
program in favor of relays from Moscow. After one year of war Moscow
again became the chief broadcasting center of the USSR. Transmissions
were begun for German-occupied Soviet territories in eight languages.
In 1943, according to a 1947 Tass dispatch, the USSR com-
pleted construction in the east of the country" of what they called
the world's most powerful medium-frequency broadcasting station.
(This presumably refers to the so-called "Stalin n transmitter, re-
portedly of one million watts and originally located in the Ural
Mountains area. Its present disposition is unknown.)
Not much is known about the reconstruction of the Soviet
broadcasting system from 1943 to 1946. Temporary transmitters were
set up, however, in the larger recaptured cities in the Ukraine and
Belorussian SSR. In 1944 there were about 20 high-frequency trans-
mitters announcing as Moscow although some of them were actually
19cated at other cities such as Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, and
Kuybyshev. The number of radio transmitting stations rebuilt during
this period was not great, but due to lend-lease aid and redistri-
bution of transmitters the rehabilitation of the broadcasting system
was accomplished, apparently without great difficulty.
In 1946 the Fourth Five Year Plan began with 27 new trans-
mitters being put into operation, including a powerful medium-
frequency station at Riga. Improved broadcast stations were built
in Simferopol, Stalingrad, Moscow, Kiev, Kuybyshev, Kharkov,
Novosibirs1; and Alma Ata. Many new telephone lines capable of re-
laying radio programs were put into use during this period.
- 27 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
DECRET
According to a statement by Ivan T. Peresypkin, Marshal of Signal
Troops, 5 million radio receivers survived the war and were in use
as of 1 January 1946.
C. Postwar Developments.
1. Postwar Administration.
The previous section serves to indicate how the combined
conditions of early Soviet economic development and the political
perspective of the Communist Party have worked toward the formation
of the present broadcasting system in the USSR. With this as back-
ground, and with the recent information available, this section
will explore in considerably greater detail the recent developments
in the system and the coordination of the activities of the various
offices which have some authority and responsibility in the manage-
ment of operations. Figure 2*, Soviet Organization and Administra-
tion of Radiobroadcasting, shows the breakdown of the various
organs concerned with broadcasting, and their subordination within
the hierarchy. An examination of this chart will suggest both the
formal and informal relations between the organs of government and
party. It also provides a basis for a study of the agents who
guide the broadcasting endeavor within the USSR, and is a frame-
work into which can be woven the various facts regarding the general
atmosphere and specific conditions under which these agents operate.
a. Over-all Administration.
The Soviet broadcasting system, until March 1953, was
administered by the Radio Committee (VRK) attached directly to the
Council of Ministers of the USSR. On that date the VRK was merged
with other propaganda and information agencies into the newly
created Ministry of Culture, USSR. 22/ Since then it has been re-
ferred to as the Main Administration for Radio Information of the
Ministry of Culture, USSR. 22/ Alexi A. Puzin remained as chief of
this body. There is no indication that the responsibilities or
functions of the organization have changed to any great degree. In
addition to serving as the All-Union authority on broadcasting
matters, this body also serves as the authority within the RSFSR.
Each of the remaining fifteen Union Republics has its own Radio
Information Committee, which has become subordinate to the Republic
* See Figure 2 following p. 28.
-28-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
USSR
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
OF RADIOBROADCASTING
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
GOVERNMENT
All Union Society for Radio
and Electric Communications
_ !mini Popov (VNORiE)
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
USSR
INTERLOCKING MEMBERSHIP
Other lifnistries
and Admini trations of
Council of Ministers
USSR
Subordinate
Administrations and Trusts
cf�
Ministry of Communications
USSR
N.D. Psurtsey
Main Administration
for Radio Cimmunications
and Radiobroadcasting
Main Administration or
Inter-rayon Communications
F. G. Loginov
Main Administration
for Radiofication
V. Vasil'ev
Ministry of the Radio
Technical Industry USSR
V. D. Kalmykoy
Subordinate Administrations
Ministry f Culture
USSR
G. F. Alexandrov
Main Administration
for Radio Information
A. A. Puzin
� � ��-
?/,'� I ri � .1...,,..:j!;si!0;;.� �
�
�
Local Economic Enterprises
Republic and Regional
Offices of the Ministry
of Communications
Local Offices of the
Ministry of Communications
Direct Subordination
Shows Channel of Influence
Shows Channel of Coordination of Contactual Nature
Administration of
Central Broadcasting
Administration of
Local Broadcasting
Administration of
Foreign Broadcasting
Administration
of Radiofication
Radio Information
Committees on SSR keel
Radio Information
Committees on
ASSR, AO, NO, level
Radio Information
Committees on Oblast
and Cray level
Local rayo and city
Radio Committees
and Editorial Boards
Main Administration for
Literary and P bfishing Affairs
(Gla lit)
--1
Local representatives
of Glavlit
13329 CIA, 7�54
PARTY
PRESIDIUM OF THE
CENTRAL COMMITTEE
C.P.S.U.
Central Committee
of the C.P.S.U.
Department of
Agitation and Propaganda
(Agitprop) (kW Kroshkov
Commun St Party
Organizations
on the S.S.R. level
Common St Party
Organizati no on the
ASSR, AT, NO, level
Common st Party
Organizati no on the
Oblast and Cray level
Local rayon, city, village,
or enterprise Communist Party
organs or cells
_J
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Og1.404�4.1t1115.41.",
Ministry of Culture and the Main Administration of the Soviet
Ministry of Culture. 34/ Similarly, the Autonomous Republics,
National Okrugs, Krays, �blasts, and smaller territorial subdivisions
each have their own Radio Information Committee whose membership
and activities are controlled by the higher organs. As of 1953
there were, under the central direction of the parent administration,
163 local radio committees in Republics, Krays, and other districts,
and up to 2000 editorial boards (redaktsii) operating the important
wired-radio exchanges in district centers, major industrial enter-
prises, and elsewhere. 2V
The Main Administration for Radio Information has
been put in charge of the problems of broadcasting. Within this
body there are four separate administrations, as shown in the Figure.
One body, the Administration of Radiofication, deals exclusively
with technical matters. It has been stated that this board has the
final word on plans for radiofication and the building of networks,
and that it cooperates with other technical bodies. 2y Its prin-
cipal dealings would be with the Ministry of Communications and
presumably-with the New Ministry of the Radio Technical Industry.
The Administration of Radiofication approves plans for releasing
radio equipment, fixes the types of apparatus to be used for mass
reception, and coordinates the plans with commercial and research
activity in the field of radio. The other important subdivisions
of the Main Administration are the Administration of Central Broad-
casting, the Administration of Local Broadcasting, and the Adminis-
tration of Foreign Broadcasting. The actual broadcasting and pro-
gramming policies and adtions are controlled by these organs. In
addition there are lesser staff units such as the Planning, Finan-
cial and Accounting Section, a State Publishing House for Affairs
of Radio, a Recording Plant, and a Technical Supplies Section. 21/
Transmitting equipment, radio lines for both short
and long distances, and other technical equipment are under the
control of the Soviet Ministry of Communications. This also in-
cludes many of the wired exchanges. Besides its responsibility
in coordination of decisions and plans with the appropriate body
of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Communications has
jurisdiction over the installation, maintenance, and much of the
operation of the broadcasting equipment. Several Main Adminis-
trations of Communications are involved in this work as is
-29-
���640$0teltr-1120�T.......
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
-EF.11�44iitorb-6-
indicated in Figure 2.1 22/
b. Administration of Programming.
The use of mass media to sway public opinion is in-
herent in the Soviet theory of the administration of a state. It
was a Lenin doctrine which was adopted -- that to perpetuate itself
the Soviet State must maintain a balance between coercion arid per-
suasion. Propaganda machinery was created, to implement the tenet of
persuasion. In the broadcasting sphere this activity is administered
by the Main Administration for Radio Information of the Ministry of
Culture, but it is closely supervised by the Section of Propaganda
and Agitation (Agitprop) of the Party's Central Committee. Agitprop
units at lower levels insure a relay through the Soviet system. A
tight control over all media of information is centered in this sec-
tion, which determines both the general line and the specific course
of action in all matters affecting Soviet opinion. Agitprop pro-
cedures are based, of course, on the policy-determinations of the
Presidium of the Central Committee of the Party. 12/
Assistance in securing uniformity of facts and inter-
pretations to be disseminated through the system is given by the
Main Administration for Literary and Publishlng Affairs (Glavlit)
of the Council of Ministers and by responsible subdivisions of the
Main Administration for Radio Information of the Ministry-of Culture.
For example, Clavlit, through Agitprop, insures that all broadcasts
are in accord with the Party's political and ideological doctrines.
Glavlit also is responsible for seeing that broadcasts do not
divulge any economic or military secrets. The extent of this sur-
veillance is apparent by the fact that Clavlit has representatives
in local Soviet governmental units. kW'
c. The Soviet Domestic Radiobroadcasting Systan.**
The Soviet domestic broadcasting system operates at
four distinct levels which are: the Central Broadcast Network or
Home Service, emanating from Moscow; tilt...larger republic or RSFSR
regional networks emanating from cities such as Kiev, Alma Ata, and
Khabarovsk, the important oblast centers; and the local broadcast
systems which deal primarily-with wired-radio exchanges extended
4y See Figure 2 following p. 28.
*4 This subsection prepared by FBID, 11 May 1954.
-30-
clEert; T
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
43 73 ORE- T
to the kolkhoz level. Figure 3* is a graphic presentation of thin
information.
In practice the domestic system appears to function
as follows: .the Home Service and National Programs originating at
Radio Center Moscow are sent by wire or by-high-frequency radio
where necessary to all large radio centers, including all republic
capitals and other important cities such as ASSR, 1:ray, and Oblast
centers. Smaller and more isolated communities, especially those
in the Arctic regions, receive Moscow by radio, low-, medium-, or
high-frequency.
The Home Service and National Programs for Siberia
and Central Asia originate at Radio Center Moscow. The Home Service
is divided into three distinct programs: the Maim Program, the
Second Program, and the Third Program. The Main Program is broadcast
19 hours per day to the entire USSR by as many as 20 transmitters
simultaneously, and is relayed, at least in part, by virtually all
radio centers in the country. It contains all programs of vital
interest to the whole nation such as news, domestic press reviews,
and party talks. The Second Program, which is of lesser national
importance, is transmitted 10 hours per day by as many as 7 stations,
on low-, medium-, and high-frequency simultaneously and does not
appear to be directed to the entire Soviet Union except on certain
occasions. The Third Program, which consists entirely of entertain-
ment features and concerts, is transmitted for 4-1 hours each evening
on one high-frequency and one medium-frequency channel, and is
directed only to the European part of the USSR. No stations outside
of Moscow have been observed carrying this program.
The USSR, because of its size and the variance of
.time zones, is actilally divided into four radio zones as follows:
the European USSR, including the Caucasus, Western Siberiajand the
Central Asian Republics; Central Siberia and the Arctic regions;
and the Soviet Far East. Because of the difference in time zones
between parts of Siberia and European USSR, Moscow transmits
"National Programs" to the afore-mentioned areas at times when the
Home Services would either be unavailable or unsuitable for the
areas east of the Urals. Radio centers in each of these radio
zones relay all or part of these programs. The program for the
Soviet Far East is the most extensive of the National Programs,
* See Figure 3 /following p. 31.
-31-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
E 0 II T
totalling almost seven hours daily. This program is relayed by
Khabarovsk and other cities in the Soviet Far East. As many as 16
transmitters at Moscow alone have been observed simultaneously
carrying some of these national programs on low- and medium-frequen-
-4i:-
cies.
In addition to the home and national broadcasts)Radio
Center Moscow also transmits a regional service for Moscow Oblast
and certain adjacent oblasts such as Rryansk, Smolensk, Ryazan, and
Tula. The oblast capital studios in the surrounding area originate
1 or 2 broadcasts daily for retransmission by Moscow on low- or
medium-frequencies. A city-wired network for loudspeaker sets in
the Moscow Oblast is yet another service emanating from Radio Cen-
ter Moscow.
Republican capitals and large RSFSR radio centers,
while carrying a large proportion of the Moscow programs, also origi-
nate republic and regional programs designed for their respective
political administrative areas.
Map No. 1, Soviet Domestic Regional Radiobroadcasting
System,* represents graphically political subdivisions to the oblast
level, the transmitting station and studio locations, and the design
of area programs.
While most administrative areas rely on the services
of one transmitting center with pick-ups in studios adjacent or in
subordinate areas, some larger republic administrative subdivisions
may have a number of regional networks or transmitting centers to
afford adequate radio �overage in important populated parts. The
most notable areas of this type are in the Ukrainian SSR, Kazakh SSR,
and the Khabarovsk Kray.
The Ukrainian SSR, for example, in order to serve
adequately the entire republic, has various subordinate regional
broadcasting centers such as Kharkov, Lvov, and Odessa, in addition
to the main station at Kiev. These regional centers in turn have
several or more studios in adjoining �blasts which feed programs by
wire to the regional center for rebroadcast back to the same oblast
area from which the program originated. This unique arrangement,
which is common throughout the USSR, is undoubtedly a natural out-
'
* Following p. 32.
-32-
EtileRET
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
SECRET
USSR
ORGANIZATION OF THE
DOMESTIC RADIOBROADCASTING SYSTEM
RADIO CENTER
MOSCOW
REPUBLICAN RADIO SYSTEM
R.S.F.S.R. RADIO SYSTEM
Republic
ASSR and
Large
Radio Centers
Various Oblast
Radio Centers
Regional Centers
(Including Krays)
Regional
Radio Networks
Oblast
Oblast
Radio Centers
Radio Centers
Radio Centers in
Local
Local
Radio Centers
Arctic Settlements
Radio Centers
13384 CIA, 7-54
-SECRET �
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
CD
00
1.0
CS)
CD
CD
CD
CD
C
CD
C
45
(,)
as
a)
T.)
a)
2
o_
o_
<
r\,
UT* 04754
Sou.:
�nip Itnaulcsa Inkemullan Sanic� 10�Ln la May 1950
Final al � ...ear
ae � Immo.. WC,.
' � w was Mil tode
���� w�r wove. www.tv
Frill N... � sea � � ...co, � ���� � � ty �����
� ...sr ���� � Wm.. bow...nor
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
growth of the lack of sufficient transmitting equipment to supply
oblast and regional centers. It may be perpetuated by the centrali-
zation policy of the Soviet broadcasting authorities who apparently
are desirous-of-maintaining strong echelon control in the organi-
zation without sacrificing the principle of oblast participation.
A typical example of this arrangement on a republic scale may
seen in the composition of the Belorussian system wherein all oblasts
of the Republic originate programs at the oblast center studios of
Gomel, Vitebsk, Molodechno, Brest, Mogilev, and Grodno. These are
transmitted by wire to the capital at Minsk for broadcast by a high-
powered, low-frequency-transmitter providing reception in the
originating area. Wired radio exchanges in each oblast are respec-
tively fed by from Minsk and undoubtedly, when practicable,
by wire direct from the originating studios. It would seem that
landlines are lacking for this service in most cases and radio
must be relied on for the burden of intra-oblast dissemination, else
this awkward procedure would not continue year after year. The
method can be defended on the basis of several economic features,
especially since the oblast studios generally do not originate
enough local programming to warrant the use of separate high-powered
transmitting facilities, but it is uneconomical in that it requires
numerous reception centers for the various local distribution net-
works. This method of broadcasting is employed throughout the
European part of the USSR, Western Siberia, and Central Asia, and
to a lesser extent in the Soviet Far East where wire communications
and distance factors inhibit the use of the system.
Although in political divisions such as the Belo-
russian SSR Oblast studios are linked with the republic radio center,
there are some cases where, due to geographic, linguistic, or other
factors, a studio from one republic or RSFSR oblast may feed its
local broadcasts by wire to the transmitting center of a neighboring
area which is under a different administrative control. Examples of
this are in the Kirov and Ulyanovsk oblasts of the RSFSR where the
studio broadcasts from these oblast capitals are fed by wire to
Kazan in the Tatar ASSR for retransmission to the originating areas,
or in Kursk and Orel in the RSFSR transmitting through facilities
of Kharkov in the Ukrainian SSR.
In most cases the theoretical primary coverage area
of a transmitting cehter approximates the political administrative
area for which the ,broadcasts are intended. The function of a re-
public or large regional center in almost every instance is to serve
-33-
-43 Iti^r"..4.�
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
its own administrative area. In the case of a large republic or
kray this may result in the use of a high-powered high-frequency
transmitter or in the division of the republic or region into as
many as eight centers to ensure_complete radio coverage. Such is
the case in the Ukrainian SSR, which in addition to the republic
center at Kiev, has large regional centers at Lvov, Kharkov,
Chernovtsy, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, and Stalino-Donbas. Each of
these centers in turn has two or more oblast studios which originate
local broadcasts for retransmission to their respective areas. A
glance at the domestic coverage map No. 1* of the USSR indicates
that all oblasts of the Ukraine have either a transmitter or a
broadcasting studio, thus assuring almost complete coverage by
radio for the republic.
Some �blasts, and many sovkhozes, kolkhozes, and
isolated settlements receive broadcasts either from Radio Center
Moscow or from the center of their respective administrative areas.
The signal is then fed from a central receiving location to the
various loudspeaker units connected to the wire-diffusion exchanges.
Populated areas near telephone trunk lines may receive the programs
direct by from the originating point. Most large cities in
the USSR have wire-diffusion exchanges which originate programs of
local, interest in addition to retransmitting programs from Moscow
or other centers.
d. Administration at the Local Level.
(1) Programming.
�
Due to its unique physical structure, the wire-
diffusion exchange is peculiarly suited to a program policy which
can be adjusted to local needs. Because they are numerous, however,
and because their programs do not go over the air, the exchanges
present a difficult supervisory monitoring problem. Along with
possible advantages, therefore, they run the risk of consistently
putting on inferior programs, and, what is more serious to the
regime, they may be used for non-party political purposes. A con-
flict between experimental local initiative and central control of
the local exchange was experienced in the early development of ex-
changes. The conflict was resolved in favor of central control.
Wit44n two years of its establishment the VRK decided, in 1935, to
*''See Map No. 1 following p. 32.
6fiCR-RT
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 000309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
--T
reconstruct completely the system of control of exchange broadcasting.
The Committee found that many of the exchange originated programs
were of the primitive "pot-boiler" variety. Others were for one
reason or another unacceptable. Some were regarded as politically
illiterate or even harmful, and cases of alleged nationalist diver-
sions and of anti-state speeches were cited. Consequently, the
right of exchanges to originate their own broadcasts was limited
to a specified number of major exchanges, and these were permitted
to do so only for as little on one-half, hour or at the most 2 hours
a day. Instructions were issued explaining how exchange-originated
programs could be tied in more closely.with the local party-Unit
needs and for current propaganda and agitation purposes. The local
party units are responsible for this being carried out. /41/ Just
as the Main Administration for Radio Information is controlled, by
Agitprop, so the local radio committees and editorial boards are
supervised by appropriate local Party organizations. 42/ Instruc-
tions to these local Party units state that they "should pay close
attention to broadcasting and radiofication. Theyftruld deal firmly
with all shortcomings in this field and should strengthen their con-
trol over the ideological content of broadcasts." LI/ This control,
however, is apparently-loose or shirked, judging by the occasions
it is criticized by Party echelons. Several reports indicate
that this shortcoming is being attacked by Soviet officials by
strengthening the principle of interlocking membership of Party or-
gans and Radio Committees, by special training of trusted Party
members for work in the broadcasting field, and by organizing special
teams for correcting laxity in local Party units.
(2) Installation, Operation, and Maintenance of Radio
and Wire-diffusion Networks.
Requests for installation of wired speakers may
be initiated by individuals, organizations, or state enterprises.
No installation of wired speakers is allowed except through regular
procedures. Individual radio receivers may be purchased openly but
they must be registered and licensed immediately. In general
the procedure for the acquisition and installation of Radio Centers
in populated places where no center exists is as follows: a re-
quest is initiated by the local enterprise (a kolkhoz or logging
trust, for example), and directed to its appropriate local adminis-
tration, such as the Oblast organ of the Ministry concerned. These
local administrations,, then take action by making application for
loans under the state funds which are for this purpose, and then
-35-
'"ig..Cilire"-TteL4�516""
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
...S.Se 11. D T
distributing the credits to the enterprises, with an order to the
local Ministry of Communications office, which has the responsibility
for allocating the equipment and seeing that it is installed. The
local Communications office has cantinuing responsibility for ser-
vicing and maintaining the equipment, hy and in many cases the
equipment itself is located within the local Communications office.
Under this arrangement the technical operation is carried out by the
Ministry of Communications' personnel. The present drive for ex-
tensive radiofication of the country has increased the need for this
type of installation, and the combination of the equipment of electri-
cal and radio systems in the same office for combined operation and
maintenance has in recent years been emphasized by the Soviet Govern-
ment and the Communist Party. This permits the development of radio
relay networks in rural areas without an increase in personnel or
electric generating systems. According to V. Vasirev, Chief of
the Main Administration for Tadiofication of the Ministry of Communi-
cations, "The number of combined radio and communications systems is
steadily increasing.... Combination found its greatest application
in cases where radio relay instruments were set up in one mutual
place with commutators of city telephone systems and intra-regional
communications systems, as well as with telegraph equipment.... The
results of such measures have been a savings of thousands of rubles.
The idling time of broadcasting systems was sharply reduced.... The
incorporation of the maintenance of electro-communications and radio-
broadcasting systems in the Ukrainian SSR was carried out in 198
regional offices and in 128 branches. The result, according to un-
official data, was a saving of about 100,000 rubles per month." 1.17./
In cases where a wired network already exists, requests for additional
speakers by individuals are made at the Communications Office, or
to the local Radio Committee. Assessments for the use of the speakers
are paid at the Communications office, the radio committee office
or at the local Inkasso office, where electric and other service
bills are paid. hy
Both technical operation and maintenance of the
wire-diffusion networks, and the programming operation evidently
vary widely in quality. Praise and criticism of local personnel are
seen frequently in Soviet literature. The principal criticisms
leveled against the system are: the local offices and employees of
the Ministry of Communications are lax in the installation, and
negligept and uncooperative in the maintenance and operation of the
equipment, L12/ the local offices and employees of the Ministry of
Culture exercise poor judgment in programming content and quality, 2/
- 36
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
the local Party organizations show lack of vigilance in that they
do not see that inefficiencies and errors are corrected, a/ and
there are frequent interruptions of power, and a widespread lack
or spare parts for servicing equipment failures.
In attempts to correct the shortcomings of the
reception system the Soviet hierarchy is making considerable efforts
to popularize radiofication, train personnel, and agitate among the
Party- members for maintenance of strict vigilance over the system.
The aid of the Komsomol groups is being demanded, and the DOSAAF,
Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Airforce, and
Navy-, is urged to use its influence and technical ability to aid
rural localities in the achievement of radiofication. .52/ To the
extent that the shortcomings are resultant from some inadequacies
at higher levels, criticisms are also directed against the Ministries
directly concerned, and the onus of poor planning and inefficient
administration is placed at their doorsteps.
e. Administration of Soviet Ramobroadcasting.
This aspect of Soviet broadcasting is operationally
under the control of the International Bureau, or, as it is also
called, the Administration of Foreign Broadcasting of the Main Ad-
ministration of Radio Information, and the technical equipment is
administered by the Ministry of Communications. 55/ During the past
two years the Russians appear to have gradually eased the expansion
of foreign radio operations and shifted attention to the improvement
of the efficiency of broadcasts by using more powerful transmitters
located, where possible, closer to the target areas. For this reason,
and also because of Western efforts to penetrate the iron Curtain by
radio, there has been apparent acceleration of radio network inte-
gration between the USSR and its Satellites. Agreements for "cooper-
ation" in the radio field were signed in 1949 and 1950 following a
tour of Eastern Europe by A. A. Puzin, head of the VRK, now the Main
Administration for Radio Information. The agreements apparently pro-
vide the legal basis for Soviet intervention. Little is known of
the contents of these agreements aside from general provisions for
exchange of information, the institution of reciprocal "music weeks,"
and similar measures. The knownexistence of landlines between Moscow
and most of the Satellites, the reported presence of personnel with
experience in Radio ,enter Moscow, and the whole apparatus of policy
coordination evolved by the USSR, go far to ensure an integrated
effort in the broadcasting field.
- 37 -
SECRET
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
SECRET
Moscow in 1946 apparently hoped to dominate inter-
national broadcasting by making the International Radio Broadcasting
Organization (OIR), in which it has obtained votes for eight of its
Union Republics, the recognized authority for international broad-
casting. With the reorganization of the International Telecommuni-
cations Union.(ITU) in 1947 the OIR WAS reduced to the status of a
regional European radio agency. In 1949 virtually all of. the
Western members walked out.ofthe.OIR, restricting its competence
to Eastern_Europe..YUgoslavia and Syria were expelled in 1951, and
Finland, the only remaining non-Communist member, has become in-
active. This.development enhanced.rather than lessened the value
of OIR to. the USSR, which began to use it to integrate the orbit
radio network. With the adherence of Communist China in 1951 and
East Germany in l92,. the: =became an,important medium for coor-
dinating the total Soviet radio effort. LY
2. . Postwar Transmitting Facilities.
a. Domestic Service.*
In 1947 there were 100 broadcasting stations Known
to be in-operation in the USSR. ,This is equal to the prewar figure
of approximately 100. By late 1947 approximately the same power
output of 4000 kilowatts was reached. From this point the emphasis
appeared :to be on the expansion.of the Soviet.international broad-
casting system, the improvement of technical facilities for all ser-
vices, and the expansion of the Soviet radio system to includ6 many
full and part time relay transmitters in Satellite countries. At
least%three captured, German,high-frequency transmitters of up to ,
200,ikilowatts.mere- reportedly,installed-at three separate-cities in
the USSR: i
As can be seen from Table 6** the number of trans-
mitters in the USSR increased only slightly from 1950 to 1953. During
1950 and 1951 at least three high-frequency and several medium-
frequency transmitters tin the western USSR were put into operation,
primarily, in the international service. Other transmitters built
during this period appear to be mainly supplementary stations for
improved regional coverage. At the present time the total number of
transmitters stands at 167 of which 110 are low- and -medium-
* This subsection was prenared by FBID and coordinated with..OSI.
** yeble 6 follows on p. 39.
-38-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 CO0309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Table 6
Expansion of the Soviet Radiobroadcasting System
--- from Its Inception in 1922 57/
Year p./
Number of
Transmitters
Low- and Medium-
Frequency
High-Frequency
Total Power
Output
(In kilowatts)
1922
1924
1925
1
2
N.A.
1
2
N.A.
o
0
0
12
N.A.
40
1928
23
23
o
126.5
1929
41
41
o
200W
1930
52
52
o
395
1932
57
52
5
1,503
1933
62
57
5
N.A.
1934
64
58
6
N.A.
1936
68
61
7
N.A.
1937
77
67
lo
1765
1940
90
N.A.
N.A.
1898
1941
100 y
N.A.
N.A.
4000 y
1943
69
54
15
2000 b/
1944
80 y
60 y
20 y
2200 y
1946
85
6512/
20 y
3200 12/
1947
loo
70
30 y
4000 y
1949
132
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
1950
160
110
50
5000 b/
1953
167
no
57
5785 y
a. All data are for 1 January, except from 1941 to 1953 when the
figure applies to the second half of the year.
b. Indicates figure is estimate based on FBID monitoring and
available station lists as well as Soviet reports on radio ex-
pansion. Total power output figures for period 1944-53 are
probably accurate within 5 percent.
-39-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
SECRET
USSR
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
OF RADIOBROADCASTING
GOVERNMENT
All Union Society for Radio
and Electric Communications
I mini Popov (k/NORiE)
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
USSR
PARTY
INTERLOCKING MEMBERSHIP
Other Ministries
and Admini trations of
Council of Ministers
USSR
Subordinate
Administrations and Trusts
7 I �
/0/17* /4T494' /////i27 'OM laii1/7/4;* *14'4 WOW/PM T/0171 7/ r/IN7 ///02747, /07/ /47/ 47/40' '/ //7/
I :14. � cr 1 6 � � : ; � � !*.
�
Ministry of Communications
USSR ---
N.D. Psurtsev
Main Administration
for Radio Cammunications
and Radiobroadcasting
Main Administration for
Intro-rayon Communications
F. G. loginor
Main Administration
for Radiolication
V. Vasil*,
Ministry of the Radio
Technical In ustry USSR
V. D. Kalmykov
Ministry I Culture
USSR
G. F. Alexandrov
Main Administration
for Radio Information
A. Puzin
Administration
of Radiolication
.41.���
Main Administration for
Literary and Publishing Affairs
(GIrdit)
�I PRESIDIUM OF THE
CENTRAL COM M ITTEE
C.P.S.U.
Central Committee
of the C.P.S.U.
Department of
Agitation and Propaganda
(Agitprop) (tout Kroshkov
iv
-
Republic and Regional
Offices of the Ministry
of Conununications
� .%r-'1: � � t.�., . , �
;/A=',0*/7/)V�17/97 � 1/'', -- � */0*,490.)0.'*/#?)*//** /
Radio Information
Committees on SSR level
Radio information
Committees on
ASSR, AO, NO, level
Radio Information
Committees on Obiut
and (ray level
Local Economic Enterprises
Local (MOS of the
Ministry of Communications
Direct Subordination
Shorts Channel of Influence �
Shows Channel of Coordination of Contractual Nature
� �
Local rayon rayon and city
Radio Committees
and Editorial Boards
.1011,mo.
Corrununist Party
Organizations
on the S.S.R. level
Communist Party
Organizations on the
ASSR, AO, NO, level
Local representatives
of David
13329 CIA, 7.54
Communist Party
Organizations on the
Oblast and Kray level
H Local rayon, city, village,
or enterprise Communist Party
organs or cells
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
frequency stations, and 57 are high-frequency stations, with a com-
bined power output of about 5785 kilowatts. Appendix C lists
alphabetically the Soviet broadcasting stations, with notations on
power and frequency. It is riot, possible to give a complete break-
down between foreign and domestic stations since there is evidence
that some transmitters serve both purposes at different times.
The domestic radio coverage maps Nos. 2 and 3*
show that the Soviet broadcasting system achieves fairly good
coverage over, a substantial area of the USSR through its complex
of low- and medium-frequency transmitters. The hinterland and
Arctic regions appear to be covered adequately by the use of power-
ful high-frequency transmitters, as shown on map No. 4.** Thus
it is likely that in almost all Darts of the USSR the listener is
able to receive at least one program of the Soviet radio, depending
of course on the type of receiver used. Appendix D contains a
discussion of these broadcast coverage maps and outlines the general
assumptions on which they were based.
In addition to the primary stations in the USSR there
are reportedly in existence small rayon transmitters with a radius
of 25 to 30 kilometers which broadcast such things as local govern-
ment orders, warnings, discussions of work, and contests. 2/ The
operation of these stations has not been confirmed by monitoring.
There are also reported to be small portable medium-
frequency kolkhoz radio stations with a radius of five to eight
kilometers which are supervised by the large collective farms or by
the local executive committees. They serve a dual broadcast-communi-
cation function. The kolkhoz stations issue work orders to the
kolkhozniki and advice on agricultural matters is given. One
'cclkhoz can also contact a nearby kolknoz by the use of these trans-
litters. It is reported that loudspeakers are set up in the fields
At appropriate locations, and programs are transmitted through them
at the beginning and end of work days as well as during rest
periods. �i2/
* See Maps 2 and 3 following p. 40.
** See Map 4 following p. 40.
-40-
S
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
DomesticLow-frequancy Radiobroadcasting Transmitters /
�
THEORETICAL AVERAGE COVERAGE OF TRANSMITTERS
� low.hm.r.gy tremor.� (*am+ Indket�I f Ih.owo)
TRAPISAUTTER POWER
Sow.: rereir Brtuelrest Infonnation Service (data to May 1954)
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
�
- U.S.S.124.; Area Coverage, of 'Domestic Medium-frequency Radiobroadcasting Transmitters
1, � o
V
NsSlk
up,...6
THEORETICAL AVERAGE COVERAGE OF TRANSMITTERS
� tr (mg,* 1.4.0�1 If more 0* ow.?
freeoreen4
Source: foreign If rooriceet Inform.. Service Oats to Wry 1990
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
13341 04 14
U.S.S.R.: Domestic 'fargets,.of Soviet High-freque admbroaocastmg Transmitters
1 !
�./
Area served by a "local"
high-frequency transmitter
Area not served by a "local"
high-frequency transmits�
...ar, Domestic high-frequency
programs horn Moscow
Limit of transmitter target-area
ANwoximatelimit of target
area of KhabarotslAtnnernnol'sk
tr000nirter
� High-f requency transmitter
7850 - to Frequency and power of transmitter
Nee rem Men :mem tsrt art 84144
ion Pa astreaMad Mom Om) 84 tormalle
@rah appal, oar IBM Mammy.
Ma go. frommodn BMW *0 .4 ova
a.* M�dale BM *maim trammalart I
Irmost Med pm. Ire rat Wed BM
It Po I, Naod.tentes et.
At) of Om U.S.S.R. is cov�ryd by the Soviet Home Service broadcasts.
Somme: Irma, Broadcast Informatron Sererseirte to May I 950
too Ace too too i000
Mamie M.
100 .00 SOB MOB
acr�-� km-inra .1 Tr a 1
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
b. International Service.*
Information contained in Maps 5 and etnd in Appendix
E shows the extent of the Soviet International Broadcasting effort
by transmitter location, target area, and language used.
The Soviet International Service is an extensive
operation with a transmitter network stretching from Leipzig in East
Germany to Petropavlovsk-in-Kamchatka in the Far East. It is con-
trolled by the Main Administration for Radio Information of the
Ministry of Culture, but operates more or less independently of the
domestic broadcasting system except that it employs in many cases
the same technical facilities. The Soviet International Service
emanating programs from Radio Center Moscow has six distinct ser-
viub, or target areas, which are the North American, Latin American,
Europea., Near and Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, and the South and
6outheast Asia Services. In addition to the above services, there
are auxiliary radio centers mainly near the borders of the USSR,
which are best suited for broadcasting to certain foreign areas
due to geographical, cultural or linguistic factors. Such radio
centers are: Vilnyus (for Lithuanians abroad), Baku (for Near and
Middle East), Tashkent (for Middle East, Central and South Asia)
Tallinn (for Finland), Kiev (for Ukrainians in Europe and North
America), Yerevan (for Armenians in Near East), and Stalinabad
(for Northeast Iran and Afghanistan).
Soviet international programs originate at Radio
Center Moscow, except for the limited special transmissions emanating
from the auxiliary radio centers mentioned above. At Moscow alone
there are as many as 20 high-frequency transmitters employed at one
time or other in the International Service (including those operating
a; the "clandestine" station "Espana Independiente" which purports
to have a location in Spain). No Moscow low- or medium-frequency
transmitters have been used in this service in recent years.
In addition to the Moscow transmitters, programs
from Radio Center Moscow are relayed in part by the following net-
work of transmitters located throughout the country:
* Material in this subsection was prepared by FBID and coordinated
with OSI.
** See Maps 5 and 61 following p.41.
- -
gEORET
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Minsk
Kiev
Leningrad
Komsomol'sk
Tallinn
Riga
Lvov
Kishinev
Chita
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk Area
(locations uncertain)
Birobidzhan
Kaunas
Vilnyus
Vladivostok
Yerevan
Petropavlovsk
(Kamchatka)
Baku
Ashkabad
1 high-frequency
1 medium-frequency, 3 high-frequency
1 medium-frequency, 1 high-frequency
1 low-frequency, 3 high-frequen2L,
1 medium-frequency
1 medium-frequency
1 medium-frequency
1 medium-frequency
1 low-frequency
2 medium-frequellcy
3 medium-frequency
I low- or medium-frequency
1 medium-frequency, 1 high-frequency
1 medium-frequency
1 medium-frequency, 1 high-frequency
1 medium-frequency, 1 high-frequency
2 high-frequency
1 low-frequency (not used since 17 April
1954)
1 high-frequency (not confirmed)
It is believed that several of the transmitters
listed as being located at Moscow may be located elsewhere in the
USSR, but this cannot be confirmed. In addition to the above listed
relay stations, the Sverdlovsk and Novosibirsk transmitters relay
small portions of the North American and Far Eastern Services as
"feeder stations" for the Soviet Far East relay transmitters.
The Soviet International Service, in an effort to
increase its coverage area and listening potential, began in 195D
to expand its use of Satellite relay transmitters to carry portions
of its European and North American Services.
In a major step to increase effectiveness of its
international broadcasts, the USSR in 1950/51 concluded technical
agreements or protocols with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Bulgaria, and Rumania, whereby the broadcasting systems of these
Satellites were used to supplement Soviet facilities for inter-
national broadcasts to Western Europe and North America. As a
result the reception of these Soviet transmissions, originally
transmitted only by high-frequency stations at Moscow, Leningrad,
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
.VS�9 '1/10 SEZEI
so
sawop 1
,ad 5.11101.1
Olp 40 U
Ul Pala o uo
a2e
1! .1 II :asea O. JO 00A0J0 � ,A
ploos ato
ay) sasod
awaq atin
Aq pawea
saJn2
1! .1 II :asea O. JO 00A0J0 � ,A
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
t LATIN AMERICA4
N�RTH AMERICA U.S.S.R.:-Iiiterriationg Radtebitadiciastilog TranSrriiiterind Nogra-rn Targets
/FAR EAST/
Known transmitter
�
-4111110111�101� Direct-broadcast
Rebroadcast of Moscow programs
-- Feeder relay of Moscow programs
15.-II-0-6 Frequency band Mid
NORTH AMERICA
roved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
-S--E-G-R
Kiev, Komsomoliskland Petropavlovsk, and medium-frequency stations
in the Western USSR and East Germany, improved tremendously in
their respective target areas. In addition to the part time use of
Satellite transmitters, it appears that from 1950 there were at
least two Soviet-owned or controlled medium-frequency stations at
Szombathely, Hungar55and Leipzig, East Germany,which were used al-
most exclusively for relaying Soviet broadcasts. In the latter part
of 1949 some Satellite transmitters in the Balkan area relayed
Moscow broadcasts beamed to 14goslavia to step up the Soviet anti-
Tito propaganda barrage.
Satellite transmitters, varying from 30 to 135 kilo-
watts power output carrying relays at the present time are:
Leipzig 1 medium-frequency
Szczcin 1 medium-frequency
Prague 1 high-frequency
Kosice 1 medium-frequency
Warsaw 1 high-frequency
'Sofia 1.high-frequency, 1 medium-frequency
� Timisoara 1.medium-frequency
Szombathely 1-medium-frequency
Budapest 3 high-frequency
Balatonszabadi 1 medium-frequency
In addition to the above relay transmitters, the
domestic. servides of all Satellite countries, North Korea, and
Outer Mongolia ,relay programa in their native languages from Moscow
which are intended for internal=6ohunaption only,*
In the field Of international broadcasting,
statistics seem to indicate that the Soviet broadcasts would not be
heard consistently in some of the target areas without the assis-
tance of the Satellite transmitting facilities. Monitoring obser-
vations during the past four years have shown that reception of the
Satellites relay stations has been more stable than that from the
Moscow transmitters, pai.ticularly in the North American Programs.
* Icor iurther details see "Program Schedules of Foreign Broadcast
Stations" and "Brpadcast Stations of the World" published periadically
by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service.
-143-
v-SECRE
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Programs originate at Moscow and are sent by wire
or high-frequency radio to the various relay centers in the USSR and
Satellite countries for retransmission to the primary target areas.
The Moscow-Vladivostok overhead cable is used to transmit certain
portions of the Far Eastern and North American Services to many of
the Far East relay centers. With few exceptions the Satellites' re-
lay centers receive the Moscow programs by wire or cable. By the
use of these transmitters the reception of Soviet broadcasts to
Europe and North America has improved noticeably, increasing the
listening potential substantially. This is partly attributable to
the proximity of these stations to the target area and also to the
technical efficiency of some of these transmitters.
At the present time, Radio Center Moscow transmits
programs in 35 foreign languages while the auxiliary radio centers
broadcast in 9 languages, 5 of which do not appear on Moscow trans-
missions. These additional languages are Tadzhik, Lithuanian,
Uighur, Armenian.land Ukrainian.
The International Service is emitted by as many as
61 transmitters in the USSR, located in approximately 20 different
cities, and including the auxiliary international broadcasting cen-
ters. In addition, there are 13 Satellite transmitters in 9
different locations which relay portions of this service, bringing
the total number of transmitters employed to 74. Exclusive of
Satellite transmitters, the Soviet International Service broadcasts,
as of Novenber 1953, at the rate of 3138.75* transmitter-hours
weekly., an average of 448.39* transmitter-hours daily. This amounts
to an average of 18.67 transmitter-hours per hour. In addition,
the total number of Satellite transmitter-hours per hour in November
1953 was approximately 340 hours weekly. The grand total, therefore,
for Soviet international broadcas was approximately 3479 trans-
mitter-hours weekly.
Tht Soviet government is also known to operate a
"clandestine" station, "Espana Independiente - Estacion Pirenaica"
(Independent Spain - station Pyrenees), which is anti-Franco and
purports to be in Spain. This station, which transmits on as many
as five frequencies, has been closely linked with Radio Moscow both
by DF bearings and other technical evidence. It broadcasts programs
in Spanish and Catalan approximately 6 hours daily. Some
* See'Appendix E.
-1414 -
�.S-E-0 -R-.-T
for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
.S R C R * T
transmissions feature talks by the famous Communist "La Pasionaria"
(Dolores Ibarruri).
From 1947 to 1953, another clandestine station, "The
kzerbaydzhan Democratic Party Radio," believed to be located at or
near Baku, transmitted programs in Azerbaydzhani, Persianland Kurdish
on a medium-frequency of 788 kcs. This station left the air on 2
August 1953 and has not reappeared up to this time.
The USSR has consistently increased its international
broadcasts from 1948 to early 1952. The weekly total of program
hours decreased somewhat in the fall of 1953 due to the Soviet-
Satellite supplementary radio agreements. Table 7 illustrates the
comparative weekly output of international program hours from 1948
to 1953 for the Soviet Radio, BBC, Voice of Americajand Radio Free
Europe.
Table 7
Comparative Weekly Output of Program Hours
Hours
August August September August December December
1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953
USSR 334 434 516 670 695 611
BBC 2/ 664 634 636 554 561 566
VOA 186 198 210 349 302 196
RYE --- 424
a. Includes the General Overseas Service in English to listeners
throughout the world, which averaged about 160 hours weekly from
1948 to 1953.
The weekly total output of the BBC, VOA, and RFE
international for December 1953 was 1186 hours compared to 611 hours
for the Soviet International Service. However, a great portion of
the BBC and VOA transftissions are in English for areas not covered
by the Soviet Radio,
7'
-45-
S E R
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
The broadcast output statistics for 1951 to 1953
seem to indicate that the international broadcasting effort of the
USSR has stabilized to a great extent both in programming and tech-
nical facilities. The present trend seems to be towards coordination
of important stations of the Satellite countries into the Soviet
international broadcasting system. Also, some of these Satellite
countries, notably Poland, have greatly expanded their international
services each year, thereby adding to the efficiency and output of
the Soviet propaganda organs.
As far as can be ascertained, signs of Soviet-
Satellite radio cooperation were first noted shortly after World
War II on a minor scale. At least several Satellite or Communist-
controlled countries prior to 1950 carried relays of Soviet inter-
national broadcasts. In the latter part of 1950, the international
services of the Polish, Czech, and Hnngarian Radios began to carry
several hours each of Soviet international broadcasts directed to
the Western countries. In 1951 the Bulgarian Radio also joined
this group, having just completed the construction of a high-powered
high-frequency transmitter for international broadcasting to Western
Europe and North America. No details of radic agreements were
announced by Communist Bloc countries at this time but they apparent-
ly were entered into and did provide for the inclusion of Satellite
transmitters in the Soviet International Service transmitter network.
During the period 1946-50 Soviet roreign broadcasts
were relayed, mainly for internal consumption, by domestic stations
in North Korea, East Germany, and Outer Mongolia. It is not known,
however, if formal radio agreements were actually entered into for
this purpose.
In August and September of 1953, so-called "supple-
mentary protocols" to previous radio agreements were signed between
the USSR, represented by Alexei A. Puzin, Chairman of the Main Ad-
ministration for Radio Information, and the heads of the radio
systems in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Rumania.
The purpose of the supplementary radio protocols, according to
Communist broadcasts is in general to extend cooperation between
the radio administrations of the countries concerned and "to im-
prove and enrich" Satellite broadcasts by preparing programs on
life in the USSR and important international events. The Satellite
radios', in turn, are to provide similar programs on happenings in
their own respective countries, which are designed for internal
-46-
-S-Cif-43-.R�rE-41-�
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
n T
transmission in the Russian language in the USSR.
The main effect of these agreements has been that,
although the number of Soviet broa.dcasts for these Satellite cduntries
has decreased, the potential. listening audience has been vastly in-
creased due to the transmission of these programs on the domestic
networks. This results in "semi-forced" listening as there are
usually few other stations broadcasting in the local language on
suitable channels for consistently Clear reception. Before the
implementation of the agreements the listening potential was
probably not too great since the programs were transmitted by medium-
or high-frequency radio from Moscow and other Soviet radio stations
which probably did not provide, consistently good reception for the
average home radio set.
The Soviet-Satellite program exchanges, which began
in mid-September 1953, are greatly weighted in favor of the USSR.
The Soviet broadcasts for the Satellites'domestic radio services are
transmitted daily, whereas Satellite-prepared programs for the USSR's
domestic radio system are usually broadcast once a week or less. The
Satellite programs are recorded in the Russian language and trans-
mitted later over the facilities of the Soviet Home Service. Some
of these recorded broadcasts, often entitled "International Topics,"
have been observed later on the Khabarovsk and Vladivostok regional'
transmitters for the listening audience in the Soviet Far East. It
is possible that, with the appearance of these programs on two
regional Stations, they may eventually be broadcast on other large
Soviet regional stations in order to make them available to the 'bulk
of the Russian-speaking audience.
Observations of Moscow programs for the home services
of,Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland indicate that they are re-
corded from a Soviet land line from Moscow to Budapest, Prague,and
Warsaw. The Bulgarian and Rumanian Radios at the present time record
the Soviet broadcast to their respective countries from a radio link
in the USSR. Low- and medium-frequency stations at Minsk, Lvov,
Kishinev, and Kiev have been employed during the early morning hours,
East European Time, to transmit the Soviet broadcasts to Bucharest
and Sofia.
In September 1953, the USSR and Outer Mongolia also
signed a broadcasting cooperation agreement which provided for the
systematic exchange of recorded cultural, socio-political, and enter-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
..4.0Fp4^PiterEiveihis
tainment programs. The USSR also agreed to broadcast daily programs
in Mongolian for listeners in Mongolia, although Ulan-Bator has been
relaying Moscow broadcasts in Mongolian for at least five years.
Although there are no details available as to Soviet
radio agreements with Albania and North Korea, direct relays of
Moscow Albanian and Korean transmissions are carried by the domestic
radio networks of the latter countries. In the case of East Germany
there are no firm details as to radio cooperation agreements al-
though a Soviet-controlled medium-frequency station at Leipzig has
relayed most of the Moscow German-language transmissions for the
past five years.
In accordance with requirements of the International
Telecommunications Union, of which the USSR is a member, registration
hasbeen made of a large number of broadcasting stations in excess
of those observed in operation and catalogued by the Foreign Broad-
cast Information Service. A complete comparison has not been made,
but a check of the registration in the frequency-band from 3000 to
4600 kc revealed 21 notified stations, all between 3200 and 3400,
whidh have not been observed in operation. It is not known whether
this fact indicates that the stations have not been installed, or
whether they operate on such a restricted basis -- low power and
possibly daytime only -- that their signals are not audible at the
Cyprus monitoring station.
Figure !*presents graphically the total channel hours
of broadcasting daily by for the year 1953. This
information is broken down into two part, summer and winter, which
indicate the frequency shifts made necessary by seasonal radio wave
propagation characteristics. This figure also shows the total of
USSR high-frequency broadcasting efforts, as it combines the channel
hours used in both the international and domestic services.
c. Television and Frequency Modulation.**
(1) Television Facilities. ,
According to Soviet doctrine their television
(TV) activities date back to 1907 when B. L. Rozing was supposedly
* Se-Figure 4 following p. 48.
** This subsection prepared by OSI.
-48-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
USSR
DAILY CHANNEL HOURS OF
HIGH-FREQUENCY RADIOBROADCASTING, 1953
Based on FBIS Monitoring Observations
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Channel Hours
13299 CIA, 7-54
S w
6 MCS
S w
7 MCS
S w
9 MCS
1:39 Home and Regional Services
International Service
S Summer (May to October)
W Winter (November to April)
S W
11 MCS
S W
15 MCS
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
R-P r i 'Tr._.
awarded a patent for "Cathode telescopy." A 1951 broadcast of Radio
Moscow's Home Service reports, "A meeting devoted to the fortieth
anniversary of the world's first TV broadcast was held yesterday in
Leningrad's Gorkiy House-of Scientists... In May; 1911, Professor
Rozing of the Petersburg Technological Institute demonstrated for
the very-first time the television of an object lit by an extraneous
source of light!' In 1907 Razing had been granted a patent for his
system of cathode telescopy which formed the beginnings of modern
TV. �21/
Although there is evidence of Soviet experi-
menting during the early-thirties, .�.1/ foreign equipmentwas obtained
when actual broadcasting was undertaken. The first transmitter for
the Moscow Television Center was obtained from RCA in 1936 and put
into operation in 1938. .�.2/ This system, providing a 343-line picture,
63/ was put into experimental operation by RCA technicians and was
later turned over to Soviet technicians who had been trained by RCA
in the US, while the transmitter was being manufactured. Group
viewing was predominant because of the scarcity of receivers.
Following interruption caused by the war, the
first postwar TV transmission from Moscow was made on 7 May 1945. �11/
On November 4, 1948, it converted to the higher definition 625-line
standard with the assistance of a group of German specialists.
Programming six days a week began in 1951. The second trans-
mitter to go into operation was in Leningrad, (using )ih, lines at
first) 12/ a German product (Telefunken). The third was in Kiev,
another US transmitter (Dumont) made in 1948 and starting in operation
in January 1952. 68/ The power of these video transmitters is re-
ported as 5 to 10�Kw. .1.2/ Additional stations are currently reported
being installed at Stalingrad and Sverdlovsk. 22/
Quite recently, the Ministry of Communications
has announced that transmitters are also operating in Gorkiy,
Kharkov, and Tomsk. 71/ It is planned to build one in Vilnyus in
1955-56. 72/
In addition to the-foregoing, low-power install-
ations, built and operated by amateurs, have been claimed by the
Sovi9ts to be in operation in Gorkiy, Kharkov, Ryazan, Odessa,
Sargov, Yaroslavl, Tomsk, Valdivostok, Sverdlovsk, Riga, and
Tallinn. 22/ These are "not intended to give regular transmission
of various programs." 2Lt/ Appendix F shows these Soviet TV
-49-
g R E T
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
stations.
An indication of the current state of Soviet
capability to manufacture its own high-power TV transmitters may
be inferred from the fact that the Soviets attempted in July 1952,
and are believed to be still attempting in 1954, to purchase high-
power (50 kw) TV transmitters and associated equipment from the
British. Lvov and Sverdlovsk are reported among the cities for
which these facilities are destined. IV
The Soviets consider that the existing system
of TV transmission does not permit a truly "mass" service to the
population and therefore the extensive introduction of wire-diffusion
TV broadcasting is necessary. 1.�/
As early as 1939, cable distribution was used
in apartment houses. El The Scientific Research Institute of the
Ministry of Communications in 1953 developed a TV receiving antenna
and amplifier system to serve 100 TV sets simultaneously, and in-
stalled an experimental 50-subscriber TV wire-diffusion system in a
Moscow residential block. The former is presumed to permit supplying
numerous regular TV receivers from a single antenna; the latter to .
send the picture and sound signals to simplified TV -screens. 'El/
. Besides this wire-diffusion TV made necessary
by crowded urban living,, there is an active development, still in
early stages, on .distant transmission by cable. A wired TV center,
which regularly relays the transmissions of the Moscow TV center _!-L6
is operating in Kalinin some hundred-odd. miles from Moscow, and wasal
developed and built by the.Moscow. Municipal Wired Radio Network of:ci
the Ministry of Communications. The program is received from Moscow.'
over a wide-band inter-urban cable line. Each of two amplifiers is
designed to feed sixty TV screens. The picture quality is equivalent
to only 250 lines, since the cable channel will pass "only 3 mcAtt
and the installation is conceded to be experimental. /2/ A coax:Jail:A
cable for TV between Moscow and Leningrad is reported. 12/ yl
. There is also some experimentation
powered mobile TV relay stations .for improvement of the
the fringes: :of the service,-area. -
/ Returning German scientists report
/ them were employed in remodelling .the television studio
-So-
on low-
signal in
that some off
facilities
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
SR-C-R oT
at the Moscow Television Center. 132/ This involved a change from the
previous number of lines (343) to 625, the standard adopted by most
countries. (See discussion of standards below.) On 4 November 1948,
the first experimental-transmission using 625 lines was made. Germans
were also employed to remodel certain military TV equipment which
they had developed during World War II, in order to provide cameras
and relay transmitters for "remote pickup," and, as of May 1952,
three of these portable equipments had been completed. In 1950, US
attaches stationed in Moscow reported that the vality of "remote
pickups" was poorer than that of the average station in the US.
Two deficiencies are noted: equipment is usable only during the
middle hours of the day when the sun is brightest and even then the
rendition of various shades of gray is poor. 83/ The Soviet magazine
Radio reported in 1953 that the All Union Scientific and Technical
Society of Radio Engineering and Electrical Communications imeni
A. S. Popov (VNORiE)* had recommended the PTS-52 mobile 'TV station
for general use in TV centers. .131/4.
Standardization of the TV transmitters char-
acteristics with receiver characteristics (number of lines per frame,
number of frames persecond, scanning sequence, sound-picture fre-
quency separation, polarization of antenna) is necessary for them
to.work together. Unfortunately, different standards have been
adopted in various parts of the world. The USSR and countries
following the Soviet pattern of TV broadcasting have standards like
those adopted in most of western Europe except for the frequency
separation between the sound carrier and the picture carrier, so
that receivers located' near international borders adjusted for
stations operating on one standard will not get satisfactory
reception of stations across the border.
Popular interest in TV and its propaganda
value, attested to by heavy advertising expenditures in the United
States, have not been lost upon the Russians. There is an un-
confirmed report of plans for a network of some 80 stations "which
will cover large areas of the more heavily populated parts of the
USSR." .L/ Theatre TV was demonstrated in December 1953 on a
12-square meter screen. Color TV was reported under development
in 1947 and promised in 1952 for experimental broadcasting during
1953. /8 Statements relative to three-dimensional TV have also
been observed. HoweiVer, it is probable that economic problems of
7/
* See Appendix G for a discussion of this important body.
-51-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
.expansion of the black-and-white TV system, including both trans-
mitters and receivers, will occupy the main attention of those
responsible for television in the USSR for some time to come.
(2) Frequency Modulation (Ultra-High-Frequency)
Broadcasting.
Soviet interest in the use of ultra-high-frequency
(UHF) for communications began in the period between 1922 and 1928.
Academician B. A. Vvedenskiy at this time was reported to have pub-
lished the first formula for determining rules of VHF propagation
over short distances for a plane surface. He also reportedly made
the first experiments on the use of the UHF band for purposes of radio
communication. fi/ In 1933 he experimented on wavelengths of 60 am
and was able to use them for communication to distances of 100 km. 88/
As early as 1935, the Soviets realized that the
"ether" was becoming restricted even on high-frequency. At a meeting
of the USSR People's Commissariat of Communications, now Ministry
of Communications, the problem of the utilization of UHF was discussed
and it was decided that this section of the radio spectrum could be
used for short distance communications up to 10 kilometers. 89/
although there was no indication of an intention to use FM at this
time. (This was the year that Armstrong proposed it in the United
States.)
Research on the theories of UHF communications
apparently continued up to and during the World War= period. In
1946 the Section for the Scientific Solution of Problems of Electro-
communications of the Academy of Sciences, USSR, was continuing its
work on these theories. 22/ Immediately following the war, coin-
cidental with the period of emphasis on frequency modulation (FM)
broadcasting in the US, a considerable number of articles on FM
appeared in Soviet literature. In 1946 one article pointed out the
virtues of FM in static reduction and predicted FM broadcasting in
the 40-50 mc band. 21/
The Ministry of Communications, USSR, probably
in late 1945 or early 1946, officially resolved to adopt FM for
broadcasting and to use FM for the sound channel in television. 21/
Shortly thereafter the first application of FM to broadcasting in
thetSSR was made.
-52-
S E C D-T
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 000309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
In June 1946 a broadcast from Moscow reported,
"An experimental ultrashort-wave (UHF) radio transmitter with
frequency modulation, set up by the Ministry of Communications in the
Central Telegraph Building in Moscow, began functioning.) The trans-
mitter broadcasts the central broadcasting alternative program from
5 p.m. to midnight daily, Sundays excepted, on a wave length of 6.52
meters, that is, 46.5 megacycles. 93/ As of May 1954, the Moscow
FM broadcasting station was still in use of 465 mc. 94/ Its reported
power in 1947 was 1000 watts. 95/
An article published in May 1948 described the
tests conducted by the Leningrad Department of the Central Scientific
Research Institute of Communications to determine the possibility of
using UHF (45 mc) transmission for large city networks. At this
time a UHF transmitter was established in Leningrad. iy The
Leningrad station is at present broadcasting on 45.8 mc. 97/
Military communication equipment has appeared
using frequency modulation (for example, the A-7-A and A-7-B one-
man pack set). There has been a certain amount of amateur interest
in FM transmitting evidenced by articles appearing in the Soviet
radio experimenter's magazine Radio, describing equipment as well
as theory. 22/ While these facts may have no direct bearing on the
development of Soviet plans for FM broadcasting, they do not indicate
any considerable degree of familiarity with this special technique
among Soviet radio engineers and technicians.
While Moscow and Leningrad FM stations have
been broadcasting for a number of years, there is to date no indi-
cation Of any action to complete the system by any considerable
production of receivers. The Fifth Five Year Plan had as one of its
objectives the development of UHF broadcasting. 99/ At the Inter-
national Telecommunications Union Conference (Stockholm 1952)
assignments to the USSR provided for 81 specific radiobroadcasting
stations between 57 and 68 mcs and 195 specific stations between
88 and 100 mcs. 100/ We have the recent "assurance" of the Deputy
Minister of Communications, K. Y. Sergeichuk, that, along with the
development of broadcasting on low-, medium-, and high-frequencies,
the development of broadcasting on UHF is planned: "This will open
an opportunity for improving the quality of broadcasting and will
permit improvement.kf local broadcasting in oblasts and Union
Republics, and an/increase in the number of transmitted programs. 101/
-53-
RET�
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
S E
Mbether this plan has enough priority with respect to all other as-
pects of Soviet broadcasting developments to make possible its
implementation is not clear. There is the example of a number of
other European countries where FM has developed since the war, or is
receiving current impetus. FM has some advantages from the Soviet
point of view which might serve to increase the likelihood of active
official sponsorship. These are:
(a) It decreases the dependence of the audience of receivers
having other frequency bands, which have long distance character-
istics and which therefore can be reached by signals from out-
side the USSR. (Wired loudspeakers have the same effect.)
(b) To the extent that broadcasting on other bands can be
decreased the intercept of the Soviet domestic programs by
the West is made more difficult.
(c) To the extent that high-frequency broadcasting can
be decreased, more transmitters suitable for jamming of other
high-frequency uses of the spectrum will be available, and
conversely their broadcasts would be correspondingly less
subject to any possible jamming from outside the USSR.
However, it seems likely that the economic fac-
tor of the completion of radiofication and the further development
of TV, which probably have higher priority than a neu aural broad-
casting system, will delay FM development for some time to come.
_Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
III. Receiving Equipment in the USSR.
Introduction.
In most countries of the western world, tunable receivers are
found chiefly in private homes and private automobiles and in some
public gathering places, such as restaurants. The popular concept
of the radio audience is an audience of persons who listen of their
own volition: to programs of their own choice, usually from among
several programs in competition to attract an audience.
This popular concept does not apply to radio reception in the
USSR. While there are in the hands of a very small portion of the
population, tunable, vacuum-tube receivers which may be used under
circumstances comparable to those found in countries outside the
Soviet Bloc, many independent receivers are employed for "group
listening" in quasi-public places, such as Club rooms, Communist
Party centers, kolkhozes, sovkhoz and machine tractor station reading
rooms. They are operated under some degree of supervision or sur-
veillance. By far the major portion or the Soviet population, however,
listens to radio programs through the Soviet-originated system called
wire-diffusion. This. is a system of transmission by wire-, of programs
directly from the originating studio, or b3.?. relay from a central
radio receiver to loudspeakers located in private dwellings, public
and semi-public gathering places, industrial enterprises, public
conveyances such as ships and trains, and in streets of cities and
towns. This system affords wire audience coverage with a minimum
expenditure of scarce electronic equipment, especially radio tubes,
of which the USSR had experienced Chronic shortages, and of electric
power.
The production and establishment of broadcast reception facili-
ties both by means of independent receivers and wire-diffusion loud-
speakers and the organization of radiobroadcast listening in the
USSR is termed "radiofikatsiya" (radiofication).
both independent receivers and wire-diffusion networks appear
to have been employed in all areas of the USSR in radiofication.
One reported exception to this condition is in Murmansk Oblast
where one unconfirir report states that there are no private
radio receivers inAhe entire Oblast. Instead, the whole Oblast
is linked with radio receiving points (radiotochki) in Murmansk
and local relay centers. 102/
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
A. Number, Characteristicsjand Distribution of Radiofication
Facilities (Aural).
1. Number.
Table 8 shows the estimated number of reception facilities
in the USSR for the years 1940 and 1945-60.
This table reflects a marked increase in independent re-
ceivers through the acquisition of receivers "liberated" in the Soviet
occupation of East Germany, the sizeable increase in production of
independent receivers since 1949, and the increased emphasis on wire-
diffusion since 1951. Projections to 1960 are based on an estimated
:otal of 30 million units in service at that time.
Table 8
Estimated Number of Radiobroadcasting Reception Facilities in the USSR
1940 and 1945-60
Loudspeakers
Year Exchanges (Thousands)
1940 11,000 103/ 5,840 11:.W
1945 2/* 11,676 y 6,200 Ey
1946 12,951 2/ 6,670 107/
1947 14,402 E/ 7,417 .52/
1948 15,066 c/ 7,759 e
1949 15,728 W 8,100 110/
1950 16,699 2/ 81600 g/
1951 17,669 c/ 9,100 111/
1952 20,360 y 10,130 1/
1953 22,760 h/ 11,380 ,a/
1954 27,560270,882 h/ 13,780-15,441 IS./
1955 29,631-33,232 F 14,816-16,617 ,_./
1956 31,704-35,586 I 15,852-17,793 2/
1957 33,776-37,938 h/ 16,888-18,969 e/
1958 35,848-40,290 171./ 17,924-20,145 2/
* Footnotes for Table 8 follow on p. 57.
- 56 -
Receivers
(Thousands)
760 105/
N.A.
1,000 Ely
1,325y-
1,619 sj
2,081 1/
2,794 1/
3,591 1/
4,430 �-
5,521 1/
6,220-4,559 1/
6,850-5,049 2/
7,480-5,539 2/
5,110-6,029 e/
8,740-6,519 :el
Total
Units
(Thousands
20,000 116/
21,666
23,332
24,998
26,664
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
--6...Ev-er2t0=1"
Table 8
Estimated Number of Radiobroadcasting Reception Facilities
1940 and 1945-60
(Continued)
in the USSR
Loudspeakers
Year Exchanges (Thousands)
1959 37,920-42,640 W 16,960-21,321 e/
1960 40,000-45,000 12 20, 000-22,500 -151
Receivers
(Thousands)
9,370-7,009 e/
10,000-7,500 Ty
Total
Units
(Thousands)
21,330
30,000 ill/
a. At the beginning of the Fourth Five Year Plan.
b. Estimated increase, based on proportion of centers to loudspeakers
in 1940.
c. Estimated, based on an average of 515 loudspeakers per center.
.d. Estimated. Based on estimate of production (I/EE) and allowing for
increase in total receivers because of confiscations in those areas
occupied by Soviet military forces in middle Europe (for example, Germany
and Hungary) of receivers which were brought back to the USSR.
e. Interpolated.
f. Estimated, in proportion to the estimated proauction of receivers
for the preceding year.
g. Estimated, on basis of 60 percent fulfillment of the Fourth
Five rear Plan (19).i6-50) for installation of loudspeakers.
h. Estimated, on basis of 500 loudspeakers per center.
.i. Extrapolated, based on estimated increase of 90C,000 during
first 10 months of 1952. 112/
j:; Estimated, on basis of Soviet statements of installation of 1 million
loudspeakers in rural areas 113/ and on the assumption that rural installa-
tions represented 5/6 of totil-installations.
k. Extrapolated. The lower figure is based on announced Soviet plan
LW. to install 2 million loudspeakers-in rural areas during 1954 and on
the assumption that rural installations will represent 5/6 of total in-
stallations. The upper figure is based on Soviet statement that on 7
May 1954, 13,941,000 loudspeaker radio points had been installed, ex-
trapolated to the eriod of the year at a rate of installation of 200,000
units monthly.
//
-57-
SSCR ET
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Table 8
Estimated Number of Radiobroadcasting Reception Facilities in the USSR
1940, 1945, and 1946-60
(continued)
1. Figure obtained by substraction of number of loudspeakers from
announced plan total of 20 million reception facilities 11V at the
end of 1954.
m. Estimate of 30 million units at the end of the year 1960 is based
on reference 1111/. Loudspeakers are estimated at from 2 to 3 times the
number of independent receivers. The ranges shown indicate the upper
and lower limits for estimated number of loudspeakers and receivers
to be in service. Any estimate within the range for one must be
matched with an estimate for the other which will result in the total
shown in Column 4.
Radiofication of the USSR was begun by the joint use of
independent receivers and wire-diffusion nets in 1924-25. The Soviet
claim to the origination of the wire-diffusion system is probably
valid; at least in no other country- was it so widely utilized. These
wire-diffusion nets served to bridge Vie gap of a lack of broadcast
receiving sets, which Soviet industry was not prepared to fill by
production of individual receivers. The first installations were
made by radio amateurs, under the direction of the labor unions.
The first central radio (relay) station feeding 6 lines was con-
structed in the House of Soviets (Moscow) with loudspeakers set up
in three Moscow factories. 222/
In 1929 there are reported to have been 630 relay ex-
changes serving approximately 102,000 loudspeakers, and 370,000 in-
dependent receivers. The ease with which propaganda could be
expanded and extended through the media of radiofication apparently
became obvious to the authorities, and greater impetus was given to
this activity. In 1929, the installation of wire-diffusion systems
became a joint responsibility of the People's Commissariat for
Communications (NKS) and the Central Union of Consumer's Societies
(Tsentro-Soyuz91 and by the end of 1930 the radidbroadcast re-
ception base had grown to 2,280 relay centers serving 658,600 loud-
speakers, and 412,000 independent receivers. The NKS carried the
basic task with large installations averaging about 400 loudspeakers
per "center. The role of the Tsentro-Soyuz' was to serve the needs
-58-
2 R T�
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
of a specific enterprise, mainly at the local level. 122/
At the outbreak of the war with Germany in 19h1, the num-
ber of wire-diffusion-relay centers is estimated to have been 11,000,
serving 5.8 million loudspeakers; the number of independent receivers
in service is estimated to have been 870,000. 121/ All independent
receivers in the hands of the public were confiscated, but wire-
diffusion nets played an important role in civil defense. Some
measure of its importance is indicated by the report that in the
enemy-occupied area, the Germans systematically destroyed every
kind of wireless equipment, including 1200 wired relay centers.
Upon the retreat of the German army, a special service was set up
by the Soviet Government to follow closely behind the army and
restore the wire-diffusion net to operation with dispatch; the
relay service was said to have been put in order "immediately" after
the departure of the Germans. 122/
At the end of 1945, there are estimated to have been 1
million independent receivers, 11,766 relay exchanges, and 6.2
million loudspeakers installed in the USSR. The Fourth Five Year
Plan (1946-50) caned for an increase of 75 percent in the radio-
fication network, and, specifically, for the annual production of
925,000 receivers and a total of 4 million loudspeakers to be
installed. 122/
Notwithstanding the increased production or independent
receivers, the wire-diffusion System was intended to remain as the
core of the reception base Of the USSR. In 1947, wire-diffusion re-
lays are reported to have served approximately 90 percent of the
listening installations and it was the announced plan of the Soviet
government in 1950, that such relays would serve 75 percent of all
receiver installations. 124/
These statements appear to be somewhat in conflict, or
at least to afford some basis for conjecture. If the concrete figures
for loudspeaker installation are accepted as factual, 10.2 million
loudspeakers were planned .to be installed throughout the USSR at the
close of the Five Year Plan. If this total represents 3/4 of radio-
fication facilities in terms of physical units of equipment, then,
by simple arithmetic, it appears that 3.4 million independent
receivers were plannee by the end of the Five Year Plan. If the
annual production of radio receivers was planned at 925,000 and if
it is assumed that' the majority of these were broadcasting receivers
-59-
-,1.--E-9���fturEq^,P
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
_s-rs-e-Rhierfr
destined for distribution within the USSR, total Plan production
would have been 4.625 million to be added to the 1 million believed
to have been in service at the end of 1945, for a total of 5.625
million. This total, less retiremenwould have placed approxi-
mately 5 million or more in service, approximately 1/2 the planned
total number of loudspeakers. It would appear, therefore, that the
annual production of 925,000. radio receivers included either broad-
cast receivers-intended for home use and for export, or receivers
for all types of radio service including broadcasting, or both.
Small quantities. or USSR. broadcast receivers have been reported to
be for sale in several of the Satellite countries of the Soviet
Bloc. 22...V
Conflicting Soviet press and radio claims of fulfill-
ment, overfulfillment, and underfulfillment present a confusing
picture concerning bostwar radiofication in relation to both the
Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans.
The statement of the Chief, Main Administration of Radio-
fication, Ministry of Communications in September 1950 -- near the
close of the Fourth Five Year Plan -- that the reception network had
been doubled as compared with 1945 and increased 75 percent as com-
pared with the prewar level, if considered_in terms of units of
reception facilities, would suggest that the Plan hadbeen substan-
tially fulfilled. Other statements in various USSR radio technical
journals, however, do not support this. These include such
statistics as in 1946, the number of wired radio speakers grew 10.7
percent (approximately 620,000 units); during 1947, the number of
wired radio speakers grew by 700,000 units; that 1 million loud-
speakers were to be added to the networks each year during the years
1949 and 1950; and that from 1950 to 1951, the plan for wired
speakers was fulfilled by only 50 percent. 1_2_61
If these figures may be considered reliable, approximately
1.82 million loudspeakers were installed during the years 1946, 1947,
and 1950. It appears doubtful that the remaining 2.18 million of the
4 million called for in the Plans were installed during 1948 and
1949, for this would have required an annual installation of 1.09
million loudspeakers -- more tnan twice the number reported to have
been installed in the two next succeeding years, 1950 and 1951.
-60-
E C14-C T
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Further doubt that the Fourth Five Year Plan was fulfilled on schedule
is cast by the announcement in a Soviet trade journal for November
1952, that over 10 million wired speakers had been installed.
If this statement is correct, it may be assumed that the goal of 10.2
million, set for-the Fourth Five Year Plan, was not actually reached
until late 1952.
There is no indication that the Russians specifically
claim fulfillment of the radiofication plan of the Fourth Five Year
Plan. Probably around 60 percent fulfillment (in terms of reception
units) was attained.
During this Plan period, the groundwork for further and
more rapid expansion of rural radiofication appears to have been
laid. At the February 1947 Plenum of the Central. Committee of the
Great Communist Party (Dolshevi01 the importance of rural radio-
fication was stressed as an Instrument of education for fulfillment
of the Stalin plan "of struggling for plentiful supplies for the
populations and ores for industry." 128/
This action by the 1947 Plenum of the Central Committee
.of the Party was followed in 1949 by the issuancP cf a decree "On
Measures for the Improvement of Radiofication in the USSR" '(copy
not available), which is said to have defined "concrete measures
for completing radiofication in the next few years." The Chief of
the Main Administration of Radiofication, V. Vasillyev, in an
article in the Soviet technical journal Radio of September 1950,
pointed up the particular importance of this decree, "now that
Communist education of the laboring masses has become our primary
goal." 129/
During 1950, USSR technical publications for. radio
-.'contained many articles on ways and mans af developing rural radio-
fication, including the use of small 2- and 3-tube battery-powered
receivers, crystal receivers, self-contained power Supplies and
existing telephone lines in non-electrical areas.; for the technical
improvement of receivers, relay centers, and loudspeakers and for
the use of underground cable in wire-diffusion nets; for increase
in production and improvement in distribution of equipment; for
the establishment of local repair shops; the publication of
simplified texts for radiofication instruction and the production
of a motion pictlfre for visual instruction in the training of the
necessary technical personnel. 130/
-61-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Also, during 1950, DOSARM (Volunteer Society for Coopera-
tion with the Army, which later became DOSAAF, Volunteer Society for
Cooperation with the Army, Navy, and Air Force) amateur radio Clubs
were called upon to play a leading role in rural radiofication,
both in the training of fie7tgbnne1 and in the installation of equip-
ment. A Socialist competition was set up among the clubs with six
prizes in the form of radio apparatus in values from 25,000 rubles
down to 2,000 rubles. During 1950, DOSARM amateurs are reported
to have built and installed about 65,000 receivers, 472 wired
radio centers, and 30,000 loudspeakers, and to have repaited 10,000
receivers, 163 wired radio centers, and 6,500 centers.* 131/
Early publicity on the Fifth Five Year Plan (1951-55)
did not give exact figures for the extension of radiofication. An
article by Deputy Minister of Communications, Topuriya, in Radio
No. 1, January 1950, entitled "Progress in Radiofication of the
USSR" summarizes the extensive administrative and technical steps
to be taken to develop radiofication on the scale envisaged by
governmental decree, and Closes with the statement that "by full
cooperation of all concerned, our country should approach (under-
scoring supplied) the final state of radiofication." 1327
In 1952, further writings in the Soviet press state
that radiofication must be completed "within the next few years"
and that by 1955 the number of wired radio speakers in the USSR in
1949 must be tripled. 122/ Some indication of the extent of the
plan is given by the following statement of an official of the
Kamchatka Oblast Radio Rebroadcasting Network Administration on
Radio Day (Nay 7), 1952:
"Our Party and Government adopted the decision
to increase the network of radio facilities three-
fold during the 5-year period 1949-54, In practice
this will represent completion of the total radio-
fication of the Soviet Union." 134/
A. Puzin, Chief of the Main Administration of Radio In=
formation, Soviet Ministry of Culture, in a statement in Izvestiya
on 7 Nay (Radio Day) 1953 claimed that the radio network was almost
double the prewar year of 1940, which in terms of total units would
be nearly 13.3 million units (1.52 million independent receivers
* The type of "centers is not understood.
-62-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
and 11.78 million loudspeakers, if proportionate) and that by the
end of 1955, there would be more than 30 million radio receiving
installations in the USSR. To more than double the total reception
facilities in the USSR in a period of 2i years appears as unreal-
istic as the radiofication plan of the First Five Year Plan L929-33),
which called for a total of 14 million receiving units, including
9.5 million wired loudspeakers, 2.5 million vacuum-tube receivers
and 2 million crystal receivers -- a goal which probably was not
attained until after the end of the Fourth Five Year Plan,Il946-
5(4 Furthermore, statements of officials of the Ministry of Cot-
munications on this same date in Izvestiya and Pravda and also in
radiobroadcasts are critical of the slow rate of progress of radio-
fication, placing blame on lack of production of equipment, chiefly
loudspeakers, and on the local construction and installation
directorates, which were charged with working poorly. Of 76 con-
struction and installation directorates, only 29 were said to have
fulfilled the plan for the first half of 1953. As a result of this,
the plan for construction and installation work in radiofication
was fulfilled by only 83.6 percent. 125.1
In startling contrast, therefore, is the Radio Day, 1954
statement of the USSR Minister of Communications, Psurtsev, that:
"...the number of radio receiving points goud-
speakeri7 has increased from 5,800,000 Lin l97 to
13,841.0mo. Furthermore, our radio lisTeners have
millions of independent (efirniye) sets. The main
attention is devoted to the radiofication of the
countryside...however...the level of radiofication
�of the collective farm villages is still definitely
unsatisfactory. At present, only 18 percent of
collective farm homes are radiofied....The plan
for this year envisages a large volume of work
in the field of rural radiofication. About 2
million radio points must be set up in the
countryside -- that is, double the number of
1953." 12Y
On the same day, the USSR Minister of Culture, Alexandrov,
in a speech honoring Radio Day, stated:
"The Soviet Government is exerting every
effoit in improving radio service to the
-63-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
population. By By the end of the year, there will
be over 20 million radio receivers and relay
points in our country." 12Z/
The USSR Deputy-Minister of Communications, K. Y. Sergei-
chuk, interviewed by Tass on 6 May 1954 is reported to have made a
statement which is quoted in Dart:
"In our country broadcasting has been widely
developed. The main task of communication bodies,
as given by the Party and the Government, are
the intensification of radio relay service by
every means, particularly in villages. The scale
of this work can be judged by the figures of last
year, when in rtiral localities over 2,400 collec-
tive farm radio� centers werE built and over one
million radio receiving points were installed.
This year this work will be increased more than
twofold.
"Despite the existing achievements in the
development of radiofication, there are many
shortcomings particularly in the towns. First
of all, one should point out that radiofication
of rural communities is slow. Industries must
supply more necessary materials and equipment in
order that in the next five to six years blnder-
scoring supplied/ one can carry out an extensive
radiofication.of the country. It is necessary to
draw the attention of local Party and Soviet
organizations to the solution of this task." 12.EY
The completion of radiofication, which the Soviets claim
would encompass a reception base of about 30 million reception units,
by the close of 1955 would entail an increase in total facilities by
50 percent during a single year. In consideration of past performance,
this goal appears impractical in terms of installation of facilities --
especially in rural areas, where the tempo of wire-diffusion installa-
tion is necessarily somewhat slower than in urban areas. The attain-
ment of a goal of 30 million reception units by 1960 appears the
wore logical.
- 6)4 -
8ECRET
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
fr�B 15+42.
The estimate of 20 million reception facility units at
the close of 1954 will provide, for an estimated total population of
217.6 million, approximately 1 unit for each 11 persons. Thirty
million reception units at the end of 1960, for an estimated total
population of 234.7 million, would provide one reception unit for
each 8 persons.
When compared with recent estimates for other countries
of the Soviet Bloc 1,...391 a density of 1 unit for each 8 persons would
raise the coverage to a level comparable with that of Hungary at the
present time. For other Soviet Bloc countries, the density of
broadcast reception facilities is estimated as follows: East Germany,
1 unit to 6 persons; Czechoslovakia, 1 unit to 5 persons; Poland,
1 unit to 11 persons; Bulgaria, 1 unit to 20 persons; Rumania, 1
unit to 37 persons; and Albania, 1 unit to 63 persons;
To increase the ratio of receivers in the USSR to 1 unit
for each 7 persons by 1960 would require a total of 33.5 million
reception units; to 1 unit for each 6 persons would require approxi-
mately 39.1 million reception units; to 1 unit for each 5 persons
(comparable to Czechoslovakia), nearly 47 million units. No goal
figure of a total of more than 30 million units has been disclosed
in available Soviet- press and radio materials.
The number of receivers in the USSR for reception of
very-high-frequency (FM) broadcasts is not known. It is presumed,
however, to be very small.
2. Characteristics.
a. Independent Radiobrdadcasting Receivers.
Receivers presently in operation in the USSR consist
of many varieties and types ranging from elaborate superheterodyne,
multi-frequency, 11- to 114-tube, radio-phonograph combination console
models with a high reception sensitivity to simple crystal receivers
capable of reception of a limited number of frequencies, usually
from nearby transmitting stations. A CIA Scientific Research Aid,
"Study of USSR Broadcast Receivers," 140/ covers in great detail the
characteristics of 9lese receivers. In general, it is applicable
currently. In consideration of the extensive coverage of this
Research Aid, it ig deemed sufficient to discuss the characteristics
of Soviet broadcast receivers in general terms only.
-65-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
gorp...Fr.0.44.4p.T.
Under the "State All-Union Standard (COST) No.
5651-51, Vacuum-Tube Radio Receivers; Classification; General Para-
meters," all types of tube receivers are divided into four classes
from the standpoint of their_electrical and acoustic characteristics.
The general characteristics of Soviet manufactured
tube type broadcast receivers are given in Table 9.* This table is
designed to aid the individual in determining the class designation
of receivers.
(1) Superheterodyne Receivers.
From an examination of receivers made in the
USSR, the large mass of tube-receivers fall into the class of super-
heterodyne receivers referred to as "supers" in the USSR.
The classification for the superheterodyne
receivers are by class numbers one through four as follows:
Class one receivers usually have seven or more
tubes with low-, medium-, and high-frequency bands. The frequency
bands are 150-420 kc.; 520-1500 kc.; and 6, 7, 9, 11, 15 and 17 Mc.
Electric power for these receivers are always line supplied, whereas *:
all other classes may be either battery or line supplied.
Class two receivers generally have six or
seven tubes with low-, and medium-frequency bands, 150-415 kc., and
520-1500 kc. They also have high-frequency reception capability from
3.95-12.1 Mc. and sometimes up to 15 Mc,
Class three receivers generally have four to
five tubes with low-, and mediutil-frequency bands, 150-415 kc, and
520-1600 kc. This type of receiver may also have high-frequency
reception capability from 3.95-12.1 Mc. The most popular class
three receiver, the Rekord, has a high-frequency band 4.28-12.3 Mc.
Class four receivers represent a category that
is in a considerable state of flux. These receivers are designed for:
selection of frequencies between 150-1600 kc. This class receiver
may be of the fixed tuned type, but very few of the production models
I are 444 this type.
* Table 9 follows on p. 67.
- 66 -
cECp
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Table 9
Characteristics of Vacuum Tithe Receivers Manufactured in the USSR 1141/
Number
of KC KC MC Other
Type Receiver Tubes Super, TRF 150-415 520-1600 3.95712.1 HF Bands 2/
Class 1 7 or more X X X X All
Class 2 6-7 X X X X One optional
Class 3 4-5 X Optional X X Optional No
Class 4 3-4 X Optional X X No No
a. Other high frequency bands allocated for the broadcasting service include frequencies of the
order of 15, 17 and 21 Mc.
- 67 -
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
.6.43.41.14tatior-i
(2) Tuned Radio-Frequency Receivers (TRF).
Little is known about TRF receivers other than
that class three and four receivers may either TRF or super-
heterodyne.
(3) Fixed Tuned Receivers.
There is some information that a few fixed tuned
receivers have been made in the USSR; the type has been discussed
under the type receivers, either super ot TRF. Very few of these
receivers are made in USSR, and there is practically no data to support
the view that they are in use there.
(4) Crystal Receivers.
The most common crystal receivers incorporate
the use of lead sulphide, germanium, graphite, or carborundum
crystals. Type and characteristics of crystals are covered elsewhere
in intelligence literature. These sets are usually capable of re-
ceiving the low- and medium-frequency broadcast bands. 112/
b. Wire-Diffusion. 143/
(1) General Account of Development of Wire-Diffusion.
) In Large Cities.
The wire broadcasting movement began in the
USSR in 1925, when the first wired radio center was constructed in
Moscow by the labor unions under the direction of A. V. Vinogradov.
In the following year, wire oroadcasting spread to Leningrad and
ether large cities of the Soviet Union. The first systems were cen-
tralized, i.e., only one amplifying station was used, and many did
not even have special distribution networks. In the latter systems,
the subscriber's telephone line was used, and programs could be
heard only when the lines were free from telephone conversations.
With the continuing increase in the opera-
ting radius of the stations and number of subscribers, it became
impossible to supply the network from one point because of the high
attenuation and distortion associated with long lines. This forced
,idecentralization of the amplifying equipment and a reduction of the
-68-
iE01/�401L-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
.�Sp-FrPeETIr- "
load and operating radius of each amplifier. Thus, amplifying sub-
stations came into use. Also, separate telephone wires were used
to feed the substations and special distribution networks were
constructed-to connect the subscribers' loudspeakers to the ampli-
fying substation. Such simple decentralized systems are suitable
for serving small areas with few subscribers, but they have obvious
deficiencies from the standpoint of serving larger areas with more
subscribers.
(b) Spread into Suburban Areas.
With the introduction of the "two-stage"
wire broadcasting system in the mid 1930's, it became possible to
extend wire broadcasting to suburban areas. In this system, dis-
tribution feeder lines are used in addition to the subscriber lines.
These high-voltage (120v-240v) distribution feeders supply the sub-
scribers' networks through step-down transformers. A variation of
this system was frequently used in cities with many large apartment
houses. Here, feeder lines with taps were used, and the subscriber
lines were replaced by the apartment house distribution circuit.
This system required the installation of step-down transformers in
each apartment house. The transformer was connected either to the
feeder itself or to the feeder tap.
One more basic improvement came about with
the introduction of the "three-stage" system, which was put into
experimental operation in 1939. This system was developed to reduce
the number of amplifying substations to a minimum by replacing them
with transformer substations wherever possible. This was desirable
because it was difficult to ensure continuous operation of the am-
plifying substations with their decentralized supply system. In
.the three-stage system, each amplifying substation must supply not
only a two-stage distribution system, but must also transmit the
audio-frequency power to distant transformer substations, each of
which feeds a similar two-stage distribution network. The ampli-
fying substations are connected to the transformer stations by
special trunk-line feeders (480 or 960 v). Reserve trunk-line
feeders are used to ensure continuous operation of the amplifying
or transformer substation in case the main trunk-line feeder or
amplifying substation supplying it should break down.
The cabling setup in three-stage systems
is quite compl/ex. In most cases, the programs are fed from the
- 69 -
':;gcriErr,
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
radiobroadcast station by cable to the central wire broadcasting
station. The latter often contains equipment necessary for remote
control of all the amplifying and transformer substations. The
central wire broadcasting station feeds the program to all the am-
plifying substations of thetem through suspension lines or unused
cable pairs taken from the city telephone network. This transmission
is maintained at a low level so as not to interfere with the tele-
phone system. The amplifying substations feed the transformer sub-
stations through high-voltage (suspension or cable) trunk-line feeders.
If these are of the suspension type, they are strung along pipes
erected on the roofs of buildings. The distribution feeders of both
amplifying substations and transformer substations are ordinarily
suspension lines.
All of the systems described above, whether
simple centralized, decentralized, two stage, or three stage, include
a "zvukofikatsiya" (installation of loudspeakers in streets, squares,
etc.) system, the lines of which feed powerful loudspeakers which
are installed in streets, squares, parks, and other open spaces.
Special programs, and also local air defense signals (in wartime),
are transmitted on these lines.
The choice of a two- or three-stage wire
broadcasting system depends on the size of the city and the number
of subscribers. Two-stage networks, supplied from one or two am-
plifying substations, are used in most rayon centers and cities with
populations of up to 50,0001 with 8,000 to 10,000 subscribers. Either
two-stage or three-stage systems maybe used in cities having popu-
lations of 50,000-250,000. In either case, several amplifying sub-
stations are generally used. Three-stage systems with trunk-line
feeders are generally employed in cities with over 250,000 residents.
Such systems may include from 2 to 20 amplifying substations aria
up to 70-80 transformer substations. The three-stage system or-
dinarily has each transformer substation supplied from two amplifying
substations, and the transformer substation switches automatically
from one to the other when necessary.
(c) In Rural Areas.
Wire broadcasting is accomplished in rural
areas by three basic methods, that is, by a feeder network supplied
from wire broadcasting amplifying substations in large cities, by
interkolkhoz wired radio centers, or by small kolkhoz wired radio
-70-
) 11 0 I/ET
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
centers. If the first method is employed, one or several local
feeder lines similar to the city distribution feeder, are constructed.
Each supplies the subscriber lines of several populated points
(occasionally several dozen) and may be quite long. A step-up feeder
transformer is installed at the input of each feeder line and the
subscribers' lines are connected to the feeder through step-down
transformers located at the subscriber's home.
Although the first-named method is the
predominate one in the introduction of wire broadcasting into rural
areas, economic factors are taken into account before a certain rural
area is radiofied trom the feeder network. For example, in regions
of Moscow Oblast which are within a radius of 12-13 km from a rayon
center, the kolkhozes are radiofied from the network of the Ministry
of Communications. But if a kolkhoz having only 20-30 homes is
Located more than 3 km from the feeder line, it is radiofied by
receivers.
A typical example of the use of inter-
kolkhoz wired radio centers is found in the Znamya Revolyutsii
Kolkhoz, Lgov Rayon, Kursk Oblast, where a wired radio center with
a 500-w amplifier drives approximately 300 speakers in each of the
seven kolkhozes it serves.
The third method of bringing wire broad-
casting to rural areas, and one that has proved increasingly popular,
is the installation in kolkhozes of small economical centers with
powers up to 5 w, which supply 30-50 speakers. This method is con-
siderably cheaper from the equipment and power supply standpoint than
that of using individual receivers, and it eliminates the need for
constructing long feeder lines from a central amplifying substation.
(2) Equipment Used in Wire-Diffusion Systems.
(a) Equipment Used in City Systems.
The equipment of a large city wire broad-
casting system includes the central wire broadcasting station, the
amplifying substations, the transformer substations, and the distri-
bution network, including trunk-line feeders, distribution feeders,
and subscribers' /Lines.
The central wire broadcasting station
-71-
E 0.�ft-ET
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
C R i..T
includes all the equipment required for transmitting the audio power
to the amplifying substations and for controlling all elements of
the system. The entire Moscow Wire Broadcasting System is remotely
controlled from the central station, which is operated by three
technicians per shift. The power of the amplifiers in the central
wire broadcasting station is determined basically-by-the number of
amplifying substations which it supplies.
The amplifying substations in larqe cities
are usually installed in special buildings. They are supplied from
their own internal step-down transformer unit. The equipment in-
cludes the amplifiers and the switching and control equipment. The
power of the amplifying substation is calculated on the basis of
0.5 w per subscriber loudspeaker. Thus, with the continuing increase
in the number of subscribers served and the introduction of two-
and three-stage systems, the power of amplifying substations had in-
creased correspondingly. The first amplifying substations had power
of 2 or 3 watts. Then units for 30 watts and 200 watts were con-
structed, and later the power of units increased to 500; 1,300;
3,000; and 6,000 watts. A 36-kilowatt station was equipped in Moscow
in 1944-45 a 50-kw wire broadcasting station was put into operation
in Kiev in 1946, and a 30-kw station was constructed in Khar'kov in
1947. In addition, powerful wire broadcasting stations have been
constructed in Rostov-on-Don, Tbilisi, and many other cities. In
1949, 60-kw substations were put into operation in Moscow; each
such substation can supply audio energy to 100,000 subscriber loud-
speakers.
The transformer substations have two step-
down transformers rated at 5-10 kw (one at the end of each high-
voltage trunk-line feeder, that is, main and reserve feeders) and
units for switching, signaling, and protection. The protective ele-
ments of the transformer substation operate together with those of
the amplifying substation and disconnect the high-voltage from the
trunk-line feeders if the conductors break or short circuit, or if
the quality of the insulation deteriorates sharply.
The subscriber's loudspeaker unit commonly
includes the loudspeaker itself, a transformer, a volume control,
and a limiter 5urrent-1imiting resistor7 or fuse. The loudspeaker
most commonly used is the Rekord. Piezoelectric loudspeakers were
/used for a time during the war, but it was found that they were not
/ sufficiently durable. In city wire broadcasting networks, limiters
- 72 -
SEORDT
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
147-77-T-m-
are often connected in both sides of the line. For radiofication
of streets and squares the R-10 loudspeaker is most frequently used.
(b) Equipment Used in Rural Systems.
In areas which cannot be radiofied from net-
works of the Ministry of Communications (that is, by the use of rural
feeder lines), wire broadcasting is accomplished by the use of kolkhoz
or interkolkhoz wired radio centers having powers ranging from 2 to
1,000 w. The wire broadcasting equipment described is not classified
as kolkhoz or interkolkhoz center equipment, because most of it is
suitable for use as either. All of these units canbe used to trans-
mit either from the local studio (by microphones or phonograph), from
the receiver, or from the feeder line, if there is one in that par-
ticular location.
Some of the equipment used in rural wire
broadcasting systems is described below. This list is not complete,
but it is intended to give a general idea of the types and sizes
of wired radio centers used. Many wired radio centers are built
by radio amateurs, and thus have no type designations. They may also
have odd power ratings.
The largest center ordinarily used in
rural wire broadcasting is a 500-w unit. The commercial type number
Of this unit is unknown, but examples of its use are quite numerous.
The output power can be increased cuite readily, however; and am-
plifiers of different ratings may be used occasionally, depending on
the needs of the community. For example, a 1000-w interkolkhoz
wired radio center has been built in the village of Rozhdestvenno
of Molotov Rayon.
Another unit frequently used as an inter-
kolkhoz center is the KTU-100. This 100-w unit is supplied from a
110-, 127-, or 220-v line and drives up to 400 Rekord loudspeakers
and two R-10 street loudspeakers. The TUB-100 is similar to the
KTU-100, except that it is designed for nonelectrified regions and
operates on storage batteries.
Other units in operation are: the line-
operated UK-50/ which includes a Vostok receiver, and drives 200-250
Rekord loudsppakers and one R-10 street loudspeaker; and finally,
two 20-w units -- the VTU-20 for nonelectrified regions and the
-73-
Tt'nft+EIGN616
pproved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
E 0 R 7
UTS-48 for electrified regions. The former has its own.wind-driven
generator (type of receiver is unknown). The UTS-48 is supplied from
the electric power line and includes a 10-tube all-wave PTS-47 re-
ceiver which has 4 high-frequency-bands. Both the VTU-20 and the
UTS-48 can drive approximately 120-150 Rekord loudspeakers.
In November 1950, it was announced that wired
radio units of the �MGSRTUfl (small, stationary, wired radio equipment)
series with output powers of 50 and 100 watts had been developed to
replace the UK-50-and KTU-100. These units can be operated on a
110-, 127-, or 220-v line and include a 'FPS-17-S" receiver. In June
1951, it was announced that the Institute of Radio Broadcasting,
Reception, and Acoustics (IRPA) had developed a 2-watt radio center,
already in production, which could be operated from the line, from
storage batteries charged by a wind-driven generator, or from dry
batteries. The descrintion.of this equipment states that it can
drive up to 50 of the new economical SG-1 electrodynamic loudspeakers.
The receiving-amplifying section of the KRU-2 has low-, medium-, and -
high-frequency (to 12 Mc) reception capability.
The subscriber's unit in rural areas is
the same as in city wire broadcasting networks, except that limiters
are ordinarily connected in only one side of the line. In addition,
only 0.15 w is allowed per speaker in rural networks, whereas city
networks are calculated on the basis of 0.5 w per speaker.
(3)
Recent Developments in Wire Broadcasting.
Recent developments in wire broadcasting tech-
niques include attempts to provide multiprogram broadcasting to
subscribers, the use of telephone lines for remote power supply and
control of local kolkhoz centers, the use of cable instead of over-
head lines for subscriber's networks, and incorporation of wired
radio centers into telephone exchanges.
The main difficulty in the wire broadcasting
systems used at present is that the subscriber cannot select his
program, but most listen to the one selected at the Central Wire
Broadcasting Station (in the case of city networks) or at the
wired radio center (in the case of local networks). In 1940-141,
experiments in multiprogram broadcasting were carried out by the
:Leningrad Branch of the Central Scientific Research Institute of
ICompunications (wire broadcasting networks) and by the Moscow
- 74 -
.7ECIIE T.
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
4E631/DT
Institute of Communications Engineers (lighting networks). In this
system, a separate transmitter and filter is used for each program.
The subscriber's unit must include a preselector filter unit, a
detector, and an audio-frequency amplifier. Further development
of thi-circuit in 1948, as applied to rural electrification con-
ditions, made possible the initiation of experimental operation in
one of the kolkhozes of Moscow Oblast. An experimental unit for
high-frequency multi-program broadcasting using the wired broad-
casting network was put into operation in Leningrad in 1949.
Low-power rural wired radio centers which are
supplied from a kolktioz electric power station often have to dis-
continue operation during periods of heavy load. On the other hand,
many kolkhozes having low-power battery-operated mired radio cen-
ters do not have charging units since their cost is comparable to
that of the center; consequently, difficulty is encountered in find-
ing suitable power sources to charge the batteries. Thus, to ensure
continuous operation of these centers, experiments have been con-
ducted since 1949 on the use of intrarayon telephone lines for
simultaneously supplying direct current and the high-frequency
program transmidsion to the low-power centers. In June 1950, it
was reported that such a system had been developed and was under
test in an experimental section.
In May 1951, work was continued on the use of
intrarayon telephone lines for transmitting broadcast programs to
low-power wired radio centers, but no mention was made of remote
power supply. According to this report, the Design Bureau of the
Ministry of Communications had developed the equipment needed in
this system, which incluctes the transmitter installed in the
rayon center and several receiving units. One of the plants of
the Ministry of Communications was to produce an experimental set
of this equipment in 1951.
Late in 1951, a general system was described
for remote power supply and program transmission to low-power rural
radio centers. It requires the installation of a battery in the
rayon center, and transmission of the 250 v supplied by the battery
through the mid-point of the transformer and along the telephone
line to the rural radio center. The telephone line is also used
for transmissiop of central broadcast and local broadcast programs
to the rural cdnter. The equipment required in the rayon center
includes a reCeiving unit, a wire broadcasting transmitter, and a
-75-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
filter. The rural radio center must be equipped with a transformer,
a filter, and a receiver-amplifier unit. The latter unit permits
reception of programs either from the telephone line or independently
by radio.
Since 1950, great stress had been laid on the
use of underground cables for the wire broadcasting networks of un-
forested areas. Conductors and cables with polyvinyl chloride in-
sulation are generally used for this work, and the cost per kllometer
of such a line is only about one third that of an overhead line.
Special cable-laying machines have also been developed to speed up
the work and cut down the man-hours required. In 1949, more than
1,000 km of underground lines were laid. The rapid introduction of
the method is shown by the fact that more than 10,000 km of under-
ground lines were laid in 1950.
In connection with the fact that the wages for
operating personnel of wired radio centers up to 100 w in .power
constitute half the operating costs of the center, an attempt was
made in the Latvian SSR to reduce these costs by incorporating the
wired radio centers in telephone exchanges. Technical maintenance
of the center and wire broadcasting lines was combined with main-
tenance of the telepuone switchboards and telephone lines. Opera-
tional responsibility for both the telephone exchange and the wired
radio center was vested in one person. Successful operation with
stall centers led to experiments with the incorporation of larger
centers, and in 1949, 1,000-w wired radio centers were installed
in telephone exchanges of Yelgava, Yekabpils, and Ogra. Experiments
with this system have also been conducted in the Estonian and
Lithuanian SSR's and in some republics and oblasts Of the USSR.
While the total power of radio relay centers is
reported to have increased by three and one-half times during the
period of 1945-50, 1h11/ the average number of speakers per center
decreased from 531 to 500 in 1952. Although many more powerful and
improved exchanges had been installed, the increased power in many
instances had been utilized to improve the quality of-reception.
The average number of speakers per relay center in rural areas may
be assumed to be considerably less than the over-all average. As
the radiofication of the rural areas progresses, it is probable
that there will be a further decrease in the over-all average
j number of loudspeakers per center.
-76-
-Q-P--erRET
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
4,..�391�8�4kblei3uoi6.��
3. Distribution.
Radiofication of the USSR which began with the focal city
of Moscow, first spread to_the other SSR capitals and major cities
of European and Asiatic USSR. These were the areas of highest popu-
lation density; they also possessed reasonably stable, line-supply
sources of electric current. Before World War II, independent radio-
broadcast receivers numbered less than 1 million sets and may
considered as having been available only as super-luxury items, in
the hands of the political and industrial hierarchy, normally
located in key cities. The rank and file population of those cities
were served by the loudspeakers of the wire-diffusion network.
During the 19301s, radiofication was further extended by part-time
employment of the receiving section of the transmitting-receiving
equipment of the radio dispatching equipment in Machine Tractor
Stations for the reception of broadcast programs either for relay
to loudspeakers or for group listenings. 116/
In the postwar period, stress has been laid on "total
radiofication" and great emphasis has been placed on production of
relatively insensitive crystal receivers and small battery-powered
tube receivers as one of the means of extending radiofication to
rural and other nonelectrified areas. At the end of the Fourth
Five Year Flan (1946-50), the radiofication of cities was said to ,
have been completed. 111W Less than 20 percent of the total number
of radio reception units were said to be in rural areas, however.
Also daring the period of the Fourth Five Year Plan, the radio-
fication of railroads appears to have begun. Installations are
reported to have been made on the Turkestan-Siberian Raiaroad in
1948 and to have been completed on the Stalingrad Railroad in 1949.
The radiofication of railroads appears to include the installation
, of loudspeakers in passenger and mail cars, the cabs of engines,
the warehouses, workshops, and offices of the railroads, and the
living quarters of the railroad workers. Relay exchanges are
located either in the railroad stations or in suitable nearby
buildings and (for trains) in a special compartment of one of the
cars. In addition to broadcasting programs for the general public,
these systems appear to be employed for such uses as transmitting
air raid alarms, safety instructions, and work instructions and
directives. There is no indication that they are presently used
for routine yard-hunting and train-dispatching operations. During
1952-53, great progress has been reported in radiofication of
long-distance trains of the Asiatic as well as the European USSR,
-77-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
and on some lines the radiofication of local trains also-has been
begun.
In May 1953 (on Radio Day), the Soviets claimed that the
radiofication of towns, on the whole, had been completed.
In May 1954, in a speech honoring Radio Day, the Minister
of Communications, Psurtsev, admitted that only 18 percent of kolkhoz
homes are radiofied and announced farther intensification of the
activity to extend rural radiofication. 149/
It appears that radiofication has been fanned out from
the major cities to the oblast centers, to the rayon centers, and
at present is being extended further to the rural areas.
Considerable publicity has been given to the fulfillment
of the radiofication plans in the postwar Five Year plans, and from
time to time partial statistics have been announced at all political
levels from republic to rayon. In a few instances these accounts
have included statistics on total units installed, but more often
have been given for units installed during a given period of time,
or for units installed in a subordinate agricultural or industrial
area, or for total accomplishments in terms of percentages. It is
quite probable that the main reason for the publication of any
statistics whatever is for their value as promotional propaganda
to accelerate the program in the spirit of Socialist competition.
To serve this end, it is probable that total figures are published
when the program is being carried out according to, or above plan,
while partial or vague statistics, for areas where things are not .
going well, serve to cover the actual situation, either for the
government or for those officials responsible for the radiofication
program. This situation is suggested in light of the total number
of radiofication facilities set out generally in Table 10* and
accounted for in greater detail in Appendix H, which presents a
,recapitulation of these partial data and accounts for a total
of nearly 1.75 million receivers and almost 8 million loud-
speakers. The estimated national totals at the close of 1953
were approximately 5.5 million receivers and nearly 12 million
loudspeakers. (See Table 8).
* Table 10 follows owp.79.
-78-
...Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
wORIPBW&PRIIMEgalfW
Table 10
Partial Distribution of Radiofication Facilities in the USSR a/b/
_ _
Radiobroadcast
Receivers
(Thousands)
Radio Relay
(Units) Centers
Wiredif fusion
Loudspeakers
(Thousands
3a1tic States
288.5
542
171.0
RSFSR
European
485.8
1,586
3,222.1
Urals and Western Siberia
94.2
792
288.8
Central Siberia
N.A.
267
22.0
Far East,
37.0
465
323.9
Belorussian SSR
54.0
387
236.0
Karelo-Finnish SSR
1.0
35
35.0
Moldavian SSR
27.0
167
120.0
Ukrainian SSR
500.0
13,650
2,500.0
Caucasus Republics
178.3
1,032
281.5
Central Asia Republics
102.5
1,201
59)4.0
Total USSR
1,768.3
20,124
7,79)4.3
USSR Receiving Facilities - Minimal
figures
9 562.6
a. These figures represent minimal distribution and account lor a
total of approximately 9.5 million reception units of an estimated
national total of 17.5 million.
b, The information in this table isbased entirely on Soviet open
sources -- newspapers, trade journals, and radiobroadcasts. It
is possibly true.
Relatively recent data has been found on the Baltic
States, Belorussian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, the Caucasus
Republics and the Central Asia Republics, except Turkmen SSR.
As regards the RSFSR, little or no information is avail-
able for much of'/its European area, including some parts with high
population denpities such as Bryansk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Tula,
- 79 -
0 13 C
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Vladimir and Yaroslavl �blasts, and the Chuvash, Mordvinian and
Tatar ASSR's, and no figures are available for loudspeakers in the
city of Moscow since 1948. For the area of the Urals and Western
Siberia, there is little or no information-on such important areas
as Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Kurgan, and Molotov Oblasts. In publicity
honoring Radio Day in 1951, however, Omsk Oblast was singled out
for its achievements in radiofication, and total figures, both for
independent receivers and for loudspeakers, were published. For
sparsely populated Central Siberia, practically no information is
available. Oddly enough, proportionately more information is
available on the Far East than on any other area of the RSFSR,
with fairly recent figures for the Maritime Kray, and Chita and
Sakhalin Oblasts.
These figures have not disclosed sufficient data to
establish estimates of distribution for those areas for which
information is not available. A reasonable assumption, however,
is that radiofication facilities at the present time are available
in most urban areas of the USSR.
B. Production, Import, and Export of Radiobroadcasting Equipment.
1. Production.
a. Radiobroadcasting Receivers.
The estimated production of receivers in the USSR
from 1945 to 1954 is given in Table 11* and is expressed graphically
in the accompanying Figure 5.** Total production of Class 1, 2, and
3 receivers is believed to total around 3 million units; Class 4
receivers, around 2 million units; and crystal receivers, about 4
million units.
The table and the chart reflect the acceleration of
production of crystal receivers from 1948 through 1950 in the effort
to fulfill more nearly the Fourth Five Year Plan. Under the Fifth
Five Year Plan -- while the annual production of crystal receivers
is estimated to have continued to increase -- the percentage of the
total annual production began to decline, beginning in 1952.
The production of Class 1, 2, and 3 receivers is es-
timated to have constituted more than 90 percent of the very modest
total production in the years 1945, 1946, and 1947.
* Table 11 follows on p. 81.
** Figure 5 follows p. 80.
-8o-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
SECRET
2500
2,000
1,500
1
8
-s
1,000
500
USSR
ESTIMATED PRODUCTION OF
RADIOBROADCASTING RECEIVERS, 1945-54
TOTAL ANNUAL AND CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION
Receivers with and without high-frequency tuning capabilities
100%
Class 4 and Crystal receivers
(With low- and medium-frequency
tuning capabilities only.)
Class 1, 2, and 3 receivers
(With low-,medium., and high.
frequency tuning capabilities.)
575
2310
46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 1954
�
1945 46
ANNUAL
PERCENT OF ESTIMATED
ANNUAL AND CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION
By class of receivers
34%
50%
a
56%
31%
56%
535
31%
495
21%
a
395
285
47 48 49 50 51 52 53 1954
8987
6019
10.000
8.000
6,000 �..
0
4.000 s'
2,000
0
1945-54
CUMULATIVE
445
235
\s;
Uiguo
945 54
00%
67s
33%
ANNUAL CUMULATIVE
Crystal receivers � Receivers with no high-frequency program reception capability.
Class 4 receivers � Tube receivers with tunable low-,and inecliuni-hequency capabilities only.
MI Class 3 receivers
Class 2 receivers
re Class 1 receivers
Tube receivers with tunable low-,
medium-, and high-frequency capabilities.
13385 CIA. 7-54
..1Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
 ,
Table 11
Estirated Production of Radiobroateasting Receivers 259/
1945-54
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Thousands
N. .
.......
Cumulative
Percent of Cumulative
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
Total
Total
Tube Receivers
Class 1
7
17
25
18
17
14
17
42
61
150
368
14
Class 2
144
118
143
145
165
46
35
10h
160
150
1,110
12
Class 3
25
100
135
177
170
53
52
63
255
460
1,1490
17
Class 4
Negligible
Negligible
Negligible
Negligible
58
280
320
380
333
650
2,021
23
Total (Tube)
76
235
303
340
410
393
424
589
809
1,410
4,989
56
Crystal Receivers
4
10
32
177
409
507
540
653
766
900
3,998
44
Total - All Types
80
245
335
517
819
900
9614
1,242,
1,575,
2,310
8,987
100
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
trB8RET
Beginning mith 19431 the annual production of Class
1 receivers declined noticeably,both in numbers and in percentage
of total production until 1952 when the production again increased.
Production of Class 2 and Class 3 receivers generally increased
in total numbers through 1949 but decreased substantially in per-
centages of total annual production. After 1951 the annual pro-
duction on both of these classes also increased again.
In 1949, the production of the relatively in-
sensitive 3- and 4-tube Class ,)4 receivers was begun, and during"
1950, 1951, and 1952, around 85 percent of total production of
receivers was believed to be df Class 4 tube receivers and crystal
receivers.
In 1952 the production pattern again changed. Of
the total estimated production for the years 1953 and 1954 of 1 575
and 2.310 million receiversirespectively, approximately 30 percent
or more were of Class 1, 2, and 3 types and only 70 percent were of
Class 4 and crystal types.
Any trend in the Soviet production pattern is usually
based upon a combination of several factors, both political and
economic. The average citizen is satisfied with a meaium-priced,
medium-performance receiver, preferably possessing some high-frequency.
reception capability. Those officials responsible for plan fulfill-
ment evidently are satisfied with production of whatever types of
receivers will satisfy plan requirements. From its various public
utterances since 1947, it can be concluded that the Soviet hierarchy
ha u determined that the radio reception base ofthe USSR is to be
extended to the rural areas.
Production in the early postwar years stressed the
better-quality receivers. The increase in production by mass-
production of crystal receivers in 1948 and of Class 4 tube receivers
in 1949 served the Soviet policies to increase consumer goods, to
extend radiofication into the countryside, and to boost lagging pro-
duction. The shift in emphasis after 1952 apparently reflects the
recent Soviet policy of increased quantity and better quality of
consumer goods.
The present trend in Soviet receiver production is
to produce more of all types of receivers and to maKe a greater
effort to satisfy consumer desires. The most popular of the Class
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
S S 0 12 E 414"
2 receivers, the "Rodina," is said to be in mass production, and it
has been announced that plans are being made for the mass production
of Class 1 receivers. It is also probable that the production of
a high percentage of crystal receivers, which are not satisfactory
for group listening, will give way to production of more Class 3
and Class 4 tube receivers. 151/
Table 12 shows the estimated total production of
receivers by classes in the USSR for the years 1945-53, inclusive.
Table 12
Estimated Total Production of Radiobroadcasting Receivers
in the USSR by Classes 15.1/
1945-53
Tube
Total
(Thousands)
Percentage
Distribution
218
3
--Class 1
Class 2
960
114
Class 3
1,030
16
Class 4
1,371
20
Crystal
3,098
47
Total
6,677
100
There is no indication that there is any significant
production of independent very-hign-frequency (VHF) receivers in
the USSR. Although there has been some Soviet publicity or develop-
ment of AM receivers to include FM-VHF reception. 153/
b. Loudspeakers.
The estimated production of loudspeakers in the
USSR during the years 1946 to 1954 is given in Table 13.* This table
does not represent a use pattern and does not imply that this number
* Table 13 fo/ ows on p. 84.
-83-
Approved for Release: 2023/07/17 C00309580
Table 13
0
co
Lo
m
0 0
00 co
Lo cD
m cD
0 0
m Estimated Production of Loudspeakers in the USSR 12�/
0 r-
0 1946-54 ,
0 1:::
0
r-- co
.it--- - c\I
0
0 Thousand Units
m
c\I ai
0 W
C \ 1 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950. 1951 1952 1953 1954 co
a)
ai Ti5
(,) ct
0
O 8
75roduction of Mass Produced
ct -0
� Loudspeakers for Civilian 0
>
2 Home Use 1000 1000 1250 1000 500 600 loop 800 1300 2
-a a
o a
>