Office of the Historian

811.42700 (R)/10–2149: Airgram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Barbour) to the Secretary of State

confidential
Moscow, October 21, 1949.

A–1057. Attention: IBD—NY. Embassy monitoring Moscow continues to show Russian VOA almost totally jammed. However, unconfirmed reports other cities e.g. Odessa, Tbilisi state Russian VOA gets in somewhat better there. Furthermore Russian BBC continues to [Page 667] be heard in Moscow on several wave lengths with some degree of consistency.1

Above suggests Soviet authorities unable to carry out complete blanketing job of jamming, since supposition that Soviet authorities do not mind Russians hearing Russian BBC in Moscow, and perhaps, Odessa inhabitants hearing Russian VOA, is certainly improbable. More reasonable to suppose that as yet Soviets still lack sufficient jammers for a thorough job.

Therefore, suggest advisability considering possibility persuading our friends in Western Europe and along U.S.S.R. periphery to include in their broadcasts a daily transmission of international and world news in the Russian language. If everybody suitably located geographically grinds out the news in Russian some of it ought to get in to the U.S.S.R. Furthermore it is world news and basic information rather than commentaries for which Russian people are starving. If such a project could be carried out with some but not all the eligible countries, it might serve to spread the jamming so thin that more VOA material could get in.

If countries concerned plead no money, it might be worth our while to help finance their burden. By doing so we would also have some control over the type of news sent. Basically, however, straight news is what is needed, and it would make little difference whether the news from AP, Renter, France Presse, or any other large reputable wire service were used.

Barbour

  1. The Chargé reported in airgram A–1074 from Moscow on October 26, that the press section of the British Embassy surmised that the reception of British Broadcasting Corporation programs in the Soviet Union was better because they came direct over a shorter distance. Most Voice of America broadcasts had to be relayed, as through Munich, which allowed Soviet technicians to concentrate their main efforts on swamping these American transmissions coming over a comparatively short distance from the Soviet Union. It did not seem necessary to suppose that political reasons played any part in the difference in the audibility of the receptions. (811.42700 (R)/10–2649)

    American technical authorities tended to agree to the disadvantages that long transmission distances from North America would cause. It also did not appear likely that any spectacular improvement in overcoming jamming of transmitters located nearer to the Soviet Union could happen when combatted by a well organized jamming program in the Soviet Union. (811.42700 (R)/10–3149)

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