Chile Forum

Just out of interest, what international broadcasters could you hear in Chile back then? Living in Ireland in the 1970s and long before I had any connection with Chile I used to listen to shortwave radio stations... I have a QSL card somewhere from Voz de Chile which broadcast in the 25MHz band if I recall correctly, but unlike most people I had a specialist receiver and a longwire antenna about 30m long.

There can't have been too many alternatives to listen to from Chile... I imagine VOA, Radio Moscow, and the BBC would be about it?

FrankPintor wrote:Just out of interest, what international broadcasters could you hear in Chile back then? Living in Ireland in the 1970s and long before I had any connection with Chile I used to listen to shortwave radio stations... I have a QSL card somewhere from Voz de Chile which broadcast in the 25MHz band if I recall correctly, but unlike most people I had a specialist receiver and a longwire antenna about 30m long.

There can't have been too many alternatives to listen to from Chile... I imagine VOA, Radio Moscow, and the BBC would be about it?

There were several stations that broadcast to Latin America and were received in Chile, in Spanish, during the 1970s. These included the BBC, VOA, Radio Canada, Radio Netherlands, the Voice of Germany (Deutsche Welle), Radio Peking, and some others. But as penguino mentioned, the Soviets had a special program for Chile on Radio Moscow, called Escucha Chile. There were several Chileans in the USSR who I think contributed to the actual speaking part of the broadcasts. There were other Soviet broadcasts in Spanish aimed at Chile since the Soviet Bloc in the 1970s and 1980s was still providing weapons and training for the communist guerrillas in Chile. "Radio Magallanes" was one, along with "Radio Paz y Progreso" and "La Voz de la Opinión Pública Soviética." All of these were a calculated part of an effort to increase sympathy and support for the guerrillas that the Soviets were sending to Chile, principally by way of Cuba.

The Escucha Chile project was one of Soviet General Nikolai Leonov's propaganda operations when he was assistant director of the KGB's Latin America division. Leonov selected a former Chilean communist senator, Valentín Teitelboim Volosky (better known as Volodia Teitelboim -- his father was Ukranian and the family had long had ties to the USSR) to direct the Escucha Chile program. One of the famous "voices" of Escucha Chile was Ekaterina Olievskaya, another Ukranian, who had lived in Mexico and learned Spanish there.

As an update to an earlier message, I am told now that there were experiments in jamming the Escucha Chile broadcasts, but ultimately the power and technical requirements were so great that the effort was soon given up.

Strange how this thread evolved.

FrankPintor wrote:Just out of interest, what international broadcasters could you hear in Chile back then? Living in Ireland in the 1970s and long before I had any connection with Chile I used to listen to shortwave radio stations... I have a QSL card somewhere from Voz de Chile which broadcast in the 25MHz band if I recall correctly, but unlike most people I had a specialist receiver and a longwire antenna about 30m long.

There can't have been too many alternatives to listen to from Chile... I imagine VOA, Radio Moscow, and the BBC would be about it?

Radio Moscow had a very powerful transmisor at those times, so easily escaped jaming and other attempts by the gorilla regime.

What made the difference was that while other radios, like BBC or VOA, show once in a while news about Chile, Radio Moscow had the single program addressed to Chilean events only. It is true that radio was sponsored by the Soviet Government and that received information of sources like KGB But that didn't matter to Chileans who knew NOTHING about what happened it its own country. Radio Moscow shown all the events at the times that happened, and that were confirmed years afterwards: the list of dead, the attacks to populations, the launches of bodies to the sea, the killings, the escapes, etc. Besides, it was the only place where you could listen New Folk music and Chileans talking about Chile.

patagoniax wrote:...
There were several stations that broadcast to Latin America and were received in Chile, in Spanish, during the 1970s. These included the BBC, VOA, Radio Canada, Radio Netherlands, the Voice of Germany (Deutsche Welle), Radio Peking, and some others. But as penguino mentioned, the Soviets had a special program for Chile on Radio Moscow, called Escucha Chile. There were several Chileans in the USSR who I think contributed to the actual speaking part of the broadcasts. There were other Soviet broadcasts in Spanish aimed at Chile since the Soviet Bloc in the 1970s and 1980s was still providing weapons and training for the communist guerrillas in Chile. "Radio Magallanes" was one, along with "Radio Paz y Progreso" and "La Voz de la Opinión Pública Soviética." All of these were a calculated part of an effort to increase sympathy and support for the guerrillas that the Soviets were sending to Chile, principally by way of Cuba.

Of course it was "calculated symphaty", and Chilean people wasn't idiot. But at those times it was the single disident source we have available, when all the other media were shut down. No other country made a similar program. If Americans had done the same I could bet people would have listened theirs radio, but they didn't.

patagoniax wrote:...
The Escucha Chile project was one of Soviet General Nikolai Leonov's propaganda operations when he was assistant director of the KGB's Latin America division. Leonov selected a former Chilean communist senator, Valentín Teitelboim Volosky (better known as Volodia Teitelboim -- his father was Ukranian and the family had long had ties to the USSR) to direct the Escucha Chile program. One of the famous "voices" of Escucha Chile was Ekaterina Olievskaya, another Ukranian, who had lived in Mexico and learned Spanish there.

Yes, very beloved people for those that have the honour to listen that radio late at night, with the lights off and all the windows sealed.

patagoniax wrote:...
As an update to an earlier message, I am told now that there were experiments in jamming the Escucha Chile broadcasts, but ultimately the power and technical requirements were so great that the effort was soon given up.
.

True, Radio Moscow had very powerful transmisors, and that marked a difference.

Patagoniax and Penguino now seem to concur on the essential historical facts concerning radio transmission into Chile during the military regime, including the basic details of Escucha Chile. Mark this day also on your calendars.