Broadcasting in the Soviet Union was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. Censorship is the control of speech and other forms of human expression, often by government intervention. ...

The governing body in the late Soviet Union was "USSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting", or USSR Gosteleradio (Государственный комитет по телевидению и радиовещанию СССР, Гостелерадио СССР), which was in charge both of Soviet TV and Soviet radio. Television in the Soviet Union, like all other media, was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. ... Radio broadcasting in the Soviet Union, like all other media, was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. ...

Valentina Leontieva, better known to the public as "Aunt Valya", was the only female TV presenter to be named People's Artist of the USSR.

Image File history File links Леонтьева.jpg Valentina Leontieva (born in 1923) was one of three TV/radio presenters to be named Peoples Artist of the USSR File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Леонтьева.jpg Valentina Leontieva (born in 1923) was one of three TV/radio presenters to be named Peoples Artist of the USSR File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Maria Yermolova, first Peoples Artist of the Republic (1920). ...

The problem of broadcasting in the Soviet Union

Because of the Soviet Union's size, a few problems had to be overcome. The first was geography. The European area of the Soviet Union was typical East European. Then there were the mountains such as the Urals. There were also the taiga and steppes of the east and the north. Another problem was time. The Soviet Union encompassed a number of different time zones, and thus what would be shown at 6:00 pm in Moscow would be different from 6:00 pm in Frunze, Kirghiz SSR (now Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). The population too was unevenly spread out - the overwhelming majority being west of the Urals. In addition, the Soviet Union also relayed their programming to other Warsaw Pact states. Time Zone is also a historical computer game. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: â–¶(?)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... State motto: Бардык өлкөлордүн пролетарлары, бириккиле! Official language None. ... Bishkek cityscape Bishkek (Бишкек, بىشكهك) (population in 2005 approx. ... Seal of the Warsaw Pact Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement among airlines about financial liability. ...

As a result, Soviet television and Soviet radio was a combination of ingenunity to overcome the problems mentioned in the prior section as well as transmitting programming to the Communist world.

NB: Some of the information in this article is from the 1990 edition of the WRTH (World Radio and Television Handbook). Other information is from the Television in the Soviet Union and Radio in the Soviet Union articles.

The World Radio TV Handbook is a directory of virtually every radio and TV station on Earth, published yearly since the 1940s. ... Television in the Soviet Union, like all other media, was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. ... Radio broadcasting in the Soviet Union, like all other media, was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. ...

Soviet standards

Yury Levitan became the voice of the Soviet government during WWII, when he read the most important news on radio.

Image File history File links Левитан.jpg Yury Levitan, one of three TV/radio presenters to be named Peoples Artist of USSR, reading news during WWII. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Левитан.jpg Yury Levitan, one of three TV/radio presenters to be named Peoples Artist of USSR, reading news during WWII. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...

Broadcast Radio

Although the Soviet Union had domestic shortwave stations, most of the radio stations operated in the AM band. In typical Soviet fashion, the sites of both domestic AM and SW stations was never disclosed (including the frequencies that they operated on), thus leaving short wave listeners wanting to tune into Soviet radio to memorize the frequencies and remember where the sites were. However, the AM/SW programming was relayed on FM, using the OIRT FM band (66-73 MHz). A domestic goat Domestic can refer to: An animal or plant that has been domesticated A domestic worker Something pertaining to home Domestic policy is that policy relevant within a country A lobby term for women or girls This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that... Shortwave radio operates between the frequencies of 3,000 kHz and 30 MHz (30,000 kHz) and came to be referred to as such in the early days of radio because the wavelengths associated with this frequency range were shorter than those commonly in use at that time. ... Mediumwave radio transmissions (sometimes called Medium frequency or MF) are those between the frequencies of 300 kHz and 3000 kHz. ... Short Wave Listening is a sister hobby to amateur radio where the operator only uses a receiver to monitor HF transmissions. ... The International Radio and Television Organisation (official name in French: Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision or OIRT), more often called Intervision (Russian Интервидение, Polish Interwizja), was an East European network of radio and television broadcasters established in 1946 with the primary purpose of exchanging productions between its members. ... In most of the world, the FM broadcast band, used for broadcasting FM radio stations, goes from 87. ...

Television

The Soviet Union used SECAM D (VHF) and K (UHF) (also known as CIS-SECAM). The Soviet Union also used the OIRT VHF band (the "R" channels ranging from chs. R1 to R12) and the pan-European/African UHF band. SÉCAM (Séquentiel couleur à mémoire, French for sequential colour with memory) is an analog color television system first used in France. ... Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m). ... This article is about the radio frequency. ... SÉCAM (Séquentiel couleur avec mémoire, French for sequential color with memory) is an analog color television system first used in France. ... The International Radio and Television Organisation (official name in French: Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision or OIRT), more often called Intervision (Russian Интервидение, Polish Interwizja), was an East European network of radio and television broadcasters established in 1946 with the primary purpose of exchanging productions between its members. ...

Radio services

Home Services

There were three national radio channels. The first was the All-Union First Programme. This channel was one of the most adaptable radio channels in the Soviet radio system (see "Regional services" below). The second channel was called Radio Mayak. Mayak is Russian for "lighthouse", and thus is an all-union musical and literary channel designed to be the "lighthouse" of Soviet music and literature. The Third Programme also was a musical and literary channel, but mostly pop music.

External services

Most people who have listened to shortwave are familiar with Radio Moscow, the main Soviet shortwave radio station. However, that's only part of the picture. Soviet radio also had Radio Station Peace and Progress, officially called the "Voice of Soviet Public Opinion". Most republics also had an external service, relayed by Radio Moscow's transmitters. Radio Moscow also relayed other radio stations from their satellite states, such as Radio Afghanistan. A 1969 Radio Moscow QSL card Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. ...

Television services

Igor Kirillov was the face of Channel One, known as the 1st Programme in the Soviet Union, during the Brezhnev era. He still makes occasional appearances on this channel, however.

Image File history File links Кириллов.jpg Igor Kirillov, one of three TV/radio presenters to be named Peoples Artist of the USSR. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Кириллов.jpg Igor Kirillov, one of three TV/radio presenters to be named Peoples Artist of the USSR. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Pervyi Kanal or Perviy Kanal (Первый Канал) is the Russian spelling for Channel One, the oldest TV channel in Russia and the one with the widest area of coverage. ... Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  listen? ( Russian: Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев) ( December 19, 1906 – November 10, 1982) was effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, though at first in partnership with others. ...

National television channels

Generally there were four channels (called "programmes" in the typical European fashion then). The first channel (1st Programme) was the main channel. It was also the most adaptable for the republics to utilize (see "Regional services" below). Other channels were the All Union Programme (the second channel), the Moscow Programme (the third channel aimed mostly at Moscow), and the Fourth Programme (the fourth channel).

Television programming

Soap operas and TV series of original cast were rare until the last decade; a notable example is Seventeen Moments of Spring, which quickly became a cult film, about Stirlitz, a Soviet superspy in Nazi Germany, who inspired many jokes (see Russian humour). However in the later years quite a few of soap operas were bought in the West: in the United States, Brazil, etc., and a number of detective series were cast locally. soap operas are boring Soap Opera redirects here. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973) (Семнадцать мгновений весны in Russian), also Seventeen Instants of Spring is a Soviet TV film series based on the book series of the same title by the novelist Yulian Semyonov. ... A cult film is a movie that attracts a small but devoted group of fans, usually failing to achieve considerable success outside that group. ... Vyacheslav Tikhonov as Stirlitz Otto von Stierlitz (Russian: , transcibed Stirlitz) is a hero of a popular Russian book series written by novelist Julian Semyonov and of television series Seventeen Instants of Spring and feature films, produced in the Soviet era. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Russian humour gains much of its wit from the great flexibility and richness of the Russian language, allowing for plays on words and unexpected associations. ... Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ...

Regional services

In addition to the national radio and television channels, each SSR and ASSR had its own state radio and television company or state broadcasting committees, although other regions were allowed regional state radio and television companies/state broadcasting committees. Taking the Chechen-Ingush ASSR as an example, you would see that there is a lot of flexibility involved with the Soviet radio and television system. Chechen-Ingush Aautonomous Soviet Socialist Rrepublic, or Chechen-Ingush ASSR (Russian: ) was an autonomous republic within Russian SFSR. Its capital was Grozny. ...

Like other areas of the Soviet Union, the four national television channels, Radio Mayak, the All-Union First and Third Programmes, and (if equipped with appropriate transmitters) Radio Moscow would be broadcast by either a Television and Radio Company of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic or by a State Committee on Radio and Television Broadcasting. However, there would be a difference in that in the First Programme (TV) and in the All-Union First Programme (radio), the Company/Committee was allowed to broadcast regional programming alongside the official First Programme/All-Union First Programme schedule. Depending on the political status of an administrative division, the Company/Committee would either broadcast the regional programming in either Russian or the local language. In the Chechen-Ingush ASSR's case, this would mean that the regional programmes would either be in Russian, Chechen, or Ingush. Chechen can mean: Chechen people, an ethnic group Chechen language Related to Chechnya This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Ingush are a people of the northern Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. ...

The Company/Committee would also broadcast additional channels for their coverage area only. Such cases usually mean, in the case of radio, a second programme, known by a special name, in the main language of the SSR/ASSR. Other districts had their own local programming, and cities such as Moscow and Leningrad have special programs, broadcasting only in the evening and on FM. Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: ▶(?)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград) usually refers to the name of the city which is now known as Saint Petersburg, Russia between 1924 and 1991. ...

Satellite services

Alongside Canada's ANIK satellite system and the US's satellite system, the Soviet Union could boast having the largest domestic satellite system in the world. Part of the ingenuity lies in the programming itself. The Soviet Union was a master in time-shifting programmes so that everyone in the Soviet Union could enjoy radio and television programming. This involved several solutions to the Soviet Union's geography and time zone problems: The Anik satellites are geostationary communications satellites launched by Telesat Canada for television in Canada. ... Artists impression of a Boeing 601 satellite, as configured for digital television transmission by SES Astra Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... Orbita is a Soviet-Russian system of broadcasting and delivering TV-signal via satellites. ... Time shifting is the recording of television shows to some storage medium to be viewed at a time convenient to the consumer. ...

• Schedule. The national television channels were only on the air for part of the day. This would make it easy for transmitting the channels throughout the Union. For instance, the Fourth Programme aired from 1300-1740 GMT. This would make it easy for the Fourth Programme to be aired by satellite.
• Time-shifting. This is the heart of the programming aspect of the Soviet television system. By time-shifting programmes, this allowed the Soviet Union and countries that relayed Soviet television (such as Warsaw Pact states).

For alternate meanings of GMT, see GMT (disambiguation). ... Seal of the Warsaw Pact Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement among airlines about financial liability. ...

The timeshift grid

There were two types of timeshifting in the Soviet Union. The first one was used by both the All-Union First Programme and the First Programme (TV). For simplicity, we'll call this system the "Radio/TV Orbita" system (named after the editions of these 1st programmes when they are time-shifted). All other national television channels (the All-Union, Moscow, and Fourth Programmes), including Radio Mayak and the Third Programme, used the "Double program" composite time-shifting format.

The Radio/TV Orbita system

The following are the editions for the All-Union First Programme and the First Programme under the Radio/TV Orbita system. The All-Union First Programme's editions are known as "Radio Orbita" and the First Programme's editions are known as "TV Orbita".

• Radio/TV Orbita-1 (UTC +11, +12, and +13 time zones)
• Radio/TV Orbita-2 (UTC +9 and +10 time zones)
• Radio/TV Orbita-3 (UTC +7 and +8 time zones)
• Radio/TV Orbita-4 (UTC +5 and +6 time zones)
• All-Union First Programme/First Programme (UTC +2, +3, and +4 time zones)

UTC also stands for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, also sometimes referred to as Zulu time, the basis for civil time, differs by an integral number of seconds from atomic time and a fractional number of seconds from UT1. ...

The "Double Program" system

The "double program" system was the other system used for time-shifting programmes. Like the "Radio/TV Orbita" system, identical content would be broadcast on the time-shifted versions, and, in the case of the Third Programme (radio), followed the same type of editions as the All-Union First Progamme. However, it was different in that, especially on TV, it was a composite time-shifting system. This means that multiple services could be broadcast on the same edition and thus reduce the cost of broadcasting several different editions of the channels.

Editions of the Third Programme (radio):

• Third Double-1 (UTC +11 and +12 time zones)
• Third Double-2 (UTC +9 and +10 time zones)
• Third Double-3 (UTC +7 and +8 time zones)
• Third Double-4 (UTC +5 and +6 time zones)
• Third Programme (UTC +2, +3, and +4 time zones)

Composite editions of the All-Union, Moscow, and Fourth Programmes (TV):

• Double 2 (UTC +9 and +10 time zones)
• Double 3 (UTC +7 and +8 time zones)
• Double 4 (UTC +5 and +6 time zones)

The satellites

The Soviet domestic satellite system was also known as Orbita - in 1990 there were 90 Orbita satellites, supplying programming to 900 main transmitters and over 4,000 relay stations. The most famous Soviet satellites were the Molniya satellites; other satellite groups were the Gorziont, Ekran, and Stasionar satellites. With the right equipment, people outside the Soviet Union who used TVRO satellite television could receive Soviet television programming. Orbita is a Soviet-Russian system of broadcasting and delivering TV-signal via satellites. ... Molniya (lightning) was a military communications satellite system used by the Soviet Union. ... Television receive-only, or TVRO, refers to satellite television reception equipment that is based primarily on open standards equipment. ...

News

The Soviet Union's radio news and television news was provided almost entirely by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, commonly known as TASS. ... Television news refers to the practice of disseminating current events via the media of television. ... Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union at the USSR Cabinet of Ministers or TASS (Russian: ) was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. ...

TASS still exists today, transformed into the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS). It occupies a Stalin-era building in Moscow, characterised by a bas-relief sculpture above the main entrance. However, much like its counterparts in cinema and the press, it has suffered since the collapse of Communism. ITAR-TASS (ИТАР-ТАСС), Information Telegraph Agency of Russia, is the major news agency of the Russian Federation. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: â–¶(?)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... Bas relief is a method of sculpting which entails carving or etching away the surface of a flat piece of stone or metal. ...

Broadcasting post-Soviet Union

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet broadcasting landscape also changed. Instead of one uniform system for radio and television broadcasting, now you had multiple systems, each for their own country. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the republics themselves. Below is an incomplete list of what happened to the television system in the republics (so please improve it), in alphabetical order:

Armenia

1990

Broadcasters: Radio Yerevan (radio), Yerevanskaja studija televidenija (TV) Wikibooks Jokebook has more about this subject: Radio Yerevan Radio Yerevan, or Armenian Radio jokes were very popular in the Soviet Union and in other Communist countries of the ex-Eastern bloc since the second half of the 20th century. ...

2005

Main broadcasters: Hayastani Azgain Radio (Armenian National Radio), Armenian National Television, Armenia TV

Azerbaijan

1990

Broadcasters: Radio Baku (radio), Bakinskaka studija televidenija (TV)

2005

Main broadcaster: Azärbaycan Dövlät Teleradio Verilisläri Sirkäti (State Radio and Television Company of Azerbaijan)

Belarus

1990

Broadcasters: Radio Minsk (radio), Minskaja studija televidenija (TV)

2005

Main broadcaster: Nacyjanalnaja Dzjarzaúnaja Teleradyjokampanija Respubliki Belarus (State Television and Radio Company of Belarus)

Estonia

1990

Broadcasters: Eesti Raadio (radio), Eesti Televisioon (TV)

2005

Main broadcasters: Eesti Raadio, Eesti Televisioon, Kanal 2, TV3 ViaSat

Georgia

1990

Broadcasters: Radio Tbilisi (radio), Tbiliskaja studija televidenija (TV)

2005

Main broadcaster: Saqartvelos Teleradio Korporacia (Georgian National Broadcasting Corporation)

Kazakhstan

1990 Broadcasters: Radio Alma-Ata (radio), Alma-Atkinskaja studija televidenija (TV)

Kyrgyzstan

1990 Broadcaster: Dom Radio

Latvia

1990 Broadcasters: Latvijas Radio (radio), Rizhskaja studija televidenija (TV)

Lithuania

1990 Broadcasters: Lietuvos Radijas (gov. radio), Radio M-1 (non-gov. radio), Vilnjusskaja studija televidenija (TV)

Moldova

1990 Broadcasters: Radio Kishinev (radio), Kishinevskaja studija televidenija (TV)

Tajikistan

1990 Broadcaster: Radio Dushanbe

Turkmenistan

1990 Broadcaster: Radio Ashkabad

Ukraine

1990 Broadcasters: Radio Kiev (radio), Kievskaja studija televidenija (TV)

Uzbekistan

1990 Broadcasters: Radio Tashkent (radio), Tashkentskaja studija televidenija (TV)

Russia

See also

• Radio in the Soviet Union
• Television in the Soviet Union

Radio broadcasting in the Soviet Union, like all other media, was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. ... Television in the Soviet Union, like all other media, was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship. ...

External link

• Russian Museum of Radio and TV website