Art to Popular Masses: Role of Radio in Art and Literature Promotion to Soviet People in the 1930s
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Khisamutdinova N.V.
Khisamutdinova N.V. Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. Vladivostok. Russia
The article describes how radio broadcasting was used to raise the cultural level of the USSR population in the 1930s. This period is indicative in this respect. On the one hand, by that time, the level of radio communication allowed to cover with radio influence nearly the whole territory of the country. On the other hand, the Soviet government needed radio resources to propagandize Communist Party decisions and mobilize the broad masses of people to implement the industrialization plans. Literary and artistic broadcasting, as the most attractive for radio listeners, was chosen for this goal. In the mid 1930s these aspects were given more time than all other broadcasts – 57.1% of the total broadcasting time. Literary and musical themes covered all age categories of radio listeners and broadcasting genres. Radio broadcasts of operas and concerts, literary performances, and artistic reading were regular. Thereby, radio be-
came the most popular leisure for Soviet people, which allowed using this means of communication as a reliable guide for the Party and government policies. At the same time, along with this function, the radio successfully fulfilled another one, promoting cultural values to people. Despite strict centralization, ideological pressure and censorship which limited the initiative and creative activities of radio journalists, in the 1930s radio became the principal source of culture and art knowledge for Soviet people. The article is based on the memoirs of Primorsky radio employees of this period, archival materials, publications of professional journals, which allowed
considering the topic in a broad socio-political context.
Keywords: radio construction, Primorsky radio, literary and artistic broadcasting, ideologiza-
tion of broadcasting, cultural and educational function.