What access did people in the Warsaw pact countries have to Western television and radio?
Upvote:1
When the Baltic states started to break out of the Soviet union it first started in Estonia because they could watch Finnish TV and Finnish and Estonian is linguistic close enough to be understandable.
Upvote:3
I think no one mentioned: In western Europe TV channels were in PAL system, while Eastern Europe mostly adopted a version of SECAM. There were differences in the audio system, too.
From late 80s, satellite programs also became available in Eastern Europe. All you needed a satellite antenna, and you could watch MTV Europe, sky channel, etc, but years before the collapse of Berlin wall satellite channels could be watched through local networks in Hungary.
Upvote:9
People in the German Democratic Republic could and did receive TV from the Federal Republic of Germany. Terrestrial reception of TV was limited in some parts of the GDR, notably the Dresden area. In the last years of the GDR there were even cases where Westfernsehen (western television) was provided by local cable providers. Obviously those were the regular western programming, not targeted broadcasts like those mentioned by Peter in his comment.
The GDR government tried to balance this with propaganda broadcasts towards their own citizens which aimed to discredit the Westfernsehen. They had some valid points, explaining how TV commercials don't represent "real life" in the West. Few GDR citizens believed everything their government said, but those TV shows injected some doubts.
So in the case of Germany:
- GDR citizens were allowed to watch FRG television.
- The GDR government was aware that this was a problem, but countermeasures like jamming were not practical.
- They tried to counter it in their own propaganda.
- In the end, Westfernsehen had a major role in how the Reunification did and did not work out (expectations of wealth, knowledge of each other).
Upvote:13
It varied from country to country. Deep inside the Soviet Union they could not watch Western TV and the only access was shortwave broadcasts. You could easily listen short-wave broadcasts in European languages. There were special broadcasts in Russian (Voice of America, Free Europe, German wave, BBC and few others). Very many people actually listened these broadcasts. Short wave radios were common.
Since 1970s these broadcasts were jammed but the jamming was never really effective (though it was a nuisance for the listeners). Listening these broadcasts was not a crime in the 1970s but actively spreading the information could be punished.
The situation closer to Western boundaries of the block was different: one could catch the TV broadcasts in many places (in Poland, for example German TV was possible to receive in many places), sometimes one had to use special antennas.
In the Western Ukraine, one could watch Polish TV in some places (and Polish TV was "Western" from the point of view of the Soviets: the censorship was very much weaker in Poland than in Soviet Union).
For this people built special antennas. These antennas were chased and removed by the authorities, but there was no punishment (at least I have never heard of someone punished for this). The antennas were removed on pretext that they spoil the look of the buildings. So people tried to hide them in the attics.
Reception in Lviv was poor and only available on hilltops. People would visit each other for an evening with Polish TV. Many people in Lviv knew enough of Polish language to watch TV and read newspapers.
More post
- 📝 Is this old oval copper coin Chinese?
- 📝 How did the Railway Engines get to the Rainhill Trials?
- 📝 What did babies eat before the advent of modern blenders?
- 📝 Why was James II and VII (same person), the last Roman Catholic monarch of Britain, not forced to convert to Anglicanism?
- 📝 How far should I go back in Russian History in order to understand Communist Russia?
- 📝 How were heavier objects weighed in antiquity/middle ages?
- 📝 Did the North give the South its debt after Civil War ended?
- 📝 What are the best primary textual sources I could point to regarding the existence of Julius Caesar?
- 📝 Was there an increased interest in 'the spirit world' in the aftermath of the First World War?
- 📝 What factors made success a possibility for the South in the American Civil War?
- 📝 How was the Cuban military capable of performing African interventions?
- 📝 Who got a pardon from Gabriel Narutowicz?
- 📝 When did waving become a part of human interaction?
- 📝 What's the most ancient known example of a woman challenging feminine gender roles?
- 📝 Did Anglo-Saxons make use of large-scale, non-military Roman ruins?
- 📝 Did any black athletes other than Jesse Owens win any medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
- 📝 What is the difference between Taino and Puerto Rican?
- 📝 Why were the ship names "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" used together?
- 📝 What did Catesby and crew expect to do after the explosion?
- 📝 How common was Nixon-esque espionage in 20th-century American politics?
- 📝 What was going to be Hitler's next plan after taking Russia?
- 📝 With no heavy infantry, how could melee units be effective, facing competition from ranged units?
- 📝 Matchsticks were invented in 1805 . How did humans get fire in everyday lives before then?
- 📝 How did the Ten Attendants gain power in the imperial palace?
- 📝 What kind of fence is used at this British airfield?
- 📝 Did slaves have slaves?
- 📝 Historical examples of secessionist movements fighting alongside their de jure governments
- 📝 How did the English Civil War affect the American Colonies policy-wise?
- 📝 Why did China decide to support Poland in 1956, but not Hungary?
- 📝 Is Alexander Matrosov's service record publicly available?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What access did people in the Warsaw pact countries have to Western television and radio?
- 📝 How did people have access to ice in warm areas before the industrial revolution?
- 📝 What specific jobs did people have on the Manhattan Project?
- 📝 Why did Mussolini say that people are not really free if they don't have access to the ocean?
- 📝 What advantages did Catholic missionaries to the Indians have over Protestant missionaries in old Oregon Country?
- 📝 What role did the Eastern Roman Empire play in the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
- 📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?
- 📝 What effect did the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir have on Great Britain's international relations during WW2?
- 📝 What reasons did the Confederacy have for believing they would have a quick victory?
- 📝 What numerals did the people of Ireland use before Roman Numerals? (aka, did Ogham include numbers?)
- 📝 What did the top minds of the late 17th century have to say about Salem witch trials?
- 📝 Why did people in some countries start to drive on the right?
- 📝 How did people say “I have to go to the bathroom” before the bathroom and pipes were common?
- 📝 What effect did the Bronze Age collapse have on India?
- 📝 Which European countries did not have a revolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution and why?
- 📝 What did the Romans call black people (sub-Saharan)?
- 📝 What did European people of the 5th century AD eat during spring and what was the availability?
- 📝 What did contemporary countries in Europe call the Ottoman Empire?
- 📝 What races did Americans classify people into during the 1800s?
- 📝 What effect did awareness of devastating bombing at home have on the fighting spirit of German troops on the Eastern front?
- 📝 What laws did the king "refuse to pass... unless those people would relinquish the right of representation"?
- 📝 What role did the media have in the outcome of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Tunisia?
- 📝 What impact did the Seven Years War have on the American Revolution?
- 📝 What impact did Trotsky's armoured train have on the Russian civil war?
- 📝 How much time did people have to take shelter during the Blitz in 1940-41?
- 📝 What effect did the Mafia have during World War 2?
- 📝 At what point did the United States have a truly federal army?
- 📝 What alternate north-south supply routes did the Soviet Union have when the Volga and Stalingrad were under attack?
- 📝 What did the end of the western front look like at the Swiss Border?
- 📝 What literary or philosophical works did the ancient Egyptians have that have influenced ancient civilizations or the modern word?
