Radio Free Europe

In the years following World War II, many within the U.S. government, including former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union George Kennan, began to discuss using a radio station as a tool in the ongoing ideological struggle against communism. Such a station, it was hoped, could help weaken the Soviet government's hold on the societies it ruled by providing more open discussion of current news and events and promoting Western values. For this purpose, Radio Free Europe (RFE) was established in 1949. Its main aim was to provide communications services to eastern and southeastern Europe, the Russian Federation, and southwestern Asia.

Two years later, in 1951, the Radio Liberty (RL) service was established with goals similar to those of RFE; however, its mandate was to broadcast to the constituent states of the Soviet Union. Although RFE and RL were funded by the U.S. Congress through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), each organization operated as a nonprofit entity and received donations from outside sources as well. The two organizations merged in 1975 into a single entity, known as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The role of the CIA in both organizations was deliberately kept from the public for nearly two decades. Some commentators even suggest that many mainstream news outlets, while cognizant of the fact, neglected to reveal the link to the CIA, in complicitous efforts to encourage public support for RFE and RL. Public support was indeed manipulated by a CIA-sponsored mask—called the Crusade for Freedom—which solicited donations for RFE and RL under the pretense that it was funded by private groups and individuals. The New York Times revealed that these groups were sponsored by the CIA in 1967.

The RFE/RL and its operations were quite complex. With more than 1,500 employees, most of whom worked at the organization's center in Munich, Germany, the enterprise was a multinational polyglot journalistic enterprise. Various languages were spoken inside the organization itself. In fact, the Radio Liberty staff meetings were held in English, German, Russian, and Turkish.

During the 1970s, writers, editors, technicians, and producers worked from 21 nations behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. About 100 people were employed to listen year-round to Eastern European and Russian radio stations. The research conducted was largely published in English and had a wide circulation in the United States and Europe. In this way, the West learned what radio listeners in the countries behind the Iron Curtain were told—and not told—by their officials.

When the CIA stopped financial support of the RFE/RL in 1971, funding—as well as oversight—was transferred to a presidentially appointed Board for International Broadcasting (BIB). At the same time, the increasing inflation in Germany and the resulting devaluation of its currency strained the budgets of RFE/RL. Budget cuts forced the elimination or suspension of important language services and maintenance of the technical facilities that transmitted the radio signal across the Iron Curtain.

[Page 700]The organization went through another substantial transition following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many argued that, with that collapse, the need for a U.S. counterpoint to the Soviet Union's monolithic information machine had evaporated. In 1994, however, BIB's responsibilities were moved to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversaw all U.S. military international broadcasting, including similar services such as Voice of America and Radio Marti, a service targeted at Cuba. In 1995, RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague in the Czech Republic. Its deployment began to change, extending its reach and mission to other areas of the world, reestablishing its purpose. In 1994, Radio Iraq was established, as was Radio Farda, a Persianlanguage service aimed at the people of Iran. Its network now numbers more than 210 partner broadcasting stations and 590 transmitter sites that air programs in the FM and AM frequencies across 12 time zones. The Internet offers a new frontier for RFE/RL, allowing it to develop new audiences and expand its reach into previously untouched areas.

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