“Speaking to the Soviets”: Podcasting, Public Diplomacy and the Blinken Open Society Archives’ Radio Liberty Audio Collection

Abstract

This article introduces and evaluates the experience of producing the Speaking to the Soviets podcast, a six-part audio documentary series which explores the history of transnational broadcasting during the Cold War through a close analysis of the Blinken Open Society Archives’ Radio Liberty Russian Broadcast Collection. I present some preliminary notions on the value of podcasting as a general medium for the presentation and conduct of historical research on radio broadcasting. Next, I discuss the reasons why the OSA’s Radio Liberty Russian Broadcast collection represents a rich and rewarding collection for historians of the Cold War which is particularly suited to being explored and evaluated via podcasting. I describe the conceptual and methodological choices made during the process of the project as a whole, before concluding with an attempt at evaluating the contemporary significance and potential future impact and implications of the project. This question is approached from the point of view of both the sponsoring institutions (Central European University and the Blinken OSA) and the practitioner (myself).