Radio caught on both in American and around in the world soon after its invention in the in the 1920's and took on roles far greater than even the original inventor had imagined, evolving from small scale, coded personal use to overseas transmissions which had strong political ramifications. As time progressed in the United States, the technology that had become more efficient for entertainment purposes found a subtle method to transmit ideological messages found in the broadcasts of political institutions like the British Broadcasting and Radio Free Europe to other European countries, particularly that of fledgling democracies, to keep citizens tuned in and awaiting new information.

Discovering that large amounts of information could be sent from point to point through the airwaves was one great find, which was sure to lead to many more. The second came shortly after in the realization that not only one receiver could pick up the transmission, but people within a certain radius, if properly equipped, could also hear the same information. Anyone could have a voice that thousands could hear. Aimed, in part, at keeping the public from having to deal with obnoxious broadcasts and centered on the idea that the airwaves are in fact public property, the Federal Communications Committee was established by the Communications Act of 1934 for the purposes of regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. What they first promoted was "programs felt to perform a service, whether through dramatic or other times of performance, include: broadcasts of general educational or cultural value; programs designed to keep the public informed on world affairs, and on the various aspects of controversial issues; programs to support social services; religious programs; and programs in support of important government projects, particularly in wartime" (Barnouw). This regulation proved to be rather broad as radio dramas were able to grow to become immensely popular among the public for their entertainment value but were actually used for much more than that. Big companies, especially in the food and tobacco industries, took the concept of the radio drama and applied merchandising tactics to create programs that ranged anywhere from two hours to thirty minutes and introduced them as either one time dramas or as a series but with one similar goal in mind-advertising. Product placement was essential during the actual drama and any commercial breaks were strictly limited to whichever company had funded the program. In most all situations, these moneymakers were aware of the products they were pushing and to what extent. Eventually the products became ideas. Radio drama began to take on a whole new dimension past that of advertising and entertainment for its own sake. Of course, entertainment was crucial to draw in an audience, but ideology began to creep into the system and take over as a major motivation for radio drama.

Early in its life, radio found the ability to evoke the imaginations of listeners everywhere and cause them to suspend disbelief and supply with their own imaginations the visual and emotional aspects necessary in witnessing a dramatic performance. Any well-written piece could offer just enough information for the minds of listeners to be able to mentally connect the dots. This ability was the deciding factor in the amount of airplay given to the first radio drama, which was not American but was written in France in 1922. After it was made public, the drama was soon banned from airplay because it "was regarded as too realistic and authorities anticipated the potential for panic" (Crook p. 115). The world had stumbled into an interesting corner of the human mind where logic was potentially cast aside and replaced by whatever message was offered by the disembodied voice streaming from the radio. Orson Welles best exploited this with his 1939 broadcast of War of the Worlds, which purposely appeared as a news interruption, alerting the nation of Martian arrival. To this day, grandparents recap the story of how they prepared their families for surviving the invasion and how they soon came to realize that the whole country was conned into believing this event was taking place. What they still do not realize is that radio still holds this power over its audience and still captivates listeners long enough not to always thrill them with a reality altering event but often to subject them to item after item of ideological practice.

In Tim Crooks article, International Radio Drama- Social, Economic, and Literary Contexts he explains that "radio drama expression is very much a reflection of the politico-economic story of the twentieth century" (p. 9). This was exactly the next step in the evolution process after discovering the effect radio had on its listeners. The stories both reflected the situation and contributed to the general attitude towards such topics with their context. In the 1940's, America was faced with a threat from the other side of the globe-Japan. The competing economies of these two powerful countries were fighting over the same consumers in many cases and would do anything to pull the dollars out of the other's hands. Why not include the radio? Radio dramas were already pulling the same consumers as listeners and could be used as a powerful means to turn the average consumer against the Japanese market by promoting racism. Harry Kleiner's drama Japanese-Americans portrays two soldiers in the opening scene who are using the same foxhole for cover. The scene is dark, but George, the full blooded American finally discovers that he Paul is actually a Japanese-American and instinctually finds prejudice such that the next day he writes a letter home to his father to explain his thoughts. He says, "I remember the look, and I am writing you about it, father, because it shows the problem we face….the problem of having American in our bones, but the look of Japan on our faces." The drama continues in like fashion, but this incident is particularly appalling in that the two in conflict are actually "on the same side." Comments like this are all over this drama and the others in the series are focused on turning Americans against the Japanese, even those with some American blood, just in case they are spies. One should not point fingers only at the writer for being racist, or even at the station. The run the FCC who allowed this to continue. In addition, the War Department also set up an Armed Forces Radio Service in 1942 with the intent of broadcasting to the men who were fighting overseas. Barnouw even suggests that "racism served the purposes of those anxious to eliminate the competition. In the armed forces, race hatred probably helped, in a short terms sense, to promote a zeal for killing Japs." Looking back on what the FCC stated to be their list of acceptable programming, one can see that the only category that this type of program does not fall under is religious. This is the mentality that government allowed the public to take in and radio proved to be a powerful weapon against the Japanese.

The government did not limit itself strictly to negative forms of racism when it came to their accepted radio programming. As World War II progressed further into the 40's, many countries had joined the war effort against Nazi Germany and American had been pressuring the Soviet Union to assist. Up until their point of entry, the topic of Russian assistance had previously been either avoided on American radio or satirized by harsh generalization, but this event was cause enough for nationwide recognition. Radio dramas like Norman Rosten's Concerning the Red Army answered the call in the form of an educational series depicting the true history of the countries involved, but with a hint of dramatic improvement to increase the entertainment value. Overall, the programming helped increase the acceptance of the Red Army and the Russian assistance in the eyes of the American public, for the time at least.

The Russians did not stay on the positive side of America's radio broadcasts for very long. Eventually, stories and myths about the Red Army and their growing strength went from depicting the necessary force who assisted the American cause to showing an opposing side that presented strong militant and idealistic conflicts with the United States. As Communism grew in the U.S.S.R smaller satellite countries also fell under the political influence and military force, causing the "red scare" to increase intensely among the Americans and the "Cold War" to come to an height of almost unbearable tension. Americans and other anti-Communist countries answered in many ways, including the radio, which Communists tried endlessly to quiet (Mickelson). Since 1945, the Voice of America was initially the United States' primary means of resistance in broadcasting was headed up by Interim International Information Service in the Department of State, thus proving to be too directly tied into the government to be completely open in their politics. Nevertheless, this did not totally stop them from broadcasting into the Balkans and later actually broadcasting into Russian in early 1947. Crook states that most radio serials at this time faced substantial budget cuts during this tight economic period despite their popularity with the audience. One exception was the Voice of America, which received over $10,000,000 from the federal government to fund external propaganda radio with stations in the Philippines, Okinawa, Munich, and off the coast of Greece. As the anti-Communist campaign continued to grow, so did the need for political radio as seen in the formation of Radio Free Europe in 1950, which was formed by our government and maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency to keep the central federal government at arms length. Professor Edwin Boring described this new "black" propaganda as "advantageous in that it did not bear the responsibility for the rumors and scandals it spread and did not discredit the government in doing so" (Panfilov p.93). Radio Free Europe was quick to take the forefront in anti-Soviet broadcasting even to the point of gaining higher amounts of listeners than its predecessor, VOA and its British counterpart, the BBC. By 1953, it had even grown enough to form a separate branch known as Radio Liberty. Both RFE and RL took great pride not only in providing information on what was going on in the world outside the Communist Bloc but alerted governments and citizens inside the wing span of Communism as to what was going on in their own country through American insight (Barnouw). The U.S. government saw that both RFE and RL suitable tools of psychological warfare and continued to pour an average of $30,000,000 of the national budget into keeping the transmissions going. However the American public was not so convinced when the heard about the funding, forcing the government to go public about its hefty spending. Nonetheless, the U.S. propaganda radio stations continued to be a strong force in the Cold War against the Soviet Union, the Eastern Europeans socialist countries, and the national liberation movement (Panfilov).

Czechoslovakia had been under Soviet influence for decades but was taking large steps toward restoring their once democratic government. In 1968, after years and years of protest and political struggle, Czechs were finally seeing the light shine through from under the iron curtain and with a strong showing at a revolt that is now known as Prague Spring, the Soviet Union suddenly felt their influence weakening. With other plans in mind for this satellite country, the Soviet military rolled in, guns blazing in an unannounced invasion of the Capitol City to put an end to the progress that threatened their control. That goal was accomplished, crushing a “bright young freedom” and postponing the quest for democracy (Young).

As a result of RFE and RL expansion, these stations began to broadcast in several different countries across all of Europe and into Asia in well over a dozen different languages as part of a program referred to as the "bridge to the west". The intent was to "promote change within target countries--change that was more favorable to U.S. policies and interests" (Browne p.139). It also sought to "encourage gradual, evolutionary change, not by hard-hitting and often personal attacks on the governments of the target countries (although some attacks have never disappeared altogether), but by reminding listeners of the relative prosperity and the freedom of thought enjoyed by Western Europeans" (p.140). The bridge to the west went further than Western Europe, providing a glimpse into the American life style for added insight on what life could be like if democracy was in deed the final goal. Due to its close proximity to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia was one of these target countries and felt the influence of Western opinions raining down on them in English, Czech, and Slovak. International radio stations spent a great deal of money, not only on establishing floating radio stations overseas and a series of cross reports to keep the information current, but also took the time to survey the masses and make sure that their psychological warfare was reaching those in need of political revolution. So, was the American effort a success? (Browne).

While under a strong Communist shadow, RFE found that Czechoslovakia had very little room to operate and very few freedoms to use as a base for an independent government. With practically no freedom of speech, political Czech radio was out of the question, causing citizens, who were desperate for a voice to grab hold of RFE programs when ever possible. In 1967, 51 percent of Czechoslovakia listened to RFE to get updates on their own country and any progress Dubcek had made. While fighting a seemingly endless battle for independence and gaining more and more "trust" from the Russian leaders at the same time, Czechoslovakia was, on occasion, granted an appeasement to temporarily quiet their pleading leaders. In this evolution, they experienced a sudden rise in the freedom of speech including the ability to lobby. Along with rallies, protests and stirring speeches Czechs found themselves with a new power in the freedom of Radio Prague causing a decrease in the amount of interest in Radio Free Europe. The newfound freedoms gave the struggling country some powerful voice with which they could fight and make their political communication more fluid. In a year, RFE audience had dropped to only 37 percent, but was not an indication of how successful the American effort really was. Czechoslovakia seemed to be on its feet now and had its own internal support, at least until the Russians became intimidated by what may come of this loud organization. The freedom of speech had given rise to new protests such as the aforementioned Prague Spring which lead to the ensuing Russian invasion of Prague to restore the Soviet power and dampen the same freedoms that were only recently granted. Again under Soviet occupation, Czechoslovakia found itself with problems relaying correct information over domestic radio and looking for answers. Again, they turned to Radio Free Europe. The Audience and Public Opinion Research Department reported that for the first time since the establishment of, RFE had gained the attention of 76 percent of the Czech/Slovak population almost as fast as it took the Russians to invade. They were right back to depending on the American government for support and information, leaving their impressionable minds more open to American perspective with every listening hour. Despite the immediate loss of a possible future republic, the United States continued to gain power in the psychological warfare against the Russians, who recognized the effects of radio and did everything they could to wipe out free stations (APORD).

The Soviet government whether under the control of Stalin or of Gorbachov, knew that they could not operate smoothly with the strong flow of ideology coming from their opposition, the 'capitalist imperials'. Since the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had significantly increased broadcast hours of Radio Moscow in hopes of reaching the target countries more often than their western counterpart. They also increased the numbers of languages they used and the areas to which they would broadcast to include parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa-areas that neither the BBC nor RFE had paid that much attention to. Interestingly enough, the major language they picked up was English, employing a variety of announcers that had lived in either the United States or in Great Britain to increase authenticity of the English accent. They felt that it was necessary not only to mimic the western technique of psychological warfare but to also mimic the western voice that held so much influence over the repressed governments of Eastern Europe in hopes of gaining the same sort of influence and the success that the Americans were finding through radio warfare (Browne).

Despite attempts to lessen the credibility of local stations and steering the listeners away with their own forms of propaganda, the Russians also realized that their media was under developed and had little chance of competing with the determined American stations simply with journalistic measures. When possible, they took stations and towers by force, but respecting the terms of a "cold war" meant that militancy is not the best option. Why not fight fire with fire? If the American propaganda could not be heard, then the ideology that affected Soviet dominance would have less of a chance of making its way behind the iron curtain. By identifying that the relay towers that Radio Free Europe used to reach Poland were located in Spain and Portugal, the Russians could bounce a signal of the same frequency off the ionosphere and have it land in close proximity to the targeted area. This "Mayak jamming" was designed to overwhelm the incoming program yet appear to be common atmospheric or station interference. It was found to be such a powerful defense to the ideological current that the Soviet Union was willing to employ thousands to operate the vast army of jamming stations costing the government around $150 million each year. They also realized that increasing their jamming in times of increased political activity was valuable in that it kept the Westerners from providing a disproving viewpoint. "The USSR intermittently jammed western broadcasts in English from 1948 to 1973 and stopped in 1980; jamming of the VOA an the BBC was renewed as the Solidarity movement in Poland gained strength and the western criticism mounted of the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. The surrogate stations of Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe were jammed during the entire period" (Shortp.6).

As Crook described it, “the cultural racism inherent in the practice and study of radio drama is the product of racist structures of education, imperialist history and contemporary stereotyping of other countries’ political, industrial, and social and cultural values” (P. 17). After the government of several more Western countries realized this and then recognized the success of radio in their own country, they were convinced that the two could combine to create a powerful political weapon. Products influenced by the ideology of such a system were naturally packed with messages that stemmed from this American viewpoint and then were broadcast for the world to hear. Every listener, particularly those in countries in need of political assistance, eventually swayed to the tune of American radio, whose deep messages originated in radio drama and entertainment yet came to allow the United States to win another strategic battle against the Communists in the Cold War.