1. LISTENING TO FOREIGN BROADCASTS 2. PUBLIC LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A001700820010-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2005
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: July 22, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY Czachos lovakia
SUBJECT 1e Listening to Foreign. Broadcasts
20 Public Loudspeaker Systems
25X1 DATE OF INFO.
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This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United states, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
REQUIREMENT NO.
REFERENCES
22 July 1953
1. Listening to fortrilgn broadcasts alone o r with one 9 s own family was not
forbidden, but listening in a group, organizing such groups, or spread-
ing what one heard on a forein broadcast was forbidden and punishable.
If an
SNB or a man o serve. a person Lis ensng to ore .gn roa eas s alone,
he-could do nothing to him directly, but the person would. fall under
suspicion, and his l.istenin to .forei broadcasts could be cause for
surveillance.
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with Communism and have become more and more interested in news from
abroad. It was common knowledge that almost all the people in that
neighborhood listened to foreign broadcasts and discussed the broadcasts
among themselves.
During recent years these people nave ecom? is usion
RFE seemed to be the most popular of foreign stations, partly because,
in contrast to VOA, it transmitted all day long. RFE was known primarily
for the "acts it broadcast, bu't the comedian Rudolf..KOHOUT was very popu-
lar. BFC was next in popularity to RFE, as BBC seemed to have fairly
recent news and was not jammed. VOA was too weak to be heard clearly in
the Mnichovo Hradiste area. A smaller number of people listened to Swedish,
lu oslav and Canadian broadcasts.
AIR X
AEC
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genera was the most jammed o f the foreign stations a cou be
heard in the MJfnichovo I1radiste area, but it could still be heard quite
clearly. Evening transmission seemed to be less jammed than those at
other times. 25X1
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Sets for reception o on y oca stations
were not eing manufacture in Czechoslovakia, and even the smaller and
older sets were capable of receiving foreign broadcasts. Only a very
small number of people had not bothered to replace the short-wave units
in their sets that had been removed by the Germans during the war 25X1
I the number of radio sets in Czechoslovakia is, if any g,
increasing., as no family in Bohemia and Moravia seemed to be without a
radio 25X1
__]Everyone in e
larger towns and cities seemed to have them, but in ovakia in general
I lonly about every third family had a radio. In the more
remote areas ere were almost none. All the radios in Slo-
broadcas is X
5. Each owner of a radio set had to register his set with the local post
office; a tax of 75 crowns was payable every three months.
6. There was no shortage of radio sets, and if one had the moneY, there
was no difficulty atall in obtaining one. the "Talisman"
set, which cost 2,200 crowns, and the 'sS nhoniet? combination radio-
phonograph which cost 11,000 crowns. Tesla :manufactures
all the sets that are currently being so on a mare but ma y people
have old German sets. I All
new sets had short-wavebands. t ere was no
difficulty in repairing radio, sets, never shortages of
even miniature tubes for makes or ores manufacture.
ITHe only. proem about repa rs,
as about buying a new set, was the cost, which was very high. Every family
was willing to make sacrifices in order to keep their radios in repair,
as the radio was considered an essential part of the home.
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9.
Loudspeaker systems were installed on the streets of every cib i.,-wn 25X1
and most villages in Czechoslovakia? Some of the more isolated villages
did not have them, usually b
a au the village
of rchase and installation
IIn Miichovo Hradiste the street
loudspeaker system was instai-LeT-IdurIng world War II. The speakers were
placed in strategic places such as on church towers and tall buildings,
so that they could be heard as far as possible. In the larger towns they
were installed along some of the main streets. The loudspeakers in a single
town were all connected and were controlled from the office of the local
national committee in that town. The loudspeakers were never controllable
from the street.
10. The loudspeaker systems were utilized mostly for announcements of purely
local interest, such as information about Communist Party functions, theater
performances., motion pictures,, or requesting an individual to report to the
office of the local national committee; announcements were made of gas
shortages, that specific trains were not going to run, or that the elec-
tricity would be cut off. -Radio broadcasts were aired over these systems
only on rare occations and then only if an important speech was to be made
by some high government official. The systems were used mostly during rush
hours, at noon, or at supper time, never at night, but if there was informa-
tion the local national committee thought the people should know at 2 p, in.,
for instance, they would 'broadcast it at that time.
SECRET
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