Radio Liberty (originally called Radio Liberation) began broadcasting to the former Soviet Union from West Germany on March 1, 1953, and it almost immediately gained a substantial audience when it covered the death of Josef Stalin four days later. Throughout the Cold War, Radio Liberty and its fellow broadcaster Radio Free Europe transmitted uncensored news and information to audiences behind the Iron Curtain, while also giving a voice to dissidents and opposition movements in communist countries. In this way, both stations are widely believed to have played an important role in the collapse of communism and the rise of democracies in the former Eastern Bloc. Based in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL is now a multimedia outlet providing news and information to countries where an independent media is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed.
Radio Liberty Marks 60 Years
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Composer Vernon Duke (Vladimir Dukelsky) is interviewed by Radio Liberty correspondents Viktoriya Semenova (center) and Michael Koryakov (right) in a studio in Munich in 1955.
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Radio Liberty’s master control room in Munich in 1964.
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The first Radio Liberation building in Munich's Obervizenfeld in 1953.
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A Radio Liberty teletype operator in the 1950s.
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Former U.S. first lady and human rights champion Eleanor Roosevelt sits down for an interview with Radio Liberty in the late 1950s.
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Radio Liberty employees relax in national dress at a retreat in Bavaria in the late 1950s. From left, Aza Ryzer, the head of the music library; Radio Liberty President Howland H. Sargeant; film star Myrna Loy, who was married to Sargeant; and Ibrahim Gelischanow, a founding member of the North Caucasus Desk.
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Radio Liberty journalist Valerian Obolensky in the 1950s.
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The head of Radio Liberty's Engineering Department, Richard Jewel Tanksley (left), shows some guests the master control room in Munich in 1964.
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Radio Liberty editor Francis Ronalds interviews U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. about the ongoing fight for racial equality in America in 1966.
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In 1976, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty merged into one entity (RFE/RL), which had its headquarters in Munich's "English Garden."
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RFE/RL's master control room in Munich in the 1980s.
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RFE/RL now broadcasts from its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic.