tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2009-11-09:/Radio Berlin International had a huge impact on my teenage years, as it did for many people around the world. It is a history the German authorities would like everyone to forget, but it deserves to be written.MokoFeed2009-11-09T06:43:09+01:00tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-09-06:/2008/09/06/qsl-card-collection-4689344/StimmeDerDDR2008-09-06T11:13:08+02:002008-09-06T11:13:08+02:00 <p><img src="http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn91/chrisuk0110/scan0071.jpg" alt="One of Chris" title="One of Chris"></p> <p>Chris Dennison has assembled the best collection of RBI QSL cards to be found online.</p> <p>Take a look at <a href="http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn91/chrisuk0110/?start=0">http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn91/chrisuk0110/?start=0</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/09/06/qsl-card-collection-4689344/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-04-28:/2008/04/28/more-names-to-conjour-with-4107536/StimmeDerDDR2008-04-28T22:07:58+02:002008-04-28T22:07:58+02:00 <p>The CIA were particularly interested in Americans at RBI, particularly those involved with the Ops Outpost Station programmes. </p> <p>They made lots of recordings held in the US National Archives. The names mentioned that I could find - George Lohr, Jerry Randall, Linda Cooper, Barbara Moreley, Bob Reid, Allan Ladd, George Fox, Bob Ross, Bob Amsterdam, Red Pierce, Jonaton Curtis, Kerru Randall, Bert Pierce, Willi Hermann, Bill Cassidy, Bert Grimms, Dick Larson, and Bob Rees.</p> <p>It looks like the CIA recorded just aout everything it could in the early 60s.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/04/28/more-names-to-conjour-with-4107536/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-04-17:/2008/04/17/streng-geheim-for-eyes-only-4058600/StimmeDerDDR2008-04-17T20:15:30+02:002008-04-18T06:59:37+02:00 <p>Streng Geheim - For Eyes Only<br> 02:01</p> <p>Synopsis:</p> <p>The "Concordia" trading company in Würzburg is a secret headquarters of the MID, a secret service agency of the US Army. For years, espionage, sabotage, and diversion operations originated from here in order to undermine the German Democratic Republic. A favorable moment for a military attack approaches and plans are developed. These plans are placed in the hands of Major Collins, who keeps them in a safe. Hansen has worked for him for many years, but also for the Stasi as a double agent. Security Chief Colonel Rock knows there is a leak, but Hansen has passed every test thrown at him. He is trying to deal with his current assignment: acquiring the plans ('The Grey Book') so they can be made public. His mission is to get them out of the safe and into the GDR without getting caught..."</p> <p>1963, b/w, 103 min. Feature<br> Dir.: Janos Veiczi<br> Script: Harry Thürk<br> Camera: Karl Plintzner<br> Music: Günter Hauk<br> Cast: Alfred Müller, Helmut Schreiber. Ivan Palec, Hans Lucke, Werner Lierck, Martin Flörchinger, Peter Marx.</p> <p>This clip:<br> Billy Mullis, Victor Grossman, Perry Friedman, Hans Luecke, and Helmut Schreiber are in this clip.</p> <p>It seems quite a few RBI staff had sidelines as movie stars!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/04/17/streng-geheim-for-eyes-only-4058600/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-04-15:/2008/04/15/coyote-speaks-4049615/StimmeDerDDR2008-04-15T21:42:21+02:002008-04-15T21:57:09+02:00 <p class="center"><img src="http://www.geocities.com/peet_john/coyote.jpg" alt="Coyote" title="Coyote"></p> <p class="center"><img src="http://www.geocities.com/peet_john/aim_berlin.gif" alt="AIm members in Berlin" title="AIM in Berlin"></p> <p>Billy Mullis - Coyote - worked for the North America section of RBI from 1961-77. During that time he extentivally interviewed WaBun Inini of the American Indian movement (AIM) for RBI. He has the recordings on his <a href="http://www.coyotespeaks.info/index.html"> Coyote Speaks website.</p> <p>Coyote has kindly offered to help with some of the history of RBI. </p> <p></a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/04/15/coyote-speaks-4049615/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-04-11:/2008/04/11/the-end-4030865/StimmeDerDDR2008-04-11T17:40:45+02:002008-04-12T08:14:10+02:00 <p class="center"><img src="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/ddrradio/2464208" alt="DDR radio" title=""></p> <p>Many thanks to our friend Radio Fan for having his tapes of RBI flown around the world, and getting them online.</p> <p>Listening to the broadcast has answered a few questions. Firstly .... I got the date wrong. The last broadcast was on the 2nd Oct 1990 not the 3rd. Secondly ... The last words of Robin Mitchell did not say "This is Ginger ..." before playing The End by The Doors. He said "... take care and good luck". Interestingly he also played "The party's over. Time to call it a day." during the programme.</p> <p>It was an emotional experience listening to this broadcast for the first time after 18 years, as it was on the day. The station was a voice of hope and inspiration for many around the world. That spirit will carry on through generations, and was not in vain.</p> <p>This is the final broadcast of RBI.</p> <p>Part One</p> <p>Part Two</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/04/11/the-end-4030865/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-04-06:/2008/04/06/socialism-in-germany-4002821/StimmeDerDDR2008-04-06T13:31:16+02:002008-04-06T13:31:16+02:00 <p><img src="http://www.geocities.com/peet_john/berlinbear.jpg" alt="Berlin Bear" title="Berlin Bear"></p> <p>To help with some background to why Radio Berlin International came into being I have scanned and made a website from a book written in 1978 by an old friend of mine, Ernie Trory.</p> <p>Please have a look, and let me know what you think.</p> <p><a href="http://www.geocities.com/peet_john/index.html"> Socialism in Germany - A short history of the German Democratic Republic</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/04/06/socialism-in-germany-4002821/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-29:/2008/03/29/john-peet-former-reuters-correspondent-a-3963886/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-29T20:44:56+01:002008-03-29T20:56:22+01:00 <p><img src="http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x116/r1chard_99/john_peet.jpg" alt="John Peet" title="John Peet"></p> <p>A little humourous taster from the 20th Anniversary issue of DGR</p> <p>SARTORIAL NOTES FROM ALL OVER</p> <p>"Mr John Peet, a British journalist who chose Soviet freedom three years ago, surprised East and West alike and himself most of all by turning up (at a press reception) in dinner dress, the only one to be seen in the assembly,"</p> <p><strong>("News Chronicle", London, February 1st 1954</strong>)</p> <p>"John Peet was present (at the reception mentioned above, JP). According to his former colleagues he had changed from a correct and sartorially exquisite Briton into a shabby East German,"</p> <p><strong>("Algemeen Handelsblad", Holland, February 4th 1954)</strong></p> <p>"From year to year Peet has been becoming more and more proletarianised ...</p> <p>"Since the middle of last week he once again wears a fashionable checked waistcoat as he used to do,"</p> <p>(<strong>"Spiegel", West Germany, February 2nd 1954)</strong></p> <p>"John Peet ... a humorous, attractive, untidy man in his early fifties ... His suit was nondescript,"</p> <p> <strong>("Daily Telegraph Magazine", July 23rd 1971)</strong></p> <p class="center"><img src="http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x116/r1chard_99/dgr_jan72.jpg" alt="Democratic German Report" title="Democratic German Report"></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/29/john-peet-former-reuters-correspondent-a-3963886/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-23:/2008/03/23/hannelore-steer-3924667/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-23T11:30:30+01:002008-03-23T11:30:30+01:00 <p class="center"><img src="http://www.medienwoche.de/mbmedia/1/b/95e79a2f937c485dc3c4b7e5b40719.jpg" alt="Hannelore Steer" title="Hannelore Steer"></p> <p>Hannelore Steer holds degrees in African studies and cultural studies. Her first job was as a foreign-language editor at Radio Berlin International (RBI). In early 1990, Hannelore was chosen to be editor-in-chief of RBI. In the same year, she was appointed to be programming director of Funkhaus Berlin. Since January 1992, Hannelore has been working at ORB, first as a production director and then, from 1992 to 1996, as editor-in-chief of Antenne Brandenburg. Starting in July 1996, she served as director of radio production and deputy director of ORB. On May 5, 2003, Hannelore was chosen to be director of radio production for the two-state institution Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. Since September 8, 2004, she has been the station’s deputy director.</p> <p>In March 2003, Hannelore was recognized with the Verdienstkreuz, one of Germany’s highest awards for accomplishments in political, business, and cultural activities.</p> <p><a href="http://www.medienwoche.de/WebObjects/Medienboard.woa/wa/CMSshow/1384221">http://www.medienwoche.de/WebObjects/Medienboard.woa/wa/CMSshow/1384221</a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/23/hannelore-steer-3924667/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-14:/2008/03/14/nazis-and-the-cia-how-the-cold-war-began-3876330/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-14T14:15:11+01:002008-03-14T19:06:44+01:00 <p>This is interesting as it sets the scene of how, and why,  the DDR came to be established.</p> <p><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yVvASXvgsEw&hl=en"></param><param"><u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yVvASXvgsEw&hl=en"></param><param">http://www.youtube.com/v/yVvASXvgsEw&hl=en"></param><param</a></u></a> name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yVvASXvgsEw&hl=en"><u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yVvASXvgsEw&hl=en">http://www.youtube.com/v/yVvASXvgsEw&hl=en</a></u></a>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvASXvgsEw"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvASXvgsEw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvASXvgsEw</a></a></p> <p>(I dont seem to be able to embed videos - very strange)</p> <span class="smallLabel"><strong><br> </strong></span>  <span>A ThinkYouth.net Production<img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0">an Solis and Richard Li tell the entire story of how the Cold War began in their new documentary Nazis and the CIA: How the Cold War Began.</p> <p>Synopsis: The triumphant victory over Germany and Hitler's Nazi regime in the spring of 1945 was an important event in U.S. and world history. Six months later, Nazi war criminals came to work for the OSS, later renamed the CIA. They fueled the fire in the United States that was the hate and fear of the Cold War. It is a tragedy that the United States would work with a former enemy to fight a new rival.<br> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thinkyouth.net/2007/06/03/nazis-and-the-cia/" title="http://thinkyouth.net/2007/06/03/nazis-and-the-cia/"><u><a href="http://thinkyouth.net/2007/06/03/nazi">http://thinkyouth.net/2007/06/03/nazi</a></u></a></span> <p><strong>CIA and the Nazis 1946</strong></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/14/nazis-and-the-cia-how-the-cold-war-began-3876330/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-13:/2008/03/13/walter-niklaus-3874003/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-13T23:57:13+01:002008-03-13T23:57:13+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.olsenbandenfanclub.de/autogramme/img/86walter-niklaus_2007-01-31_k.jpg" alt="Walter Niklaus" title="Walter Niklaus"></p> <p>Another GDR actor of great longevity is Walter Niklaus, who presented the 1966 short documentary 'RBI - Radio Berlin International'. He was born in Cologne in 1925. He starred in lots of movies and TV series. His last recorded work was 'Sherlock Holmes spricht deutsch. Ein Interview mit Walter Niklaus' in 2007.</p> <p>He played a huge range of characters, but was best know as CIA agent Wilson in 'Das Unsichtbare Visier' TV spy series in the 70s. In the 60s he was director of the radio drama department for GDR radio based in Leipzig.</p> <p>Maybe he will make it to over 100 years too! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/13/walter-niklaus-3874003/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-13:/2008/03/13/erwin-geschonneck-3873888/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-13T23:16:43+01:002008-03-13T23:16:43+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.geschonneck.com/images/erwin_geschonneck.jpg" alt="Erwin Geschonneck" title="Erwin Geschonneck"></p> <p>I know ... not an RBI thing, but what an amazing life!</p> <p>Famed East German actor, jailed by Nazis for communist sympathies, dies at 101 </p> <p>The Associated Press<br> Wednesday, March 12, 2008 </p> <p>BERLIN: Erwin Geschonneck, a German actor who spent years in Nazi concentration camps for his communist sympathies and went on to star in scores of East German films, died Wednesday, the country's Academy of Arts said. He was 101.</p> <p>Geschonneck's "engaging artistic and political efforts were recognized with the highest international acclaim for decades," the organization said in a statement. It said that the biography of Geschonnek, who died at his Berlin apartment, "is a window into a century of German history."</p> <p>Geschonneck, the son of a cobbler, was born in East Prussia on Dec. 27, 1906 and grew up in Berlin.</p> <p>He joined the Communist party in 1919, and spent years with theater groups that performed agitprop, with workers' choirs and in a young people's theater. He made his big-screen debut in 1931 as an extra in Slatan Dudows' "Kuhle Wampe" — a film about unemployment in the Weimar Republic written by famed playwright and director Bertolt Brecht.</p> <p>After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Geschonneck went into exile in the Soviet Union, settling in Odessa — where he worked in a German-language collective theater until he was expelled in 1938.</p> <p>He ended up in Prague, where he was arrested by the SS in 1939 after the Nazis took over, then thrown into the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin.</p> <p>During the war, he was also imprisoned in the Dachau and Neuengamme camps. Just days before the end of the war, he was being transported aboard the Cap Arcona — a prewar luxury liner that had been commandeered by the German navy — along with some 4,000 other concentration camp inmates when it was sunk by the Royal Air Force in the Baltic.</p> <p>Many of those who were not killed in the attack were gunned down by the SS as they tried to swim ashore.</p> <p>Geschonneck was one of 350 who survived, and his story would be later made into the 1982 East German television film "Der Mann von der Cap Arcona" — "The Man of the Cap Arcona" — in which he also acted.</p> <p>After the war, Geschonneck resumed acting in 1946 in Hamburg in the theater, and also took on several supporting film roles.</p> <p>In 1949, he moved to East Berlin and joined Brecht's Berliner Ensemble theater troupe, where he gained national attention starring as "Matti" in an acclaimed production of "Mr. Puntila and his Man Matti."</p> <p>He acted in his first film for DEFA — East Germany's state-run film agency — in 1950 and later that decade decided to concentrate all of his efforts on the screen, despite Brecht's objections.</p> <p>He rose to become one of East Germany's best-known actors with scores of films to his credit, and won several awards for his work. He also became vice president of the country's film and television federation.</p> <p>After the reunification of Germany, he was awarded with the national "Filmband in Gold" prize in 1993.</p> <p>He acted in his last film, "Matulla und Busch," in 1995 under the direction of his son, Matti Geschonneck.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/13/erwin-geschonneck-3873888/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-07:/2008/03/07/free-angela-davis-3833134/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-07T21:27:12+01:002008-03-07T21:27:12+01:00 <p><img src="http://blog.greens.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/angela-badge.jpg" alt="Angela Davis" title="Angela Davis"></p> <p>Does anyone remember the "Free Angela Davis!" campaign that was huge in the GDR especially, and taken up by RBI with lots of reports of events around the world in support of her.</p> <p>This typically snide material was prepared for the use of the<br> editors and policy staff of Radio Free Europe. <a href="http://www.osa.ceu.hu/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/99-1-164.shtml">http://www.osa.ceu.hu/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/99-1-164.shtml</a></p> <p>18 September 1972</p> <p>ANGELA DAVIS IN THE GDR</p> <p>Summary: American communist Angela Davis spent one<br> week in the GDR after having toured the Soviet Union<br> for the preceding two weeks. The reception accorded the<br> black militant turned into a demonstration of<br> "international solidarity," allegedly responsible for<br> Miss Davis' realease from prison. This report describes<br> the highlights of Miss Davis' visit to the GDR, quotes<br> some of her more extreme remarks, relates criticism voiced<br> against her by the Black Panther organization, and reveals<br> some of the confusion in communist headquarters with<br> regard to her itinerary.</p> <p>After her triumphant two-week tour through the Soviet Union,<br> American Communist Party member and militant Angela Davis arrived<br> in the GDR on September 10. A reception more flattering and<br> enthusiastic than the one given Miss Davis in the Soviet Union<br> could hardly be imagined. Not only was she wined and dined; she<br> was showered with flowers at every public appearance; she was<br> seen daily on millions of Soviet television screens; she was<br> interviewed by all the daily papers; she was the first foreigner<br> to receive the "honorary medal of the Komsomol"; she received an<br> honorary doctoral degree from the University of Tashkent and<br> was made honorary professor of Moscow's State University; she<br> became an honorary citizen of the oriental city of Samarkand;<br> and she addressed mass rallies and workers' and women's meetings.</p> <p>Nevertheless, Miss Davis' appearance in the GDR seems to<br> have outshone even her glowing Soviet reception. Her arrival<br> was front-paged by Neues Deutschland, [1] and Miss Davis'<br> activities the next day outspaced even the coverage of the<br> returning East German Olympic champions. The entire first two<br> pages of the main SED paper [2] recorded her activities and her</p> <p>[page 2]</p> <p>remarks, and the whole story was illustrated with a picture of<br> First SED Secretary Erich Honecker meeting "Comrade Angela Davis,<br> Central Committee member of the CPUSA." The front page also<br> featured Miss Davis receiving the order of the "Great Star for<br> International Friendship" in gold from State Council Chairman<br> Walter Ulbricht, and an illustrated account of her attending a<br> mass rally in East Berlin.</p> <p>While Angela Davis1 reported remarks in the Soviet Union<br> indicated clearly that she knew what was expected of her ("Had<br> it not been for. the international solidarity campaigns, particularly<br> in the socialist countries and in the Soviet Union, I would<br> certainly never have been freed from prison." [3], some of her<br> statements in the GDR exceeded even the anticipated degree of<br> orthodoxy. When she visited the Brandenburg Gate and the Wall,<br> Miss Davis explained that "many lies have been propagated<br> in the USA about this border," and she added:</p> <p>When we return to the United States, we will do everything<br> to explain the true significance of this border to our<br> people... In this way, we hope to make our contribution to<br> the ideological struggle against the forces of imperialism. [4]<br> Later, she laid a wreath at the memorial for the GDR border guard,<br> Corporal Reinholt Huhn, "who was murdered surreptitiously at the<br> state border by West Berlin bandits on 18 June 1962."</p> <p>Compared to such outrages, Miss Davis' observations, for example,<br> that "Nazism and racism have been totally eradicated in the GDR." [5]<br> and tnat "in our country too we see fascist tendencies develop<br> which are similar to those preceding Hitler's accession to power," [5]<br> must appear almost mild and platitudinous.</p> <p>During the remainder of her stay in the GDR, Miss Davis was<br> given an honorary doctor's degree in philosophy from the Karl Marx<br> University in Leipzig where she was also acclaimed by a crowd of<br> 200,000. [6] The next day, Neues Deutschland [7] announced that<br> Angela Davis and her friends had gone to the outskirts of Berlin<br> "for a two-day rest." On Monday, the paper [8] showed the black<br> militant taking leave of her East German comrades. In addition,<br> the paper's front-page editorial was written by Angela Davis,<br> who praised the solidarity of the international workers' movement<br> and hailed"...Lenin's homeland and the birthplace of Marx and Engels<br> as the future of mankind."</p> <p>Her performance in the Soviet Union and in the GDR aroused<br> objections from some unexpected quarters. Thus, one Moscow<br> dissident asked a New York Times reporter: "Is she a fool or<br> is she dishonest? It seems to me she is doing a disservice to her<br> own countrymen by her statements here." [9]</p> <p>And in the United States, a Black Panther paper on the West Coast<br> criticized Miss Davis for failing to get involved in the "programs<br> of black organizations and people." The paper wrote: "Seemingly<br> Angela has deserted black people under the dictates of the racist<br> and reactionary communist party of America." [10]</p> <p>[page 3]</p> <p>The organ of the GPUSA, Daily World, was quick, incidentally, to<br> defend Miss Davis and to reject the accusation of racism.<br> In a two-part .article, [11] the paper accused the Black Panthers<br> of "irresponsibility and dishonesty" and of pursuing a "campaign<br> of anti-communism." The paper criticized as "obnoxious" the<br> Panther's alleged attempt to separate Miss Davis from the communist<br> party and claimed that she was traveling to see "her comrades and<br> the masses of those countries who waged such a vigorous campaign<br> for her freedom."</p> <p>Some confusion seems to exist also about Miss Davis1 itinerary<br> in various communist headquarters.. During the last week of August,<br> the Soviet Embassy in Washington announced that she would travel<br> to Cuba and Chile following her East European visit. The Embassy<br> also said that she would be back in the United States on October 1<br> "because she is planning to take part in the election campaign of<br> the Communist Party in the USA." The names of the various East<br> European countries were not specified by the Embassy.</p> <p>The above-mentioned article in Daily World also reported that<br> Miss Davis was traveling through "the Soviet Union, the GDR,<br> Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba, and Chile."</p> <p>The East German radio stated in a major political commentary<br> that Miss Davis would leave the GDR on September 14, [12] although<br> she actually left on September 17.</p> <p>Finally, Radio Warsaw reported from Prague that after the<br> Soviet Union and the GDR,</p> <p>...the well-known fighter for equality of American negroes,<br> Angela Davis, will arrive here on Sunday [i.e., September<br> 17] at the invitation of the Czechoslovak women's organization.<br> On Tuesday, Angela Davis will go to Havana. [13]</p> <p>In fact, Miss Davis left the GDR on Sunday, but was flying to<br> Bulgaria, Neues Deutschland reported. [14] Despite the well<br> organized communist protocol, it would appear that the right hand<br> does not know what the left hand is doing.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/07/free-angela-davis-3833134/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-06:/2008/03/06/tom-robinson-3827608/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-06T22:31:38+01:002008-03-06T22:36:25+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.nkvdrecords.com/trbphoto.gif" alt="Tom Robinson Band" title="Tom Robinson Band"></p> <p>I remember Tom Robinson being interviewed on RBI a couple of times. He said he was more of a socialist than a Communist, but he liked living in the GDR, and had some uncomplimentary things to say about margaret Thatcher. He appeared at the International Political Song Festival a couple of years running.</p> <p>There is only a short reference to his GDR days in his biography on his website, <a href="http://www.tomrobinson.com/pages/biog.htm">http://www.tomrobinson.com/pages/biog.htm</a> where I found this...</p> <p>"As the '80s arrived, Tom ploughed his remaining earnings into a new band, Sector 27. They recorded a critically acclaimed album with Steve Lillywhite and took New York by storm (playing Madison Square Garden with The Police) before they too split up and left Tom technically bankrupt.</p> <p>Fleeing the taxman, he packed his few possessions into his Austin A40 and headed for Hamburg. Living in a friend's spare room - Tom began writing again and ended up working in East Berlin with local band NO55. He returned home with fluent German and a song that became his Top 10 comeback, 1983's 'War Baby'."</p> <p>He also wrote a song about it.</p> <p>DDR </p> <p>I grew up living in a Welfare State<br> Just the other side of the Brandenburg Gate<br> It's called East Germany everywhere<br> But locally we know it as the DDR </p> <p>Waiting for tomorrow, living for today<br> Living in the DDR<br> Sitting on a time bomb, we don't care<br> We're living for today<br> Living in the DDR </p> <p>It's a people's paradise, you better believe it<br> Every other week people dying to leave it<br> Trucks full of Russkis carrying guns<br> We'll be first in the fire when the third war comes </p> <p>Waiting for tomorrow, living for today<br> Living in the DDR<br> Sitting on a time bomb, we don't care<br> We're living for today<br> Living in the DDR </p> <p>After the party when the Wall came down<br> They closed all the factories in my home town<br> Shops full of everything money can buy<br> Skint and miserable, wishing that I<br> Was still living in the DDR </p> <p>Waiting for tomorrow, living for today<br> Living in the DDR<br> Sitting on a time bomb, we don't care<br> We're living for today<br> Living in the DDR </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/06/tom-robinson-3827608/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-04:/2008/03/04/sie-horen-den-deutsche-soldatensender-3816131/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-04T17:06:30+01:002008-03-04T17:06:30+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.kirtz.de/Dss.jpg" alt="Deutche Soldatensender" title="Deutche Soldatensender"></p> <p>Following the success of the Deutschen Freiheitssenders 904 this station was aimed at Bundeswehr soldiers and run by exile KPD members. The Deutsche Soldatensender started in September 1960 on medium wave 935 kHz. In the early days, it broadcast an irregularly in the evening hours, later it broadcast a weekly programme of almost 30 hours, more than the 904 station.</p> <p><a href="http://www.andre-scheer.de/rundfunkgeschichte/904/soldatensender.php">http://www.andre-scheer.de/rundfunkgeschichte/904/soldatensender.php</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/04/sie-horen-den-deutsche-soldatensender-3816131/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-04:/2008/03/04/der-deutsche-freiheitssender-3815916/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-04T16:13:06+01:002008-03-05T11:03:57+01:00 <p><img src="http://kominform.at/images/articles/20060821100447228_1.jpg" alt="KPD lives" title="KPD still alive"></p> <p>On the evening of the 17th August 1956, the day the KPD (Communist Party of Germany)was bannned by ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, DFS 904 started with its first broadcast. </p> <p><a href="http://freiheitssender.radiohistory.de/">http://freiheitssender.radiohistory.de/</a></p> <p>Although this isnt anything to do with RBI, it is a fascinating story. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/04/der-deutsche-freiheitssender-3815916/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-03-03:/2008/03/03/the-film-aamp-the-cassette-3813030/StimmeDerDDR2008-03-03T23:24:59+01:002008-03-03T23:24:59+01:00 <p>I found these interesting bits of info. Does anyone have a copy of the documentary or the audio-cassette? </p> <p>Radio Berlin International</p> <p> DDR 1966, Kurz-Dokumentarfilm</p> <p> Kamera Hans Eberhard Leupold </p> <p> Produktionsfirma DEFA-Studio für Wochenschau und Dokumentarfilme (Berlin-Johannisthal) </p> <p> Format 35mm </p> <p> Bild/Ton s/w </p> <p>There are loads of interesting books from this publisher, if you are interested in radio history (especially of the GDR). unfortunately none seem to be currently available. <a href="http://www.directshopper.de/bo_Verlag-Buecher-von-Pinkau%2C+R">http://www.directshopper.de/bo_Verlag-Buecher-von-Pinkau%2C+R</a></p> <p>Radio Berlin International<br> ISBN-10: 3860711636ISBN-13: 9783860711637 Verlag: Pinkau, R Autor: Kein Autor angegeben Maße: 70grVeröffentlichungsdatum: 1990//Typ: Audio CassetteEingetragen in folgende Schlagworte:Rundfunk /Tonträger</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/03/03/the-film-aamp-the-cassette-3813030/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-25:/2008/02/25/d_ye_ken_john_peet~3779846/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-25T20:47:01+01:002008-02-25T20:47:01+01:00 <p>This facinating article from 1950. John Peet went on to edit the hugely influential Democratic German Report and contribute occasionally on RBI. I have a cartoon drawing of him from the 20th anniversary issue of DGR which I plan to scan and upload (when I can get to a scanner). I was privalaged to meet him as a young teenager in 1972.</p> <p>Time Magazine - Monday, June 26, 1950</p> <p>D'ye Ken John Peet?</p> <p>To his friends and acquaintances, shy, scarecrow-thin John Peet was not easy to ken. At 34, he had gone through an odd succession of careers: enlisted man in Britain's crack Brigade of Guards, English teacher in Prague, private in the Spanish Civil War's International Brigade, policeman in Palestine, chief Berlin correspondent for Reuters news agency. Some people considered John Peet insecure, haunted and unhappy; others regarded him as witty, well-informed and likable. Allied officials in Berlin had privately marked him down as a Communist or at least a fellow traveler, who passed information to the East Germans in exchange for news beats, but his Reuters bosses considered Peet a nonpolitical man who filed factual dispatches and never picked sides.</p> <p>Last week Newsman Peet picked sides. At a press conference staged by Communist Propagandist Gerhart Eisler in the Soviet sector of Berlin, Peet charged the Western Allies and their press with "distortions" and "warmongering." Then he asked the Communist government of East Germany to let him stay there.</p> <p>In Britain, the defection was Page One news. Even so, one news agency threw away a good eyewitness account of the press conference. Under the circumstances explained Reuters, that seemed the best thing to do: it had been filed by John Peet.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/25/d_ye_ken_john_peet~3779846/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-24:/2008/02/24/ops_outpost_station~3775249/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-24T21:58:44+01:002008-02-25T08:03:06+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.sixties60s.com/1961/tanks.JPG" alt="American tanks" title="American tanks at Friedrichstrasse"></p> <p>I used Google to translate this interesting German language piece - <a href="http://www.biener-media.de/1431.html">http://www.biener-media.de/1431.html</a></p> <p>OPS Berlin </p> <p>In the sixties, Radio Berlin International produced a special program for American soldiers. Shortly after the Wall began on 25th August 1961 at the Berlin 1430 kHz medium wave half an hour for the American soldiers now walled in Berlin. Only one day was called the station "Berlin Iceland", the following have contributed to its longtime name "OPS Outpost Station": "This is OPS Berlin, the programme which entertains and informs. Nightly We broadcast to Americans in West Germany and Europe. "<br> In music and narration OPS corresponded entirely to competitors, the American soldiers AFN stations. As it seemed to be particularly directed at soldiers Afro-American origin, because when we played music especially black musicians title and the messages dealt alongside Vietnam especially with the racism in the United States. The identity of presenters remained veiled. One can assume that Bert Pierce, Dick Larson Professor Lobo or pseudonyms. At that time broadcast on Radio Berlin International an OPS known as the voice of Martin Dies. This name is the first chairman of the House Un-American Affairs Committee, which in those years Communists chased. In the broadcasts, the address "OPS Berlin, c / o Radio Berlin International, Berlin W8". In this respect, the audience could not have mistaken the origin, if they knew that RBI of the East German foreign service and the postal code W8 on the eastern part of the city indicated.<br> For medium wave came 23.00-23.30 hours short waves as 1961 6080, 7185, 7300 and 9730 kHz or 1968 6080, 6115, 7185 and 9730 kHz. In January 1972, at a time when the German-German heraufzog relaxation on the horizon, even this station abandoned the Cold War. In US archives (http://arceb.archives.gov/arc/servlet/arc) 45 CIA apparently recordings of OPS programs survived. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/24/ops_outpost_station~3775249/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-24:/2008/02/24/james_d_lembeli~3775068/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-24T21:28:42+01:002008-02-24T21:28:42+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.bunge.go.tz/polis/pictures/1438.jpg" alt="James Lambeli" title="James Lambeli"></p> <p>James D. Lembeli broadcast on RBI from 1987, and is now a Member of Parliament in Tanzania.</p> <p><a href="http://www.parliament.go.tz/bunge/MP_CV3.asp?PTerm=2005-2010&fpkey=439">http://www.parliament.go.tz/bunge/MP_CV3.asp?PTerm=2005-2010&fpkey=439</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/24/james_d_lembeli~3775068/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-17:/2008/02/17/rbi_german_service~3739509/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-17T12:36:04+01:002008-02-25T07:57:07+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.rossipotti.de/ausgabe07/textbilder/nalepastrasse.jpg" alt="RBI Building Nalepastrasse" title="RBI Building Nalepastrasse"></p> <p>This page is translated from the original German</p> <p><a href="http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?tt=url&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.radiojournal.de%2F1%2Finternational%2F48_00rbi.htm&lp=de_en&.intl=us">http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?tt=url&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.radiojournal.de%2F1%2Finternational%2F48_00rbi.htm&lp=de_en&.intl=us</a></p> <p>I have found this clip of the last German RBI broadcast.</p> <p><a href="http://www.kurzwelle-historisch.de/radios/cdrbi.ra">http://www.kurzwelle-historisch.de/radios/cdrbi.ra</a></p> <p>For lots of clips from other stations last broadcasts check out <a href="http://www.kurzwelle-historisch.de/kurz_die.html">http://www.kurzwelle-historisch.de/kurz_die.html</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/17/rbi_german_service~3739509/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-15:/2008/02/15/crossing_the_river_a_memoir_of_the_ameri~3733494/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-15T21:56:53+01:002008-02-15T22:08:12+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.pww.org/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/1594-275x275.jpg" alt="Victor Grossman" title="Crossing the River"></p> <p>Interview with Victor on WNYC New York Public Radio <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=ranyco/ll111303c.ra">http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=ranyco/ll111303c.ra</a></p> <p>At the end of this review is a link to an extract in which Victor writes about working with John Peet, and for the Radio Berlin International, North America Service.</p> <p>Found at: <a href="http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/10188/">http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/10188/</a><br> Swimming to the other side, memoirs of Victor Grossman </p> <p>Author: Fred Whitehead<br> People's Weekly World Newspaper, 11/16/06 15:43 </p> <p>BOOKREVIEW </p> <p>Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War and Life in East Germany </p> <p>By Victor Grossman </p> <p>University of Massachusetts Press, 2003 </p> <p>Softcover, 328 pp., $24.95 </p> <p>“Thinking of Germany in the night,” wrote the exiled 19th century poet Heinrich Heine, “I lie awake and sleep takes flight.” Indeed, who, pondering that nation’s history, by turns exalted and utterly tragic, has not had more than a few sleepless nights? </p> <p>The wall separating East and West Germany went up in 1963, but long before that, Winston Churchill had rung down an Iron Curtain. I confess that as a child in central Kansas during that time, having one side of my family of German ancestry, I used to wonder: what was it really like there? </p> <p>Longtime readers of the People’s Weekly World will be familiar with Victor Grossman’s reports from Germany, generally focusing on current political developments. But now we have a substantial volume of his memoirs, which not only satisfies one’s natural curiosity about a notable journalist’s life, but reveals a great deal of exactly how life really was in the German Democratic Republic during its entire existence. </p> <p>Born Stephen Wechsler, he was the son of an art dealer in New York City during the Great Depression. When hard times hit, the art market sank, so the family frequently moved. There were happy years at the Free Acres community in the Wachtung Mountains of New Jersey, where everyone experienced a variety of progressive ideas, customs and folkways. His mother arranged his admission to the prestigious Dalton School in New York, followed by admission to Harvard, where he soon became involved with communist student circles. While he gained a decent education there, Wechsler always felt himself to be an outsider in a WASP enclave. </p> <p>Wechsler moved to Buffalo, N.Y., where he found work in factories, and associations with local Communist Party USA friends, while suppressing his Harvard past. </p> <p>One day, he recalls, “I witnessed a prank that would become legendary.” Men in the acid room of the plant “made a dummy with rubber boots, apron, and slouch hat, dozing defiantly in a chair. When shift boss Charley turned up, he circled the lazy worker — scolding, shouting and finally grabbing. Everyone watched with intense enjoyment, and Charley’s aggressiveness softened noticeably in the next weeks.” </p> <p>During the Korean War, Wechsler was drafted into the Army, but was sent to Germany instead of Asia. There he received an ominous letter from the brass, summoning him for a political investigation. Instead, lonely and frightened, he decided to desert, and swam across the Danube to the Soviet Zone of Austria. </p> <p>At first the Russians didn’t know quite what to make of him, and even suspected that he was a spy. But after a while, they found English books for him, and even boots that fit perfectly. Finally they took him to the GDR, the newly established socialist eastern part of Germany, where he began a new life, and where he received his new name, Victor Grossman. </p> <p>There are amusing descriptions of his fellow exiles, some of them not “political” at all. And details of what it was like to work in factories, hauling heavy wooden planks. But Grossman, having done this kind of work before, was tough enough to make it. </p> <p>Eventually he went to journalism school in Leipzig, embarking on a career of writing and translation. There are descriptions of tours by famous people like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, but also details of German musical personalities. Ernst Busch, the great Brechtian singer and actor, “was known as a grump but I was pleasantly surprised to find him playing happily with a little son, caroling from room to room.” </p> <p>And when our composer Earl Robinson (“I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night”) visited Leipzig, “at Bach’s grave in the Thomas Church he suddenly dropped to his knees and kissed the flat stone.” </p> <p>From his radical student days in the U.S., Grossman was familiar with the whole folk music revival, and thus he was not only able to serve as a guide and interpreter for our musicians in the GDR, but also had a radio show devoted to folk music. When he wrote books, they were printed in editions of 10,000 for a reading audience he rightly calls “voracious.” </p> <p>In addition to music and literature, Grossman presents a vivid picture of daily life in the GDR, including a complex assessment of its political culture. I came away from this book feeling like I had had a valuable opportunity to understand all the pluses and minuses of the GDR’s history. </p> <p>Grossman remains a partisan of socialism, and he acidly observes that as soon as the Christian Democrats took over the eastern region, all the “libraries, clubhouses, polyclinics, vacation homes, sport and cultural activity” were ruthlessly trimmed. Gaudy advertising was plastered everywhere, papering over, as it were, unemployment, insecurity and anxiety. </p> <p>There’s a valuable afterward by Mark Solomon, which locates the narrative’s context in recent scholarly studies and assessments of the GDR, which are further annotated in a bibliography. This is a book that should be taken up in school and college courses as well as progressive study circles, and by anyone who wishes to understand the history of German socialism in the latter half of the 20th century. </p> <p><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CkicRHFh3eYC&pg=PA173&dq=%22radio+berlin+international%22&sig=i23ZlUsh3it_rMq4EaW-_QZr4_E">http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CkicRHFh3eYC&pg=PA173&dq=%22radio+berlin+international%22&sig=i23ZlUsh3it_rMq4EaW-_QZr4_E</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/15/crossing_the_river_a_memoir_of_the_ameri~3733494/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-14:/2008/02/14/whatever_happed_to~3726623/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-14T13:37:08+01:002008-02-16T10:36:26+01:00 <p>A few RBI names I recall.</p> <p>Jean Jones, Robin Parker, Marjorie Milner, Robin Mitchel, Irma Schmergel and Bob Hamilton.</p> <p>Wolfram Hess who presented the radio DX programme was one of the few who was employed by Deutche Welle. He died in February 2007.</p> <p>Hardy Graupner went on to work for Deutche Welle.</p> <p>The great John Peet, editor of Democratic German Report, died in 1988.</p> <p>Arnold Selby, who worked on the Africa service, and was a member of the South African Communist Party, died in 2002.</p> <p>Mvula ya Nangolo was a SWAPO exile who presented a youth programme on RBI, is now a poet and journalist in Namibia.</p> <p>Anyone know where they are now? Any memories to share? Any more names to add? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/14/whatever_happed_to~3726623/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-12:/2008/02/12/context_of_the_time~3718678/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-12T21:22:12+01:002008-02-12T21:44:05+01:00 <p><img src="http://manuel.a.antao.googlepages.com/GoodbyeLenin.jpg/GoodbyeLenin-full.jpg" alt="Goodbye Lenin" title="Goodbye Lenin"></p> <p>It is amazing just how little there is online about the GDR. A country of over 17,000,000 people, which existed for 40 years has almost disappeared. There are some anti-DDR websites around - overwhelmingly from a Wessie point of view in German, or by Americans in English. A few Ostalgie (East nosalgia) with lots of 70s stuff and fashions, that could well be from anywhere. It is like the people of the territory which was once the DDR are still in shock.</p> <p>This clip from West German TV shows the last few days of the GDR in 1990<br> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA3rEVg3fNc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA3rEVg3fNc</a></p> <p>A movie I missed, but will have to check out. Goodbye Lenin <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kehu8QBHCCk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kehu8QBHCCk</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/12/context_of_the_time~3718678/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-10:/2008/02/10/title~3705319/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-10T09:25:13+01:002008-02-10T17:56:37+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.jans-radioseiten.de/rbi/rbi1970.jpg" alt="RBI stamps" title="Stamps showing antenna and studio"></p> <p>This is a link to the excellent chronology of RBI by Jan Balzer via Google translation into English from German.</p> <p><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.jans-radioseiten.de/rbi.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Radio%2Bberlin%2Binternational%2522%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN">http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.jans-radioseiten.de/rbi.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Radio%2Bberlin%2Binternational%2522%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/10/title~3705319/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-10:/2008/02/10/the_end~3705229/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-10T08:47:48+01:002008-02-10T08:47:48+01:00 <p>This report from Radio Sweden in October 1990</p> <p>GERMANY--No <strong>Radio Berlin International</strong> broadcasts appeared on October 3rd. <br>Frequencies normally used by RBI carried a live relay of the ecumenical <br>service in the Marienkirche in Berlin celebrating German unity. This relay <br>was originated by Berliner Rundfunk and also carried, among others, by <br>DS-Kultur, Radio Aktuell, Deutsche Welle and Deutschlandsfunk. At the end of <br>the service, former RBI frequencies were heard to carry Deutsche <br>Welle/Deutschandfunk external service programmes. (BBC Monitoring Service and <br>Manfred Schida, Austria) </p> <p>The final broadcast in English from RBI was bittersweet. The head of the <br>service, <strong>Robin</strong> Mitchell, spoke of annexation of East Germany rather than <br>unification and added : "That's what happened between Deutsche Welle and <br><strong>Radio Berlin International</strong>. After much sweet talk about a fusion and merger <br>on an equal footing, what is happening is that RBI will disappear tonight and <br>that Deutsche Welle will have taken over our frequencies and our transmitters <br>tomorrow. Out of a total staff of 250 RBI employees a mere handful might get <br>a new job with Deutsche Welle. Thus, like for so many in this country, <br>unification day spells unemployment for many of my colleagues. The champagne <br>of jubilation has a very bitter taste to it." </p> <p>The program closed with the song "The End" by the Doors. "</p> <p>RBI's last programme schedule.</p> <p>  ENGLISH LANGUAGE BROADCAST <strong>SCHEDULE</strong> FOR <strong>RADIO BERLIN INTERNATIONAL</strong> </p> <p>                    European and Asian Services only </p> <p>                             All times UTC <br>                          All frequencies kHz </p> <p>            Compiled by Jari Perkiomaki <fk001<a href="http://groups.google.co.uk/groups/unlock?msg=fd6bf19c300998ba&hl=en&_done=/group/rec.radio.shortwave/browse_thread/thread/f7f4a8f300f66824/fd6bf19c300998ba%3Fhl%3Den%26lnk%3Dst%26q%3D%2522Radio%2Bberlin%2Binternational%2522%2Bschedule"><u>...</u></a>@uwasa.fi> </p> <p> Information about transmissions to other target areas is appreciated. <br>             You can contact me at my e-mail address above. </p> <p>Address: <strong>Radio Berlin International</strong>, English Section, Berlin 1160, GDR </p> <p>TO EUROPE </p> <p>Time            Frequencies (+ notes) </p> <p>0545-0630       5965, 6115, 7185 <br>0745-0830       6115 <br>0745-0830       6040, 6115, 7185, 9730 (Sat & Sun only) <br>0945-1030       6115 <br>1145-1230       6115 <br>1345-1430       6115, 9730 <br>1545-1630       6080, 7260, 7295, 9730 <br>1745-1830       9665, 9730 <br>1945-2030       7185, 9665, 9730, 1359 (MW) <br>2145-2230       5965, 7295 </p> <p>TO ASIA </p> <p>0545-0630       11970, 21540 <br>1145-1230       11970, 15440, 21465, 21540 <br>1445-1530       15240, 17880 </p> <p>TO FAR EAST </p> <p>0745-0830       21540 <br>0745-0830       21465, 21540 (Sat & Sun) <br>0900-0945       21540 <br>0900-0945       21465, 21540 (Sat & Sun) </p> <p>Usually, German language broadcasts follow the English broadcasts for <br>half an hour. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/10/the_end~3705229/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-09:/2008/02/09/title~3703256/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-09T18:10:13+01:002008-02-10T08:51:33+01:00 <p><img src="http://www.darc.de/ausland/new/bilder_und_logos/bild_dl1rxa.jpg" alt="Wolfram Hess" title="Wolfram Hess - Station announcer"></p> <p>This link is to a projectplaylist file that I hope to add to. So far it has the RBI interval signal, the DDR national anthem, and signoff announement by Wolfram Hess circa 1975.</p> <p>It also includes the bitter farewell music track 'The End' by The Doors - listen to the words.</p> <p><a href="http://www.profileplaylist.net/mc/mp3player-othersite.swf?config=http://www.profileplaylist.net/mc/config/config_black_autostart.xml&mywidth=435&myheight=270&playlist_url=http://www.profileplaylist.net/loadplaylist.php?playlist=25803184""><a href="http://www.profileplaylist.net/mc/mp3player-othersite.swf?config=http://www.profileplaylist.net/mc/config/config_black_autostart.xml&mywidth=435&myheight=270&playlist_url=http://www.profileplaylist.net/loadplaylist.php?playlist=25803184"">http://www.profileplaylist.net/mc/mp3player-othersite.swf?config=http://www.profileplaylist.net/mc/config/config_black_autostart.xml&mywidth=435&myheight=270&playlist_url=http://www.profileplaylist.net/loadplaylist.php?playlist=25803184"</a></a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/09/title~3703256/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:radioberlininternational.blog.co.uk,2008-02-09:/2008/02/09/what_wikipedia_has_to_say~3702967/StimmeDerDDR2008-02-09T17:05:48+01:002008-04-11T22:40:44+02:00 <p class="center"><img src="http://monto2000.hp.infoseek.co.jp/veri/DDR.jpg" alt="RBI QSL card" title="RBI QSL card"></p> <p>The Wikipedia entry is just a tiny part of a huge story that deserves far more to be written. I hope to add far more as time goes on, and invite others to do the same.</p> <p>"Radio Berlin International was the international broadcaster for the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It started in May 1959 to counter Deutsche Welle, the West German international broadcaster. Much of its output was news reports and information about the GDR. It offered a very professional and much more balanced (compared to other Eastern European broadcasters) perspective on life in a socialist country. It send large quantities of very colorful and professionally produced publicity materials about life in the GDR to its listeners. The broadcaster ceased operations on 2 October 1990 following German reunification. The final broadcast was noted for the bitterness among some RBI staff about its "takeover", rather than "unification" with Deutsche Welle. The last words were, "This is Ginger. Good bye and good luck."</p> <p>Radio Berlin broadcast in many languages, with many of its announcers at the different services — such as English, French and even Danish — coming from their country's respective communist parties. It was one of the major international broadcasters of the Cold War era. From 1970 until 1974 its programs were rebroadcast by Radio North Sea International between 03:00 and 06:00."</p> <p class="center"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/132/2333132_da3e2cd0e8_m.jpg" alt="rbi" vspace="5" hspace="5"></p> <p>RBI Intro, GDR National Anthem, and The End by The Doors</p> <p><p> <small> <a href="http://RadioBerlinInternational.blog.co.uk/2008/02/09/what_wikipedia_has_to_say~3702967/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>