Figure 1.-- We are not sure about boys and radio in Russia. The period following the War was chaotic with the Civil War and the Soviet Government establishing its authority. There was also wide-spread poverty. So we are unsure to what extent Russian boys engaged in radio as a hobby. Nor are we sure about state regulations concerning radios. We do see a few images of boys with early radios. The ones we have found are of magazine illustrations, perhaps taken more for propaganda. We do not yet have family snapshots. Click on the image to see the article text.

We notice that American boys took a real interest in radio after world War I. Many boys built their own crystal sets. There was on advantage to radio in that a basic set in the 1920s was inexpensive and cost next to nothing to operate. Other hobbies that interested boys such as photography was much more expensive. We are less sure about the situation concerning radio in Russia. The period following World War I was chaotic with the Civil War and the Soviet Government establishing its authority. There was also wide-spread poverty. So we are unsure to what extent Russian boys engaged in radio as a hobby. Nor are we sure about state regulations concerning radios. We do see a few images of boys with early radios. The ones we have found are of magazine illustrations, perhaps taken more for propaganda. We do not yet have family snapshots.

Boys' Interests

We notice that American boys took a real interest in radio after world War I. Many boys built their own crystal sets. There was on advantage to radio in that a basic set in the 1920s was inexpensive and cost next to nothing to operate. Other hobbies that interested boys such as photography was much more expensive. We imagine that Russin boys were also very interested. Technology seemsto interest boys, in much the same way that comouters do in the moden world.

Chaotic Situation

At the same time that American boys were experimenting with crystal sets and basic radios, Russia was experiencung the devestation fillowing World War I and a dreadful Civil War. We are less sure about the situation concerning radio in Russia. The period following World War I was chaotic with the Civil War and the Soviet Government establishing its authority. There was also wide-spread poverty. So we are unsure to what extent Russian boys engaged in radio as a hobby.

Soviet Regulatios

Nor are we sure about state regulations concerning radios. This raises an interesting question. Stalon launched the Great Terror and purges in the early 1930s as he completed his grip on the Soviet state. In the paranoid atmosphere of the Stalinist era that followed we wonder to what extent it affected individual behavior. Did the public fear to listen to foreign broadcasts and did this fear filter down to young people building their own sets. We do not know the answer tothese questions, but hopefully our Russian readers will provide some insights.

Soviet Boys

We do see a few images of boys with early radios. The ones we have found are of magazine illustrations, perhaps taken more for propaganda. We are not entirely sure what is in the articles. We do not yet have family snapshots. A reader writes that the photograph here "... shows a young radio amature enthusiast. The photograph illustrates a report about the Young Pioneers which in the article is reffered to as the 'Pioneer Corps'. The article seems to suggest that rdio was one of the activities boys could pursue. It said that ArteK (a Young Pioneer summer camp) was built in the 1930s." The image here came from a book titled, 20th Century to Beginning of the 21st Century by N.V Zagladin, S.I Kozlenko, S.T. Minakov, and U.A. Petrow. The information came from p. 197. The photograph was dated 1929 and titled "Young Radio Listner". There were two articles on the page. One was an extract from No. 13 "Magazine Club" (1933). It was about a car worker who labored in a Moscow automobilr factory named after Stalin. It told about his social activities after work that a worker could use when his work is over. The library and works canteen were the main places that the worker talked about. The second article was about the Pioneer groups. I have attached a picture of this page. I could not fully understand it. It seemed to be talking about the setting up of Pioneer groups in houses and the activities they could pursue. It also mentions the pioneer camps and Artek which was renervated in 1938. (At least I think that what the reference to Artek means.) It is not relly clear how the image relates to the articles. How free the boys were to listen to a foreign long wave broadcasts I do not know.: Of course there would have been few if any foreign broadcasts in Russian. We wonder if Russian radio kits were made to makie it difficult to tune into foreign broacasts. I would think they mostly listened to Soviet radio stations." Another reader writes, "This page is related to the HBC pages on photography. While it was too expensive and complicated in the 19th century when photogaphy was new. This was not the situation with the invention of radio in the 20th century. Boys were soon part of the early enthusiasm and built their own wirless sets very inexpensively. My Russian teacher told me that was what he did in the early 1930's. It is also the trend the Russian history book explained for this new invention."

Amateur Radio

Another reader writes, "There was certainly a substantial radio amateur community in Baku (now the capital of Azerbaijan) during Soviet times, and I imagine the same is true all over the former Soviet Union. I am not aware of any particular restrictions on the hobby - but language would have been a barrier as few foreign stations or amateurs would have transmitted in Russian. Even Morse transmissions would have been hard to decipher, as the Russians had to develop their own version of Morse to accommodate a 33 letter alphabet. Today, of course, it is different. Cost has apparently had a big impact on the radio community, while on the other hand, organisations like BBC World now have Russian broadcasts."

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Created: 2:49 PM 7/18/2006
Last updated: 1:35 AM 9/12/2006