Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Watson, who shares the following recording. Paul notes:

“During the 1980s I was listening to shortwave radio from my home near London, in the southeast of England. I had a cassette recorder connected to the receiver and taped anything interesting that caught my ear. Little did I know that 40 years later the majority of these stations would have disappeared and I would have the opportunity to share these recordings with the world.”

This recording is part of a five-part compilation series Paul has created, grouping international shortwave broadcasters by region. The majority of the clips are in English and feature interval signals, station IDs, and sign-ons/offs—a rich snapshot of shortwave radio during its Cold War-era heyday.

This particular compilation focuses on: Eastern Europe and USSR

All recordings were made during the 1980s, most in the first half of the decade. While frequencies and exact dates aren’t provided, Paul has kindly included timestamps noting when each broadcaster appears in the audio. These are listed below for easy reference.

We’re grateful to Paul for sharing this excellent audio time capsule and for his efforts to preserve and document the golden era of international broadcasting.

• ALBANIA: Radio Tirana (0)

• BELARUS: Radio Minsk (1.18)

• BULGARIA: Radio Sofia (1.41)

• CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Radio Prague (2.29)

• ESTONIA: Radio Tallin (2.50)

• GERMANY (EAST): Radio Berlin Int (3.49)

• HUNGARY: Radio Budapest (5.22)

• LATVIA: Radio Riga (6.31)

• LITHUANIA: Radio Vilnius (7.14)

• POLAND: Radio Polonia (8.30)

• ROMANIA: Radio Bucharest (9.37)

• UKRAINE: Radio Kiev (10.41)

• USSR: Radio Moscow World Service (12.17)

• Radio Station Peace & Progress (13.35)

• Radio Station Rodina (13.59)

• YUGOSLAVIA: Radio Yugoslavia (14.21)