The nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 was not just a catastrophic event in terms of its effect upon the environment and the health of those who lived nearby. Some claim that the media coverage of the disaster, and particularly that by Radio Liberty, contributed to the introduction of radical reforms within the Soviet Union that changed it forever – and perhaps even hastened its eventual downfall. In this episode, we will assess those claims and show how important Radio Liberty’s place within the Soviet media consumer’s life had become by the Gorbachev era.