“VESTI IZ LESA” — SOVIET RADIO PROJECT AND LIFE PROGRAMME

Abstract

The Leningrad radio programme “Vesti iz Lesa” (News from the Forest), broadcast on All-Union Radio from 1956 to 1970, was a successful Soviet radio project for children. Despite its narrow target audience (young children) and limited content focused on forest themes, the programme attracted a wide range of listeners of different ages (“from pioneers to pensioners”, according to Nikolai Sladkov). This is evidenced by the hundreds of letters received by the editorial office “Leningrad, radio ‘Vesti iz Lesa’” every month. The research material for this article includes a corpus of letters stored in the archive of the writer and “nature writer” Nikolay Sladkov (the compiler of the scripts), as well as microphone cards from “Vesti iz Lesa” in the archive of the Gosteleradio St. Petersburg – 5 channel. The subject of the study is the reception of the nature science programme by different age groups of radio listeners. Analysis of the editorial mail reveals that for many thousands of listeners, the programme “Vesti iz Lesa” legitimized the human right to perceive nature without regard to economic benefits, cultural standards, or ideological and patriotic dogma. The editorial board’s position diverged from the ideological mainstream that dominated Soviet radio in the late 1950s-1960s, but resonated with the radio listeners of the time. This perception of nature, transcending ideological and cultural barriers, contributed to the creation of an “emotional community” around the programme founded by Vitaliy Bianki and his associates.

Keywords: Soviet radio broadcasting for children, natural history knowledge, nature writers, Vitaliy Bianki, Nikolay Sladkov, Alexey Liverovsky