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Mar 2019
44m 43s

Spacebridge 1 – Hidden Human Reserves

Radiotopia
About this episode
At a low point in the Cold War, three men walk into a bureaucrat’s office at Gosteleradio, the state broadcaster of the Soviet Union. Two are Americans: an astronaut, and a researcher of psychic phenomena. The third is a Russian utopian with a notebook full of phone numbers he’s not supposed to know. The three want approval for something that’s never been tried before: a two-way, simultaneous satellite link between the enemy empires of the US and USSR. Spacebridge is a production of Showcase from PRX’s Radiotopia with additional funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Our Russian content partner is the history site Arzamas.Academy. Find out more and listen to the previous series Ways of Hearing, The Polybius Conspiracy, Secrets, Errthang, The Great God of Depression, and The Stoop at radiotopia.fm/showcase.
Up next
Mar 2019
Spacebridge 2 – Foreign Policy According to Freud
The first two-way satellite links between the US and USSR are strange, disorganized, and sometimes a little magical. Battling language and technological barriers, Soviet and American musicians, computing pioneers, scientists, and even kids find a way to stage a series of exchange ... Show More
44m 16s
Mar 2019
Spacebridge 3 – A Live Studio Audience
The Soviet Union faces a series of funerals for elderly heads of state; meanwhile the nation falls in love with a “citizen diplomat” from America, a young girl. Popular daytime TV host Phil Donahue agrees to co-host a spacebridge with Vladimir Pozner, a multi-lingual Soviet known ... Show More
44m 32s
Apr 2019
Spacebridge 4 – The Fifth Dimension
In the final episode of Spacebridge, big TV-satellite “spacebridges” become popular in the USSR, but remain a logistical nightmare—and for American producers, especially—a labor of love that few can afford. Meanwhile, a new breed of citizen diplomat enters the scene, determined t ... Show More
45m 58s
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