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[RODCHENKO] Radioslushatel’ [i.e. Radio Listener] #10 for 1930

Item #1530

Moscow: NKTP, 1930. 16
pp.: ill. 31,5x23 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Restored, some pale
stains, otherwise very good.
Very rare. Issue of a magazine for radio enthusiasts published
in 1928-1930. The next year it was succeeded by the journal “Moscow
is Speaking” (1930-1931).
Its outstanding design was created by avant-garde artist and
photographer Alexander Rodchenko. The cover design was made as a
frame for a portrait printed on the front page. The frame features the
decoration of twisted radio wire. A photo portrait shows a young man
working as a molder at the Ilyich factory.
Unlike other Soviet periodicals dedicated to radio, this one
barely explained technical structures for radio waves and didn’t give
advice on how to improve a hand-made receiver. This magazine was
about a crucial role of radio broadcasting for purposes of socialist
construction and collectivization, and about upcoming radio programs.
Thus, one of the first articles reads: “Central Asian radio center has
organized radio courses in Uzbek language to liquidate illiteracy in
agronomy” and “In Yerevan, radio programs discussed a sowing campaign
and collectivization in Armenian, Russian and Turkic languages”. Few
radio signals from Moscow might be caught in the Arctic Ocean, but
polar researchers managed to transmit reports on what life conditions
were on archipelago Franz Josef Land (annexed by the Soviet Union in
1926), Dikson island and nearby Matochkin Strait. A following article
introduced readers how the Central Weather Bureau collected data
and then provided forecasts through radio broadcasting. The text is
illustrated with photographs by M. Prekhner. His photos of theatrical
production supplement an article advertising a radio program “The First
Results of Theatrical Season”. Among the pictures are “Commander” in
the Meyerhold Theater and “Beggar’s Opera” in the Kamerny Theater.
Due to the high popularity of radio drama and audio concerts, the magazine also published Prekhner’s pictures of a lyre group performing
for Moscow radio center and all-round musician Loginov working with
three instruments. A list of Soviet radio programs for April and May
1930 was published as well.

This issue is not
found in Worldcat.

Price: $950.00