James (Jim) Critchlow was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1926; he died on July 7, 2019.
He was one of the first American managers with Radio Liberation in Munich. In brief, he was with Radio Liberation / Radio Liberty in Munich, 1952-1962; bureau manager, Radio Liberty, in Paris, 1962-1965; director information, Radio Liberty Committee, Inc., in New York City, 1965-1972.
Jim was the author of the book Radio Hole in the Head: Radio Liberty: An Insider's Story of Cold War Broadcasting,
Jim was also Chief Soviet and East European research, United States Information Agency, Washington, 1972-1976; planning and research officer, United States Board for International Broadcasting, Washington, 1976-1985; visiting professor, University of Illinois, Champaign, 1986-1987; fellow, Russian Research Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, since 1987. Freelance broadcaster the Voice of America, Washington, since 1991.
Jim was also Chief Soviet and East European research, United States Information Agency, Washington, 1972-1976; planning and research officer, United States Board for International Broadcasting, Washington, 1976-1985; visiting professor, University of Illinois, Champaign, 1986-1987; fellow, Russian Research Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, since 1987. Freelance broadcaster the Voice of America, Washington, since 1991.
In November 2018, Jim Critchlow gave an interview to RFE/RL in Prague. Here are some excerpts from that interview about the early days of Radio Liberation / Liberty.
(In 1953) We weren’t directly connected to the transmitters, so we had somebody on a motorcycle who would pick up the tapes of the broadcasts at the studio in Munich, then hand them off to the conductor of a train bound for Mannheim -- our only transmitters were located near that city. So, the time between when you recorded the broadcast and when it actually went on the air could be anywhere from five or more hours.
When Stalin died, somebody got me out of bed at two o'clock in the morning and we rode up the autobahn to Mannheim. We set it up so that the broadcasters could dictate the programs to us over the phone and we could put them on the air immediately.
Our transmitters were not very powerful in those days and we had no way of knowing how many people were listening, but one interesting sign was that within minutes of our first broadcasts, the Soviet jamming took effect.
The rest of the interview can be read at:
