Redside Radio

The most powerful radio station in Berlin, 100-kilowatt Berlin-Tegel, broadcasts in German, has its studios in the British sector, its transmitter in the French sector, and its lines run through the American sector. But what comes out over the air is all decided upon by the Russians.

Last week, U.S. authorities were still trying to cut in on this prize air. Typical of Russia's way of running the show are the instructions it gave the writer of a kiddies' program. He was told to have "no romances between nobility and commoners, no mention of castles or peasant huts . . . no largesse by an aristocratic hero to a humble maid." An acceptable radio drama might tell how a German baron used to punish his starving tenants for stealing potatoes, and show how his estate has now been divided up into homes for all. During the rest of its 19-hours-a-day on the air, the station has stressed how the Russians pioneered in bringing food into Berlin, introduced racial tolerance, encouraged the rebirth of non-Nazi political parties.

To Allied protests of monopoly, the Russians reply that a majority of the station's listeners are in their zone. The U.S. competition to Berlin-Tegel consists of one low-powered Berlin station, dedicated to jazz for G.I.s.

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