Jewish Community Relations Council Boston, Massachusetts

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attachment to a language (and therefore a culture)  in disfavor with
Soviet authorities.
Second, USIA has argued that "Jews are widely scattered throughout the Soviet Union" and it is therefore, "impossible to reach them with
a single broadcast."
In fact, the Jews in the Soviet Union are not "widely scattered."
150,000-250,000 Soviet Jews live in Soviet Central Asian Republics. The
vast majority of the remainder live in the westernmost  Soviet Renublics
of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Byelerussia, Ukraine, Muldavia, and the
westernmost area of Russia itself.    This area is rouphiv equal in size
to the combined areas of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, or about
500,000 square miles (of a total Soviet Union land area of 8.6 million
square miles).
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Third, USIA claims that it would be impossible to  initiate broadcasts in Yiddish without sacrificing some time from broadcasts in another
language or constructing new facilities.     Tt is claimed that these
facilities and their construction would take years and would cost several
million dollars.
In fact, VOA claims that it  is presently allotting substantial
time to Jewish interest programming, and if that assertion is true it
need only consolidate the time given to various "spot announcements"
throughout the day.    Moreover, VOA facility listings and time schedules
indicate that at present, during the prime time hours of 7-8 p.m.
(Moscow time), a total of 6 transmitters of types presently broadcasting to the Soviet Union are sitting idle, and 7 transmitters are
idle for H5 minutes of that hour.    USIA considers 6 transmitters
optimal to overcome jamming.    Probable expense of broadcasting under
these circumstances  is $150,000 per year.
Fourth, VOA claims that present programs of Jewish interest  in
Russian are sufficient.
A close study of actual programming shows that the overwhelming
majority of items covered were treated  as brie"F news stories within a
general news program, and consumed not more than half a minute to two
minutes of air time, and that aoproximatelv one iten of Jewish interest
was reported per day.    Occasional features of longer duration and a
two-minute portion on an early Sunday morning religious program constitute the total VOA effort,  in a weekly broadcast schedule of 147 hours
to the Soviet Union.     In addition,  since the timing of Jewish news items
is unoredictable, a listener  in the Soviet Union would not knov; when in
the broadcast day the programs directed to him will he heard.    That is
hardly adequate to let  Soviet Jews "know they have not been forpotten,"
the purported aiAof VOA.
The need to devote more time and  emphasis to matters of Jewish
concern is illustrated by Leonid Rigerman's statement that until his
arrival in the Jnited States he was completely unaware of the demonstrations and protests in the United States against Soviet treatment of
Jews.     (Meeting wrth leading USIA officials on March 10, 1971;