Performance Československa v aurálním prostoru: Nový pohled na válečné rozhlasové vysílání z Londýna
Performance of Czechoslovakia in Aural Space: A New Look at Wartime Radio Broadcasts from London

Summary/Abstract: Erica Harrison’s book "Radio and the Performance of Government: Broadcasting by the Czechoslovaks in Exile in London, 1939–1945" (Prague, Karolinum Press 2023), is, in the reviewer’s opinion, the best written to date on Czechoslovak exile broadcasting to Central Europe viathe BBC during the Second World War. Previous approaches focused mainly on institutional history, content, key figures, and ties to exile politics. In these interpretations, the acoustic principle of radio faded into the background. Harrison, however, brings this to the forefront by combining historical facts (gained through meticulous research) with theoretical concepts and historical-empirical findings from the field of media and radio studies. She presents a model of aural space shaped by wartime broadcasts from London, which enabled the government-in-exile to perform desirable values (Czechoslovak statehood, nationhood, democracy) with listeners in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Protektorát Čechy a Morava), Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus). Radio, she argues, was the most effective instrument of the government-in-exile to reach these regions, offering unique advantages: the personal address, emotional appeal, and the persuasive power of the human voice. This is demonstrated in four analytical chapters exploring how the BBC broadcasts asserted authority, shaped national identity, discredited the Slovak Republic’s independence, and navigated shifting relations with the Soviet Union, including issues surrounding Carpathian Ruthenia.

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