Cold War number stations (239)

You might remember listening to short wave radio during the Cold War and coming across weird transmissions of metallic voices reciting random groups of numbers through the ether. These are number stations, shortwave radio stations characterised by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which were being sent to spies operating in foreign countries.

Number stations were used widely during the Cold War and we speak with Jo Reggelt. Jo has been working with Simon Mason who was a founding member of ENIGMA, launched in the 80s after identifying several of these stations.

We discuss in detail the operations behind the transmissions and the stations themselves. You will hear some sample transmissions which Jo has kindly allowed us to use, including one with drunken Stasi officers serenading their agents after the opening of the Berlin Wall.

We also detail a UK spy case that centred on capturing an agent red-handed listening to a numbers station.

There’s further information including links here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode239/

0:00 Introduction

5:06 Overview of Number Stations

20:37 Role of Agents and Attempts to Jam Number Stations

29:51 Identification and grouping of number stations

35:20 Notable Number Stations: Lincolnshire Poacher and CIA, BND Stations

43:15 The Story of Czech Spy: Erwin Van Harlem

54:41 Number Stations in Non-Aligned and NATO Nations

1:02:26 History of South Tyrol and its Role in the Cold War

1:07:27 Impact of the End of the Cold War on Number Stations

1:12:25 Influence of Number Stations on Pop Culture

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