From ESP to Kermit the Frog: Spacebridge podcast creators reflect on the eclectic US-Russian project
WhatsApp, Slack, Skype, Zoom and a plethora of other options can connect us to far away places instantly. With all of these at our fingertips, it’s hard to remember or imagine the massive production it was to talk to someone on the other side of the world pre-internet.
In the latest Radiotopia Showcase series Spacebridge, journalists Julia Barton and Charles Maynes take us back to the Cold War-era projects of Soviet and American “citizen diplomats” most of us have never heard of. The use of budding satellite and early internet technology pulled in youth and adults alike and enticed an eclectic following, from astronauts to musicians.
Now that the four-part Spacebridge podcast series is completely available, we have some follow-up questions for the creators.
Let’s address the very cool irony first: The spacebridge broadcasts in the 1980s were huge, complex productions. Now you two have created an entire podcast series about it with Charles in Russia and Julia in the United States. What’s it like experiencing that technology shift?
Julia: It’s been something we’ve thought about a lot, especially with the first episode, where we were trying to recreate the feeling of a world that was much more silent, and where communication between the US and USSR was frustrating. Meanwhile Charles and I are exchanging Slack messages and making calls on WhatsApp! You can’t help but notice the ironies.
Charles: I know, right? These citizen diplomats in the 1980s projected telepathic signals across enemy empires and had to wait for weeks for the mail to see if it worked. Or there’s a story in the series where one of our characters stays on a phone for 12 hours to keep a line open to the USSR. Meanwhile, my iPhone is getting only two bars right now. It’s so frustrating.
What has been the reaction from folks in Russia who have heard the podcast?
Charles: The early reviews have been really positive, but I’m still waiting for someone to sock it to us. That said, the Spacebridge series launched amid a boom in interest in podcasting here. I meet Russians all the time who are interested in the medium, already know about Radiotopia, and are genuinely curious to hear stories about Russia. Today they’re listening to us. Tomorrow we’ll listen to them.
Julia, what do you miss most from the time you spent in Russia?
Julia: There are many wonderful people there I’d love to see again. And I do miss swimming in the 1980s-era heated outdoor Olympic pool in Moscow, because it is AMAZING.
Charles: JB, rest assured I’m waving to you from the pool.
“I meet Russians all the time who are interested in the medium, already know about Radiotopia, and are genuinely curious to hear stories about Russia. Today they’re listening to us. Tomorrow we’ll listen to them.” Charles Maynes, Spacebridge producer
What are the strangest stories you learned while researching the spacebridges and all of the characters involved?
Julia: For me, it’s been the ongoing conversation between the counter-cultural movement of citizen diplomats and the mainstream leadership of each Cold War superpower. Why was Soviet state TV resorting to weird rock-music exchanges? Why did President Reagan suddenly start talking about an imaginary Soviet couple meeting an imaginary American one? There was a dialogue going on inside each empire, and once you’re looking for it, you find it everywhere, especially in pop culture.
Charles: For me personally, it was learning that my father — who’s been dead for over 10 years now — had a cameo role in this story. As a newly appointed editor of Foreign Policy magazine, he published an article called “Foreign Policy According to Freud” that brought the concept of citizen diplomacy into the mainstream. I only learned about it when I ran into the article’s co-author Joe Montville at a conference in Saint Petersburg. Joe’s a legend, so I suppose I should have known. Then again, all these events happened back when I was 10.
If you could go back in time and be a fly on the wall at any of the events or meetings related to spacebridge, which one would it be?
Julia: I would love to have watched Jim Henson bring Kermit and Miss Piggy to Moscow in the summer of 1988. That was genius.
Charles: I’d vote to be there for the first or second spacebridge attempts. They didn’t go as intended, but still — imagine just how magic it must have felt when the first images appeared.
You spend some time in the first half of the series exploring the role of ESP in the early spacebridges. On a scale of 0-10, how much do you believe mental telepathy is a real thing?
Julia: Charles and I call it Psy-Slack now. Coincidence and providence have already helped us out of many a jam while reporting this project, as people will suddenly materialize and fill in some missing piece of the puzzle. Whatever it is, I hope it sees us the rest of the way through.
Charles: Count me a 1 when I started. But, over the past year, I’ve met several people — honest, serious people — who are convinced in, if not ESP directly, then at least the idea of people tapping into something more than most of us imagine. Joseph Goldin, a Soviet misfit credited with first dreaming up the spacebridge idea, used to call this “hidden human reserves.” The Esalen Institute out in California had its own version. Something that was labeled the “Human Potential Movement.” So who knows? All I can say is I’ve met people on both sides who’ve seen all sorts of weird shit — ESP, telepathic hits, psychic healings, and the rest of it — and I genuinely believe that they genuinely believe. One guy even says he has videotapes in a box somewhere that he can show me. Until then, count me a 3!
Okay, our last burning question: have you heard anything from Eddie Money since the podcast launched?
Julia: Alas, no. Call us, Eddie!
Ready to travel back in time with Spacebridge? Listen here.
