Joe Adamov,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Иосиф Адамов (Yosif Adamov),pron. yos-eef adamof (7 January 1920 – 18 December 2005) was a journalist and presenter on

Radio Moscow Radio Moscow ( rus, Pадио Москва, r=Radio Moskva), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993. It was reorganized with a new name ...

and its successor, the

Voice of Russia Voice of Russia ( rus, Голос России, r=Golos Rossii), commonly abbreviated VOR, was the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service from 1993 until 2014, when it was reorganised as Radio Sputnik. Its interval signal ...

, for over sixty years. Of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

n descent, he was born in

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

. As a child, he lived with his family in England and attended British schools. Later, in the 1930s, he attended a special school for American expats in Moscow where he acquired familiarity with Americans. He was a graduate of

Moscow State Pedagogical University Moscow State Pedagogical University or Moscow State University of Education is an educational and scientific institution in Moscow, Russia, with eighteen faculties and seven branches operational in other Russian cities. The institution had underg ...

. An expert English-speaker who spoke with a neutral American accent, Adamov joined Radio Moscow as an announcer at the foreign language service of Radio Moscow in 1942. He lived in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

during most of his career. Among English-speaking listeners, he is best known as the presenter of the programme ''Moscow Mailbag'' on Radio Moscow's North American shortwave broadcasts. The program answered questions from listeners on all aspects of Soviet life and the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

's policies. At its height, ''Moscow Mailbag'' listeners sent Adamov thousands of letters yearly. In his capacity as a Radio Moscow journalist and presenter of ''Moscow Mailbag'', Adamov conducted interviews with many western politicians and journalists, including

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

and

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. ...

. During the Cold War, Adamov's broadcasts, like all other Radio Moscow output, were carefully studied by Western governments, a fact of which the Soviet authorities were well aware. Joe Adamov presented ''Moscow Mailbag'' from 1957 until shortly before his death, when ill-health forced him to relinquish the role permanently. The program remains on the air with different presenters. Joe Adamov was also the official Soviet translator at the trial of

Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...

, shot down in a U-2 spy plane in 1960. The signature poem of Moscow Mailbag was:

You can't do better than send us that letter and in it tell Joe what you think of his show

Adamov's death was reported on Voice of Russia's English-language news bulletins on December 21, 2005, although neither these bulletins nor the obituary on their website gave an exact date of death.

References

External links

Biography by Katherine Lawson

Archive of studio recordings of Joe Adamov including Moscow Mailbag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamov, Joe 1920 births 2005 deaths People from Batumi Soviet Armenians Radio in the Soviet Union Journalists from Moscow Russian radio personalities Soviet expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century Russian journalists Soviet journalists