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The Documentary Podcast

Eighty years of the BBC Russian Service

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.32.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The BBC's Russian service marks its 80th anniversary this week.  In eight decades, it has grown from a short wave radio service to a multimedia operation reaching upwards of 6 million people per week, despite ongoing blocking in Russia. As a 14-year-old boy Oleg Boldyrev discovered BBC Russian on shortwave radio whilst camping with his parents in the woods. He eventually ended up working for the service as a journalist both in London and Moscow. He talks to The Fifth Floor about some of the service's most memorable moments and how the current authorities continue to try to stop their citizens getting access to BBC news.

 Indonesia's Makassar Strait is one of the world's busiest shipping routes, with 36,000 ships passing between the islands of Sulawesi and Kalimantan annually. Beneath the surface, the area was once home to thriving corals. But by the early 2000s, the ecosystem was under threat of dying out completely as a result of coral damage caused by ship collisions, anchors and fishing practices. BBC Indonesian's Lesthia Kertopati explains how a group of young, predominantly female divers is setting out to restore the coral.

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

0:06.0

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

0:13.8

You're listening The Fifth Floor.

0:17.6

The Fifth Floor, you know you, listen.

0:20.0

The Fifth Floor, Farnak, Amid, Isobat. The fifth floor is You're listening. This is the fifth floor

0:23.2

Farnak Amidi, Sobath.

0:26.7

This is the fifth floor

0:28.5

at the heart of global storytelling

0:31.2

with BBC journalists

0:32.9

from all around the world.

0:35.0

I'm your host, Faranak Amity. This week, the BBC's Russian Service marked its 80th year on air. In eight decades, it has grown from a shortwave radio service to a multimedia operation

0:55.8

reaching upwards of 6 million people per week, despite ongoing blocking in Russia.

1:02.6

BBC Russians Oleg Boliv gave into the fifth floor studio to give us his perspective.

1:09.8

I myself came into contact with BBC Russian service when I was 14.

1:14.4

My parents' way of spending their summer holidays were to pack their tents

1:18.8

and go into the woods for a month.

1:21.9

And we have that shortwave transistor radio.

1:24.9

And obviously I had not many pastimes there,

1:28.3

apart from fishing,

1:29.5

picking berries,

1:31.1

reading Tolstoy,

1:32.2

and that wears you out on day three.

...

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