Golden 70's

Russian radio's relationship with 70s English-language pop is one of those beautiful historical accidents nobody discusses enough. Golden 70's inhabits that specific nostalgia. The station plays everything from early ABBA to Wings, from Elton John's most earnest moments to the Bee Gees' disco experiments. These weren't always accessible to Soviet listeners - they arrived through bootleg recordings, radio waves bouncing across borders, cultural hunger for Western pop during the Cold War. That's the sonic texture here. There's reverence in the programming choices. Not the sterile reverence of a…