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Thank you for visiting my personal site! I am a writer, musician, podcaster, and graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. Having spent nearly two decades as a performing artist, I am now combining my passion for connecting with global audiences through music with my deep love of Russian history, language, and culture. Delving into the history of radio broadcasting to the Soviet sphere, I cover communications during World War II and the Cold War and have thus developed an interest in the policy aspects of modern media.

In tandem with my research, I have launched an international academic podcast for the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies called The Slavic Connexion (visit http://www.slavxradio.com) which has listeners in over 45 countries worldwide. I now use the show as a model for other podcasts I have been spearheading to build “sound networks”, principled on the radio diplomacy ideas of the late George F. Kennan.

Articles

https://www.rbth.com/lifestyle/330841-american-music-russia-language

https://economics.hse.ru/en/io/news/297328889.html

Radio

Listen…

Since getting on the public diplomacy path in early 2019, I have spearheaded the development of more educational podcasts to bring academia into the public sphere. Why podcasts? Why not YouTube? YouTube is great, but there’s just nothing like the power of sound, the power of listening to get people to connect and understand each other a little better. Here are a few podcasts I’ve had the privilege to produce…

The Slavic Connexion (Austin, TX)
An international podcast in chat show format from the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin meant to share research, ideas, and culture in digestible episodes within and between academic institutions globally. Each week we feature faculty, students (both undergraduate and graduate), and speakers of note from various academic institutions. The Slavic Connexion is a student-driven production of the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies within the College of Liberal Arts at UT. Diplomacy Starts Here. Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and more!

  • Tom & Matt – SlavX hosts

Stuck in the Media With You (Moscow, Russia)
Media literacy series (in Russian) from the American Center in Moscow (www.amc.ru). Funded by the U.S. Department of State and hosted by media literacy fellow Joe Crescente. Available Fall 2019 on platforms everywhere via the AMC Podcast Channel and the upcoming AMC Education website.

It’s A Longhorn Life! (Austin, TX)
Official podcast of the UT Graduate School, hosted by grad students and featuring current and former politicians and other figures of note. Starting Fall 2019!

Non-fiction Projects

SEVA: The DJ Who “Brought Down the USSR”

“ Any list of the BBC’s biggest radio DJs must include Seva Novgorodsev, famous all over the former Soviet Union for broadcasting pop music across the Iron Curtain and poking fun at the regime. On Friday, after 38 years on air, he hung up his headphones for good. ” https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34157596#

Radio Diplomacy, Revolution, and Anarchy

Blog

Contact

Literary Representation:

Agent: Amanda Jain
Book Ends Literary

For Film/TV Rights Inquiries:

Aaron Magnani Productions
info@aaronmagnaniproductions.com
http://www.aaronmagnaniproductions.com