The Documentary Podcast Liberation Radio
8 snips
Feb 2, 2026 Nhung Nguyễn, artist and sound designer from Vietnam who assembled archival audio and field recordings. Esther Johnson, artist-filmmaker who made film elements and a hand-sewn banner. They explore the Liberation Radio archives, re-performing broadcasts, assembling an audio collage and staging the installation in Stockholm and Hanoi. Practical exhibition work and archival discoveries drive the conversation.
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Deserters' Life-Altering Decision
- Matthew Sweet recorded interviews in 2015 with American deserters who fled to Sweden during the Vietnam War.
- Their lives remained shaped by that youthful decision, sometimes content, sometimes haunted.
Deserters Made Propaganda Tapes
- Vincent Strollo and other deserters were given tape machines to make propaganda programmes for Liberation Radio.
- Those tapes were sent to Hanoi and broadcast to persuade other GIs to desert.
Radio Scripts Performed Live
- Vince re-performed scripts of programmes that urged GIs to unite, organise and refuse to fight.
- The broadcasts mixed pop music with political messages and called deserters 'heroes.'
