Tiilikainen at Yle — the war microphone

Pekka Tiilikainen, 28, had been a journalist with Yleisradio (Yle, the Finnish public radio) since 1932. Before the war he had commented on sport (notably the Helsinki Olympic Games of 1940, scheduled for July 1940 and cancelled). At the outbreak of the Winter War the head of Yle, Hella Wuolijoki (a left-wing writer and screenwriter — one of the very few women heading a major European media outlet), named Tiilikainen as her chief war correspondent.

An unprecedented mission: live broadcasting from the fronts, then a revolutionary technique. Tiilikainen was equipped with modified BBC kit (EMI Type C microphone, portable valves, an 18-kilogram battery). He went with the Finnish units at Suomussalmi, Tolvajärvi and Kollaa. Broadcasting at 20:00 every evening on Yle, listened to by 97 percent of Finns (the radio was everywhere in the home). Within six weeks he had become the sound link between the soldiers and their families.

The question of casualties arose quickly. The fronts were bleeding, families waited for news, and every household feared the worst. The Finnish state wanted to keep up the morale of a tiny population facing a giant; yet a radio listened to by almost the entire country could not indefinitely conceal reality without losing all credibility. Between raw truth, protective silence and some other path, Tiilikainen's microphone carried unusual weight.

Tiilikainen had to decide how to handle the Finnish losses in his broadcasts.