A similar model of a radio receiver stood in the Bulgakovs’ apartment in Nashchokinsky Lane. Despite the fact that radio became a familiar feature of Moscow life in the 1920s and 1930s, it irritated Mikhail Bulgakov, who favored peace and quiet.

Here is how Mikhail Bulgakov described a hot Moscow day in the novel “The Master and Margarita”:

Mikhail Bulgakov once took part in a radio program himself. On December 27, 1934, excerpts of the Moscow Art Theater play “The Pickwick Club” were broadcast on the radio, and the writer played the role of the president of the court. Along with other actors, Bulgakov voiced scenes from the production.

Mikhail Bulgakov began listening to the radio much more often in the last months of his life, when he was diagnosed with nephrosclerosis, a kidney disease that caused the writer’s eyesight to deteriorate dramatically. On September 26, 1939, in a letter to his childhood friend and musician Alexander Petrovich Gdeshinsky, he said,

Elena Bulgakova described in detail what she and her husband listened to on the radio. In addition to the news, performances and concerts were often broadcast. “Lemeshev’s concert is on the radio. He sings very pleasantly, both musically and intelligently, ”Elena Bulgakova commented on the voice of opera singer Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev in her diary.