Propaganda has been shown strengthen group identification along existing identity lines. Can it be as effective at promoting all-encompassing national identities? I explore the case of the overarching Yugoslav identity in post-Tito Yugoslavia. By late 1980s, radio programs aired by the government of the constituent republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina consistently supported a multinational vision of Yugoslavia, whereas propaganda efforts of Serb and Croat governments turned towards ethnic nationalism and sought to mobilize co-ethnics both at home and in neighboring republics. I model the geographic reach of radio stations controlled by these governments in Bosnia and find that only Bosnian-controlled media increased the rates at which citizens chose to identify as Yugoslavs — rather than Bosniaks (Muslims), Croats, or Serbs — in the 1991 census. At the same time, the analysis of the civilian victimization during the Bosnian War (1992—1995) has shown that the effects of pre-war nation-building propaganda efforts did not extend into the wartime.