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Voice of America

Voice of America is the official international radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government Federal government of the United States

The government [i] of the United States of America [i], established by the U.S. Constitution [i] ... 

. It is vaguely similar to other international broadcasters such as the BBC World Service BBC World Service

name = BBC World Service ... 

, Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle

---- * 4 x 500 kW SW transmitters, each with Thomcast rotating antenna ... 

, Radio Netherlands Radio Netherlands

Radio Netherlands is a public radio [i] and television [i] network based in Hilversum [i], producing and ... 

, Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale

Radio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France [i] by the Government of France [i] ... 

, Voice of Russia Voice of Russia

Voice of Russia is the Russia [i]n government's international radio broadcasting service. ... 

 and Radio Canada International Radio Canada International

name = Radio Canada International ... 

 owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , a Canadian [i] crown corporation [i], is the country's na ... 

, , Its oversight bureau is the International Broadcasting Bureau, which is committed to "public diplomacy."

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Timeline

1942   Propaganda Propaganda

Propaganda is a specific type of message [i] presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinion [i]s ... 

: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.

1947   Propaganda Propaganda

Propaganda is a specific type of message [i] presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinion [i]s ... 

: The ''Voice of America'' begins to transmit radio Radio

Radio is the wireless transmission of signals [i], by modulation [i] of electromagnetic waves [i] ... 

 broadcasts into the Soviet Union Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a Communist state [i] ... 

.

1948   Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.



Encyclopedia


Voice of America is the official international radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government Federal government of the United States

The government [i] of the United States of America [i], established by the U.S. Constitution [i]... 

. It is vaguely similar to other international broadcasters such as the BBC World Service BBC World Service

name= BBC World Service
... 

, Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle

----
  • 4 x 500 kW SW transmitters, each with Thomcast rotating antenna

... 

, Radio Netherlands Radio Netherlands

Radio Netherlands is a public radio [i] and television [i] network based in Hilversum [i], producing and ... 

, Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale

Radio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France [i] by the Government of France [i] ... 

, Voice of Russia Voice of Russia

Voice of Russia is the Russia [i]n government's international radio broadcasting service.... 

 and Radio Canada International Radio Canada International

name= Radio Canada International
... 

 owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , a Canadian [i] crown corporation [i], is the country's na ... 

, , Its oversight bureau is the International Broadcasting Bureau, which is committed to "public diplomacy."

There are also many "affiliate" and contracted radio stations which carry VOA programs. VOA programs in many of its broadcast languages are also available on the World Wide Web World Wide Web

The World Wide web is a global, read-write information [i] space. ... 

 in both streaming media and downloadable formats. VOA formerly was based on a 625-acre site in Union Township West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio

West Chester Township, formerly known as Union Township, is a township [i] located ... 

  in Butler County, Ohio Butler County, Ohio

Butler County is a county [i] located in the state [i] of Ohio [i], United States [i]. ... 

, near Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a southwestern Ohio [i] city in the United States [i] that lies on the Ohio River [i] and... 

. The Bethany Relay Station operated from 1944 to 1994. Other former sites include California California

California is a state [i] spanning the southern half of the west coast [i] ... 

 , Hawaii Hawaii

Hawaii became the 50th state [i] of the United States [i] on August 21 [i], 1959 [i]. ... 

, Okinawa Okinawa Prefecture

is Japan [i]'s southernmost prefecture [i], and consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands [i]... 

, Liberia Liberia

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa [i], bordere ... 

, Costa Rica Costa Rica

Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica , is a country in Central America [i], bordered ... 

, and Belize Belize

Belize is a small nation on the eastern coast of Central America [i] on the Caribbean Sea [i] bordered ... 

.

Languages

The Voice of America currently does radio broadcasts in 44 languages and television broadcasts in 24 :

  • Afan Oromo
  • Albanian Albanian language

    Albanian is a language spoken by over 6 million people, primarily in Albania [i], Serbia [i] including ... 

    *
  • Amharic Amharic language

    name=Amharic

|nativename=???? amaria
... 


  • Armenian Armenian language

    The Armenian language is an Indo-European language [i] spoken by the Armenian people [i] in... 

    *
  • Azerbaijani Azerbaijani language

    The Azerbaijani language, also called Azeri, Azari, Azeri Turkish, or Azerbaijani T... 

    *
  • Bangla Bengali language

    Bengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan [i] language [i] of East South Asia [i], ... 

    *
  • Bosnian Bosnian language

    The Bosnian language is one of the standard versions of the Central-South Slavic diasystem [i], based on ... 

    *
  • Burmese Burmese language

    The Burmese language is the official language of Myanmar [i]. ... 

  • Cantonese
  • Creole
  • Croatian Croatian language

    The Croatian language is a language [i] of the western group of South Slavic languages [i] which is used... 

    *
  • Dari*
  • English English language

    English is a widely distributed language that originated in England [i] but is now the primary language ... 


    *
  • French French language

    French is the third-largest of the Romance languages [i] in terms of number of native speakers, after Spanish [i] ... 

    *
  • Georgian
  • Greek*
  • Hausa
  • Hindi Hindi

    Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

    *
  • Indonesian*
  • Khmer Khmer language

    Khmer , the language of the Khmer people [i] of Cambodia [i], is one of the main Austroasiatic languages [i] ... 

  • Kinyarwanda
  • Kirundi
  • Korean Korean language

    The Korean language is the official language of both North [i] and South Korea [i]. ... 

  • Kurdish Kurdish language

    The Kurdish language is an Indo-Iranian [i] language spoken in the region called Kurdistan [i], includin ... 

  • Lao
  • Macedonian*
  • Mandarin*
  • Ndebele
  • Thai
  • Pashto Pashto language

    Pashto is the language spoken by the Pashtun [i] people who inhabit Afghanistan [i], western Pakistan [i] ... 

    *
  • Persian Persian language

    [i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

    *
  • Portuguese Portuguese language

    Portuguese is an Iberian Romance language [i], of the Indo-European family [i] ... 

  • Russian Russian language

    Russian is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia [i] and the most widespread of the Slavic languages [i] ... 

    *
  • Serbian Serbian language

    The Serbian language is one of the standard versions of the tokavian dialect [i], use ... 

    *
  • Shona
  • Spanish Spanish language

    Spanish or Castilian is an Iberian Romance language [i]. ... 

    *
  • Swahili Swahili language

    Swahili is a Bantu language [i] widely spoken in East Africa [i]. ... 

  • Tibetan*
  • Tigrigna
  • Turkish Turkish language

    Turkish is a Turkic language [i] spoken natively by the Turkish people [i] in Turkey [i] ... 

    *
  • Ukrainian Ukrainian language

    Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup [i] of the Slavic languages [i] ... 

    *
  • Urdu Urdu

    is an Indo-European language [i] of the Indo-Aryan family [i] ... 

    *
  • Uzbek*
  • Vietnamese Vietnamese language

    Vietnamese , formerly known under the French colonization as Annamese , is the national [i] ... 



  • Overview

    VOA's parent organization is the International Broadcasting Bureau, which is overseen by the presidentially-appointed Broadcasting Board of Governors. Although the IBB was originally seen as a "wall" protecting VOA and other official U.S. civilian international broadcasters from political interference, critics in recent years have questioned the degree of independence of VOA's news programs from government policies.

    History

    VOA was organized in 1942 under the Office of War Information with news programs aimed at areas in Europe Europe

    Europe is one of the seven traditional continent [i]s of the Earth [i]. ... 

     and North Africa North Africa

    North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost [i] region [i] of the Africa [i]n continent [i] ... 

     under the occupation of Nazi Germany Nazi Germany

    Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, refers to Germany in the years 1933 to 1945, when it was governe... 

    . VOA began broadcasting on February 24, 1942. Transmitter Transmitter

    A transmitter is an electronic [i] device [i] which with the aid of an antenna [i] ... 

    s used by VOA came from shortwave Shortwave

    Shortwave radio [i] operates between the frequencies [i] of 2,310 kHz [i] and 30&nb... 

     transmitters used by the CBS CBS

    CBS is one of the largest television network [i]s, and formerly one of the largest radio network [i]s, ... 

     and NBC. Voice of America began to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union Soviet Union

    The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a Communist state [i] ... 

     on February 17, 1947. During the Cold War Cold War

    The Cold War was the protracted geopolitical [i], ideological [i], and economic [i]... 

    , VOA was placed under the U.S. Information Agency United States Information Agency

    The United States Information Agency, which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States [i] agency de ... 

    . In the 1980s, VOA also added a television service, as well as special regional programs to Cuba Cuba

    Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, consists of the island of Cuba, the Isle of Youth [i] and a ... 

    , Radio Martí and TV Martí.

    The VOA has been broadcasting on the Internet Internet

    The Internet is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer network [i]s that ... 

     since 2000 in English. Content in other languages is also available online through a distributed network, using more than 14,000 servers in some 65 countries. The International Broadcasting Bureau, in its 2007 budget, proposes reductions in VOA's English language programming, by eliminating VOA News Now radio while maintaining VOA English to Africa, Special English, and VOA's English website.

    Laws governing VOA-IBB's activities

    Under United States law Law

    Law is the set of rules or norms [i] of conduct which forbid, permit or mandate specified actions... 

     , the Voice of America is forbidden to broadcast directly to American citizens. The original intent of this legislation is to keep the federal government from having a direct outlet to their domestic public, unlike many European countries. The law explicitly forbidding VOA from carrying out any domestic broadcasting activities is partly derived from the U.S.'s lack of a state funded domestic radio or television broadcaster. The law was also designed to satisfy the needs of the U.S.'s commercial radio broadcasting companies. The U.S. PBS Public Broadcasting Service

    The Public Broadcasting Service is a non-profit [i] public broadcasting [i] television [i] service with ... 

      and NPR National Public Radio

    National Public Radio is an independent, private, not-for-profit membership organization of public radi... 

      networks in the U.S. function with some public funding, but without the oversight that state broadcasting corporations typically have. Both networks have supplied material for VOA Worldnet TV , or VOA's Radio's flagship English Service. No other international broadcaster has these kinds of restrictions governing their activities.

    In special cases, such as the 1981 TV program Let Poland Be Poland, Congressional approval was required to show Americans the program. However, VOA is audible on shortwave Shortwave

    Shortwave radio [i] operates between the frequencies [i] of 2,310 kHz [i] and 30&nb... 

     and broadcasts streaming audio over the Internet, which enables Americans to hear the programming.

    International Broadcasting Bureau services

    VOA broadcasts several programs aimed at specialist audiences through the International Broadcasting Bureau. Radio Martí and TV Martí are aimed at Cuba Cuba

    Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, consists of the island of Cuba, the Isle of Youth [i] and a ... 

    . Radio Sawa is aimed at a younger audience in the Arab world . Radio Farda is aimed at a younger audence in Persian Persian language

    [i] , [[Afghanistan]... 

     for Iran Iran


    Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic [i] importance because of its centr ... 

    . Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia are VOA sister services aimed at the ex-communist state Communist state

    A Communist state is a state which declares its allegiance to the principles of Marxism-Leninism [i]. ... 

    s and oppressive countries, particularly in Europe Europe

    Europe is one of the seven traditional continent [i]s of the Earth [i]. ... 

     and Asia Asia

    Asia is the largest and most populous continent [i] or region, depending on the definition.... 

    . Many Voice of America announcers, such as Willis Conover, Pat Gates, and Judy Massa became world-wide celebrities.

    The Voice of America headquarters is located at 330 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC Washington, D.C.

    Washington, D.C. is the capital [i] city [i] of the United States of America [i]. ... 

    , 20237, USA. IBB runs a number of transmitting sites throughout the world, including its domestic relay stations at Greenville, North Carolina and Delano, California Delano, California

    Delano is a city in Kern County [i], California [i], United States [i]. ... 

    . IBB operates a series of relay stations outside the US: Germany Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country [i] in central Europe [i]. ... 

     , United Kingdom United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and sovereign state [i] tha ... 

    , Botswana Botswana

    Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked [i] nation in Southern Africa [i]. ... 

    , Greece Greece

    Greece
    Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ... 

    , Kuwait Kuwait

    The State of Kuwait is a small constitutional monarchy [i] on the coast of the Persian Gulf [i], enclos ... 

    , Morocco Morocco

    The Kingdom of Morocco is a country in North Africa [i]. ... 

    , Saipan Saipan

    [i]
    ... 

     & Tinian Tinian

    Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands [i]. ... 

    , Philippines Philippines

    The Philippines , officially the Republic of the Philippines , is an island nation [i] located in ... 

    , São Tomé São Tomé

    So Tom is the capital city [i] of So Tom and Prncipe [i] and is by far the nation's largest town. ... 

    , Sri Lanka Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is a tropical [i] island nation [i] ... 

    , Thailand Thailand

    The Kingdom of Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia [i], bordering Laos [i] and Cambodia [i] to the e ... 

    , and recently Pakistan Pakistan

    [i] located in [[South Asia]... 

    . Guam Guam

    Guam , officially the U.S.... 

     relay stations are available for use if crises in East Asia develop.

    Pakistani Service


    The Voice of America program. Khabron Se Agay, is telecast in Pakistan Pakistan

    [i] located in [[South Asia]... 

     by GEO TV Geo TV

    Geo TV or GEO Television is Urdu [i]-language Pakistan [i]i television network [i] that was establ... 

    . VOA says the program's purpose is to foster further understanding between the Pakistani and American peoples. This program includes documentaries about the United States and its people and about Pakistanis who are living in United States.

    A comparison of VOA-RFE-RL-RM to other broadcasters






    Programming

    The Voice of America has 22 domestic and 16 overseas correspondents, who are U.S. citizens and employees of the U.S. government. They are augmented by contract correspondents and part-time "stringers," in numerous countries, who file in English and numerous languages used by VOA's various language services. The interval signal is "Yankee Doodle," played by a brass band, followed by the announcement: "this is the Voice of America, signing on." For many years "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" was used for the interval signal .

    VOA allocates a certain amount of its budget to television production and programming.

    Featured shows

    • Acoustic cafe

    Controversy


    National sovereignty

    Some critics have suggested that the US government violates national sovereignty by broadcasting and operating in their countries.

    In March 2006, five Voice of America staff were arrested on anti-state charges in Ethiopia. Charges were later dropped by the Ethiopian government.

    Paying for appearances

    Recently, news accounts charge that VOA has for years been paying mainstream media journalists to appear on their shows. According to and the , these include: David Lightman, the Hartford Courant's Washington bureau chief; Tom DeFrank, head of the New York Daily News' Washington office; Helle Dale, a former director of the opinion pages of the Washington Times; Georgie Anne Geyer, a nationally syndicated columnist; and Pablo Alfonso, staff reporter for El Nuevo Herald, and Wilfredo Cancio, a writer for the paper.

    In response, spokesmen for the Broadcasting Board of Governors told the newspaper El Nuevo Herald that such payments do not pose a conflict of interest. "For decades, for many, many years, some of the most respectable journalists in the country have received payments to participate in programs of the Voice of America," one of the spokesmen, Larry Hart, told

    =See also=
    • Radio Free Europe
    • Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle

      ----
    • 4 x 500 kW SW transmitters, each with Thomcast rotating antenna

    ... 


    • Radio Free Asia
    • Pentagon Channel Pentagon Channel

      The Pentagon Channel is a TV channel devoted to covering the US Armed Forces, primarily for viewing by t... 

    • American Forces Network American Forces Network

      * Transmitter Ismaning [i]
    • Hirschlanden transmitter [i]

    ... 



    ... 


    • Voice of Russia Voice of Russia

      Voice of Russia is the Russia [i]n government's international radio broadcasting service.... 

    • Radio Canada International Radio Canada International

      name= Radio Canada International

    ... 


    External links

    • ¨The SWDXER¨ - with general SWL information and radio antenna tips.