What are Voice of America and Radio Free Europe?

[flygal]

Are these both funded by U.S. to promote the war?

[Tace]

1. Yes, They Are US Propaganda Radio Networks

Paid-for with tax dollars.

[Smeggy]

2. not really

Generally Voice Of America documents society in america. And generally Radio Free Europe used to be anti comunnist propaganda which is now just used to broadcast news.

[Tangledog]

3. Shortwave, or "world services"

International broadcasting goes back almost as far as radio. The Voice of America was established in 1942, and was basically English-language news about the United States, for an overseas audience including expatriate Americans or Americans in the military or the diplomatic service. Voices from home, you might say. It expanded its mission to include broadcasts in other languages, including German. They also have a lot of "English by Radio" stuff.

Their most popular on-air personality ever was Willis Conover, who played jazz records, and announced them in a very slow, syllable-by-syllable monotone that sounded weird to English-speakers but went over great with people who might otherwise have trouble with "Diz Zee Gil Less Pee" or "John Coal Tray Nnn". He got mobbed like a fifth Beatle at an airport in Poland once.

Radio Free Europe (for the East European "satellite" nations) and Radio Liberty (for the USSR) started out as more pointedly propaganda, or in opposition to the Communist regimes, but overall did a pretty honorable job, and listeners in those places considered them to have a lot of cred.

VoA has been accused of pushing the agenda of the current administration on occasion, notably during the early Reagan years (I'm not sure about before that), and has never had quite the international following of the BBC, but it's overall done an honorable job. You can keep tabs on them at

http://www.voanews.com/english/portal.cfm

For a long time, VoA was not allowed to communicate directly with Americans living in the USA. That is, shortwave listeners tend to communicate a lot with their favored stations, writing reception reports, commentaries, fan letters, and begging for trinkets. (Shameless plug: if you go to

http://www.flyingturkeys.com/lsw/

and poke around the various essays, you'll see scans of a few trinkets from my collection.) The VoA could not send trinkets, or reply to fan letters, from US-based Americans, because of various subtle conflict of interest concerns.

Shortwave radio is in decline, especially in Internet-wired places, but has a noble history and is still utilized here and there. A couple of years ago, I got an email from some people who were trying to set up a clandestine shortwave station to help rally Zimbabweans against Mugabe's rule. I used to publish a journal about shortwave, and though I've been away from it for years, I'll try to help with any further questions from people I haven't already bored to sleep!!

[flygal]

5. Thank you - that helped a lot!

[Taxloss]

4. We can get VOA in the UK

There was an interesting story from the 1950s. Wallace Greenslade - an enormously respected radio announcer of the time, Walter Cronkite-level - once introduced a radio comedy show by saying: "This is the Voice of Americ ... I'm sorry, the BBC Home Service."

It was a joke about the Post-War Atlanticist surge. But some read it as an attack on our allies and the BBC, and there was some controversy over it. Very different times.