Radio Farda Consolidates Management
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will consolidate the management of Radio Farda under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) as of July 7, 2008. RFE/RL and the Voice of America (VOA) had jointly operated this Persian-language radio and Internet service since its inception in December 2002.
The new structure is designed to streamline operations of Radio Farda, which will continue its broadcasts from Washington, DC and Prague. Radio Farda’s flagship program, “Evening Magazine,” which airs at 6:30 p.m. in Tehran, will be unaffected by the changes.
Radio Farda is on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week broadcasting political, cultural and economic news, sports, and Western and Persian music to Iran. Radio Farda can also be accessed online at www.radiofarda.com.
VOA will continue its management of the VOA Persian News Network broadcasting seven hours a day of TV programming via satellite to Iran, of which four hours are also simulcast on radio. The network broadcasts a daily one-hour radio morning show and runs a 24/7 daily Internet operation at www.voanews.com.
BBG broadcasters, including Radio Farda and VOA radio and TV, reach about 1 in 3 (31.3%) adult Iranians weekly.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency supervising all U.S. government-supported, non-military international broadcasting, whose mission is to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multi-media communication of accurate, objective, and balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas. BBG broadcasting organizations include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Mart