* VOA produces television programs in these languages.
Budget: For Fiscal Year 2006, the U.S. Congress appropriated $166 million for VOA, including funds for radio and television, exclusive of transmission and other support activities.
Employees: The Voice of America employs more than 1,149 employees who are posted in the U.S. and overseas.
VOA Newscenter: On February 24, 2004, VOA unveiled a new state-of-the-art Newscenter which brought together VOA’s radio, television and Internet professionals, along with studios, edit suites, and intake facilities. The Newscenter houses the VOA newsroom, which is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The newsroom provides news reports for all 44 languages broadcast by VOA for use on radio, television, and the Internet. At the front of the newsroom is a television control room and three sets for programs. There are also three voice booths, two radio studios with control rooms, six video edit suites, and two digital audio mix/dub centers.
Correspondents: In addition to the newsroom's writers and editors, there are 22 domestic and 16 overseas correspondents who file reports daily. A worldwide network of more than 90 "stringers," or part-time reporters, file in English and other languages for use by all VOA broadcasters. The daily file of correspondent and stringer reports ranges from 25 to 50 reports a day.
Tuning in to VOA: VOA broadcasts via shortwave, AM, and FM radio, satellite television and the Internet via www.VOANews.com. Section 501 of the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 prohibits VOA from broadcasting into the United States.
Schedule Information: A VOA Program Guide is available online. It includes schedules, frequencies, and articles. Shortwave frequencies are also available separately. To receive print versions, you can send an e-mail to letters@VOA.gov or write to the Audience Mail Unit, Voice of America, 330 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20237.
Radio Overview: VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of radio per week, in 44 languages. Please see our Radio Programs list for examples of our shows.
Television Overview: Television programs are produced in 24 languages--Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Cantonese, Croatian, Dari, English, French, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Macedonian, Mandarin, Pashto, Persian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Uzbek. (For a complete listing, see above.)
Internet: VOA uses a distributed network, including over 14,000 servers in more than 65 countries, to deliver Internet content. VOA provides the latest text news and information on www.VOANews.com, along with audio and video features. News is also available via e-mail subscription service in English and an increasing number of broadcast languages. VOA streams live and on-demand its more than 1,000 hours of programs each week.
Transmitting Stations: A global network of transmitting stations (including two domestic) operated by the International Broadcasting Bureau, along with some leased stations, send VOA's programs to its international audience via satellite, shortwave, and medium wave.
VOA Headquarters: VOA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., at the foot of Capitol Hill on Independence Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets, S.W. Most programming is produced at this location and broadcast to listeners, viewers, and affiliate stations around the world. The building is equipped with 28 radio broadcast studios, 20 production and recording studios, 36 professional audio mixing and dubbing stations, and four television studios. In addition, VOA has two radio studios with cameras and lights for basic television with a "radio look," 18 video editing suites, and separate radio and TV master control, recording, scheduling, and feed intake facilities.
History: VOA began in response to the need of peoples in closed and war-torn societies for a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. The first VOA broadcast originated from New York City on February 24, 1942, just 79 days after the United States entered World War II. Speaking in German, announcer William Harlan Hale told his listeners, "Here speaks a voice from America. Every day at this time we will bring you the news of the war. The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."
QSL Card or Reception Report: In order to receive a QSL card or a reception report please send your request to VOA and include the time in UTC, the date of the broadcast, the frequency and a short comment about the program. Reception reports can be sent via email to letters@VOA.gov or to the Audience Mail unit at the Voice of America, 330 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20237. The information will then be verified, and VOA will respond with a signed QSL.
Employment Opportunities: VOA job listings and information on internship opportunities can be accessed online, or you may call VOA's job hotline at (202) 619-0909, or inquire about an internship at (202) 619-3117.
Didn't find what you need? Please e-mail your question to publicaffairs@voa.gov, or call us at (202) 203-4959.
