Voice of America facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Voice of America

Abbreviation	VoA
Founded	February 1, 1942; 82 years ago (1942-02-01)
Type	International state-funded broadcaster
Headquarters	Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building
Location	Washington, D.C., United States
Director	John Lippman (acting, since October 2023)
Budget (Fiscal year 2023)	US$267.5 million
Staff (2021)	961

Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S.-funded international broadcasters. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 49 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world. Its targeted and primary audience is non-American. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326 million adults per week across all platforms.

VOA was established in 1942, and the VOA charter was signed into law in 1976 by U.S. President Gerald Ford. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent agency of the U.S. government. Funds are appropriated annually under the budget for embassies and consulates. As of 2022, VOA had a weekly worldwide audience of approximately 326 million (up from 237 million in 2016) and employed 961 staff with an annual budget of $267.5 million.

Voice of America is seen by some listeners as having a positive impact while others like lecturer Faizullah Jan of Pakistan's University of Peshawar see it as both that and in addition as American propaganda; it also serves US diplomacy.

Languages

The Voice of America website had five English-language broadcasts as of 2014 (worldwide, Learning English, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, and Tibet). Additionally, the VOA website has versions in 48 foreign languages.

Radio programs are marked with an "R"; TV programs with a "T":

The number of languages varies according to the priorities of the United States government and the world situation.

History

American private shortwave broadcasting before World War II

Voice of America headquarters

Before World War II, all American shortwave radio stations were in private hands. Privately controlled shortwave networks included the National Broadcasting Company's International Network (or White Network), which broadcast in six languages, the Columbia Broadcasting System's Latin American international network, which consisted of 64 stations located in 18 countries, the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio, and General Electric which owned and operated WGEO and WGEA, both based in Schenectady, New York, and KGEI in San Francisco, all of which had shortwave transmitters. Experimental programming began in the 1930s, but there were fewer than 12 transmitters in operation.

In 1939, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission set the following policy, which was intended to enforce the US State Department's Good Neighbor Policy, but which some broadcasters felt was an attempt to direct censorship:

A licensee of an international broadcast station shall render only an international broadcast service which will reflect the culture of this country and which will promote international goodwill, understanding and cooperation. Any program solely intended for, and directed to an audience in the continental United States does not meet the requirements for this service.

Around 1940, shortwave signals to Latin America were regarded as vital to counter Nazi propaganda. Initially, the US Office of the Coordinator of Information sent releases to each station, but this was seen as an inefficient means of transmitting news. The director of Latin American relations at the Columbia Broadcasting System was Edmund A. Chester, and he supervised the development of CBS's extensive "La Cadena de las Américas" radio network to improve broadcasting to South America during the 1940s.

World War II

Even before the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government's Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI) had already begun providing war news and commentary to the commercial American shortwave radio stations for use on a voluntary basis, through its Foreign Information Service (FIS) headed by playwright Robert E. Sherwood, who served as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech writer and information advisor. Direct programming began a week after the United States' entry into World War II in December 1941, with the first broadcast from the San Francisco office of the FIS via General Electric's KGEI transmitting to the Philippines in English (other languages followed). The next step was to broadcast to Germany, which was called Stimmen aus Amerika ("Voices from America") and was transmitted on February 1, 1942. It was introduced by the “Battle Hymn of the Republic" and included the pledge: "Today, and every day from now on, we will be with you from America to talk about the war... The news may be good or bad for us – We will always tell you the truth." Roosevelt approved this broadcast, which then-Colonel William J. Donovan (COI) and Sherwood (FIS) had recommended to him. It was Sherwood who actually coined the term "The Voice of America" to describe the shortwave network that began its transmissions on February 1, from 270 Madison Avenue in New York City.

The Office of War Information, when organized in the middle of 1942, officially took over VOA's operations. VOA reached an agreement with the British Broadcasting Corporation to share medium-wave transmitters in Great Britain, and expanded into Tunis in North Africa and Palermo and Bari, Italy, as the Allies captured these territories. The OWI also set up the American Broadcasting Station in Europe. Asian transmissions started with one transmitter in California in 1941; services were expanded by adding transmitters in Hawaii and, after recapture, the Philippines.

By the end of the war, VOA had 39 transmitters and provided service in 40 languages. Programming was broadcast from production centers in New York and San Francisco, with more than 1,000 programs originating from New York. Programming consisted of music, news, commentary, and relays of U.S. domestic programming, in addition to specialized VOA programming. About half of VOA's services, including the Arabic service, were discontinued in 1945. In late 1945, VOA was transferred to the US Department of State.

Also included among the cultural diplomacy programming on the Columbia Broadcasting System was the musical show Viva America (1942–49) which featured the Pan American Orchestra and the artistry of several noted musicians from both North and South America, including Alfredo Antonini, Juan Arvizu, Eva Garza, Elsa Miranda, Nestor Mesta Chaires, Miguel Sandoval, John Serry Sr., and Terig Tucci. By 1945, broadcasts of the show were carried by 114 stations on CBS's "La Cadena de las Américas" network in 20 Latin American nations. These broadcasts proved to be highly successful in supporting President Roosevelt's policy of Pan-Americanism throughout South America during World War II.

Cold War

The Iron Curtain, in black.      NATO members      Warsaw Pact countries

The VOA ramped up its operations during the Cold War. Foy Kohler, the director of VOA during the Cold War, strongly believed that the VOA was serving its purpose, which he identified as aiding in the fight against communism. He argued that the numbers of listeners they were getting such as 194,000 regular listeners in Sweden, and 2.1 million regular listeners in France, was an indication of a positive impact. As further evidence, he noted that the VOA received 30,000 letters a month from listeners all over the world, and hundreds of thousands of requests for broadcasting schedules. There was an analysis done of some of those letters sent in 1952 and 1953 while Kohler was still director. The study found that letter writing could be an indicator of successful, actionable persuasion. It was also found that broadcasts in different countries were having different effects. In one country, regular listeners adopted and practiced American values presented by the broadcast. Age was also a factor: younger and older audiences tended to like different types of programs, no matter the country. Kohler used all of this as evidence to claim that the VOA helped to grow and strengthen the free world. It also influenced the UN in their decision to condemn communist actions in Korea, and was a major factor in the decline of communism in the "free world, including key countries such as Italy and France. In Italy, the VOA did not just bring an end to communism, but it caused the country to Americanize. The VOA also had an impact behind the Iron Curtain. Practically all defectors during Kohler's time said that the VOA helped in their decision to defect. Another indication of impact, according to Kohler, was the Soviet response. Kohler argued that the Soviets responded because the VOA was having an impact. Based on Soviet responses, it can be presumed that the most effective programs were ones that compared the lives of those behind and outside the Iron Curtain, questions on the practice of slave labor, as well as lies and errors in Stalin's version of Marxism.

In 1947, VOA started broadcasting to the Soviet citizens in Russia under the pretext of countering "more harmful instances of Soviet propaganda directed against American leaders and policies" on the part of the internal Soviet Russian-language media, according to John B. Whitton's treatise, Cold War Propaganda. The Soviet Union responded by initiating electronic jamming of VOA broadcasts on April 24, 1949.

Charles W. Thayer headed VOA in 1948–49. Over the next few years, the U.S. government debated the best role of Voice of America. The decision was made to use VOA broadcasts as a part of U.S. foreign policy to fight the propaganda of the Soviet Union and other countries. The Arabic service resumed on January 1, 1950, with a half-hour program. This program grew to 14.5 hours daily during the Suez Crisis of 1956, and was six hours a day by 1958. Between 1952 and 1960, Voice of America used a converted U.S. Coast Guard cutter Courier as a first mobile broadcasting ship.

Willis Conover broadcasting with Voice of America in 1969

Control of VOA passed from the State Department to the U.S. Information Agency when the latter was established in 1953 to transmit worldwide, including to the countries behind the Iron Curtain and to the People's Republic of China. From 1955 until 2003, VOA broadcast American jazz on the Voice of America Jazz Hour. Hosted for most of that period by Willis Conover, the program had 30 million listeners at its peak. A program aimed at South Africa in 1956 broadcast two hours nightly, and special programs such as The Newport Jazz Festival were also transmitted. This was done in association with tours by U.S. musicians, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington, sponsored by the State Department. From August 1952 through May 1953, Billy Brown, a high school senior in Westchester County, New York, had a Monday night program in which he shared everyday happenings in Yorktown Heights, New York. Brown's program ended due to its popularity: his "chatty narratives" attracted so much fan mail, VOA couldn't afford the $500 a month in clerical and postage costs required to respond to listeners' letters. During 1953, VOA personnel were subjected to McCarthyist policies, where VOA was accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and Gerard David Schine of intentionally planning to build weak transmitting stations to sabotage VOA broadcasts. However, the charges were dropped after one month of court hearings in February and March 1953.

Sometime around 1954, VOA's headquarters were moved from New York to Washington D.C. The arrival of cheap, low-cost transistors enabled the significant growth of shortwave radio listeners. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, VOA's broadcasts were deemed controversial, as Hungarian refugees and revolutionaries thought that VOA served as a medium and insinuated the possible arrival of the Western aid.

Throughout the Cold War, many of the targeted countries' governments sponsored jamming of VOA broadcasts, which sometimes led critics to question the broadcasts' actual impact. For example, in 1956, Polish People's Republic stopped jamming VOA transmissions, but People's Republic of Bulgaria continued to jam the signal through the 1970s. In 1966 Edward R. Murrow said that: "The Russians spend more money jamming the Voice of American than we have to spend for the entire program of the entire Agency. They spend about $125 million ($1,100,000,000 in current dollar terms) a year jamming it." Chinese-language VOA broadcasts were jammed beginning in 1956 and extending through 1976. However, after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, interviews with participants in anti-Soviet movements verified the effectiveness of VOA broadcasts in transmitting information to socialist societies. The People's Republic of China diligently jams VOA broadcasts. Cuba has also been reported to interfere with VOA satellite transmissions to Iran from its Russian-built transmission site at Bejucal. David Jackson, former director of Voice of America, noted: "The North Korean government doesn't jam us, but they try to keep people from listening through intimidation or worse. But people figure out ways to listen despite the odds. They're very resourceful."

Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech

Buzz Aldrin on the moon, in a photograph taken by Neil Armstrong, who can be seen in the visor reflection along with earth.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, VOA covered some of the era's most important news, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech and Neil Armstrong's 1969 first walk on the Moon, which drew an audience estimated at between 615 and 750 million people. In 1973, due to the détente policies in the Cold War, Soviet jamming of the VOA ceased; it restarted in 1979.

In the early 1980s, VOA began a $1.3 billion rebuilding program to improve broadcast with better technical capabilities. During the implementation of the Martial law in Poland between 1981 and 1983, VOA's Polish broadcasts expanded to seven hours daily. Throughout the 1980s, VOA focused on covering events from the 'American hinterland', such as 150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail. Also in the 1980s, VOA also added a television service, as well as special regional programs to Cuba, Radio Martí and TV Martí. Cuba has consistently attempted to jam such broadcasts and has vociferously protested U.S. broadcasts directed at Cuba. In September 1980, VOA started broadcasting to Afghanistan in Dari and in Pashto in 1982. In 1985, VOA Europe was created as a special service in English that was relayed via satellite to AM, FM, and cable affiliates throughout Europe. With a contemporary format including live disc jockeys, the network presented top musical hits as well as VOA news and features of local interest (such as "EuroFax") 24 hours a day. VOA Europe was closed down without advance public notice in January 1997 as a cost-cutting measure. It was followed by VOA Express, which from July 4, 1999, revamped into VOA Music Mix. Since November 1, 2014, stations are offered VOA1 (which is a rebranding of VOA Music Mix).

In 1989, Voice of America expanded its Mandarin and Cantonese programming to reach the millions of Chinese and inform the country about the pro-democracy movement within the country, including the demonstration in Tiananmen Square. Starting in 1990, the U.S. consolidated its international broadcasting efforts, with the establishment of the Bureau of Broadcasting.

Post–Cold War

With the breakup of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe, VOA added many additional language services to reach those areas. This decade was marked by the additions of services in Standard Tibetan, Kurdish (to Iran and Iraq), Serbo-Croatian (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian), Macedonian, and Rwanda-Rundi.

In 1993, the Clinton administration advised cutting funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as it believed post-Cold War information and influence was not needed in Europe. This plan was not well received, and US President Bill Clinton then proposed the compromise of the International Broadcasting Act, which he signed into law in 1994. This law established the International Broadcasting Bureau as a part of the United States Information Agency (USIA), and established the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) with oversight authority, which took control from the Board for International Broadcasters which previously had overseen funding for RFE/RL. In 1998, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act was signed into law, and mandated that the BBG become an independent federal agency as of October 1, 1999. This act also abolished the USIA, and merged most of its functions into those of the State Department.

In 1994, Voice of America became the first broadcast-news organization to offer continuously updated programs on the Internet.

Cuts in services

The Arabic Service was abolished in 2002 and replaced by a new radio service, called the Middle East Radio Network or Radio Sawa, with an initial budget of $22 million. Radio Sawa offered mostly Western and Middle Eastern popular songs with periodic brief news bulletins. Today, the network has expanded to television with Alhurra and to various social media and websites. On May 16, 2004, Worldnet, a satellite television service, was merged into the VOA network.

Radio programs in Russian ended in July 2008. In September 2008, VOA eliminated the Hindi-language service after 53 years. Broadcasts in Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian, and Bosnian also ended. These reductions were part of American efforts to concentrate more resources to broadcast to the Muslim world. In September 2010, VOA began radio broadcasts in Sudan. As U.S. interests in South Sudan grew, there was a desire to provide people with free information.

In 2013, VOA ended foreign-language transmissions on shortwave and medium wave to Albania, Georgia, Iran, and Latin America, as well as English-language broadcasts to the Middle East and Afghanistan. This was done due to budget cuts. On July 1, 2014, VOA cut most of its English-language transmissions to Asia, as well as shortwave transmissions in Azerbaijani, Bengali, Khmer, Kurdish, Lao, and Uzbek. The following month, the Greek service ended after 72 years on air.

Russia

In January 2016, upon his arrival in Moscow, Russian authorities detained and then deported Jeff Shell, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees the Voice of America, despite his having a valid Russian visa. Russian authorities did not explain their actions.

In December 2017, under a new directive from Russia's Kremlin after a new law was passed by the State Duma (Russia's lower house of parliament) and the upper house Federation Council and signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Voice of America was deemed a "foreign agent" under the Russian foreign agent law. In June 2021, the Russian news agency TASS reported that Russia's state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor complained that the foreign agent Voice of America radio station challengingly refused to observe Russian law because it had not established a Russian legal entity. Roskomnadzor also said that VOA was as a foreign agent "obliged to mark their content and provide information about all aspects of their activity, including a detailed description of contacts with the authorities."

In March 2022, VOA and other news broadcasters, including the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Deutsche Welle were blocked in Russia, as after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities increased censorship of independent journalism, anti-war protests, and dissenting voices. Nevertheless, many Russians have used VPNs and other software to get around Russian government blocks. As of March 2022, VOA broadcasts were reaching people in Russia and the region through TV, FM and medium wave radio, digital, and direct-to-home satellite. In May 2023, Russia banned acting VOA chief Yolanda Lopez from ever entering the country.

List of directors

•   1941–1942 Robert E. Sherwood (Foreign Information Service)

Agencies

Voice of America has been a part of several agencies. From its founding in 1942 to 1945, it was part of the Office of War Information, and then from 1945 to 1953 as a function of the State Department. VOA was placed under the U.S. Information Agency in 1953. When the USIA was abolished in 1999, VOA was placed under the BBG which is an autonomous U.S. government agency, with bipartisan membership. The Secretary of State has a seat on the BBG. The BBG was established as a buffer to protect VOA and other U.S.-sponsored, non-military, international broadcasters from political interference. It replaced the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB) that oversaw the funding and operation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a branch of VOA.

52 Documentary

In 2021, Voice of America launched 52 Documentary, a series that publishes weekly films about human experiences. They publish on the streaming app, VOA+, and YouTube. Films average 10–15 minutes and are translated with captions in several languages, including Russian, Persian, Mandarin, Urdu, and English. Euna Lee directs the program.

Smith–Mundt Act

From 1948 until its amendment in 2013, Voice of America was forbidden to broadcast directly to American citizens, pursuant to § 501 of the Smith–Mundt Act. The intent of the 1948 legislation was to protect the American public from propaganda by its own government and to avoid any competition with private American companies. The act was amended via the passage of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013. The amendment was intended to adapt the law to the Internet and to allow American citizens access to VOA content.

Policies

VOA charter

Under the Eisenhower administration in 1959, VOA Director Henry Loomis commissioned a formal statement of principles to protect the integrity of VOA programming and define the organization's mission, and was issued by Director George V. Allen as a directive in 1960 and was endorsed in 1962 by USIA director Edward R. Murrow. The principles were signed into law (Public Laws 94-350 and 103–415) on July 12, 1976, by President Gerald Ford. It reads:

The long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio. To be effective, the Voice of America must win the attention and respect of listeners. These principles will therefore govern Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts. 1. VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive. 2. VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions. 3. VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.

"Firewall"

The Voice of America Firewall was put in place with the 1976 VOA Charter and laws passed in 1994 and 2016 as a way of ensuring the integrity of VOA's journalism. This policy fights against propaganda and promotes unbiased and objective journalistic standards in the agency. The charter is one part of this firewall and the other laws assist in ensuring high standards of journalism.

"Two-source rule"

According to former VOA correspondent Alan Heil, the internal policy of VOA News is that any story broadcast must have two independently corroborating sources or have a staff correspondent witness an event.

VOA Radiogram

VOA Radiogram was an experimental Voice of America program that started in March 2013 and ended in June 2017, which transmitted digital text and images via shortwave radiograms. There were 220 editions of the program, transmitted each weekend from the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station. The audio tones that comprised the bulk of each 30-minute program were transmitted via an analog transmitter, and could be decoded using a basic AM shortwave receiver with freely downloadable software of the Fldigi family. This software was available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD systems. Broadcasts could also be decoded using the free TIVAR app from the Google Play store using any Android device. The mode used most often on VOA Radiogram, for both text and images, was MFSK32, but other modes were also occasionally transmitted. The final edition of VOA Radiogram was transmitted during the weekend of June 17–18, 2017, a week before the retirement of the program producer from VOA. An offer to continue the broadcasts on a contract basis was declined, so a follow-on show called Shortwave Radiogram began transmission on June 25, 2017, from the WRMI transmitting site in Okeechobee, Florida.

Shortwave Radiogram program schedule

Transmission facilities

Edward R. Murrow Greenville Transmitting Station, the VOA broadcasting station in North Carolina's Inner Banks

The Delano Transmitting Station was closed in 2007.

The Bethany Relay Station, operational from 1944 to 1994, was based on a 625-acre (2.53 km²) site in Union Township (now West Chester Township) in Butler County, Ohio, near Cincinnati. Major transmitter upgrades first were undertaken around 1963, when shortwave and medium-wave transmitters were built, upgraded, or rebuilt. The site is now a recreational park with a Voice of America museum. Other former sites include California (Dixon and Delano), Hawaii, Okinawa, Liberia (Monrovia), Costa Rica, Belize, and at least two in Greece (Kavala and Rhodos).

Between 1983 and 1990, VOA made significant upgrades to transmission facilities in Botswana (Selebi-Phikwe), Morocco, Thailand (Udon Thani), Kuwait, and São Tomé (Almas). Some of them are shared with Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

VOA and USAGM continue to operate shortwave radio transmitters and antenna farms at International Broadcasting Bureau Greenville Transmitting Station (known as "Site B") in the United States, close to Greenville, North Carolina. They do not use FCC-issued call signs, since the FCC does not regulate communications by other federal government agencies. The International Broadcasting Bureau also operates transmission facilities on São Tomé and Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac, Philippines for VOA.

List of languages

Language	Target audience	from	to	Website	Remarks
English	Worldwide	1942	present	www.voanews.com
Mandarin Chinese	Republic of China (1941–1949)  People's Republic of China (1949–present)	1941	present	美国之音	see also Radio Free Asia
Cantonese	Guangdong Guangxi  Hong Kong (1997–present)  Macau (1999–present)	1941 1949 1987	1945 1963 present	美國之音	see also Radio Free Asia
Brazilian Portuguese	Brazil	1941 1946 1961	1945 1948 2001	–
Amoy	Fujian (1941–1945, 1951–1963) Japanese Taiwan (1941–1945)  Taiwan (1951–1963)	1941 1951	1945 1963	–
Tagalog/Filipino	Commonwealth of the Philippines (1941–1942, 1945–1946) Philippine Executive Commission (1942–1943) Republic of the Philippines (1943–1945)	1941	1946	–
Korean	Japanese Korea (1942–1945) People's Republic of Korea (1945) Soviet Civil Administration in North Korea (1945–1948)  North Korea (1948–present) United States Army Military Government in Korea (1945–1948)  South Korea (1948–present)	1942	present	VOA 한국어	see also Radio Free Asia
Indonesian	Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies (1942–1945)  Dutch East Indies (1945–1949)  Netherlands New Guinea (1949–1962) West New Guinea (UN Protectorate) (1962–1963) Republic of Indonesia (1945–1949) United States of Indonesia (1949–1950)  Indonesia (1950–present)	1942	present	Voice of America Indonesia|
Turkish	Turkey	1942 1948	1945 present	Amerika'nın Sesi VOA Türkçe
Spanish	Latin America	1942 1946 1953 1961	1945 1948 1956 present	Voz de América	see also Radio y Televisión Martí
Persian	Imperial State of Iran (1942–1945, 1949–1960, 1964–1966)  Islamic Republic of Iran (1979–present)	1942 1949 1964 1979	1945 1960 1966 present	صدای آمریکا	see also Radio Farda
Thai	Thailand	1942 1962 1988	1958 1988 present	วอยซ์ ออฟ อเมริกา
Greek	Hellenic State (1942–1944) Axis-occupied Greece (1942–1944) Italian Islands of the Aegean (1942–1945) Kingdom of Greece (1944–1973)  Hellenic Republic (1973–2014)	1942	2014	Φωνή της Αμερικής (no longer active, kept for historical reasons)
Bulgarian	Kingdom of Bulgaria (1942–1946) Bulgarian People's Republic (1946–1989)  Bulgaria (1989–2004)	1942	2004	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Czech	Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1942–1945) Czech-inhabited lands of Czechoslovak Republic (1945–1960) Czech-inhabited lands of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1969) Czech SR (1969–1990)  Czech Republic (1990–2004)	1942	2004	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Hungarian	Kingdom of Hungary Hungarian Republic (1946–1949)  Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989)  Hungary (1989–1993)	1942	2004	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Polish	General Government of Polish Region (1942–1944) Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany Republic of Poland (1944–1945) Republic of Poland (1945–1947)  Polish People's Republic (1947–1989)  Poland (1990–2004)	1942	2004	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Romanian	Kingdom of Romania (1942–1947) Romanian People's Republic (1947–1965)  Socialist Republic of Romania (1965–1989)  Romania (1989–2004)	1942	2004	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Slovak	Slovak Republic (1942–1945) Slovak-inhabited lands of Czechoslovak Republic (1945–1960) Slovak-inhabited lands of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1969) Slovak SR (1969–1990)  Slovakia (1990–2004)	1942	2004	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Arabic	Arab World	1942 1950	1945 2002	–	see also Radio Sawa and Alhurra
Spanish	Spanish State (1942–1955, 1955–1975)  Spain (1975–1993)	1942 1955	1955 1993	– (for local radio stations)
Portuguese	Portugal (1942–1945, 1951–1953)  Portugal (1976–1987, 1987–1993)	1942 1951 1976 1987	1945 1953 1987 1993	–     (for local radio stations)
German	German Reich (1942–1943) German-occupied Austria (1942–1945) Greater German Reich (1943–1945)  Allied-occupied Germany (1945–1949)  Saar Protectorate (1947–1956) Federal Republic of Germany (1949–1960) Allied-occupied Berlin (1949–1960)  German Democratic Republic (1949–1960)  Germany (1991–1993)	1942 1991	1960 1993	–
Japanese	Empire of Japan (1942–1945) Occupied Japan (1951–1952)  Japan (1952–1962)	1942 1951	1945 1962	–
French	French State (1942–1944)  Free France (1942–1944) Military Administration in France (1942–1944) French- and Walloon-inhabited lands of Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France (1942–1944) French- and Walloon-inhabited lands of Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France (1944) Italian Military Administration in France (1942–1943) Occupied Corsica (1942–1943) French Republic (1944–1946) French Republic (1946–1958) French Republic (1958–1961)	1942	1961	–
Italian	Kingdom of Italy (1942–1945)  Italian Republic (1951–1957) Free Territory of Trieste (1951–1954)	1942 1951	1945 1957	–
Finnish	Finland	1942 1951	1945 1953	–
Afrikaans	Union of South Africa	1942	1949	–
Danish	Denmark	1942	1945	–
Flemish	Flemish-inhabited lands of Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France (1942–1944) Flemish-inhabited lands of Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France (1944) Reichsgau Flandern (1944–1945)	1942	1945	–
Norwegian	Reichskommissariat Norwegen	1942	1945	–
Serbian	Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia + German-occupied Montenegro (1943–1944) Federated State of Serbia + Federated State of Montenegro (1944–1946) People's Republic of Serbia + People's Republic of Montenegro (1946–1963)  Socialist Republic of Serbia + Socialist Republic of Montenegro (1963–1992)  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2003)  State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)  Serbia (2006–present)  Montenegro (2006–present)	1943	present	Glas Amerike	see also Radio Free Europe
Albanian	Albanian Kingdom (1943–1944) Democratic Government of Albania (1944–1945)  People's Republic of Albania (1951–1976)  People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1976–1998)  Republic of Albania (1998–present)  Kosovo Republic of Kosovo (2008–present)	1943 1951	1945 present	Zëri i Amerikës	see also Radio Free Europe
Burmese	State of Burma (1943–1945)  Union of Burma (1951–1974)  Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (1974–1988)  Union of Myanmar (1988–2011)  Myanmar (2011–present)	1943 1951	1945 present	ဗီြအိုေအသတင္းဌာန	see also Radio Free Asia
Vietnamese	French Indochina (1943–1945) Empire of Vietnam (1945) Protectorate of Tonkin + Protectorate of Annam + French Cochinchina (1945–1946)  State of Vietnam (1951–1955)  North Vietnam (1955–1976)  South Vietnam (1955–1975) Occupied South Vietnam (1969–1976)  Vietnam (1976–present)	1943 1951	1946 present	Ðài Tiếng nói Hoa Kỳ	see also Radio Free Asia
Croatian	Independent State of Croatia (1943–1945) Federated State of Croatia (1945–1946) People's Republic of Croatia (1946–1963) Socialist Republic of Croatia (1963–1990) Republic of Croatia (1990–1991)  Croatia (1991–2011)	1943	2011	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Swedish	Sweden	1943	1945	–
Slovene	Slovenian-inhabited lands of Reichsgau Steiermark, Reichsgau Kärnten and Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (1944–1945) People's Republic of Slovenia (1949–1963) Socialist Republic of Slovenia (1963–1990)  Slovenia (1990–2004)	1944 1949	1945 2004	–
Wu Chinese	Shanghai	1944	1946	–
Dutch	Reichskommissariat Niederlande	1944	1945	–
Icelandic	Kingdom of Iceland	1944	1944	–
Russian	Russian SFSR (1947–1991)  Russia (1991–present)	1947	present	Голос Америки	see also Radio Liberty
Ukrainian	Ukrainian SSR (1949–1991)  Ukraine (1991–present)	1949	present	Голос Америки	see also Radio Liberty
Armenian	Armenian SSR (1951–1991)  Armenia (1991–present)	1951	present (web)	Ամերիկայի Ձայն	see also Radio Liberty
Georgian	Georgian SSR (1951–1991)  Georgia (1991–present)	1951	present (web)	–	see also Radio Liberty
Urdu	Pakistan	1951 1954	1953 present	وائس آف امریکہ
Azerbaijani	Azeri SSR (1951–1953, 1982–1991)  Azerbaijan (1991–present)	1951 1982	1953 present (web)	Amerikanın Səsi	see also Radio Liberty
Hindi	Northern  India	1951 1954	1953 2008	–
Estonian	Soviet-occupied Estonia (1951–1990)  Estonia (1990–2004)	1951	2004	–	see also Radio Liberty
Latvian	Soviet-occupied Latvia (1951–1990)  Latvia (1990–2004)	1951	2004	–	see also Radio Liberty
Lithuanian	Soviet-occupied Lithuania (1951–1990)  Lithuania (1990–2004)	1951	2004	–	see also Radio Liberty
Malayan	Federation of Malaya	1951	1955	–
Hakka	Hakka-inhabited lands of Southern  People's Republic of China	1951	1954	–
Hebrew	Israel	1951	1953	–
Swatow	Shantou	1951	1953	–
Tatar	Tatar ASSR	1951	1953	–	see also Radio Liberty
Tamil	Madras State (1954–1969) Tamil Nadu (1969–1970)  Dominion of Ceylon (Sri Lanka, ex-Ceylon)	1954	1970	–
Khmer	Kingdom of Cambodia (1955–1957, 1962–1970)  Khmer Republic (1970–1975) Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979)  People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989) State of Cambodia (1989–1993) Kingdom of Cambodia (1993–present)	1955 1962	1957 present	វីអូអេ www.voacambodia.com	see also Radio Free Asia
Malayalam	Kerala Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands	1956	1961	–
Gujarati	Gujarati-inhabited lands of Bombay State	1956	1958	–
Telugu	Andhra Pradesh	1956	1958	–
Belarusian	Byelorussian SSR	1956	1957	–	see also Radio Liberty
Bengali	Bangladesh  India	1958	present	ভয়েস অফ আমেরিকা
French (to Africa)		1960	present	VOA Afrique
Sindhi	Pakistan	2022 July	present	VOA Sindhi
Lao	Kingdom of Laos (1962–1975)  Lao People's Democratic Republic (1975–present)	1962	present	ສຽງອາເມຣິກາ ວີໂອເອ	see also Radio Free Asia
Swahili		1962	present	Sauti ya Amerika
English (to Africa)		1963 August 4	present	www.voaafrica.com www.voazimbabwe.com
Uzbek	Uzbek SSR (1972–1991)  Uzbekistan (1991–present)	1972	present	Amerika Ovozi	see also Radio Liberty
Portuguese (to Africa)		1976	present	Voz da América
Hausa	Nigeria	1979 January 21	present	Muryar Amurka
Dari	Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1980–1987) Republic of Afghanistan (1987–1992)  Islamic State of Afghanistan (1992–1996, 2001–2002)  Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001) Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (2002–2004) Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021)	1980	present	صدای امریکا
Amharic	Ethiopia	1982 September	present	የአሜሪካ ድምፅ
Pashto	Pashtun-inhabited lands of  Afghanistan	1982	present	اشنا راډیو
Creole	Haiti	1987	present	Lavwadlamerik
Tibetan	Tibet Autonomous Region Qinghai  Bhutan	1991	present	ཨ་རིའི་རླུང་འཕྲིན་ཁང་། www.voatibetanenglish.com	see also Radio Free Asia
Kurdish	Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Kurdish inhabited lands of Turkey Kurdish inhabited lands of Iran	1992	present	ده‌نگی ئه‌مه‌ریکا Dengê Amerîka
Somali	Somalia  Somaliland	1992 2007	1995 present	VOA Somali
Nepali	Kingdom of Nepal	1992	1993	–
Afaan Oromo	Oromia Region	1996 July	present	Sagalee Ameerikaa
Bosnian	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1996	present	Glas Amerike	see also Radio Free Europe
Kinyarwanda/Kirundi	Rwanda  Burundi Eastern  Democratic Republic of the Congo Southern  Uganda Northwestern  Tanzania	1996 July	present	Ijwi ry'Amerika
Tigrinya	Eritrea	1996 July	present	ድምፂ ረድዮ ኣሜሪካ
Macedonian	Republic of Macedonia	1999	2008	–	see also Radio Free Europe
Ndebele	Zimbabwe	2003	present	VOA Ndebele
Shona	Zimbabwe  Mozambique	2003	present	VOA Shona
Pashto	Pashtun-inhabited lands of  Pakistan	2006	present	ډیوه ریډیو
Bambara	Mali	2013 March	present	VOA Bambara

In different regions

China

A study was done on Chinese students in America. It found that through the VOA, they disapproved of the actions of the Chinese government. Another study was done on Chinese scholars in America, and found that the VOA had an effect on their political beliefs. Their political beliefs did not change in relation to China, though, as they did not tend to believe the VOA's reports on China.

Kurdistan and Iran

VOA's service in Iran had a negative impact on Kurds and Kurdistan according to the publication Kurdish Life in 2000. They claimed that the VOA exacerbated the conflict between the Talabani and the Barzani. They further claimed that the VOA covered up wrongful imprisonments, wrongful arrests, and the building of extremist mosques. According to the same publication, Kurds were being turned into fanatics, and a new generation of terrorists was forming because of the VOA. They claimed the VOA was doing this to help PUK.

Pakistan

The VOA's DEEWA Radio airs in Pakistan. Although in 2015 some listeners were suspicious that the program was promoting an American agenda, others said they were experiencing a positive effect. Some listeners felt that the programs were giving a voice to the voiceless, giving them a sense of empowerment. In 2018, the Pakistani authorities blocked the website of VOA's Pashto and Urdu language radio service.

Russia

In response to the request of the United States Department of Justice that RT register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Russia's Justice Ministry Konovalov labeled Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as foreign agents in December 2017.

Turkey

On June 30, 2022, the Turkish media watchdog, Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), blocked access to VOA's website amerikaninsesi.com in Turkey because VOA had not applied for the necessary licence, which would subject VOA to certain obligations. The RTÜK regulation requires foreign news outlets that publish in Turkey to apply for publication licenses, mandates that at least half of the media organization be owned by a Turkish citizen, and would force VOA to remove content deemed inappropriate by RTÜK. VOA Turkish subsequently broadcast over a different VOA website domain name, voaturkce.com, which in August 2023 was blocked as well. VOA said that "Given VOA's status as a public service international broadcaster legally required to provide 'accurate, objective, and comprehensive' news coverage to its global audience, VOA cannot comply with any directive intended to enable censorship." VOA Turkey, after it was blocked, shared instructions on its social media accounts as to how to use VPN to access its content.

See also

In Spanish: Voz de América para niños