Kari Lake previews her plans for Voice of America in the next Administration.

[kevtronics]

No country has made any kind of inroad into U.S. electronic media.

Millions of Gen Z kids get their "news" from Chinese-owned TikTok.

 

[ted chittenden]

Yes, and most of the programming done on the VOA... in terms of percentages... has been "magazine features" and things like jazz. News has been the lesser percentage of all offerings.

I've actually worked for the agency that controls VOA, Radio Martí and other services. And, as someone involved in news and talk programming in Latin America going back to the mid-1960's, I am very familiar with at least the Spanish, Portuguese and English services. I recall on one trip through Central America and northern South America in 1963 when I wanted some good international news coverage while in places like Honduras and Nicaragua, it took hours of listening to find a newscast.

I got my first shortwave receiver in 1972 as a birthday present. (it was from Radio Shack.) Even though I was legally not allowed to listen to it (the VOA couldn't target citizens inside the U.S. per Congressional mandate), I often listened anyway. From 1972 to 1998 (when I stopped listening--I've discussed *that* elsewhere), VOA ran a 6-minute newscast at the top of every hour, 2 minutes of headlines at the bottom of every hour, and 15 minutes of Special English (the news was read very slowly, using simple words for people learning English) four or five times a day at the top of the hour. While I did take some Spanish in high school, my knowledge of that language was not enough for me to gauge what the VOA did in that language, let alone any of the other languages it carried.

Ratings are a sample of a universe, usually a city. As such, they are stratified and balanced by ages, incomes, gender and other factors. In countries ranging from Argentina and Chile to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, I saw and inspected the raw data in many decades and eras and did not find evidence of VOA listening. That means, in a random probability sample, that the percentage of people listening was infinitely small... too small to be picked up by a well designed sample.

Ratings are a way to gauge the number of listeners for purposes of buying advertising time; in other words, they are primarily a tool for profit-making entities. As a government entity, the VOA's mission was not to make a profit but rather to aim its programming at countries that didn't have good relations with the United States. Many of these countries weren't friendly to the U.S. business model and any of their patrons caught listening to the VOA or other western stations could be thrown in to prison for a long period of time. In other words, ratings really didn't matter in the places that the VOA was trying to reach.

The fact that the VOA is a waste of money and does something other than what it was chartered to do makes it unneeded. The VOA was a product of the Cold War, and we can likely agree that we entered a new stage when the Berlin Wall was taken down. Today, China is attempting to dominate the world not via ideology but by trade and the financing of infrastructure in less developed nations, including the control of key metals and rare earths in places like a number of African nations. And by controlling key elements of the economy in some nations, such as the ports serving the Panama Canal, the new port NW of Lima in Peru, the ports of Esmeraldas and Guayaquil in Ecuador, etcetera.

Conceptually and ideologically, the VOA and its associated services are antiquated and obsolete.

You are taking two contradictory positions here; first, that the Chinese government is trying to control the Panama Canal (that has been debunked, by the way) and second, that the Chinese government is offering economic assistance to other countries without a political motivation (which is again, not true.) Keeping this on radio, China has *not* dropped funding or the broadcasts of its own propaganda arm, Radio China International. That station still broadcasts both online and on shortwave. And while China is *not* looking to close down the Panama Canal to U.S. shipping, it is looking (with a great deal of assistance from the current administration) to show that it and its political philosophy can provide more to other countries than the U.S. can.

No, we definitely need an international broadcaster to give not only the U.S. side of the story but to supply uncensored and unbiased news and cultural programs in a world that is now leaning heavily towards authoritarianism. The BBC used to do this on shortwave but it now does this only online and through (in the U.S.) public radio stations which are also very much under threat from the current administration.

(Hopefully, I didn't mess up the quoted passages in such a way that one cannot easily tell the differences between my comments and yours.)

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

No, we definitely need an international broadcaster to give not only the U.S. side of the story but to supply uncensored and unbiased news and cultural programs in a world that is now leaning heavily towards authoritarianism. The BBC used to do this on shortwave but it now does this only online and through (in the U.S.) public radio stations which are also very much under threat from the current administration.

(Hopefully, I didn't mess up the quoted passages in such a way that one cannot easily tell the differences between my comments and yours.)

The BBC is still on SW, in english, hausa and french to various parts of africa via AScension, Wooferton and Bulgaria.. all of which ive heard here

 

[ted chittenden]

The BBC is still on SW, in english, hausa and french to various parts of africa via AScension, Wooferton and Bulgaria.. all of which ive heard here

Thanks for the heads up. That gives me a greater motivation to get my old Panasonic RF-2800 AM/SW/FM radio working again.

 

[Mediafrog+]

The BBC is still on SW, in english, hausa and french to various parts of africa via AScension, Wooferton and Bulgaria.. all of which ive heard here

The BBC also still has shortwave beams to South and Southeast Asia. Sites in Oman, the UAE, Uzbekistan and Madagascar are used for those.

There are currently no BBC transmissions from the Spaceline facility in Bulgaria, though it has been used in the past.

BTW, there was an earlier post (#562) that I can’t quote as it was apparently misformatted, but it stated that it was illegal for people in the U.S. to listen to VOA. That has never been the case. While VOA was forbidden from targeting the domestic U.S. audience, there was no restriction on American citizens listening to the broadcasts on shortwave.

 

[ted chittenden]

The BBC also still has shortwave beams to South and Southeast Asia. Sites in Oman, the UAE, Uzbekistan and Madagascar are used for those.

There are currently no BBC transmissions from the Spaceline facility in Bulgaria, though it has been used in the past.

BTW, there was an earlier post (#562) that I can’t quote as it was apparently misformatted, but it stated that it was illegal for people in the U.S. to listen to VOA. That has never been the case. While VOA was forbidden from targeting the domestic U.S. audience, there was no restriction on American citizens listening to the broadcasts on shortwave.

That was my posting. Thanks for the correction.

 

[gr8oldies]

Millions of Gen Z kids get their "news" from Chinese-owned TikTok.

The Russians have been right here in my state, paying podcasters. U.S. says Russia funded media company that paid right-wing influencers millions for videos

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

The BBC also still has shortwave beams to South and Southeast Asia. Sites in Oman, the UAE, Uzbekistan and Madagascar are used for those.

There are currently no BBC transmissions from the Spaceline facility in Bulgaria, though it has been used in the past.

BTW, there was an earlier post (#562) that I can’t quote as it was apparently misformatted, but it stated that it was illegal for people in the U.S. to listen to VOA. That has never been the case. While VOA was forbidden from targeting the domestic U.S. audience, there was no restriction on American citizens listening to the broadcasts on shortwave.

For some reason, i thought Bulgaria was still being used. Their signals from BUL to Af on 13 and 15 mhz channels were killer here

 

[Mediafrog+]

For some reason, i thought Bulgaria was still being used. Their signals from BUL to Af on 13 and 15 mhz channels were killer here

Current BBC transmitter sites for A-25 are Woofferton, Ascension Island, Santa Maria di Galeria (Vatican Radio), UAE, Oman, Madagascar and Uzbekistan.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

X suspends account linked to Voice of America employees

The "Save VOA Now" account was created to raise public awareness about funding and employment cuts, and is run by current and former Voice of America employees.

thedesk.net

Here is an update X has suspended the account "Save the VOA" profile. Note their profiles also exist on Meta owned Facebook/Instagram, Youtube and Bluesky.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

X suspends account linked to Voice of America employees

The "Save VOA Now" account was created to raise public awareness about funding and employment cuts, and is run by current and former Voice of America employees.

thedesk.net

Here is an update X has suspended the account "Save the VOA" profile. Note their profiles also exist on Meta owned Facebook/Instagram, Youtube and Bluesky.

So much for X beating their chest over being an open platform for free speech.

 

[davideduardo]

Ratings are a way to gauge the number of listeners for purposes of buying advertising time; in other words, they are primarily a tool for profit-making entities. As a government entity, the VOA's mission was not to make a profit but rather to aim its programming at countries that didn't have good relations with the United States. Many of these countries weren't friendly to the U.S. business model and any of their patrons caught listening to the VOA or other western stations could be thrown in to prison for a long period of time. In other words, ratings really didn't matter in the places that the VOA was trying to reach.

Again, ratings are a metric of performance. VOA did not reach many people. If you believed the ratings I saw in many places in Latin America, it reached nobody.

You are taking two contradictory positions here; first, that the Chinese government is trying to control the Panama Canal (that has been debunked, by the way)

No, it has not. Panamá allowed a Chinese company to buy and control the ports at both Panama City and Colón, vital to many ships transiting the canal.

and second, that the Chinese government is offering economic assistance to other countries without a political motivation (which is again, not true.)

It is true. They give uncompromised aid to many nations, using that as a way to penetrate the "inner circle" of government.

Keeping this on radio, China has *not* dropped funding or the broadcasts of its own propaganda arm, Radio China International. That station still broadcasts both online and on shortwave.

And nobody listens.

And while China is *not* looking to close down the Panama Canal to U.S. shipping, it is looking (with a great deal of assistance from the current administration) to show that it and its political philosophy can provide more to other countries than the U.S. can.

The quote you credited to me, about getting an SW receiver in 1972, was not mine. I got my first radio with SW in about 1958, but became an AM DXer. By 1972, I had briefly owned a shortwave station but had turned in its license.

No, we definitely need an international broadcaster to give not only the U.S. side of the story but to supply uncensored and unbiased news and cultural programs in a world that is now leaning heavily towards authoritarianism.

Shortwave is dead. Totally. And the internet, the only other option today, can easily be blocked in totalitarian governed nations. So there is no purpose to the VOA.

The BBC used to do this on shortwave but it now does this only online and through (in the U.S.) public radio stations which are also very much under threat from the current administration.

And how does the U.K. benefit from a few "friendly" listeners here? The only purpose of international shortwave was to penetrate "the Iron Curtain" and other restrictive barriers to news. Now, none of those technologies reaches the desired people.

(Hopefully, I didn't mess up the quoted passages in such a way that one cannot easily tell the differences between my comments and yours.)

Yo attributed someone else's post about the 70's to me. In that decade, I was GM of various stations and groups in Puerto Rico and well beyond buying my first radio.

 

[davideduardo]

That's not true. Under the terms of the bankruptcy agreement, Mary Berner works for the lenders. She does what they tell her to do.

She is the CEO of the radio company, named by the board of directors which is dominated by the lenders, and she runs the company.

If they tell her to cut costs by shutting down AMs, that's what she does.

A board of directors, even one named by lenders, does not make small day to day decisions. They named her to the position to run the company.

Berner has teams of people who are knowledgeable about formats and technology, and those people advise her based on facts, not her personal taste or political opinion.

And no commercial radio owner or manager of any consequence runs stations based on personal preferences. We program to groups of listeners that advertisers will want to reach and pay to do so.

She personally doesn't agree with the company's talk show hosts. But they attract ratings and money, and they get to say what they want. That wasn't the process used at VOA.

But the VOA's purpose is not to "be profitable". It is to be the voice of a nation, the voice of the United States of America. Thus the name. As such, it should be totally unbiased. The current government feels that it is biased.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

So much for X beating their chest over being an open platform for free speech.

For the VOA specifically I get why the Save VOA group got banned from X its because of Elon Musk's role in the White House with running Doge. See we run into conflicts of interest issue due to how SpaceX, X and Tesla are all tied to Musk. In the past we mentioned whenever a TV or Radio host runs for office that host had to leave their TV or Radio show because of two things like the Equal time rule and conflicts of interest type stuff. How that connects to Musk and the VOA here should have been considered before he was allowed to be in the White House.

 

[TheBigA]

But the VOA's purpose is not to "be profitable". It is to be the voice of a nation, the voice of the United States of America. Thus the name. As such, it should be totally unbiased. The current government feels that it is biased.

The structure of the VOA is that the government is not allowed to make that decision. The courts agree.

As I said, they're shutting down all functions of the VOA because they don't like the news coverage, which is a small part.

The first amendment was created specifically to prevent the government from silencing dissent. Congress recognized that when they set up VOA.

 

[ted chittenden]

Again, ratings are a metric of performance. VOA did not reach many people. If you believed the ratings I saw in many places in Latin America, it reached nobody.

No, it has not. Panamá allowed a Chinese company to buy and control the ports at both Panama City and Colón, vital to many ships transiting the canal.

It is true. They give uncompromised aid to many nations, using that as a way to penetrate the "inner circle" of government.

And nobody listens.

The quote you credited to me, about getting an SW receiver in 1972, was not mine. I got my first radio with SW in about 1958, but became an AM DXer. By 1972, I had briefly owned a shortwave station but had turned in its license.

Shortwave is dead. Totally. And the internet, the only other option today, can easily be blocked in totalitarian governed nations. So there is no purpose to the VOA.

And how does the U.K. benefit from a few "friendly" listeners here? The only purpose of international shortwave was to penetrate "the Iron Curtain" and other restrictive barriers to news. Now, none of those technologies reaches the desired people.

Yo attributed someone else's post about the 70's to me. In that decade, I was GM of various stations and groups in Puerto Rico and well beyond buying my first radio.

For the record, the post you didn't write that was attributed to you was mine. I've had some problems getting my comments mixed in with others. And, since my screenreader (I'm totally blind) cannot read if and where a quoted passage is while I'm in the edit field, I have screwed up one other post besides yours in the recent past and I apologize for any inconveniences that may have resulted.

 

[gr8oldies]

So much for X beating their chest over being an open platform for free speech.

That horse left the barn awhile back

 

[cc333]

That horse left the barn awhile back

Indeed.

c

 

[davideduardo]

Here is Barrett Media's article on measuring international audiences.

How Impactful is Voice of America on the Global Radio Stage?

I did my best to determine how USAGM asks their questions, and it wasn’t easy.

barrettmedia.com

It's written by Dr Ed Cohen whose long history includes Arbitron, Birch and various broadcasters.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

X reinstates "Save VOA Now" account after erroneous suspension

X has restored an account used by advocates of the Voice of America during legal challenges over the broadcaster's fate.

thedesk.net

Here is an update on the Save VOA page on X.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1919716889464385942