I'm sure.
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Kari Lake previews her plans for Voice of America in the next Administration.
- Thread starter Bill Betten
- Start date
Being reported on Glenn Hauser’s site that the decommissioning of the USAGM shortwave transmitter sites has begun.
The CBC looks at the USAGM closures and the impact on staff: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/radio-free-asia-cuts-1.7542901
Exclusive: Documents outline deal between Voice of America, One America News
The agency's senior advisor Kari Lake endorsed a non-binding contract with OAN parent Herring Networks earlier this month, according to documents obtained by The Desk.
thedesk.net
Here are more details on the affiliation agreement VOA has on OAN.
How much international news coverage does OAN do? I don't know because I don't watch.
But I've been told that the international audience doesn't really care about domestic US politics. This seems like a waste of time to me.
Say what you will about the content, at least an effort was made to cater what was said to the countries being served. Not anymore.
But I've been told that the international audience doesn't really care about domestic US politics. This seems like a waste of time to me.
Say what you will about the content, at least an effort was made to cater what was said to the countries being served. Not anymore.
Theo nly people who complained about NPR and VOA are those who never listened and went outraged based upon a headlin or someone elses outrage.
I listened to the VOA, i have airchecks of them on SW.. i guarentee you a fair amount of the news the VOA covered wasnt stuff americans would even care about
"This is the Voice of America. Stay away from the United States, foreigners!"
A story heard on Friday's edition of The World: RT on the rise as VOA fades.
It's almost as though "America First" is very okay with certain forms of propaganda.
Latest on USAGM staff reductions: Congressional letter obtained by AP outlines drastic job cuts expected at Voice of America
A paywalled article on the NY Times site says VOA staff will be reduced to 18 people.
A paywalled article on the NY Times site says VOA staff will be reduced to 18 people.
Also being reported on Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio forum that the last two staffers at the USAGM Greenville transmitter site are being terminated, and the facility is now “officially closed and abandoned.”
No word as to what happens to all the equipment at Greenville, or any of the other USAGM shortwave facilities.
No word as to what happens to all the equipment at Greenville, or any of the other USAGM shortwave facilities.
All that says is that RT is increasing offerings. It does not say that anyone is watching or reading. RT is a news agency, while the VOA was, predominantly, a radio and audio service that was broadcast on actual transmitters or delivered on the web. That headline should be "we compare apples with oranges".
As just one example, RT is banned in the EU. And it is restricted or banned in places ranging from Australia to Canada.
And remember, Russia is not a socialist country any longer. The Putin government is an authoritarian capitalist system where an extreme inner circle controls much of the economy.
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Oligarchy, with a dab of kleptocracy.
I don't have access to the paywalled portion of The New York Times but I'm willing to bet that all of the kept staff are white English speakers and that the vast majority are males. Regardless of how accurate my forecasting is, it does show how tone deaf to the rest of the world the current U.S. administration is.
The women who'll be kept on must be young and blonde.
I know a lot of Bethany's remained as part of the museum.
What I saw, unconfirmed elsewhere, is that the remaining staff is mostly technical and involved with dismantling the transmission gear. If you look at the membership of the SBE, the ratio of men to women is more than 100:1. Broadcast engineering has always been a male-dominant field, for a variety of reasons.
In the past, broadcast engineering required a lot of heavy manual work, late nite "solo" transmitter visits, and the like. It did not attract many women. Today, the field is shrinking, so I'd guess bright tech inclined women would not pick maintaining radio transmitters and gear to be where they wanted to commit their future.
That said, I don't think that in the past women were encouraged to be broadcast engineers for a variety of reasons we can not change now, today.
That has been the chatter on various SWDX forums. Adding things up, this would involve several dozen shortwave transmitters from various sites, which is why I wondered what might happen to them, and if there would be any demand for the equipment. Most of these units were getting up there in age, with parts and support issues, and the expense of moving them elsewhere would likely be prohibitive.
I suppose some could be cannibalized for parts to service similar transmitters elsewhere, but who would do that, and at what expense?
That would be true for men as well.
There’s really no reason for broadcast stations or clusters to have their own in-house transmitter engineers. Most of those functions could be outsourced to broadcast engineering companies that could service many stations and ownership groups in a market or region.
I suspect the actual transmitter equipment may very well have the least value for other operators. Assuming transportation costs don't eat up a lot of funds, the test equipment at many of the sites might actually have more value than the transmitters themselves.
Another factor is the land. The return of the property to the host government might involve some cleanup work ranging from just taking down the towers to major concerns which might include motor fuel and oil leakage into the soils.