Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING (see also Public Diplomacy)
Radio Farda (in English) 
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 4:47 PM Subject: Radio Farda Tom Dine sent the following message out to the RFE/RL staff today (Nov 18 2002)... RFE/RL Colleagues: I am delighted to inform you about an exciting and important new broadcasting initiative at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Radio Farda ' 'Tomorrow' in Farsi -- will go on the air in mid-December. It will be an around-the-clock radio station for Iran, targeted primarily at Iranians under the age of 30, which is about 70 percent of the country's population. Radio Farda is a joint venture between RFE/RL and the Voice of America, under the auspices of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Each day Radio Farda will provide more than five hours of original news, features and other information. In the event of breaking news or other important events, more news time will be added. The remainder of the program will be music, a combination of popular Persian and Western songs aimed at attracting young Iranians to Farda's news products. Radio Farda's news and information offerings will project the same seriousness of purpose and adherence to RFE/RL's surrogate mission of promoting democracy, covering local and relevant international news, and living up to our Professional Code, embodying the highest journalistic standards of accuracy and objectivity, as have the programs of our Persian Service. In preparation for the launch of this new service, RFE/RL's Persian Service -- Radio 'Azadi" -- will go off the air about December 1. This service was established in 1998 at the request of Congress. Under the outstanding leadership of Steve Fairbanks, this service has fulfilled its mission with distinction. It has attracted a significant audience in Iran, particularly among influential figures in politics and among its opposition. Its success has been acknowledged even by Iran's hard-line leaders, who regularly denounce its programs -- a sure sign that they are listening and concerned with our impact, and the fact that the regime also jams our programs. Radio Farda will aim to build on this success by attracting new and larger audiences. The hard-working broadcasters of the Persian Service will join Radio Farda's news team. They will work under the direction of Mardo Soghom. Ideally suited for this task, Mardo is a native of Iran and fluent in Farsi. He has led our successful Armenian Service, one of his achievements being the introduction of lively, youth oriented programming. At my request, he spearheaded the start-up of Radio Free Iraq in 1998. Steve Fairbanks will take on new duties at RFE/RL, drawing on his analytical and writing skills as one of America's foremost experts on Iranian developments. Mardo and our Persian Service broadcasters will be joined by 10 broadcasters from the Voice of America. They will work in RFE/RL's Washington offices under the direction of Ali Farhoodi, a VOA veteran whose most recent assignment has been as deputy chief of the West Asia Branch. We are very pleased to welcome Ali and his colleagues and look forward to working together on the Farda team. Mardo and Ali have already forged a close, working partnership of the highest order. I also welcome Sara Valinejad to RFE/RL. She will work from Washington as the music director of Radio Farda, assembling a blend of Western and Persian music that will help attract young listeners to Radio Farda's news and information programs. For your information, Sara is a professional performer of Persian music in the Greater Washington area. I am pleased that, unlike RFE/RL's Persian Service which was broadcast to Iran only on shortwave, Radio Farda will be beamed into Iran from powerful medium wave transmitters. MW will greatly increase prospects of building a large audience ' and quickly. At the same time, we will continue with SW. Michele DuBach and I will keep you informed of further developments relating to Radio Farda in coming weeks. Please join me in wishing Mardo, our Persian Service broadcasters, and their VOA broadcasting partners success in this important new venture of U.S. international broadcasting. I thank Steve Fairbanks for his groundbreaking role, for his dedication, hard work, and knowledge of Iran in creating and leading RFE/RL's Persian Service. RFE/RL's participation in this new 24/7 Iran radio puts us on the cutting edge of new ways to communicate and achieve our target goals. Tom |
EXHIBITS Farda.pdf  |