VOA Internet Audio Debuts Aug. 15
Chris Kern
selected newscasts and other program segments in 15 languages on its
public internet server on Monday, Aug. 15.
Program segments from the following VOA broadcast services will be
included:
Arabic
Cantonese
Standard Chinese (a.k.a. Mandarin)
Czech
English (worldwide program thread)
French-to-Africa
Hindi
Hungarian
Korean
Polish
Russian
Slovak
Spanish
Swahili
Ukrainian
In most cases, we will offer two daily newscasts, one in the morning
(local time in the intended audience area) and one in the evening. In
a few languages, scheduling conflicts for the two VOA Master Control
outputs available to us will restrict us to a single daily newscast, at
least for the time being. Digitized newscasts from VOA's "Worldwide
English" program thread will be available on the server throughout the
24-hour broadcast cycle.
We will have a README file at the top of the audio hierarchy that will
explain the file formats we will support and provide some suggestions
about downloading them.
These audio files will be available via anonymous FTP (from
ftp.voa.gov) and the Internet Gopher protocol (Uniform Resource Locator
gopher://gopher.voa.gov/). In accordance with U.S. law, program
materials such as VOA newscasts and the VOA News and English Broadcasts
radio newswire are provided exclusively for recipients outside the
United States.
--
Chris Kern c...@voa.gov ...uunet!voa3!ck +1 202-619-2020
pase...@maroon.tc.umn.edu
>materials such as VOA newscasts and the VOA News and English Broadcasts
>radio newswire are provided exclusively for recipients outside the
>United States.
>
WHY ??
-------- --------
George T. Pasek Jr. pase...@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Facilities Management
Elevator Department What Goes UP
University of Minnesota Must Come DOWN
Minneapolis Minnesota 55455 Unless It STICKS
-------- ________
Robert Lentz
>...
>In accordance with U.S. law, program materials such as VOA newscasts and
>the VOA News and English Broadcasts radio newswire are provided exclusively
>for recipients outside the United States.
Huh? Why? (Avoiding "competing" with commercial stations?)
So, if we are in the states, we technically cannot download the files?
-Robert
--
le...@rossi.astro.nwu.edu http://www.astro.nwu.edu/lentz/plan.html
"You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you."
-Flannery O'Connor
Scott E. Parker WA7VYJ
le...@rossi.astro.nwu.edu writes:
> In article <Cu8Ht...@VOA.GOV>, Chris Kern <c...@VOA.GOV> wrote:
> >...
and
> >the VOA News and English Broadcasts radio newswire are provided
exclusively
> >for recipients outside the United States.
>
>
> So, if we are in the states, we technically cannot download the files?
Or tune the radio to VOA?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott E. Parker WA7VYJ
Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences
Utah State University Logan, UT 84322-4405
Internet: spa...@coquina.cass.usu.edu spa...@cedar.hao.ucar.edu
Twisted pair: 801-797-2975 (USU) 801-797-2992 (FAX) 801-753-3924 (home)
Steve Byan
wrote:
>
> >In accordance with U.S. law, program
> >materials such as VOA newscasts and the VOA News and English Broadcasts
> >radio newswire are provided exclusively for recipients outside the
> >United States.
> >
>
> WHY ??
Because Hitler and Goering, and Stalin et al, used government broadcasting
organizations to very effectively control their populace by means of
propaganda. Thus the Congress, when creating a government broadcasting
organization, specifically prohibited it from targeting the populace of the
United States.
One might also suspect that commercial broadcasting interests opposed the
creation of a government broadcasting organization that might target their
audience.
Steve Byan internet: st...@hi.com
Hitachi Computer Products (America), Inc.
1601 Trapelo Road phone: (617) 890-0444
Waltham, MA 02154 FAX: (617) 890-4998
Steven Jackson
|>
|> Or tune the radio to VOA?
Yeah, really! Why do they have so many *down*link sites in
the U.S. if we can't listen? And what about VOA Africa
edition? Is that for Africans to listen to how we interpret
what's going on on their continent?
Something's amiss.
--
Steven Jackson, Assistant to the Chair of Computer Science
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
251 Mercer Street, NY NY 10012
Work <-- (forwarded) Home
jac...@cs.nyu.edu, jcks...@acfcluster.nyu.edu, sjac...@cjbbs.com
Chris Kern
>>>the VOA News and English Broadcasts radio newswire are provided exclusively
>>>for recipients outside the United States.
>>
>
>Or tune the radio to VOA?
Fear not, fellow residents of the United States. The Radio Police
really will not nab you if you listen to VOA shortwave broadcasts or
download files from our public Internet server.
VOA's parent agency, the United States Information Agency, was
established by the U.S. Congress shortly after the Second World War to
provide information to other countries. (VOA itself antedates USIA; it
was created in 1942 to counteract enemy propaganda.) Our legislative
charter expressly prohibits us from seeking a domestic audience for our
program materials. As others have pointed out previously in this
thread, Congress apparently included the prohibition in order to make
certain that the U.S. government could never convert USIA communication
facilities into the kind of internal propaganda apparatus operated by
the German government during the war.
Consequently, VOA radio programs, Worldnet television and USIA
publications are intended exclusively for recipients in other
countries. Congress has enacted a few statutory exceptions that
permitted us to distribute specific programs to a domestic audience --
the most prominent exemption was for an award-winning film documentary
on the presidency and assassination of John F. Kennedy -- but the
general prohibition remains in effect. However, it only restricts what
we as a government agency may do, not what United States residents may
hear or watch or read.
To get our programs to other countries, we obviously must use a number
of transport mechanisms that are publicly accessible inside the United
States: shortwave radio transmissions, satellite transponders and the
Internet. We do not encourage those of you within the United States to
listen to or watch these programs as they are transmitted to other
countries, but no one in the government objects if you do. (And even
if we did, it would be unconstitutional for us to try to stop you.)
On the other hand, I do strongly recommend that both residents of the
United States and residents of other countries avoid listening to the
BBC World Service, as there is mounting medical evidence that this can
corrupt your English pronunciation. . . .
Thomas Woolman
>In article <Cu8Ht...@VOA.GOV>, Chris Kern <c...@VOA.GOV> wrote:
>>...
>>In accordance with U.S. law, program materials such as VOA newscasts and
>>the VOA News and English Broadcasts radio newswire are provided exclusively
>>for recipients outside the United States.
>
>
>-Robert
>--
>le...@rossi.astro.nwu.edu http://www.astro.nwu.edu/lentz/plan.html
Just curious, but does anyone know who is responsible for producing the
programs and writing/editing their content? I'm just wondering who's
in charge of the U.S. Propoganda Machine. This might explain why so
people outside of the United States hate Americans. It's because our
radio propoganda is so badly produced.
^TW
Eric A Cottrell
>On the other hand, I do strongly recommend that both residents of the
>United States and residents of other countries avoid listening to the
>BBC World Service, as there is mounting medical evidence that this can
>corrupt your English pronunciation. . . .
I can speak from experience that it already has. I cannot say Schedule and
Aluminium properly anymore. The situation on the ground is very bad indeed.
However I had a worse problem after listening to VOA Special English for
awhile. The problem was that my speech rate
got slower and slower.
73 Eric e...@world.std.com
loujo...@delphi.com
thru gopher. It took about 45 minutes to pack the audio. An hour for a download
of the newscast (14400 baud). Two suggestions, one you digitize the VOA
intervalsignal so people who don't have the time to wait can test the audio,
and 2nd
that you create a headline service that runs about 1 minute it would be easier
to download. I am following this with interest as several talk radio stations
are considering starting audio and text services.
Colin M. Wilding
>
>On the other hand, I do strongly recommend that both residents of the
>United States and residents of other countries avoid listening to the
>BBC World Service, as there is mounting medical evidence that this can
>corrupt your English pronunciation. . . .
>
Egad! Rilly? jolly bad sheouw, what?
--
IBAR, BBC World Service
c...@bbc-ibar.demon.co.uk
If you want to write to BBC World Service, write to
i...@bbc-ibar.demon.co.uk (i.e. not to me :-)# )
Robert Dunne
What!!!!! We at BBC Monitoring are not complaining about listening to VOA
casts that are also corrupting our poor old (and not so old) monitors!!!
:)
I have yet to try out this digitized audio but will do in the near future!
BTW - this is my own Internet account and not BBCMs
--
Rob rob...@incas.demon.co.uk
The views expressed are of my own making and nothing to do with BBCM
Jeffrey Herman
>|>
>|> Or tune the radio to VOA?
I called our US Information Agency office here in Honolulu a few years
ago and asked them to send me the VOA's bcst schedule; they said `No -
the VOA bcsts are not meant for domestic reception.' Only after I
explained that I was going to Viet Nam did they say `In that case,
then we CAN send you the schedule.' They explained their bcsts are
meant for both foreign listeners and overseas Americans.
Jeff NH6IL
Marie A. Lamb
: >|> > So, if we are in the states, we technically cannot download the files?
Very strange! Before I started getting VOA skeds off Internet, I used to
send to VOA Frequency Management for schedules, and I never had any problem
getting them. As I recall, frequency schedules and the engineering database
schedule were never a problem, and I was also able to get English schedules.
However, the "Voices" program guide, various other VOA publications, and
the various VOA goodies like stickers, keychains and such were off limits
due to the Charter, since I am an American living in the U.S.A. Of course,
what the USIA office in Honolulu does and what VOA headquarters does may be
two different matters altogether. Anyway, Dan Ferguson is kind enough to
post schedules on this newsgroup, and that's a big help for a lot of us,
I'm sure!
73--
Marie Lamb
Replies to: mal...@mailbox.syr.edu (ignore any other address)
Jeffrey Herman
>
> Just curious, but does anyone know who is responsible for producing the
>programs and writing/editing their content? I'm just wondering who's
>in charge of the U.S. Propoganda Machine. This might explain why so
>people outside of the United States hate Americans. It's because our
>radio propoganda is so badly produced.
Ouch. Sounds as if you've been audited by the IRS.
I've talked to MANY foreign students on campus about the VOA bcsts and
none of them had anything bad to say about the VOA - everyone one of
them mentioned how helpful the bcsts were in getting familiar with
American culture; some who were from very small towns or villages said
their community was completely dependent upon the VOA for world news.
One reason those outside the US might hate Americans is that they've
encountered American tourists with `attitude problems'.
Jeff NH6IL