Dine Departs as RFE/RL Head, Trimble Named Acting President

(Washington, DC–November 8, 2005) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s longest-serving President, Thomas A. Dine departed the US government-funded international broadcaster on October 31. Dine, who served as RFE/RL’s chief executive for more than eight years, will now take up new responsibilities as the Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors has appointed Jeffrey N. Trimble as Acting President of RFE/RL. Mr. Trimble has served as Director of Policy and Strategic Planning at RFE/RL for the last three years.

Mr. Dine became the President of RFE/RL in August 1997 and shaped the radios into a multiple media company with the ability to reach its audiences on the radio, via email and the Internet. RFE/RL’s total weekly audience has more than doubled during Dine’s eight years as president.

RFE/RL now broadcasts to 19 countries in 28 languages and most of these broadcasts are directed at majority-Muslim populations. With a mandate from the U.S. Congress, Dine expanded RFE/RL’s broadcasts beyond its traditional focus, the former Soviet Union to Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, demonstrating the effectiveness of U.S. surrogate broadcasting in conducting the war on terrorism.

In earlier remarks to RFE/RL staff informing them of his decision to leave RFE/RL, Dine said: “I know that the company I am leaving is healthier and stronger than the one I took over in 1997 — and I derive great comfort from knowing that its fate going forward rests in the hands of the most talented, motivated, and creative staff I have ever had the pleasure of working with… and, it will be better positioned than ever to fulfill its crucial role in the spread of freedom and democracy around the world.”

Jeffrey Trimble took over on November 1 as Acting President of RFE/RL. He joined RFE/RL in May 1997, first as Associate Director of Broadcasting, but soon thereafter was appointed Director of Broadcasting. From 2002 until this week, he has served as RFE/RL’s Director of Policy and Strategic Planning. Before coming to RFE/RL, Trimble worked for 15 years at U.S. News & World Report magazine in a variety of positions, including Assistant Managing Editor, Foreign Editor, and Moscow Bureau chief (from 1986 until 1991). As Mediterranean Bureau Chief, based in Rome, Italy (1983-1986), Trimble reported on developments in more than 20 countries in the Middle East and Africa, as well as the Mediterranean region. Earlier, he was a diplomatic correspondent in Washington (1983) and a regional corrrespondent in New York (1982-1983), where his duties included covering the United Nations.

In accepting his new appointment, Trimble said “It is an honor to serve as Acting President of RFE/RL, and I look forward to supporting the work of RFE/RL’s dedicated staff to promote freedom and democracy with information products that are balanced, accurate and comprehensive.”