Radio Farda Doubles Main Evening Newscast to Iran

(Prague, Czech Republic — February 1, 2007) Beginning today, Radio Farda has added 30 minutes to its main evening news program, doubling its length to one hour and increasing the total amount of daily news and information programming to Iran to nearly nine hours, more than any other Persian-language international broadcaster.

The expanded program, which is broadcast on medium-wave, shortwave, satellite and on the Internet, airs daily from 6:30PM to 7:30PM Tehran time (10:00AM to 11:00AM EST) and gives listeners more in-depth analysis in addition to a rich overview of the latest news and current affairs.

The recently redesigned and expanded Persian language website of Radio Farda will carry audio and text versions of the extended news broadcasts. In December, the first month of operation of the revamped site, page views on www.radiofarda.com increased by 30 percent to 4.2 million.

Radio Farda, a joint project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA), is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service. Produced in Washington, D.C. and Prague, Czech Republic and transmitted to listeners via AM, shortwave and satellite, Radio Farda features fresh news and information at least twice an hour, with longer news programming in the morning and the evening. Radio Farda also broadcasts popular Persian and Western music. Radio Farda programming is available via the Internet, at the service’s website www.radiofarda.com and at www.rferl.org; English-language news about events in Iran can be found on the RFE/RL website. To learn more about Radio Farda and its coverage of events in Iran, read and subscribe to “Focus on Farda”.