VOA Hindi radio service to be shut down
Voice of America's Hindi radio service will cease on 30 September 2008.
First launched in July 1955, the VOA Hindi service has been one of the most popular language services broadcast by VoA.
According to sources in the Hindi sources of the VOA, about six staffers will lose their jobs once the service is dismantled. The website and a once-a-week, seven-minute segment on news television channel Aaj Tak will continue, it is learnt.
As reported by Radioandmusic.com earlier, VOA that broadcasts in 45 languages, plans to eliminate seven radio language services this year, including radio broadcasts in Hindi, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bosnian and Georgian.
According to Internet resource ProPublica, the cuts are an indirect fallout of the hundreds of millions of dollars absorbed by Alhurra, the US government-funded Arabic television news channel.
While the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has announced to the employees of the Voice of America , Hindi Service (Radio) that their broadcasts will be abolished on 30 September, sources say that the decision is not the "will of the Congress" which is the official reason. The FY 2008 funding bill for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, passed by both houses and signed by the President, directed that this proposed cut on regional services be reversed, say sources.
The recommendation on Language Service Reductions says that - The Committee recommends sufficient funding in fiscal year 2009, including $8,000,000 provided in Public Law 110-252, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008, to maintain broadcasting in languages which the BBG proposed to reduce or eliminate. The Committee supports an ongoing effort to improve audience reach by utilizing the most effective means of transmission; however, the Committee does not support going silent in many critical regions.
The Urdu Service of the VOA for Pakistan, Dari and Pashto Services for Afghanistan, have been extended by several hours a day.
The Hindi Radio broadcast to India, currently only an hour a day, is however being done away with.
