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VOA Celebrates 68th Anniversary of 1st Broadcast


Voice of America celebrates its 68th anniversary of the first overseas broadcast
Voice of America celebrates its 68th anniversary of the first overseas broadcast

Wednesday is the 68th anniversary of the first overseas broadcast by the Voice of America.

On February 24, 1942, VOA broadcast its first program in the German language, as a means of countering Nazi wartime propaganda to the German people. During that broadcast, announcer William Harlan Hale told his audience, "The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."

This was just 79 days after the United States entered World War II. By the end of the war, VOA was broadcasting in 40 languages from its studios in New York.

Today, from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., VOA uses radio, television and the Internet to reach an estimated audience of 125 million people. It broadcasts in 45 languages, including English.

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