VOA Latin America Division Director Richard Araujo said VOA supported the workshop because radio was a “critical link” for people living in rural and remote areas of the continent, keeping them abreast of news and information.
The radio managers studied subjects including marketing practices, covering news with limited resources, managing a newsroom, and using the Internet to improve news coverage. Argentine broadcasters Daniel Revol and Marta Cantella served as trainers, along with Michele Pérez of the IBB Office of Marketing and Program Placement and Gustavo Win of IBB’s development staff.
The participants praised the quality of information they learned at the workshop. Liliana Rollano de Balderrama of Radio Los Andes in Tarija, Bolivia, called it “one of the most useful events I’ve attended.”
U.S. Embassy Information Officer Mara Tekach said the workshop was important “to develop better understanding among community radio stations throughout the region.”
Along with Rollano, others attending the workshop included: (from Argentina) Sergio Maturana of FM-El Chubut, Trelew, and Rodolfo Pardo, FM-Red 101, Mendoza; (from Bolivia) Cruz Alvarez Guachilla, Radio Caranavi, Caranavi; (from Colombia) Johanna Inés Delgado Pinzón, UIS Stereo La Voz de la Universidad, Santander, and Sol Yadira Palacios Mosquera, Canalate Stereo, Istmina; (from Ecuador) Marcelo Alberto Nevárez Faggioni, La Vos Caras, Bahia de Caráquez, Oswaldo Rene Zurita Domínguez and Pilar Lopez Vasquez, Digital FM, Tulcán; (from Peru) Alberto Esteban Portugal Vélez, Radio Altamar, Ilo, and Roxana Mercado Aguirre, Radio Onda Azul, Puno; and Héctor Cardozo Flores from Super Stereo in Porlamar, Venezuela.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages.
For more information, contact the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959, or by e-mail to publicaffairs@voa.gov.