Washington, D.C., October 31, 2008 – The Voice of Kashmir (www.vokfm105.com) in Rawalakot, Pakistan, is airing the Voice of America's (www.VOANews.com) Urdu programs daily, the first affiliation between the U.S. international broadcaster and a private FM station is the Southeast Asian country.
"This is a big step forward," said VOA Director Danforth Austin. "It allows people in Northeast Pakistan to hear VOA's news and information and it opens the door, we hope, to further ties between VOA and private broadcasters in Pakistan."
Sardar Perviaz Yaqoob, general manager of the Voice of Kashmir, said after the launch, "We have a marvelous response from our listeners regarding the VOA and VOK agreement. We have received hundreds of calls from listeners asking the on-air schedule of VOA broadcasts on the Voice of Kashmir."
The Voice of Kashmir in Rawalakot, available on FM 105.4, broadcasts four hours a day of VOA’s popular Aap Ki Dunyaa (English translation: Your World). The program, heard in northeastern and central Pakistan, will also be broadcast on the Voice of Kashmir's sister stations in Muzaffarabad and Dhirkot Bagh.
Aap Ki Dunyaa is aimed at young people, includes news, information, music, call-in shows and features. All told, it broadcasts 12 hours a day on medium-wave and shortwave.
Besides Aap Ki Dunyaa, VOA produces a daily, 30-minute television program - Beyond the Headlines.
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 approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
For more information, call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail askvoa@voanews.com.