Voice of America Washington, DC 20547 Tel: (202) 619-2538 Fax: (202) 619-1241 E-mail: pubaff@ibb.gov

Washington, D.C., March 30, 1999 -- As the crisis in Kosovo continues to escalate, the Voice of America has expanded its daily Albanian and Serbian language broadcasts hours to get vital information to those who need it most. Coverage of the air campaign and the growing refugee crisis has dominated broadcasts of all of VOA's 53 language services since late last week.

The Yugoslav government's shut-down of Belgrade's Radio B-92 and other independent media has underscored the critical need for timely, accurate and reliable information -- in local languages -- which VOA is delivering to listeners throughout the region. In addition to Serbian and Albanian, VOA broadcasts to the Balkans in Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Slovene, as well as Bulgarian and Romanian to adjacent countries. Portions of the Serbian and Bosnian programs are also seen on television in the region.

The new 15-minute Albanian and Serbian language broadcasts are beamed to the Kosovo region respectively from 1300-1315 UTC (8:00-8:15 a.m. EST, 2:00-2:15 p.m. local time) and 2300-2315 UTC (6:00-6:15 p.m. EST, 12:00-12:15 a.m. local time), bringing 2 1/4 hours of Albanian and 2 3/4 hours of Serbian transmissions via shortwave and medium wave to Kosovo daily.

The VOA/WORLDNET site on the worldwide web has also been active during the crisis. Between March 21 and 28, over one million hits were registered, nearly four times the normal.

The Voice of America broadcasts U.S., world, and regional news; features; entertainment; and music in 53 languages to an estimated audience of 83 million. VOA provides programming for more than 1,100 affiliate radio stations worldwide.

Contact: Lesley Jackson
(202) 619-2538

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