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

Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 1999 -- This morning at 9:30 a.m. EST, the Voice of America will begin broadcasting to the Balkan area in the Macedonian language. The addition of Macedonian brings the total of VOA broadcast languages to 53, an historic high in the station's 57-year history. The new 15-minute program will concentrate on regional, international, and U.S. news and will be broadcast Monday through Friday.

VOA also broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Slovene to the Balkans.

"We have added Macedonian because we want to reach the widest possible audience in the Balkan region," said VOA Director Evelyn S. Lieberman, "and we have received reports that the new service is eagerly awaited by listeners in the former Yugoslavia."

The new program will lead with a six-minute newscast, followed by VOA correspondent reports, "stringer" reports from the area, interviews with experts and newsmakers, and a short feature about the United States. The program is heard in Skopje at 3:30 p.m. local time.

Programs produced by VOA's new Macedonian Service will be carried by local AM and FM radio stations in the region. To date, nine local radio stations have signed agreements to broadcast the program, and additional stations have expressed interest in signing agreements.

Vedran Andonovski, Aneta Georgievska-Shine, and Lilica Kitanovska have recently been hired by VOA to staff the service. All three are professional journalists who have worked in radio, television, and the print media. Andonovski has worked as an editor for Libertas Radio Station in Skopje, as a television host for Macedonian television (MTVP), and as a journalist. Georgievska-Shine has translated texts for the cultural program of Radio Skopje and written reviews of art exhibitions and theater performances for the weekly Mlad Borec in Skopje. Kitanovska has worked as a journalist at the daily newspaper Nova Makedonija and covered Washington for Macedonian Television's National TV channel.

The Voice of America broadcasts world, regional, and U.S. news to an estimated weekly audience of 83 million listeners.

Contact: George MacKenzie
Telephone: 202 619-2538
Fax: 202 619-1241
e-mail: pubaff@voa.gov