International Broadcasting Bureau Washington, DC 20547 Tel: (202) 619-2538 Fax: (202) 619-1241 E-mail: pubaff@ibb.gov

Washington, D.C., April 8, 1999 -- Marc Nathanson, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), announced today that U.S. international broadcasting would dramatically increase to Serbia in order to break the media black-out imposed by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and to deliver objective news and information to the Serbian people.

Nathanson told a press conference that the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty beginning tonight would join forces to beam 24 hours a day of FM programming into Serbia from transmitter locations in nearby countries.

Initially, Nathanson said, the broadcasts, which will be carried on a frequency of 106.5 FM MHZ, would reach Belgrade and most of northern Serbia. He said that other transmitters to be added soon will allow this new service to reach the entire country.

In addition to Serbian-language broadcasts, the RFE/RL-VOA 24-hour-a-day programming stream will include broadcasts in Bosnian, Croatian, Albanian, and English.

Nathanson stressed that this initiative augments already expanded VOA and RFE/RL broadcasting to the Balkans and added that the BBG would continue to explore additional ways to reach this important audience.

The bi-partisan, presidentially-appointed Broadcasting Board of Governors supervises all U.S. government-supported international broadcasting, including RFE/RL and VOA, as well as Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti, and WORLDNET Television.

For further information about today's announcement, please contact

Paul Goble at RFE/RL: phone: (202) 457-7947 e-mail goblep@rferl.org

Joe O'Connell at VOA: phone: (202) 619-2538 e-mail: jdoconne@ibb.gov