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Washington, D.C., Oct. 12, 2001 -- Robert R. Reilly has been appointed as the 25th director of the Voice of America (VOA), the first ever to be appointed from within the ranks of VOA.  Reilly will oversee more than 900 hours a week of VOA radio, TV, and Internet programming in English and 52 other languages that are heard by an audience of more than 91 million each week.

"I am honored to serve the President and the Broadcasting Board of Governors as VOA’s director at this crucial moment in our nation's endeavor to fight international terrorism and spread the word of freedom,” Reilly said.  "VOA plays an unparalleled role in serving United States’ interests by providing accurate news and information vital to our global audience as well as the official views of the U.S. Government."

Prior to his appointment as VOA Director, Reilly worked as the producer and program host of On the Line, a weekly television and radio foreign policy talk-show broadcast over VOA and WORLDNET Television. 

Reilly has held a number of positions in government and non-government organizations throughout his career.  He was President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Bryn, Mawr, Pennsylvania (1988-1989); Senior Advisor for Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland (1985-1988); Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Public Liaison handling foreign policy and national defense issues (1983-1985); and Director of Private Sector Programs at the former U.S. Information Agency (1981-1983).

Reilly has written music criticism for 20 years for such publications as High Fidelity, Musical America, Schwann Journal, and Crisis Magazine.  His articles have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest, The National Review, The American Spectator, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and The Intercollegiate Review.  He is the author of The Spirit of Music, Morely Books (forthcoming in 2001); and the contributing author to,“The Truths They Held,” Franciscan University Press, 1991; The New Federalist Papers, "E Pluribus Unum," University Press of America, 1989; Peace in a Nuclear Age, Catholic University Press; and Der Politische Krieg: Die Reale Gefahr (The Political War: The Real Danger), Soviet Global Strategy, Ost-Institute, Switzerland, 1986.

In 1968, Reilly earned an A.B. in English with honors from Georgetown University.  He enrolled in China Studies at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan in the Summer of 1973.  Reilly graduated with an M.A. in Political Science from Claremont Graduate School in 1978. Reilly was born in 1946.  He is married with three children.

The Voice of America is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts over 900 hours of news, informational, educational, and cultural programming every week to an audience of some 91 million worldwide.  Programs are produced and broadcast in 53 languages, including Dari and Pashto to Afghanistan. VOA is an element of the Broadcasting Board of Governors / International Broadcasting Bureau.

For additional information, please contact the Office of External Affairs at (202) 619-2538 or send email to pubaff@voa.gov.