VOA’s Charter Marks Twenty-Five Years

Moscow Festival to Honor Willis Conover

VOA Expands 24-Hour FM Frequencies in Africa

VOA Urdu Service TO Add Half Hour Nightly News Broadcast

Additional News Releases

Washington, D.C., July 10, 2001 – Myrna R. Whitworth has been appointed Acting Director of the Voice of America (VOA). As Acting Director of VOA, Whitworth will oversee more than 900 hours a week of VOA broadcasts in English and 52 other languages to some 91 million listeners around the world.

Prior to her appointment and since January 1998, Whitworth has served as VOA's Program Director. She was instrumental in transforming VOA into a multimedia organization that now reaches its audience via radio, television, and the Internet at www.voanews.com. Whitworth redesigned VOA’s programming to better meet changing audience interests. In particular, she was responsible for inaugurating VOA News Now, a 24-hour all-news English radio program, and VOA Music Mix, a 24-hour music programming stream. 

Before her tenure as Program Director, Whitworth developed VOA’s first Office of Affiliate Relations, Media Training, and Research. During her seven years as Affiliate’s Director, she established a thriving network of more than 1,000 VOA partnerships with radio and television broadcasters worldwide. 

Whitworth began her career with VOA in 1965 in the Worldwide English Division. She resigned in 1971 to raise her children, participate in local civic and political activities, and write a series of English language teaching books. She returned to VOA in 1980, and served as an editor for English news programs and the Executive Producer of World Report, VOA’s hour-long news program.

Whitworth received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1963, where she completed an additional two years of graduate study. She was awarded the USIA Jefferson Fellowship and earned her Master’s degree in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1985. 

Whitworth lives in Laurel, MD with husband John Whitworth and has two grown children. Her international experience includes living in Taipei, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, and Germany. 

The Voice of America is a multimedia broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts over 900 hours of news, informational, educational, and cultural programming every week to some 91 million worldwide.  Programs are produced and broadcast in English and 52 other languages.

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