Voice of Russia

The Voice of Russia
Type Radio network
Country Russia
Availability International
Owner Rossiya Segodnya
(owner before 9 Dec 2013 All-Russia State Television and Radio Company)
Launch date
 22 December 1993
Dissolved 9 November 2014
Former names
 Radio Moscow
Official website
 http://rus.ruvr.ru/ (inactive)

The Voice of Russia (Russian: Голос России, tr. Golos Rossii) was the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service from 1993 until 9 November 2014. Its interval signal was a chime version of "Majestic" chorus from the "Great Gate of Kiev" portion of Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky.

History

On 22 December 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree which reorganized Radio Moscow with a new name: The Voice of Russia.[1]

A popular feature of Voice of Russia was Moscow Mailbag, which answered listeners' questions in English about Russia. Until 2005, the programme was presented by Joe Adamov, who was known for his command of the English language and his good humour.

On 9 December 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a presidential decree liquidating Voice of Russia as an agency and merging it with RIA Novosti to form the Rossiya Segodnya international news agency.[2]

Several reports published in 2013 claimed that Voice of Russia was to cease its shortwave service as of January 1, 2014 due to budget cuts, however service continued into the new year.[3] Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the Rossiya Segodnya, said in March 2014 that "We will stop using obsolete radio broadcasting models, when the signal is transmitted without any control and when it is impossible to calculate who listens to it and where."[4] Voice of Russia ceased shortwave and European mediumwave broadcasting effective 1 April 2014.[5] The service had continued to be available worldwide via the internet, in selected regions on satellite, and in several cities on FM, AM (in North America) or local digital radio.

On November 10, 2014, the Voice of Russia was replaced by Radio Sputnik, part of the Sputnik News multimedia platform operated by Rossiya Segodnya.[6]

Former transmission network

Antenna of "Voice of Russia" in Wachenbrunn, Germany

The transmission network consisted of at least 30 high-power transmission sites (West to East, with first transmission dates):

Voice of Russia had broadcast in short, medium and longwave formats, in DAB+, DRM, HD-Radio, as well as through cable, satellite transmission and in mobile networks. VOR’s Internet coverage came in as many as 38 languages.

Broadcast languages

In 2013, the Voice of Russia had broadcast in 38 languages, including:[7]

VOR output compared to other broadcasters

For a comparison of VOR (RM) to other broadcasters see

Estimated total direct programme hours per week of some external radio broadcasters for 1996
Broadcaster 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996[2]
United States VOA, RFE/RL & Radio Martí 497 1,495 1,907 1,901 2,611 1,821
China China Radio International 66 687 1,267 1,350 1,515 1,620
United Kingdom BBC World Service 643 589 723 719 796 1,036
Russia Radio Moscow / Voice of Russia[1][3] 533 1,015 1,908 2,094 1,876 726
Germany Deutsche Welle 0 315 779 804 848 655
Egypt Radio Cairo (ERTU) 0 301 540 546 605 604
Iran IRIB World Service / Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran 12 24 155 175 400 575
India All India Radio 116 157 271 389 456 500
Japan NHK World Radio Japan 0 203 259 259 343 468
France Radio France Internationale 198 326 200 125 379 459
Netherlands Radio Netherlands Worldwide[1] 127 178 335 289 323 392
Israel Israel Radio International[1] 0 91 158 210 253 365
Turkey Voice of Turkey 40 77 88 199 322 364
North Korea Radio Pyongyang / Voice of Korea 0 159 330 597 534 364
Bulgaria Radio Bulgaria[1] 30 117 164 236 320 338
Australia Radio Australia 181 257 350 333 330 307
Albania Radio Tirana (RTSH) 26 63 487 560 451 303
Romania Radio Romania International 30 159 185 198 199 298
Spain Radio Exterior de España[5] 68 202 251 239 403 270
Portugal RDP Internacional[1] 46 133 295 214 203 226
Cuba Radio Havana Cuba 0 0 320 424 352 203
Italy Rai Italia Radio[1] 170 205 165 169 181 203
Canada Radio Canada International[1] 85 80 98 134 195 175
Poland Radio Polonia[1] 131 232 334 337 292 171
South Africa Radio RSA / Channel Africa 0 63 150 183 156 159
Sweden Sveriges Radio International[1] 28 114 140 155 167 149
Hungary Magyar Rádió[1] 76 120 105 127 102 144
Czech Republic Radio Prague[4] 119 196 202 255 131 131
Nigeria Voice of Nigeria 0 0 62 170 120 127
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Radio Belgrade / International Radio of Serbia 80 70 76 72 96 68

Source: International Broadcast Audience Research, June 1996

The list includes about a quarter of the world's external broadcasters whose output is both publicly funded and worldwide. Among those excluded are Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea and various international commercial and religious stations.

Notes:
  1. Does not broadcast on shortwave as of 2014.
  2. 1996 figures as at June; all other years as at December.
  3. Before 1991, broadcasting for the former USSR.
  4. Before 1996, broadcasting for the former Czechoslovakia.
    5.
  5. REE ceased all shortwave broadcasts in October 2014 but announced in December that it would resume shortwave transmission in Spanish only for four hours a day in order to accommodate Spanish fishing trawlers who were otherwise unable to receive REE at sea.

In 1996, the USA's international radio consisted of 992 hours per week by VOA, 667 hpw by RFE/RL, and 162 hpw by Radio Marti.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Boris Yeltsin’s decree in Russian language
  2. ↑ "President Vladimir Putin issues decree to reorganize Voice of Russia, RIA Novosti to Rossia Segodnya news wire". Voice of Russia. December 9, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Voice of Russia Radio Stops Shortwave Service". RIA Novosti. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Russia Today’s English newswire to be launched in April". Voice of Russia. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  5. ↑ http://swling.com/blog/2014/03/voice-of-russia-to-abandon-shortwave-on-april-1-2014/
  6. ↑ "Voice of Russia becomes Sputnik". Voice of Russia. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "About us". http://voiceofrussia.com''. The Voice of Russia. Retrieved 28 November 2013.