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This article is about the radio broadcast service. For the R.E.M. songs, see Radio Free Europe (song) and Radio Free Europe (Hib-Tone Version) . Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ('''RFE/RL''') is a radio and Communication s Organization funded by the United States Congress . It was founded in 1950 by the National Committee for a Free Europe. This Free Europe Committee, headed by John Foster Dulles , was an instrument of the CIA . The organization exists today in Europe and the Middle East . It Broadcasts more than 1,000 hours per week, in 28 languages, via Shortwave , AM , FM and the Internet . RFE/RL's official Mission Statement is "To promote democratic Value s and institutions by disseminating factual information and ideas."See http://www.rferl.org/about/organization/mission-statement.asp. EARLY HISTORY The National Committee For A Free Europe was founded in June 1949 in New York . Radio Free Europe (RFE) was the broadcasting arm of this organization. The headquarters was established in Munich and it transmitted its first short-wave program on July 4 , 1950 , to Czechoslovakia . Radio Free Europe's goal was not simply to inform their listeners but to bring about the peaceful demise of the Communist system and the liberation of what were known as the satellite nations (, funded a long list of projects to counter the Communist appeal among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world.Puddington, Arch, "Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty" (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2003): 10. Radio Free Europe was modeled after Radio in the American Sector ( RIAS ) which began broadcasting in 1946 and was a wired radio service for Germans living in the American sector of Berlin. The station had grown to prominence during the 1948 Berlin blockade, and after the blockade RIAS evolved into a surrogate home radio service for East Germans. It broadcast news, commentary, and cultural programs that were unavailable in the media of the German Democratic Republic. RIAS was openly financed by the American government and staffed almost entirely by Germans, who worked under a small American management team. The station developed many of the broadcast strategies that Radio Free Europe adopted.Puddington, Arch, "Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty" (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2003): 13. RFE received its funds from the at which point the organization was rechartered in Newton as a Non-profit corporation, oversight was moved to the Board For International Broadcasting (BIB), and the budget was moved to open appropriations. In 1971 and 1972 , Congress passed stop-gap measures to continue funding RFE. In 1973 , RFE found a more permanent solution through the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973, which created the Board, a Public Agency to oversee the grants allocated by Congress. The solution had been proposed by President Richard Nixon in 1971 but was fiercely opposed by Sen. J. William Fulbright . Eventually Congress took the advice of a presidential commission appointed by Nixon and chaired by Milton S. Eisenhower . The Board Act was supposed to act as an authorization bill for funding RFE permanently, but during floor debate, Fulbright got the Senate to agree that it would authorize funds only for Fiscal Year 1974. Thus the bill was revisited the next two years until its merger with Radio Liberty. AFTER MERGER WITH RADIO LIBERTY In 1976 , RFE was merged with a very similar Congress funded Anti-communist organization called Radio Liberty (RL, founded in 1951 by the American Committee For The Liberation Of The Peoples Of Russia ) and the group name was officially changed to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Soviet authorities regularly attempted to Jam RFE/RL broadcasts and these efforts did not end until 1988 . From 1985 until 1993 the organization also ran Radio Free Afghanistan . The collapse of the Soviet Union reduced the budget for RFE/RL: its headquarters were moved to Prague in 1995 and European operations were curtailed (save those of the South Slavic Department). However operations were expanded elsewhere; in 1998 Radio Free Iraq and a Persian service ( Radio Farda ) were started, in 1999 a service was started in Kosovo , and in 2002 Radio Free Afghanistan was restarted and the Persian Service was incorporated into Radio Farda. In addition, in 1994 the mission of the Board for International Broadcasting was transferred to the Broadcasting Board Of Governors . In most cases, listening to RFE in eastern European Communist countries was illegal, and had to be done in secret. Often the governments of these states would electronically jam the transmissions. Also, more 'active' measures were taken to combat the transmissions. In 1965-71 an agent of the Służba Bezpieczeństwa successfully infiltrated the station with an operative (Capt. Andrzej Czechowicz). RADIO LIBERTY SAMPLE BROADCAST
RFE PEOPLE
Robert Short-Director, Information Services 1987-94 SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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