History – BBG and USAGM Watch

19 minute read

HISTORY Flora Wovschin — Codename ZORA — Was The Most Active Soviet Spy But Not The Most Valuable Agent of Influence at WWII Voice of America

November 9, 2022

USAGM Watch Commentary By Ted Lipien Following reports that due to multiple security violations the Office of Personnel…

11 minute read

Voice of America and USAGM Need Rescue

July 9, 2022

Voice of America and USAGM need rescue and good leadership as the U.S. Senate contemplates the nomination of…

3 minute read

Sen. Menendez sets meeting to review USAGM CEO nomination of Amanda Bennett

June 20, 2022

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a business meeting for Thursday, June 23, 2022, to review several…

12 minute read

Beware of Government Propaganda “Experts”

June 5, 2022

Disinformation governance by government propaganda experts can be dangerous, judging by the record of the early officials in…

Sanford “Sandy” Ungar, a journalist, author, and educator, served as the 24th Director of the Voice of America. Prior to becoming VOA Director, Ungar served as Dean of the School of Communication at American University and had an extensive and varied career as an international journalist. He has worked at Foreign Policy magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic magazine, UPI, Newsweek magazine, and NPR. After leaving VOA, Ungar was president of Goucher College in Towson, Maryland from 2001 to 2014. In spring 2015 Ungar joined Georgetown University, where he is director of The Free Speech Project.

5 minute read

Asking About Voice of America’s Stalin Peace Prize Winner May Be McCarthyism or Merely Amusing, Former VOA Director Said

April 11, 2022

Former Voice of America (VOA) director Sanford J. Ungar, who served under President Clinton from 1999 to 2001,…

In 2013, the then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) was "practically defunct" in its capacity to tell America's message around the world. Since then, what is now the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and the Voice of America (VOA) have become even more dysfunctional and poorly managed.

2 minute read

U. S. Agency for Global Media USAGM and Ukraine

March 20, 2022

The U.S. Agency for Global Media still shows a press release about its poll in the Russian-occupied part…

1 minute read

Ukraine is the area of decision between Russia and the Free World

March 19, 2022

Ukraine is today “the area of decision between Russia and the Free World” and “the one big problem”…

16 minute read

80 Years of VOA: Different Names of the Voice of America

January 31, 2022

USAGM Watch Commentary 80 years ago today, on February 1, 1942, the first Voice of America (VOA) radio…

In 2016 Voice of America (VOA) produced this graphic to illustrate reports on Fidel Castro’s death. It was used as the VOA Spanish Service Facebook Cover image.

2 minute read

Symbolic Justice for Stalin’s Victims, But Not Yet From Voice of America Management

December 25, 2021

Commentaries about Stalin’s victims, Voice of America By Ted Lipien (Tadeusz Lipień) In my Washington Examiner Christmas Day…

3 minute read

How Zofia Korbońska, Voice of America refugee journalist, campaigned against communism, resisted German-Nazi fascism

August 10, 2021

Zofia Korbońska, a Voice of America refugee journalist, was a remarkable Polish-American woman who fought against two of…

5 minute read

Mark Pomar Sees Opportunity for Radio Liberty to Stand Up to Putin After Being Kicked Out from Russia, Peter Gross Noted

May 6, 2021

USAGM Watch Commentary Peter Gross, Ph.D., professor emeritus and former Director of the University of Tennessee’s School of…

14 minute read

Different Names of the Voice of America

December 5, 2020

Cold War Radio Museum By Ted Lipien The U.S. taxpayer-funded and U.S. government-operated international radio broadcaster established in…

86 minute read

Senator Biden and Other Leaders on Transatlantic Relations – VOA’s New Europe Review 2004

November 13, 2020

By Ted Lipien In 2004, foreign language broadcasters in the Voice of America (VOA) Eurasia Division in Washington,…

6 minute read

HISTORY First Voice of America Director of Halloween Fake Radio News Fame

October 31, 2020

USAGM Watch Halloween Commentary By Ted Lipien Happy Halloween! But don’t be fooled by fake radio news. Orson…

18 minute read

HISTORY Refugee Voice of America Journalists Stood Up to the Anti-Reagan VOA Newsroom and Won the Cold War

October 26, 2020

By Ted Lipien “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley, The…

19 minute read

Edward R. Murrow Would Not Have Approved of Partisan or Chinese Communist Propaganda at Voice of America

October 11, 2020

OPINION by Ted Lipien Voice of America (VOA) directors and some of its current and former editors and…

40 minute read

HISTORY WWII Voice of America Communist Propaganda to Yugoslavia

September 14, 2020

Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum Thanks to several lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, the U.S. Congress…

3 minute read

EXCLUSIVE SIDEBAR: VOA Broadcast Managers Had Access to Classified State Department Material

September 1, 2020

OPINION By Dan Robinson For many years, Voice of America broadcast managers had access to classified State Department…

29 minute read

Communist secret police in Poland spied on Voice of America’s Willis Conover to shut down Radio Free Europe

August 7, 2020

By Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum Polish communist intelligence service and secret police spied on Voice…

10 minute read

HISTORY Warsaw Uprising Betrayed by Pro-Stalin WWII Voice of America

August 1, 2020

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary August 1, 2020 marks the 76th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw…

4 minute read

70 Years of Radio Free Europe

July 8, 2020

USAGM Watch History U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) CEO Michael Pack said in a message to Radio…

4 minute read

Happy Birthday Radio Free Europe

July 4, 2020

USAGM Watch Commentary By Ted Lipien Happy Birthday Radio Free Europe! I had lived in communist-ruled Poland until…

72 minute read

HISTORY Soviet Block Jamming of Western Freedom Radios

June 30, 2020

By Ted Lipien for Cold War Podcasts Toward the end of the Cold War in the 1980s, the…

6 minute read

HISTORY How Congress Exposed, Defunded and Stopped Domestic U.S. Government Propaganda in 1943

June 22, 2020

During World War II, the federal government’s Office of War Information (OWI), where Voice of America (VOA) radio…

5 minute read

Voice of America Doctor Who Brought AIDS Information to USSR and Saved Lives

April 3, 2020

By Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum At one time during the Cold War, the taxpayer-funded, U.S.…

10 minute read

Voice of America Polish Service Broadcaster Irene Broni Resisted Nazis and Communists

March 23, 2020

By Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum Irena Radwańska Broni: Returning to the U.S. citizenship oath ceremony…

2 minute read

1949 QSL Card from Voice of America in New York

March 15, 2020

USAGM WATCH HISTORY When Mr. Ingvar Nyberg, a shortwave radio listener in Lund, Sweden, requested a QSL card…

Howard Fast OWI Personnel Record Card Voice of America at 80

1 minute read

Voice of America WWII News Editor and Future Stalin Prize Winner Howard Fast Died on This Day in 2003

March 12, 2020

Howard Fast, best-selling American author, Communist Party USA member, and journalist who in 1943 was the chief writer…

8 minute read

Boris Nemtsov Defended Radio Liberty Journalists

March 1, 2020

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary We can report with some satisfaction that Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty…

5 minute read

Kirk Douglas on Radio Free Europe and Voice of America

February 6, 2020

By Ted Lipien As Putin’s propagandists are again spreading lies around the world and trying to undermine American…

2 minute read

Memorial service in Prague for former Radio Liberty senior Russian commentator Lev Roitman

January 20, 2020

BBG – USAGM Watch A memorial service for journalist, publisher and lawyer Lev Roitman, a former Radio Free…

1 minute read

HISTORY Russian propaganda at WWII Voice of America

January 18, 2020

BBG – USAGM Watch History Russian propaganda influence in the United States is not new. “I established contact…

5 minute read

Warts and All from Voice of America? Not Against Hollywood

January 6, 2020

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary This is clearly a minor sin by Voice of America’s (VOA) current standards…

14 minute read

Former Voice of America Russian Service chief Natasha Clarkson dead at 87

December 6, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary Former Voice of America broadcaster, editor and Russian Service chief Natalia “Natasha” Clarkson…

14 minute read

VOA ignores VP Pence’s WWII anniversary speech in Poland

September 1, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary As of 3:00 AM Central European time, September 2, 2019, the U.S. tax-funded…

13 minute read

Voice of America VOA English News Blows Off 80th Anniversary of Hitler-Stalin Pact

August 23, 2019

By Ted Lipien Today, August 23, marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact…

1 minute read

An ahistorical Voice of America is dangerous for the nation

August 6, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Media Commentary The Voice of America should be completely nonpartisan and objective as a…

10 minute read

HISTORY Warsaw Uprising Betrayed by Pro-Stalin WWII Voice of America

July 30, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary August 1, 2020 marks the 76th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw…

53 minute read

HISTORY Voice of America? – Why The Question Mark from Congress in 1948?

July 24, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary In 1948, Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate charged that Voice of…

4 minute read

Winds of Freedom

July 22, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Guest Opinion Award-winning reporter and columnist Steve Browne who saw first-hand the beginnings…

VOICE OF AMERICA – EAGLE ON THE MOON – 1969

July 20, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch History This Cold War Radio Museum post includes a full transcript and an MP3…

1 minute read

VOA 1969 Radio Documentary ‘Eagle on the Moon – the Flight of Apollo 11’

July 20, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch History You can listen to the entire Voice of America “Eagle on the Moon…

1 minute read

Eagle on the Moon – The Flight of Apollo 11 – 1969 Voice of America Radio Broadcast

July 19, 2019

Cold War Radio Museum’s 2019 rendition with NASA photographs of the Voice of America (VOA) 1969…

2 minute read

HISTORY Collusion: How the State Department tried to save Voice of America from Soviet influence in WWII

May 13, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary The history of the Voice of America has been written around the false…

4 minute read

HISTORY Rep. Howard H. Buffett, Warren Buffett’s father, feared domestic VOA propaganda

March 25, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch Commentary Domestic Propaganda Cold War Radio Museum has posted on its…

4 minute read

HISTORY Stalin Prize-Winning Chief Writer of Voice of America News

March 12, 2019

BBG – USAGM Watch History March 12 is the anniversary of the death in 2003 of Howard Fast,…

2 minute read

HISTORY ‘Music Time in Africa’ on VOA in 1982 with Leo Sarkisian and Rita Rochelle

January 22, 2019

BBG Watch History Cold War Radio Museum The Voice of America (VOA) May-October 1982 English-to-Africa Service Program Schedule…

5 minute read

Does he listen to Radio Free Europe? A question from “Cold War” 2018 movie

January 10, 2019

OPINION By Ted Lipien Cold War – Clip: I’ve Been Ratting On You | Amazon Studios I was…

45 minute read

HISTORY 1953 CIA Source: People Died in Czechoslovakia Because of Pro-Communist Propaganda from Voice of America

January 3, 2019

OPINION AND ANALYSIS Cold War Radio Museum 1953 CIA Source: People Died in Czechoslovakia Because of Pro-Communist…

1 minute read

Happy New Year from BBG Watch – USAGM Watch – Thank You for Over 14 Million Hits

January 1, 2019

BBG Watch Commentary BBG Watch wishes Happy New Year – 2019 to all of our readers and contributors.…