DATE=04/15/02

TYPE=English Feature

NUMBER=7-36177

TITLE=Snapshot #20 VOA Europe

BYLINE=Ted Landphair

TELEPHONE=619-3515

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Al Pessin

CONTENT=

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// ATTN: BROADCAST HISTORY//

MUSIC OPENING YANKEE IN FULL :01 AND UNDER

ANNCR: Now a VOA Snapshot remembering our past as we look to the future in this, our 60th Anniversary Year.

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ANCR Just after five hours Greenwich Mean Time on the fifteenth of October 1985, a new and controversial VOA service hit the air.

CUT ONE VOA EUROPE FIRST BROADCAST

"Good morning, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Geneva. This is Dan Alexander on the all-new VOA Europe, born in the U-S-A. . ."

[SPRINGSTEEN SINGS: "Born in the U-S-A" . . .(:10 to here, take under ancr and out.

ANCR For the first time since World War Two, the Voice of America was targeting widespread broadcasts to Western Europe. The target was Europe's "successor generation" -- English-speaking young people who perhaps did not share their parents' warm feelings for America. The attraction was American pop music and friendly disc jockeys.

CUT TWO d-j AND MUSIC

"We're music and more . . . We're VOA Europe. . ." (fades to more rock music: take under and out)

ANCR VOA Europe, which was carried on F-M affiliates, expanded into Eastern Europe. It was so popular in Sofia, Bulgaria, that young people crowded into a restaurant called the "VOA Café" to listen. But eleven years later VOA Europe went off the air.

CUT THREE LAST VOA EUROPE BROADCAST

[DJ]"I love ya, and I'm sorry we have to go. So long . . " (take under as dramatic music plays)

ANCR Because all of Europe was rapidly developing a free and competitive media environment, VOA decided the resources being spent to reach Europe could be better used elsewhere. VOA executive John Stevenson says some people thought that was an unwise decision, among them a prominent member of the U-S Congress, Dante Fassell [fuh-SELL].

CUT FOUR STEVENSON :09

"And I will never forget what he said. He said, 'When you stop communicating with your friends, they can quickly become your enemies.'"

ANCR VOA Europe went off the air anyway. But its example is about to be followed by a new VOA Arabic language service for the Middle East, featuring popular music, information, and lively personalities.

HOST: I'm __________.

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ANNCR: Listen for VOA Snapshots throughout our 60th anniversary year, here on VOA.

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OPTIONAL LIVE TAG: To write to us about our anniversary, send an email to anniversary@voanews.com. Or, send regular mail to Anniversary, VOA News Now, Washington, D.C. 20237, USA.

neb/tl/ap