Radio Martí Celebrates 30 Years of Broadcasting

May 20, 2015                                                                                                    

 

MIAMI - May 20 will mark the 30th anniversary of Radio Martí providing uncensored and unbiased news and information to the citizens of Cuba.

 

The staying power of Radio Martí is a testament to the importance of a free flow of information," said Carlos García-Pérez, Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees the Martís. "It is a profound and personal honor to be part of an institution that has made such a positive impact on the daily lives of people throughout the island."

 

Despite continuous jamming efforts by the Cuban government, Radio Martí reaches audiences in Cuba through a combination of high and low-tech approaches, such as satellite, shortwave and AM radio, online, flash drives, DVDs, and mobile apps.

 

"At each step of the way, the Cuban government has tried to stop us," García-Pérez explained. "But we have been undeterred and by pursuing creative media alternatives we have ensured that our professional journalism reaches Cuba."

 

In March of this year an independent survey found that 20 percent of Cubans are tuning in to Radio Martí.

 

Throughout its history, Radio Martí has been a singularly important source of uncensored information on some of the most important news in Cuba, including:

 

Glasnost and Perestroika reforms in the Soviet Union,

The fall of the Berlin Wall,

The 1994 "Cuban Exodus" and development of the so called "wet foot/dry foot" policy,

Pope John Paul's visit to Cuba in 1998,

The Elian Gonzalez saga,

Cuba's Black Spring, in which more than 75 dissidents, including 29 journalists, were imprisoned,

The death of prominent activists Oswaldo Paya and Laura Pollan,

Providing a pivotal voice for Human Rights movements all across the island, and

The release of American Alan Gross and the announcement of an opening of U.S.-Cuban relations.

 

Radio Martí historically took on an instrumental role through its investigative unit, which sought to corroborate news leads coming from the island.

 

In addition to major news events, Radio Martí has provided lifesaving public health information, breaking the news to Cuba and the world about the presence of HIV/AIDS on the island and the existence of the mental institution "Sanatorio de los Cocos," as well as the most recent cholera and chikungunya outbreaks. With news, arts, sports, entertainment and musical programming, the Martís bring aspiring, inspiring and empowering stories to Cubans.

 

The Martís will share an historic timeline, photos and articles online on martinoticias.com and will provide special programming, remembering key moments from its history and providing interviews with Cubans on the impact of Radio Martí.

 

"For 30 years Radio Martí has been a trusted source of news for the Cuban people," said García-Pérez. "We will continue to provide them with objective and balanced information so that they can make informed decisions as to their future."  

 

Today Radio, TV Martí and martinoticias.com produce multimedia content that is used on the web 24/7, on around-the-clock radio broadcasts, and daily TV newscasts, long form TV documentaries and snackable content for the web and mobile.

 

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international media, whose mission is to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. BBG networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti). BBG programming has a measured audience of 215 million in more than 100 countries and in 61 languages.

        

(BBG Press Release)

U.S. proposes making Radio Marti, broadcaster to Cuba, independent

By Arshad Mohammed, Warren Strobel and David Adams

(Reuters) - The White House has proposed turning Radio Marti, a U.S. government-controlled broadcaster created in part to undermine communist rule in Cuba, into a separate entity as Washington seeks rapprochement with Havana.

The proposal, buried in the federal budget released last month, was made some six weeks after the United States and Cuba agreed on Dec. 17 to embark on an effort to restore diplomatic ties and normalize relations after more than 50 years of enmity.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/03/us-usa-cuba-broadcaster-idUSKBN0LZ2ET20150303

Transmission to Cuba Continue Despite Fire

Martí Radio, TV and Web Transmissions to Cuba Continue After Newsroom Fire

Miami, FL, April 22, 2013 - U.S. government broadcasts to Cuba continued Monday after a trashcan fire forced the temporary evacuation of the headquarters of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting in Miami Sunday afternoon.

 

The building housing Radio and Television Martí and the Martinoticias.com website, on NW 77th Avenue in Miami, sustained damage due to an accidental fire caused by a lighted cigarette left in a container in a designated smoking area outside the building. Heat from the blaze caused windows to break in the Martí newsroom. Smoke entered the building and automatically set off building sprinklers. No one was injured.

 

"We are grateful to the firefighters and other officials who responded so quickly to the situation," said Carlos García Pérez, Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB). "We are also grateful to our dedicated team of federal employees and contractors, who ensured that programming continued and who today are working in cramped conditions on broadcasts for Cuba while the damage is being repaired."

 

In Miami, representatives of the OCB and the General Services Administration are working with the building's landlord to mitigate the fire damage and verify air quality safety. They say it could be a week or more before employees can return to the central newsroom, which sustained most of the damage.

The disruption comes at a busy time for Martí journalists. They are mobilizing for live coverage Tuesday morning from Brussels of the long-delayed presentation of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to "The Ladies in White," an opposition movement in Cuba consisting of wives and other female supporters of jailed dissidents. The Prize was awarded in 2005, but the Cuban government denied the women the right to receive the award. Representatives of the group are traveling to Brussels this week, the first time many have been allowed outside of Cuba.

"In the absence of a free press in Cuba, Radio and TV Martí and martinoticias.com report on stories Cuban media does not cover," García Pérez said. "The Martis' coverage of issues relevant to the daily lives of Cubans, including human rights, will continue."

 

Radio Martí is available throughout much of Cuba on 1080 AM and Radio Caracol on 1260 AM. TV Martí is available in Cuba on Channels 13 and 20 as well as Mega TV through the Direct TV satellite. Aside from the usual Internet access, Martinoticias is available through proxy sites and via file sharing on the island.

(BBG Press Release)

BBG Broadcasts Reach Record Audiences

Washington, D.C., Nov 15, 2011 -- U.S. government funded international broadcasters reached an estimated 187 million people every week in 2011, an increase of 22 million from last year's figure, according to new audience data being made public by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

"We are pleased that people the world over are responding in unprecedented numbers to our high-quality journalism and active audience engagement," said BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson. "The ability of our broadcasters to inform, engage and connect audiences through traditional and social media alike lie behind these impressive results and will be essential to driving future audience reach and impact."
The record numbers, released in the BBG Performance and Accountability Report (PAR), measure the combined audience of the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio and TV Martí, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa). The report details impact on audiences around the globe including people in the world's most repressive media and political environments.

The BBG's PAR follows on the heels of BBG's latest strategic plan, Impact through Innovation and Integration, which sets an over-arching objective of making BBG the world's leading international news agency working to foster freedom and democracy with the goal of reaching 216 million people weekly by 2016.
This year there were significant audience increases in Afghanistan, where RFE/RL and VOA together reach 75% of adults weekly; in Egypt, where Alhurra TV doubled its weekly audience to 15% in tandem with the Arab Spring; and in Indonesia, where VOA's aggressive affiliate strategy has boosted weekly audiences to some 38 million adults.
Audiences in many other strategically relevant countries held strong. In Nigeria, VOA retains its position as a news source of record with 23 million weekly listeners. In Burma, VOA and RFA reach 26% and 24% of adults, respectively, amounting to a weekly audience of 10 million.

Audience declines took place notably in Iran, where the government continues aggressive jamming of every BBG transmission platform, including satellite uplink jamming; and Pakistan, where the media market is increasingly fragmented and use of radio is declining.

While radio remains the BBG's number one media platform, reaching 106 million people per week, television's growth puts it at 97 million people. The Internet audience was approximately 10 million, with the largest online audiences measured in Iraq, Russia, Indonesia, Egypt and Iran.

(BBG Pres Release)

Radio Marti Marks 25th Anniversary

Miami, 05/20/2010
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of Radio Marti, which began its broadcasts to Cuba with a simple "buenos dias Cuba."

In the years since, Radio Marti's news programs, dedicated to being accurate, objective and comprehensive, have offered the Cuban people a welcome alternative to state-controlled media propaganda.

"I appreciate the opportunity in this historic day to acknowledge all journalists, engineers and support staff for your commitment in providing professionalism, objectivity and balance in all our programs and newscasts," said Pedro Roig, director of the U.S. government's Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio Marti. "Congratulations to all in these 25 years of commitment to the freedom of Cuba."

Cuba has one of the world's most restrictive media environments - in the bottom 10 of the Freedom of the Press rankings by Freedom House and among the 10 worst countries to be a blogger according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Radio Marti and its sister television and Internet outlets broadcast across multiple media platforms to combat the massive jamming efforts of the Cuban government.

With an all news format, Radio Marti programs air 24 hours a day Tuesday through Sunday, and 18 hours on Monday on shortwave and AM frequencies. Approximately 70 percent of the broadcast hours are live newscasts. Three daily half-hour programs are dedicated to information
and reports from dissidents, independent journalists, independent librarians and pro-democracy advocates within Cuba.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which is funded by the U.S. government through the presidentially appointed Broadcasting Board of Governors, was established in 1990 to oversee the operations of Radio and TV Marti, which broadcast news and information to the people of Cuba. For more information, please call the BBG's Office of Public Affairs at 202-203-4400 or e-mail publicaffairs@bbg.gov.

(BBG Press Release)

VOA and Radio Marti Expand Radio Broadcasts to Latin America

Washington, DC, 02/03/2010
"A Fondo" is a new weeknight, Spanish-language radio program targeted toaudiences in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing vital news andinformation to a region where media freedom is under attack.With anchors at Voice of America studios in Washington, D.C. and the studiosof Radio Marti in Miami, Fl., the hour-long program utilizes the uniqueresources of both entities to provide local, national and international newsreports to audiences throughout the region. Call-in segments and interviewswith experts and government officials will provide facts and opinions thatare currently unavailable to listeners."A Fondo" (In Depth) debuted Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. EST (0100 UTC). It isavailable on shortwave, medium-wave, satellite and Internet at(http://www.voanews.com/spanish/news/.) It airs Monday to Friday.The program was developed in response to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez'sdecision to shut down cable and satellite TV channels last month for failingto broadcast a speech he made. The Venezuelan Government said the stations,including Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), failed to comply with newregulations mandating coverage of Chavez. Protests erupted after RCTV wasshuttered."The media crackdown in Venezuela demonstrates the need for accurate,reliable and comprehensive news and information to audiences throughout theregion. This program will help serve that need," said Alberto Mascaro,director of VOA's Latin America Division.The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency,supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian internationalbroadcasting, whose mission is to promote freedom and democracy and toenhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate,objective, and balanced news, information, and other programming aboutAmerica and the world to audiences overseas. BBG broadcasting organizationsinclude the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the MiddleEast Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, andthe Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti).

(BBG Press Release)