RFE/RL's BELARUS SERVICE

In Brief

• Language: Belarusian
• Coverage: Eight hours a day, including news, talk shows, roundtables, analytical programming and 30 minutes weekly TV on Warsaw-based BelSat’s Astra and Sirius
• Frequency: SW, MW, and Satellite
• Internet: www.svaboda.org

History

• Radio Svaboda was established in 1954, broadcasting on SW to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia.
• Radio Svaboda was one of the first RFE/RL language services to stake a claim in cyberspace, launching its website in 1998.
• Svaboda.org is now one of the leading news and information websites in Belarus, its content widely cited throughout Belarusian media.

Highlights

• Radio Svaboda provides its audiences with 24/7 coverage of the news, integrating radio output with up-to-the-minute web coverage -- reports, photos, videos, and slide shows.
• Radio Svaboda's popular youth-oriented "Night Liberty" talk show features live interviews with newsmakers and artists as well as literary readings.
• The "Morning Program" provides lively "blitz-analyses" of the day's major issues, and a look ahead to the top stories of the coming day.
• Every day, Radio Svaboda receives dozens of text messages and e-mails from listeners and website visitors, offering Belarusians a rare opportunity to air their views uncensored
• Radio Svaboda has pioneered the use of regular weekly online conferences, allowing audiences to interact directly with a selected "newsmaker-of-the-week."
• Through its popular “Liberty Library” series, Radio Svaboda has sponsored the publication of some 15 books -- memoirs, essays, poems, historical tomes -- which are presented at gala in-country events, and distributed in print and downloadable from the website.