RFE/RL's GEORGIAN SERVICE

In Brief

• Language: Georgian
• Coverage: Three hours daily, plus a weekly one-hour talk show, “Red Zone,” on Georgian Public Television
• Frequency: FM, UHF, Satellite 
• Internet: www.tavisupleba.org

History

• Radio Tavisupleba aired its first Georgian-language program on March 3, 1953. It was called "Gantavisupleba" (Liberation).
• On April 9, 1989, RFE/RL's Georgian Service broke the story about how Soviet special troops had violently dispersed a peaceful demonstration in the center of Tbilisi. Twenty people died in the violence.
• The Tbilisi bureau of RFE/RL's Georgian Service was opened in 1997.
• The website of RFE/RL's Georgian Service was launched in 2001.
• Radio Tavisupleba was one of the media outlets affected by the government's state of emergency on November 7, 2007. The government's ban on independent media broadcasts shut down affiliate partners in Georgia. Tavisupleba secured shortwave and crossborder mediumwave frequencies to maintain news programming into Georgia. Tavisupleba also reconfigured its website, implemented an e-mail alert system, and used cellphone-based SMS alerts to keep its audience informed. For almost two weeks, Tavisupleba was the only nonstate news source for Georgians. 

Highlights

• In November 2007, RFE/RL inaugurated a one-hour weekly show on Georgian Public Television called "Red Zone," which introduces the young generation to forgotten or undiscovered cultural figures and political themes from Georgia's Soviet communist past. 
• "Red Zone" is the second RFE/RL program on Georgian television, following "Tea and Liberty," a Sunday talk show launched in April 2006 on privately owned Imedi Television. The program continued for 1 1/2 years, until Imedi was shut down by the government.. 
• In January 2007, Tavisupleba published its first book, "Tavisuplebis Dghiurebi" (Liberty Diaries), compiled from its program of the same name. The book features 52 weekly diaries of well-known personalities and ordinary citizens and students, accompanied by an audio CD. A second volume was released in January 2008.