The Voice of America (VOA) in Liberia: The End of the Road

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Periodical article

Title:	The Voice of America (VOA) in Liberia: The End of the Road
Author:	Holmes, Patricia A.
Year:	1992
Periodical:	Liberian Studies Journal
Volume:	17
Issue:	1
Pages:	79-93
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Liberia
Subjects:	radio international relations Literature, Mass Media and the Press
Abstract:	The relay station of the Voice of America (VOA) in Liberia and all its infrastructures, which were constructed in 1962, were dismantled and destroyed when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor marched down the main highway towards Careysburg, a city located one mile from the site of the VOA relay station, in June 1990. On September 17, 1990, the Liberia relay station of the VOA was forced shut by forces of the NPFL. The shutdown ended 26 years and four months of radio communications in Liberia. This paper traces the establishment and evolution of the VOA and its communication developments in Liberia up to and including the shutdown of the facility in 1990. Attention is paid to US telecommunications systems in the country, their status as the civil war raged, the historical ties which have linked the US and Liberia in communications, technical and maintenance work at the facilities, programming, and Liberian staffing. Bibliogr., notes.