ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990                   TAG: 9005180128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RADIO NETWORK SHUTDOWNS NOT IMMINENT

Operations of U.S. radio networks that have broadcast to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War are under intense review, but it is too soon to say the Bush administration is about to shut them down, U.S. officials said Thursday.

"There is an enormous interagency discussion going on," said one State Department official who asked not to be identified by name.

Though there doubtless will be recommendations for changes in format, he said, nobody is predicting the demise of such networks as Radio Free Europe, which broadcasts to Eastern Europe, or Radio Liberty, which aims its programs at millions of listeners in the Soviet Union.

He noted that changes in the Soviet Union haven't moved as quickly or gone as far as they have in many countries of Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Forbes Jr., chairman of the Board for International Broadcasting which operates Radio Free Europe, took issue with recommendations on the broadcast service's future issued Wednesday by the independent U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

The advisory panel said planning should begin now on eventually ending Radio Free Europe and turning its assets over to the Voice of America.

"Given that Radio Free Europe enjoys several times the audience of Voice of America in Eastern and Central Europe, it is premature to call for an end to RFE broadcasts to countries in the region," Forbes said.

The commission on public diplomacy serves as an advisory panel for the United States Information Agency, which operates the Voice of America, and Forbes said:

"The motives of such a recommendation concerning RFE must be questioned in light of the commission's close relationship with USIA." 


 by CNB