One-hour edition of Newslink on Sirius satellite radio

Listeners in the U.S. can now hear Newslink on Sirius satellite radio. The hour-long edition of the current affairs programme is aired Mondays thru Fridays on the PRI World channel on Sirius Channel 136. This means that Newslink is now available nationwide in the US as well as being rebroadcast by selected NPR stations.

Back in March 2004 Newslink expanded its current 30-minute broadcast for the US market to integrate more specialized features into the second half of the program. The idea was to provide listeners with both news and sound-rich featurettes from its studios in Bonn, Germany. The program is available live via satellite by Chicago-based distributor WFMT Networks at 9:00pm EDT and is immediately transmitted on the public radio satellite as a live program. 14 stations have signed up so far to rebroadcast the program, including NPR affiliates in Washington DC, Seattle and New Hampshire.

Greg Fitzgerald, DW-Radio’s marketing and distribution coordinator in the US, says the program is being produced specifically to meet the format needs of National Public Radio. "Newslink Plus is produced with the format features most public radio stations request, including the ability to begin the hour with an NPR newscast".

Why another international news broadcast for the US? One thing public radio listeners were clear on during the war in Iraq was the importance of a variety of viewpoints from around the globe. United Europe is expanding politically and its currency – the Euro – is becoming increasingly important in world trade. And with international terrorism now at Europe’s front door, European-American efforts to fight terrorism have never been at a more critical juncture. As the largest international broadcaster in central Europe, Deutsche Welle Radio is uniquely situated to cover this dynamic region of the globe. Grahame Lucas, Head of News and Current Affairs at DW-Radio´s English Service: "Our producers in Bonn work hand in hand with the teams of our 30 other languages services which – together with our correspondents - provide expertise from around the world."

Fitzgerald adds "there is no better way to get a new perspective on a major international issue than from correspondents and producers working in a radio system far removed from the Washington beltway". Fitzgerald continues, "Newslink editors and producers don’t rely on the New York Times and Washington Post as their primary guideposts. Most of the editors in US newsrooms don’t have access to the European news resources available to Deutsche Welle’s news team, because most don’t speak the language and the news agenda in Europe is very different.

Deutsche Welle distributes a wide range of multimedia worldwide in 31 languages, and employs the most modern digital technology available for production and transmission. It relies on a multinational-multilingual team of 1300 people from more than 60 nations at its Radio, TV and Online divisions. In the summer of 2003, DW-Radio moved from its Cologne production center to a facility that is probably the most modern broadcast center in Europe. In Bonn, Deutsche Welle Radio now produces its programming in languages as diverse as Amharic, Urdu, Bengali and Ukrainian, and, of course in English. DW-WORLD.DE, the network’s Internet component is one of the most visited web sites in Europe.

For more information, contact Deutsche Welle Radio’s US distribution office in Boston at (508) 653 1644, EMAIL: dwusa@mac.com