Radio broadcasting network of the U.S. government.
Its function is to promote understanding of the U.S. and spread democratic values. Its daily broadcasts include news reports, editorials, and discussions of U.S. political and cultural events. Its first broadcast, in German, took place in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. By the end of World War II, it was broadcasting 3,200 programs in 40 languages every week. During the Cold War it focused its message at the communist countries of eastern and central Europe. It became part of the U.S. Information Agency when that agency was formed in 1953.