More than a million people inside Iran circumvented aggressive censorship and logged on to RFE/RL’s Persian-language website in July through a proxy server, a system ensuring the anonymity of its users. It was the first time Radio Farda’s proxy server recorded a million visits since it was put in place in April 2009. In addition, the site received 40,000 visits on Sunday 15 August - a record high for a day without breaking news.“The more Tehran starves Iranians of accurate news, the hungrier the people become for reliable information,” says Radio Farda Director Armand Mostofi. “These are the latest milestones for Radio Farda in a year of unprecedented growth, reflecting the commitment we made to step up our programming following the disputed presidential election.”
Since the post-election protests, Radio Farda has added two new live shows, including the enormously popular satire, Pas Farda (The Day After Tomorrow), which attracts a growing radio audience and generates hundreds of comments each weekday from its 8,500+ Facebook fans. The show’s host, Farshid Manafi, is a well-known Iranian personality who pushes the limits on critical satire. Four years ago, his lively programmes on state television and radio were shut down by censors, and he was fired.
Every Friday at 6pm Tehran time, a new live call-in program called The Sixth Hour takes questions and comments from dozens of listeners on hot-button topics such as capital punishment, the student protest movement, and the role of Persian-language media based outside of Iran.
In total (the proxy server plus regular web traffic), Radio Farda’s website drew more than 4.3 million visits last month. Users viewed nearly 13 million web pages and downloaded more than a million hours of audio programming.
“Without a doubt, the government will keep trying to jam our signals, disrupt our website, and harass our people,” says Armand Mostofi. “But our audience numbers prove that Iranians are yearning for reliable news, and we will continue finding ways of delivering it to them.”
(Source: RFE/RL/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Radio Farda on shortwave
July 26 2010 A10 summer schedule update
Effective to 30 October 2010
Radio Farda does not broadcast in English
Farsi
All times UTC / all broadcast targeted to the Middle East
0000-0030 on 7510
0030-0100 on 5860 7280 7510
0100-0130 on 5860 7280 7295 7510
0130-0230 on 5860 5970 7280 7295 7510 9805
0230-0300 on 5860 7280 7295 9805 15690
0300-0400 on 5860 5885 7280 9805 9840 15690
0400-0430 on 5860 5885 7280 11635 13810 13860 15690
0430-0500 on 5860 5885 7280 11635 13810 13860 15255 15690
0500-0530 on 5860 5885 11635 13810 13860 15255 15690
0530-0600 on 5885 7220 11635 13810 13860 15255 15690 21715
0600-0630 on 5885 7220 11635 13810 13860 15690 17810 17845 21715
0630-0800 on 5885 7220 11635 13860 15690 17810 17845 21715
0800-0830 on 5885 7220 13860 15690 17810 17845
0830-0930 on 5885 7220 13860 15690 17695 17810 17845
0930-1000 on 5885 13860 15610 15690 17695 17845
1000-1100 on 5885 7435 13860 15610 15690 17695 17845
1100-1130 on 5885 7435 13860 15610 15690 17695
1130-1200 on 5885 7435 13860 15690 17695
1200-1300 on 7435 13860 15690 17695 17755
1300-1330 on 7435 13860 15680 15690 17755
1330-1400 on 7435 13860 15680 15690 17695 17755
1400-1430 on 11520 13860 15680 17695
1430-1500 on 11520 13860 15650 15680 17695
1500-1530 on 11520 15650 15680 17695
1530-1600 on 11520 11615 15650 15680 17695
1600-1700 on 7580 9760 11520 15650 11615 15680
1700-1730 on 7580 9760 11520 11615 15680
1730-1800 on 5830 7580 9760
1800-1900 on 5830 7580
1900-2130 on 5830 7580 9505
2130-2200 on 7580
2200-2400 on 7595
(Ivo Ivanov/DX Mix News # 635 via Alokesh Gupta, India)
