History
Radio Sawa and its sister-network, Al Hurra TV, are part of a larger U.S. Public Diplomacy effort in the Middle East. Their stated mission is to "improve America's image in the Middle East and win the hearts and minds of the Arab people.”
Radio Sawa was first launched in early 2002, initially in Jordan, West Bank, Kuwait, UAE(Abu Dhab), Qatar and Bahrain and eventually in the rest of the Arab World (see below for full list).
Radio Sawa replaced Voice of America's Arabic service, which had not been successful in attracting large audiences. The initiator of radio Sawa is American media mogul Norman Pattiz. He found that more than 60% of the Arab population was under the age of 30, which is why he decided to develop programming that would target the younger generation. Pattiz believed that the best way to reach the young people was with music. This is why the majority of the radio's programming consists of American and Arab pop music.
Radio Sawa is controlled by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the Federal agency responsible for all U.S. international civilian broadcasting. The BBG founded the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), a non-profit news and information organization, to run Radio Sawa and Al Hurra TV.
Read more about this topic: Radio Sawa
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