🔊 Listen to this Envelope for a letter sent to the Voice of America (VOA) in New York circa late 1949-1953. The Irish stamp was issued on November 21, 1949. The Voice of America studios were in New York from 1942 through 1953. The VOA headquarters were moved from New York to Washington, DC after the Voice of America was transferred in 1953 from the U.S. State Department to the newly established U.S. Information Agency (USIA). VOA had a minimal audience in English and other languages in Ireland, Great Britain, and Western European countries, which had free media. VOA never broadcast in Irish. Direct shortwave and medium wave Voice of America radio broadcasts to Western Europe were ended after World War II, as they had no significant audience. Direct VOA broadcasts to Norway and to Holland were abolished in 1945, to Finland and Portugal in 1953 (restored in 1976), to Spain in 1955, to Italy in 1957, to Germany in 1960, to France in 1961. Still, some placement of VOA radio reports on local stations in several West European countries continued for various periods after direct broadcasts from the United States were discontinued.