When Indonesia declared its independence on 17 August 1945, the new country needed an effective tool to announce this to the whole nation and to the world. At 19:00 on the same day, M. Jusuf Ronodipuro, founder of the RRI, read the proclamation of news on Hoso Kyoku, Japanese occupation radio. He was also supported by Dr. Abdulrahman Saleh, who had a passion for radio broadcasting. Both of them then launched the Voice of Free Indonesia on 23 August 1945. The first Indonesian President Sukarno delivered a speech on this radio on 25 August and Vice President Mohammad Hatta, did the same on 29 August. At that time, radio broadcasting was the most powerful media in order to deliver the message to reach the audiences around the world. To carry out this mission, the new Republic of Indonesia took over the former Dutch Colonial Government Radio station in Yogyakarta.^{[citation needed]}

The Indonesian station broadcasting across the world was named Voice of Free Indonesia. On 11 September 1945, it became Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), the head organization of Voice of Indonesia. During the Indonesian National Revolution, a Scottish American woman named K'tut Tantri, who was sympathetic to the Indonesian republicans, made several English-language broadcasts on the Voice of Free Indonesia. Her broadcasts were targeted at Western listeners and she gained the nickname "Surabaya Sue" due to her support for the Indonesian nationalists. During the early days of Indonesian independence, radio broadcasting played an important role in sending the new nation's message to overseas audiences, which helped other nations recognize the sovereignty of Indonesia. In addition, the Voice of Free Indonesia was also the name of an Indonesian Republican magazine that was marketed at Western correspondents.^[2] In 1950, Voice of Free Indonesia was renamed the Voice of Indonesia.^{[3][dead link]}

The target audience of VOI is a ‘general audience’. Generally, there are three types of listener: Indonesian citizens abroad, the Indonesian diaspora and all the people across the globe.^[4]

Currently, VOI serves people abroad with programmes broadcast in 9 different languages, English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and Indonesian. In the past, it was also broadcasts in Hindi, Korean, Thai and Urdu.

Until 2010, each language broadcast two hours of programming a day with total of 13 hours for the whole language broadcasting. There were four main VOI programs : News and Information, Rhythm of Archipelago; a programme about Indonesian music, Getting to know Indonesia; a programme about the unique and charateristic culture of the country, and the Archipelago Sketches; a programme about the regional autonomy policy. These programmes were first produced in Indonesian and then translated into 9 different languages. The content of all foreign language programs was practically the same.^[5]

Since 2018, VOI has broadcast 24 hours a day on the internet and 12 hours on short wave at 4750 and 3325 kHz. The 9525, 11785 and 15150 bands are inactive for the time being^[when?]. In the past, VOI broadcast abroad using short wave frequencies 9525, 11785 and 15150 kHz, which it had used since it first went on the air.^[6]

Although shortwave broadcasting is the main channel to deliver its product, VOI also operates a web site. This web site carries news in 9 different languages, as well as a live streaming radio service, which began on 1 April 2008. However, the streaming service is not as comprehensive as the shortwave broadcasting.

VOI uses social media such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter to provide updated information about Indonesia. Additionally, to provide the service to mobile and smartphone users, VOI is available on the RRI Digital app. It also has visual programmes on RRI NET, the RRI visual radio channel.

• S.W. 3325 kHz - 10 kW (Palangkaraya Transmitter)
• S.W. 4750 kHz - 50 kW (Cimanggis, West Java Transmitter)
• S.W. 9525 kHz (inactive) - 250 kW
• S.W. 11785 kHz (inactive) - 250 kW
• S.W. 15150 kHz (inactive) - 250 kW

17:00 – 04:00 WIB / 10:00 – 21:00 UTC

Language edit

SW 3325 and 4750 kHz:

1. English WIB = 17:00 - 18:00, UTC 10:00 - 11:00 (United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea)
2. Chinese WIB = 18:00 - 19:00, UTC 11:00 - 12:00 (Singapore, Malaysia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan)
3. Japanese WIB = 19:00 - 20:00, UTC 12:00 - 13:00
4. English II WIB = 20:00 - 21:00, UTC 13:00 - 14:00
5. Bahasa Indonesia WIB = 21:00 - 22:00, UTC 14:00 - 15:00
6. Chinese II WIB = 22:00 - 23:00, UTC 15:00 - 16:00
7. Arabic WIB = 23:00 - 24:00, UTC 16:00 - 17:00 (Saudi Arabia and UAE)
8. Spanish WIB = 24:00 – 01:00, UTC = 17:00 – 18:00
9. German WIB = 01:00 - 02:00, UTC = 18:00 - 19:00
10. English WIB = 02:.00 – 03:00, UTC = 19:00 – 20:00
11. French WIB = 03:00 - 04:00, UTC = 20:00 - 21:00 (France, Belgium, Quebec (Canada)

• TVRI World, an English television channel of TVRI

• Official website
• Voice of Indonesia audio streaming
• Voice of Indonesia video streaming
• Voice of Indonesia on the RRI web portal
• Voice of Indonesia on RRI Digital web application