National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting

This is a great museum. First, we watched a video about the history of Voice of America, how it started, and how it was able to spread the American government message to countries throughout the world, including Germany, Japan, China and of course the former Soviet Union. We also learned about Powell Crosley Jr. and all of his industries including his Radio industry. We got to listen to the modern Voice of America broadcasts over the satellite. My kids were fascinated to get a demonstration on how a ham radio works. We were impressed with the museum tour and its exibits. I was happy to learn that the Voice of America still continues to broadcast in forty two foreign languages reaching over two hundred thirty million listeners.

We took the docent led tour (included in admission price) on a Saturday afternoon. It was really interesting and had nice pieces of local history. The kids enjoyed being able to ask questions of the docent. If you go into the Voice of America Park (behind the museum), you can still see the cement bases for the radio towers that use to be there. I would recommend checking them out. The tour is probably better for older kids, as there is a lot of reading, not as many interactive stations for younger kids.