Christian Broadcasting Blog

TWR Antenna Upgrade Completed

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:33 GMT

Trans World Radio (TWR) has announced the successful completion of a major antenna upgrade to North Africa as of April 9, 2009.

The upgrade greatly improves both coverage and signal strength, increasing the number of potential listeners in the region to 40 million people.

Prior to the antenna modification, TWR’s signal to many North African people groups, particularly those in the Northern Atlas mountains, was nearly indistinguishable above the interference caused by electromagnetic radiation from growing cities.

Today, the reception is loud and clear. The transmission is now beamed towards the Atlas Mountains in a concentrated beam, as opposed to the earlier, wider-angle signal toward an area with not much interest in reception. The transmitter power for 1467 kHz remains at 100,000 watts.

One North African listener says, “The signal is better than before. I know that this improvement not only helps us hear the gospel message, but also allows many more in all of North Africa to listen to these programs now.”

Trans World Radio envisions North Africa committed to Jesus Christ, and broadcasts strategic programming to North Africa in Arabic and Berber dialects such as Sous, Tamazight, Tarifit and Kabyle.

HCJB Global Reaching 1 Million Households in Arab World, Research Shows

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:47 GMT

HCJB Global Reaching 1 Million Households in Arab World, Research Shows
Source: HCJB Global

Recent research shows HCJB Global, an international media and healthcare ministry, is now reaching more than 1 million Arab households weekly across the North Africa/Middle East region via radio broadcasts through its strategic media outreach. The research was conducted by Intermedia (www.intermedia.org), an international media research organization.

“The households in the Arab world have many challenges. They are searching for a message of hope and love, and that is our focus as we reach out,” said HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson.

HCJB Global’s media strategy in the region has a two-pronged approach. First, it’s engaging households that listen to broadcasts together.

“Our media ministry in the Arab world primarily is to serve people on their journey to faith,” said HCJB Global’s regional director. “Programs are structured so we don’t offend anyone in the family – so they will not close the channel. Our desire is to keep the channel open. And we are designing programming with the entire household in mind.”

Second, programs are produced by trained local believers who could face great persecution. These local broadcasters can now tell their neighbors about the hope they have found, when they could not before.

HCJB Global recently announced its “Me and My Household” initiative based on the Arab world research. The campaign centers on the Bible verse, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15, NIV). The ministry is offering a free prayer e-card at www.hcjbglobal.org/myprayer which Christians can use to encourage their family and friends to serve God and pray for the unsaved families of the world.

HCJB Global also is sponsoring a nationwide contest in April that allows Christians to submit outreach projects based on the ministry’s commitment to declare and demonstrate Jesus to others. Contest winners will receive cash prizes to complete the project they submitted.

In addition, the ministry will be challenging households across the U.S. and the world to pray for unreached households and to give $1 to reach one household in the Arab world for one year.

The Arab world consists of 19 countries and nearly 300 million people. Although Christian radio stations are illegal in most nations in the region, residents can still hear the gospel through HCJB Global’s shortwave, satellite and Internet radio broadcasts.

Illiteracy rates, especially among women, can be high, making radio an effective tool for both evangelism and discipleship. The recent study reveals that programming focused on local needs and a message of hope is seeing a great response, with 71,000 households listening in Algeria and 72,000 households listening in Saudi Arabia alone.

“There is evidence this generation of people in the Arab world is more open to Christ due to the compassion many have experienced through Christian agencies as refugees or during famines or natural disasters,” said Pederson. “As we receive responses from listeners, we have found many listeners discover what they are searching for.”

“I am a very loyal listener to your station, because it broadcasts programs that address our spiritual needs,” wrote one listener from Tunisia.

Another listener from Algeria wrote: “I was very happy to hear about salvation and the true happiness that does not come apart from Jesus Christ. I would like to know more about Jesus.”

Death of former HCJB broadcaster

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:32 GMT

Longtime HCJB Global German Radio Broadcaster Dies at 82
Source: HCJB Global

Sally Schroeder Isaak, a German broadcaster at Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, for 30 years, died of cancer in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, on Monday, Jan. 19. She was 82.

The daughter of Mennonite parents who emigrated from Ukraine to Canada in 1925, Sally was born in St. Françoise Xavier, Manitoba, on Feb. 19, 1926.

Sally graduated from Teachers College in Winnipeg and also attended Regent College in Vancouver and the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., in 1956. She later studied at Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Winnipeg, completing a bachelor’s degree in religious education in 1964. She also received a master’s degree in communications from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., in 1978.

In her 20s, Sally worked as a schoolteacher, but she began to feel “restless” and spent one year on a special project under the Mennonite Central Committee, working among Mexican migrant workers in Modesto, Calif.

Sensing a call to full-time missions, Sally applied with Mennonite Brethren Missions/Services (MBM/S) in 1956 and was assigned to HCJB Global’s German Language Service in Quito, a department that began just three years earlier.

After five months of Spanish language study in San José, Costa Rica, Sally arrived in Ecuador in February 1957, serving with HCJB Global under the auspices of MBM/S. The German programs she produced aired to listeners across Europe and South America via shortwave on Radio Station HCJB.

“I derived a lot of satisfaction from producing programs for non-Christian Germans,” she said in an interview several years ago. “It was especially gratifying when listeners to the programs wrote in to say they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. I also enjoyed every minute of Spanish study, and I had a very good relationship with the 10 churches that supported me as their adopted missionary.”

In addition to producing radio programs, Sally worked at HCJB-TV, helping in music and teaching English intermittently for nine years. She was also involved in the Iñaquito Evangelical Church in Quito, helping primarily in Christian education, teaching children, youth and adults and directing the church’s educational program. In addition, she worked with Ecuadorian women, teaching Bible classes and helping new Christians grow in their faith.

Throughout the years Sally took a number of listener follow-up trips in German-speaking Europe and South America. In 1967 she spent five months in West Germany in an effort to learn and understand more about the culture and situation so she could present radio programs from Quito that better met the needs of German listeners. In her time on the field, Sally was privileged to interview two Ecuadorian presidents, Osvaldo Hurtado and León Roldós.

A gifted linguist, Sally was fluent in three languages: German, English and Spanish. HCJB Global retiree Tom Fulghum, said she was “amazing in her cross-cultural skills. Besides all the work she did in German, she was extremely well connected in the Latin community in Ecuador. Her Spanish was impeccable, and she often did simultaneous translation work. She had an enormous heart for people, both for the German people to whom she ministered as well as the Ecuadorians. It was a joy to work with her.”

John Adams, staff and office care manager at the HCJB Global Ministry Service Center in Colorado Springs, agreed. “I wish each of us as missionaries in Ecuador could have been as culturally sensitive and as highly efficient in Spanish as Sally was,” he said. “Add German and she was truly trilingual. She set a great example of what it meant to reach out to and identify with our host nation.”

“Professionally, as a radio producer and announcer, Sally was immaculate in her preparation and presentation,” added Adams. “She was a pro in every sense of the word. She had a compassion for the lost that was palpable and a rapport with her Ecuadorian friends and acquaintances and fellow staff members that exemplified what it means to be an ambassador of Christ.”

German program producer Esther Neufeld said, “Up to the end, Sally was interested in the ongoing ministry of HCJB Global and prayed regularly with [retired German programmer] Maria Hubert. She had a tremendous impact on many lives. Her life and ministry has been a model for me.”

After retiring from missionary service in July 1987, Sally returned to Canada where she married Frank Isaak in Abbotsford on Aug. 22, 1987. Although retired, Sally never sat down, keeping active in her church until she was no longer physically able to do so. She also helped in the ministry of HCJB Global-Canada wherever possible. And she reached out to the Hispanic community in Canada, teaching Bible classes in Spanish. At one point she led a class composed mostly of refugees from El Salvador.

Sally documented the impact of the German Language Service and her personal ministry in her book, Some Seed Fell on Good Ground, published by Windflower Communications in Winnipeg in 1994.

A funeral and memorial service will be held at Bakerview Mennonite Brethren Church in Abbotsford at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Towers come down at Pifo

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:07 GMT

Tall Towers Removed from Radio Station HCJB’s Site in Ecuador
Source: HCJB Global

Crews removed the last of the tall antennas and towers at Radio Station HCJB’s international transmitter site in Ecuador, the height of which would obstruct the flight path of the future international airport for the capital city of Quito.

Under earlier agreements between the Quito Airport Corporation (CORPAQ) and HCJB Global, the towers were removed prior to a December 31st 2008, deadline.

“The last of these tall towers were taken down on Dec. 24 at 9:30 a.m.,” said Geoff Kooistra, operations and engineering director for the station.

Christmas is noteworthy in the station’s history as its first program went on the air on Christmas Day, 1931. The first broadcasts from the international transmitter site in Pifo, just east of the capital, began in 1953.

With 14 other shorter antennas and towers still standing, the transmitters at Pifo continue to broadcast 60 hours per day with targets throughout the Americas. Trade languages such as Spanish, Portuguese and German still air, as do indigenous languages such as Quichua (Ecuador), Waorani (Ecuador’s Amazon region), Cofán (Andean highlands, Amazon region and northern Ecuador) and Kulina (Brazil and eastern Peru).

HCJB's Pifo site has previously delivered the stations programming to locations all over the world.

“We also continue digital shortwave broadcasts both to Brazil and to Europe,” Kooistra said.

The station transmits 56 hours of analogue signal and four hours of digital shortwave, according to Steve Sutherland who manages the Pifo site and staff.

However, all shortwave broadcasts from Pifo are projected to end no later than April 1st 2010.

Launch of Calvary Radio Network

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:53 GMT

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA

Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com

Friday, December 12, 2008
Launch of Calvary Radio Network
Now has 50 stations across the United States
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

COSTA MESA, CA (ANS) -- Richard MacIntosh, the general Manager of the Calvary Radio Network (CRN) has announced the launch of this network with some 50 stations operating across the United States.

CRN has grown out of what was called the Calvary Satellite Network (CNS), now called the Christian Satellite Network, which has since separated from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, California.

“The catalyst for the Calvary Radio Network began in the 1990's as an associated ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa that was begun by Pastor Chuck Smith and his son Jeff along with Mike Kestler,” said Richard MacIntosh.

“The network grew to over 200 full power radio stations and translators (low power stations) all across the United States from Bangor, Maine, to Lihue, Hawaii.

“Disputes between the directors of the non-profit ministry led to a division of the stations with a group of stations being run out of Twin Falls, Idaho, and a further group of stations under the ministry of Jeff Smith and the Calvary Radio Network operated by Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.”
More information on the the network can be found on the web at www.calvaryradionetwork.com.

Richard MacIntosh went on to say, “The network is important because we play quality Bible Teaching programs. We feature Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie Skip Heitzig, Raul Reis and David Jeremiah. Music is secondary, but still has a high priority. The focus is the teaching of the Word of God.

“The Calvary Radio Network is a non-profit, listener supported radio ministry serving many locations throughout the United States, and is accessible anywhere in the world via the Internet by just clicking on ‘Listen Live’ on the www.calvaryradionework.com web site."

He added, “The desire of the Calvary Radio Network is to broadcast programming that faithfully follows sound Biblical teaching and passionate praise & worship music 24 hours a day to communities throughout the United States and the world. Since our inception, it continues to be our desire that through our programming, our listeners come to know and understand Jesus Christ and His amazing love for us.”

Note: Dan Wooding’s weekly Sunday interview program “Front Page Radio” on KWVE 107.9 FM, the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa flagship station, will also be offered to the Calvary Radio Network affiliate stations. In the UK, Front Page Radio can be heard on Revival FM each Sunday evening at about 11pm.

Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 45 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS); and US Bureau Chief for the Missionaries News Service (www.missionariesnews.tv) and Safe Worlds IPTV’s Christian News Services. He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding He is also the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com.

Download, listen to or broadcast "The Christmas Story" - FREE

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:29 GMT

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today … a Savior is born.”

This exciting announcement is part of “The Christmas Story,” a free Audio Bible program about the birth of Jesus Christ.

“The Christmas Story” is an audio drama, word-for-word reading from the New Testament books Matthew and Luke and is produced by Faith Comes By Hearing, the world’s foremost Audio Bible ministry. This realistic audio recording was produced using multiple character voices, musical backgrounds and sound effects.

You can get this free program:

By downloading free from here. (Available in .mp3 or .WAV file formats)
By texting “CHRISTMAS” to 80672.
At the iTunes store.
Or listen online now.

Faith Comes By Hearing produced this short, family-friendly program, which runs about 12 minutes, to help people engage in the Bible this holiday season and hear the Christmas story in a dramatic, audio format.

"This is part of the greatest story ever told. Everyday we need to engage in the Bible through reading or listening, and this is the time of the year we need to remember and give thanks for God’s greatest gift to humanity.”-- Jon D. Wilke, Organizational Spokesperson

“Gathering around and listening to this Bible story is an easy, yet powerful way to share God’s love with your family and start a memorable Christmas tradition,” he said.

Founded in 1972 as a non-profit ministry, Faith Comes By Hearing records and uses Audio Bible programs to reach the world with God’s Word.

Since more than 50 percent of the world’s population cannot read, Faith Comes By Hearing helps those hear God’s Word in their heart language.

By innovating industry-leading audio technology, Faith Comes By Hearing has helped people in more than 100 countries hear the Word of God in their own language. Currently, Faith Comes By Hearing has Audio New Testament recordings available in more than 330 languages.

hrough strategic partners, Faith Comes By Hearing is diligently working to reach the world’s poor and illiterate with God’s Word in format that they can both use and understand.

The Spirit Moves in Tonga

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:42 GMT

We praise the Lord for what He is doing right now in the Kingdom thruough the Christian Radio Station.

If I'll share a testimony about what I see happen at the Radio Station now I would say that this is very different and special compare to the last two years that I've been entered this station.

So many people call and join with us in our programme even day and night. We can't count the people Graham and we see revival and restoration here in Tonga . . ."

Many listeners are still phoning in with tears of repentance and joy
10 to 20 people a day are making a public commitment over the radio, to follow Jesus Christ
Listeners are going to Willy's home looking for help
Some community leaders and their family members have been phoning to pray on air or tell about their personal faith in Jesus Christ
The government TV station interviewed Willy and Setita.
The government TV station is broadcasting a program every afternoon this week to highlight the ministry of Letio Faka-Kalisitiane 93FM

Dear Graham, since last wednesday till today He is still moving, not only during my night shift but breakthrough has take place through out the day programe.

Again last night we end our 8 to 10pm programe at about 1.30am. Graham the atmosphere between the Radio and listeners was amazing because when one is sharing on-air you felt something different in you as if you just wnat to cry for more of Jesus.

Children and youth are sharing their dreams on-air and their dreams are almost the same, they saw Jesus coming back,

In the Prison God is moving there, it is not allowed for a prisoner to use the phone and call outside, but prisoners begun to call from their cells at about 12 o'clock and whispered with tears trying not to be caught and saying that they want to live for Jesus. Some of them say when i get out I want to go to bible school.

A mother was touched by the spirit of God last night while persecuting her daughter with her new faith in Jesus, the daughter shared on-air people respond and at the end of the programe, the mother call and reconcile was made and tears of repentence was shed by the mother.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY THANKYOU FOR PRAYING

(extracts from Willy, Manager of 93FM in Tonga, to Graeme, President UCB Pacific Partners)

TheCall LIVE from Africa on GOD TV this weekend

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:48 GMT

GOD TV News Release

TheCall LIVE from Africa on GOD TV this weekend

Thousands of prayer warriors to gather for TheCall Kenya and millions more by way of television as GOD TV broadcasts this mass prayer gathering worldwide.

4 DECEMBER, 2008:

Over the years GOD TV has broadcast TheCall from cities across the world – now for the first time, the network will be televising the event from Africa as TheCall Kenya takes to the air. A capacity crowd is expected at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on 6 December to cry out for revival and GOD TV founders Rory & Wendy Alec encourage Christians from across the UK to join in and support the nation of Kenya in prayer.

TheCall Kenya will be aired LIVE in the UK on GOD TV exclusively on Saturday 6 December from 7.00 to 15.00 (GMT) on both the GOD Channel UK (SKY 580) and GOD Europe (SKY 581 and Virgin 279). Viewers can also watch on the Internet at www.god.tv/stream. The full 8-hour programme will also be available for video on demand viewing at www.god.tv/god.

Founded by Lou Engle, TheCall is committed to mobilising Christians across the world to petition God for His mercy on their city and nation and to pray for spiritual awakening. This is done by holding solemn assemblies in key cities where believers of different ages, races and denominations come together for a day of prayer, fasting, worship and repentance. In addition to the USA, TheCall has been held in various European countries including the UK, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Indonesia, Israel and now on the African Continent for the first time.
“Kenya stands at a critical juncture as its newspaper headlines expose the frailty of the nation’s moral fabric,” said Lou Engle, “but there is the promise of a great awakening on the horizon. It is always darkest before dawn, and the Church is set to enter its finest hour. When it seems like there is no hope, God still has a holy prescription: ‘Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a fast, call a sacred assembly!’ (Joel 2). We are therefore calling the people of Kenya to gather in their nation’s capital, on December 6th, to cry out to God for mercy and revival.”

TheCall Kenya takes place in the same week as GOD TV opens an office in Nairobi with Eli Rop as GOD TV’s new Regional Director for East Africa. In addition to being available across Kenya via satellite, GOD TV has three terrestrial transmitters in the nation reaching several million people.

“We sense God’s Hand on TheCall Kenya and it’s strategic timing,” said Wendy Alec who is GOD TV’s Director of Television, “which is why we will be broadcasting the entire event LIVE to our potential viewing audience of almost half a billion viewers in 214 nations. It is only through prayer and fasting that we will see revival come to our nations and we encourage viewers to tune in and stand with the people of Kenya in prayer, and as they do, we believe the Lord will touch them wherever they live.”

For more information about GOD TV visit www.god.tv
For more about TheCall Kenya visit www.thecall.co.ke

About GOD TV: www.god.tv
As the UK & Europe’s only Christian broadcaster with a global presence, GOD TV continues to break new ground for the Christian media in Britain and around the world. The network was founded in London in 1995 by Christian media pioneers Rory & Wendy Alec and in 13 short years has become a global phenomenon. Today it beams a broad cross section of cutting-edge programmes, including many life-changing LIVE broadcasts, into millions of homes worldwide. The only broadcaster to transmit globally from Jerusalem, GOD TV’s powerful signal is carried via multiple satellites providing free viewing to almost half a billion people. GOD TV in the UK comprises two 24-hour Christian channels: the GOD Channel UK and GOD Europe. The GOD Channel UK is available via satellite (SKY 580) while GOD Europe can be viewed on satellite (SKY 581) and cable (Virgin TV 279). GOD TV has offices in Sunderland and Plymouth in the UK and other offices are situated in the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia. In addition to its vast media outreach, GOD TV also helps people in charitable ways by supporting feeding schemes, orphanages, water drilling projects and disaster relief funds. The Angel Foundation is GOD TV’s official UK charity.

Station Manager opportunity at Hope FM

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:09 GMT

Hope FM, Bournemouth's Community Radio Station, is looking to appoint someone with a proven track record in radio station management to take responsibility for the day to day running of Hope FM, it's business management, programming output and future development.

The person appointed will require to give Christian leadership and must therefore be active in the Chrstian faith.

Salary circa £25,000 depending on qualification and experience.

Closing date 1pm on Friday 21st November 2008.

For further details and an application form contact Mark Inkpen 01202 254884.

Bournemouth YMCA is an English Registered Charity number 1078728.

Celebrating 60 Years of GRF

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:52 GMT

60 Years of Christian Radio Programmes for the World – from Scotland!

Award-winning Glasgow-based GRF Christian Radio celebrates 60 years of continuous radio production this month. And to mark this special Anniversary, GRF is hosting two very special events.

On Saturday 15th November, GRF will host an Open Day at its Argyle Street studios where guests and visitors can meet the GRF team, listen to current programmes and view the technical equipment on display. On Sunday 16th November at 6.30pm, a Service of Thanksgiving will be held at Findlay Memorial Church at St. George’s Cross, Glasgow. The guest preacher at the service will be Rev. Dr. Joel Edwards, Chair of the Churches Media Council and a Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

So what’s GRF? Based in Glasgow since its inception in 1948, GRF has always focused on being a programme producer, making programmes which are broadcast by other people. Beginning life as Gospel Radio Fellowship, GRF’s first programme was broadcast on a missionary radio station (HCJB) in Ecuador and was aimed at Scots living in South America. The advent of commercial radio in Britain in 1973 led to a close relationship between GRF and Radio Clyde in Glasgow, a relationship which remains to this day.

GRF produces programmes which complement the existing programme schedules of a wide range of radio stations, both mainstream and Christian. It currently supplies programmes to commercial stations across Britain and Ireland, English-speaking overseas stations such as Coastline Radio in Spain, BBC local radio stations, hospital radio, community radio stations and programmes for internet distribution. In 60 years, GRF has supplied programmes to more than 150 radio stations throughout the world.

GRF has always been at the forefront of technical innovation, being one of the first organisations in Scotland to use a tape recorder! In 2000, GRF helped pilot Audiopot, a web-based internet distributor of Christian radio programmes.

GRF is staffed by a 20-strong voluntary team who come from a wide variety of backgrounds in terms of working life, religious tradition and experience of faith. The programmes produced reflect this diversity.

About the 60th Anniversary, GRF Chairman, Andrew Barr, said, “Spread the Word. It’s a phenomenon. Very Glasgow and very Edinburgh and very global. The team can mix Radio 5 journalism with the Goon Show and still be faithful. In my comparatively short 40 years of making programmes in the BBC and ITV, I’ve seen careers destroyed as producers tried to marry humour and religion. And that’s this team’s secret – if there is laughter in heaven, it will be down to GRF.”

For further information, please contact:
Brian Muir, Programme Controller on 0141-221-0316 or
Kennedy Fraser, Technical Director on 0141-578-7557

5th November 2008

Notes to Editors:
1. Studio Open Day – Saturday 15th November 2008, 10am-4pm – 342 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G2 8LY. Please note the studios are located on the first floor of a building with no elevator and therefore sadly are not accessible for those with limited mobility or wheelchair users.
2. Service of Thanksgiving – Sunday 16th November 2008, 6.30pm – Findlay Memorial Church, 56 Clarendon Place, St. George’s Cross, Glasgow, G20 7QB.
3. Full details of the Open Day and Service of Thanksgiving can be found at www.grf.org.uk
4. The GRF studios on Argyle Street, Glasgow, are the oldest independent radio production studios in Europe, religious or secular.
5. GRF has won a raft of prestigious broadcasting awards including:
· Sony Gold Award
· Andrew Cross Awards
· Jerusalem Radio Awards
· Sandford St. Martin Awards
· Christian Communication Commission Award
· Christian Broadcasting Council Award
6. GRF Christian Radio is a registered Scottish Charity No: SC000199