Vozandes Media staff (Photo courtesy of Die Stimme der Anden)
Ecuador (MNN) ― After 55 years, a German radio ministry is sailing under a new flag and a new name.
Vozandes Media is the new name of the HCJB Global Voice German Language Service (GLS). It still broadcasts from Ecuador, but now it works under HCJB Global's World Office in Germany rather than under its Latin America region.
In addition, Ecuador legally recognized Vozandes Media's status as a non-governmental organization at the beginning of June. The ministry is also enjoying new office space.
"I believe that the GLS is one of the few departments which used the same office space for 43 years," said Horst Rosiak, who heads Vozandes Media.
Due to the opening of an international airport near HCJB's antennas, German and Low-German shortwave broadcasts to the Americas are scheduled to end in 2010. Digital shortwave broadcasts reach Europe and the Americas.
Vozandes Media also reaches Europe through satellite and through a service called Phonecaster. Europeans can dial a certain telephone number and choose from a variety of German-language programs. The most popular program is in Low German.
Listeners may also download podcasts over the internet. HCJB Global receives responses to its German-language programs from 60 different countries.
The programs began in 1953 when Mennonite Brethren Missions/Services established the German Service, constructing the department's offices at the station 13 years later in 1966.
Today, it broadcasts 14 hours of programming to Europe, South America, and the South Pacific every week under the name Die Stimme der Anden (Voice of the Andes).
