Trans World Radio celebrates 50th Anniversary of first broadcast

Latin America (MNN)–They’ve been in ministry a half century, and they’re looking forward to another fifty years.

Trans World Radio (TWR) continues expanding outreach by announcing its strategic City Lights project, a campaign to reach 50 spiritually needy Latin American cities in the next several years.

TWR’s Jim Munger says, “The City Lights project is a concentration of our effort in the Americas region on key cities in Latin America. The trend in Latin America is for the people to move towards the cities, so there are many, many cities of over a million people.”

Many of the areas they are targeting are rife with corruption and poverty. However, Munger says their plan is to reach 50 spiritually needy Latin American cities in the next several years. “If you don’t address the spiritual root of the problems that are in Latin America, it’s just not going to make a difference. So, we want to bring the light of God’s Word, particularly to these large concentrations of population to the cities of Latin America.”

TWR founder Dr. Paul E. Freed established the Mission’s first broadcasting outlet in Tangier, Morocco, with a vision of reaching Spain with the Good News. On February 22, 1954, utilizing a 2,500-watt transmitter, “The Voice of Tangier” went on the air in Spanish and English.

Today, TWR is the world’s most far-reaching Christian radio network, broadcasting in more than 180 languages and dialects from 13 super-power transmitting sites, by satellite and via the Internet. In addition, TWR broadcasts on more than 2,400 local and international stations around the globe.

At present, TWR partners with 500 stations in Latin America, to which it’s been been broadcasting for 40 years. With City Lights, TWR will connect mission-minded churches and individuals throughout the U.S. with Latin American churches and radio stations to resource production, distribution, airtime and follow-up in cities like Bogota (Colombia), La Paz (Bolivia) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). TWR’s partner offices in eight Latin American countries already are producing quality original programs that will be used for this project.

Broadcasts are geared to meet the needs of children, youth, women and families. TWR’s Latin American partner offices also will distribute the City Lights programs to a network of affiliate stations and link the project to appropriate on-the-ground ministries or missionaries already working in a particular city.