A Visit to a Different Type of Televangelist: TWR Bonaire

02 02, 16 06:29 Filed in: broadcasting

If you Google "televangelist" you get the following first item:

My wife and I recently spent 8 days in sunny Bonaire, out 3rd trip their in 3 decades. While there we reconnected with a very different type of televangelist -TWR, formerly Trans World Radio. TWR is now 60 years old, having been started by American evangelicals from a single site in Morocco and is truly a world wide network. I say reconnected because I also stopped by there in 1983 during my first trip to Bonaire because I was fascinated by their antenna system - at the time a 500 kW MF/AM of a type forbidden by FCC for decades as well as a more convention 100 kW shortwave antenna. I discussed the old AM antenna in a recent filing at FCC in Docket 13-249.

TWRE Bonaire

The theology of TWR is not my personal faith, but I was very moved by these dedicated people who have chosen to live in this remote area with their families and home school their children in order to share their faith via radio with others they will probably never meet . TWR separates the broadcasting of its message (in 230 languages!) from its fund raising. Since some of its audiences are in areas where seminaries are either forbidden or impractical, part of its programming deals with developing and educating pastors in such areas.

When I first visited TWR Bonaire decades ago the staff was much bigger because they then had to produce much of the programming on site. However, with advanced telecom much of the programming is produced elsewhere for broadcast in Bonaire and other TWR owned and leased transmitter sites around the world including an FCC-licensed shortwave transmitter in Guam. Today's transmitters and other equipment are also more reliable so less maintenance is needed.TWR also distribute their program content also by Internet especially for areas with high connectivity and even have an iPhone app!.

The Bonaire site is in the process of an upgrade to 450 kW for which they are raising funds:

I want to thank Bonaire Technical Director Dick Veldman and engineer Dave Pedersen for their kind welcome and hospitality. Readers who are hams may recall that Dave,PJ4VHF/N7BHC, set a 2m distance record by successfully receiving a beacon from Cape Verde off the coast of Africa - a distance of nearly 300o miles - last May.

TWR is a 501(c)(3) group that is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Here is link if you would like to support their work of faith.