BONAIRE –Trans World Radio (TWR), will make history today, January 30, 2018, when it begins broadcasting from its new tower on the island nation of Bonaire in the southern Caribbean at 4:30 pm EST.

TWR has been broadcasting Christian programming from Bonaire since 1964. That was just 10 years after the radio ministry began transmitting from an Army surplus tower in 1954 in Tangier.

Today’s first broadcast from the new transmitter will mark the culmination of five years of work. The new Nautel NX400 is a 450kW, 800kW, three-pattern transmission system that will extend the range of Shine 800 AM to more countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to TWR President Lauren Libby, the now facility increases “our power from 100,000-watts to 450,000-watts. And it’s an AM station. It will cover all the way from Central Brazil all the way to the Southern part of the United States at night.”

The move will increase the station’s potential listener base by 100 million people.

Of special importance to TWR is the station’s ability to reach countries like Cuba and Venezuela. Coverage in Cuba has been sporadic at the best of times. Venezuela has forced the closure of many radio stations airing Spanish translations of programs provided by TRW. Those broadcasts all originated at transmitters located in Venezuela. The new transmitter in Bonaire will send broadcasts across the entire country of Venezuela and beyond.

TWR Bonaire staff hopes that the new range of transmission will help the growth of ministries on the ground, reaching people with the Gospel and encouraging the growth of churches.

TWR Christian programming can now be heard in more than 160 countries and in more than 230 languages and dialects.

Sources:

• TWR website, The TWR Story
• Mission Network News, TWR flips switch on new transmitter for a larger reach
• Radio World, TWR Bonaire Inaugurates 450 kW Transmitter