TWR Marks 50 Years of Speaking to Africa
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Dignitaries and international guests will gather in Eswatini on Nov. 1 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Christian broadcasting from TWR, also known as Trans World Radio.
“Since 1974, God has used TWR’s broadcast station in Eswatini to reach Africa with the good news of Jesus,” said TWR Acting President Cassius Smith. “During these 50 years, the radio reach has increased, and from this station, radio signals can now be heard by over 150 million people. With the government’s encouragement and cooperation, and with God’s blessing, this task was accomplished, and many souls have come to Jesus as a result.“
The broadcaster went on the air on Nov. 1, 1974, in a field outside of Manzini in what was then known as Swaziland, when the first 25,000-watt shortwave transmitter was switched on. Programmes went out in English, Afrikaans, German, Zulu and Portuguese. Six months later, four transmitters were in use for prime-time broadcasting in more than 20 languages.
Now, TWR Africa broadcasts in more than 70 languages across sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to Eswatini, a site in West Africa has two powerful transmitters reaching millions more. Today’s TWR Africa also carries the news of the hope of Jesus Christ through other types of media.
“The message of Jesus, the teaching from the Bible remains, and TWR is in that respect, I think, well-recognized,” said Branko Bjelajac, TWR ministry vice president for Africa and Europe. “But we change technology. We were shortwave and longwave. Now we are medium wave. We are FM. We are on phones. We are on the apps. We have satellite radio.”
TWR Africa celebrates its golden anniversary in the same year that TWR International marked its 70th anniversary of broadcasting. The ministry as a whole also has roots in Africa, as a missionary named Paul Freed with a heart for Spain started broadcasting from Morocco to Spain in 1954. The ministry grew to the point that it now proclaims the hope of Jesus in more than 200 languages and in 190 countries.
TWR Africa still broadcasts from its original site in Eswatini, which is also where anniversary activities will take place.
