radio

Radio Project Resources

Radio’s wide reach and low cost provide effective communication in rural and remote areas.  Unlike newspapers and magazines, radio does not require literacy, and unlike television, radio receivers are affordable and accessible even without electricity or telephone connections.  Even in very poor communities, radio penetration is vast - an average of one in five people in Africa has a radio [FAOSTAT 1998 – in 1995 the ratio of radios to people in Africa (not including South Africa) was 1:5].   Furthermore, production is cheap compared to other mass media.

Radio has many uses, from entertainment to education and broadcast of personal messages. In some cases, radio stations have linked people to the internet by searching for, translating and broadcasting requested information on air.  In other cases, expert panels or local officials answer questions submitted by listeners by telephone or email, promoting accountability or extending relevant expert knowledge.  Radio has also been used by minority language or cultural groups to assert their identity and provide a cultural reference point.

In 1945 God challenged a handful of ex-military airmen to overcome geographic barriers to the Gospel.  They answered the call with airplanes, forming a flight service known today as Mission Aviation Fellowship.  Suddenly, days on the trail changed to minutes in the air.  Missionary dreams of reaching people living in remote mountain valleys or impenetrable jungles gave way to the reality of doing it.  They rejoiced that the Lord finally enabled them to surmount such formidable obstacles.

But then He presented a new challenge.  By the end of WW II both military and airline operations routinely included 2-way radio communications.  So, our early pilots, fresh from those environments, automatically integrated radios into their flight service. When missionaries saw our base staff routinely speak with pilots a hundred miles into the bush, they quickly realized the potential for their own work.  “That’s amazing.  Is there any way we could do that too?” they asked.

“Sure.  Here’s how it works,” we answered and quickly found ourselves in communications ministry, installing radios in central offices and remote camps.  Runners bearing notes stained with many days sweat gave way to instant conversations with near telephone ease.  Today, setting up and maintaining a radio network comprises MAF’s entire ministry in some countries and an important part in others.

But, professional aviation’s demand for mastery of the growing body of information compelled us to adopt computers at the dawn of the digital era.  MAF began automating shop, reporting and flight planning tasks.  When missionaries saw the boon these strange machines provided to our record keeping, they asked, “That’s amazing.  Is there anyway we could do that too?”