May 20, 2005

Portuguese-speaking participants in an annual survey conducted by the Santa Rita DX Club in Brazil indicate that Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, continues to be one of their favorite shortwave radio stations. This is the flagship station of HCJB World Radio, an international ministry founded in 1931.

Results of the 2004 survey released last week show that HCJB placed first in the ?Most Listened-to Shortwave Station? category followed by Chile-based Voz Crist? (Christian Voice) which placed first in 2003. This is the second year in a row that a religious station has led this category.

Respondents also selected ?A Voz dos Andes? (Voice of the Andes), as HCJB is called, as ?Best Shortwave Station.? The BBC, which ended Portuguese-language transmissions to South America earlier this year, had led the survey in 2002 followed by HCJB. The club?s 1999 survey showed HCJB in fourth behind three government stations: BBC, Radio France International and Radio China International.

HCJB Portuguese program producer Eunice Carvajal was again named as having the top DX program among respondents -- the sixth consecutive year for that honor. (DX is a telegraph term for distance, and DXers enjoy listening to signals from distant stations.) She is the sole program producer at the ministry?s studios in Quito; however, most of the programs are produced at HCJB World Radio-Brazil?s studios in Curitiba and elsewhere.

Carvajal said the Santa Rita Club results are especially valuable because of the participation by non-club listeners. They tune in to the station primarily for program content, unlike hobbyists who listen primarily to request a QSL card, confirming that they heard the station?s signal.

Two producers, Ingrid Winter and Pastor Mario Miki in Curitiba, also ranked high in the survey. Winter was named ?Best Female Announcer,? and Miki again placed second in the ?Best Male Program Host? category as he did in 2002.

?The good results we see in this survey are a reflection of the hard work our Portuguese producers put into their programs,? said Radio Director Doug Weber in Quito. ?They really make an effort to know who their audience is and that is apparently paying off in listenership.?

Portuguese-language programs air from Quito 7.5 hours a day in three programming blocks. Preaching, interspersed with music, proclaims the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to listeners across Brazil.

Carvajal added that shortwave continues to play a key role in reaching the world for Christ. ?I believe those who say shortwave radio is dead or dying should go on a trip into the jungle area of Brazil,? she said. ?They will see that [there are many] communities that are very isolated from one another and find out that the only way to communicate is by shortwave.? (HCJB World Radio)