Christian radio for Kazakhstan ?

In Kazakhstan's the lower chamber of that country's parliament is planning new legislation that will impose tough new restrictions on foreign missionary activity and evangelical churches. The measure had its first reading in May.

Despite this apparent threat, FEBC have been awarded broadcast licences for FM radio stations in Almaty and Astana

Gregg Harris, president of Far East Broadcasting Company, believes that this approval comes because they work as a nationally registered entity within Kazakhstan and are therefore not viewed as outsiders.

FEBC have not yet been notified of the specific frequencies the new radio stations will be permitted to operate on, a process which can take a few weeks or months or, somtimes, years !

While the stations are still some time away from hitting the FM airwaves, FEBC are moving forward with 24-hours-a-day programming with plans to stream on the Internet and make the programming available for those in the country that have Internet access. This will help in showing the government that they are serious and can make good programming.

More people in Kazakhstan speak Russian than Kazakh but there is a growing nationalistic trend in Kazakhstan which means the Kazakh language will become more used and more influential.
FEBC's programming will be a mixture of Russian programming but with Kazakh language programming for those who are Kazakh speakers.