New Shows on Cross Rhythms

Cross Rhythms Radio have announced two new shows coming to air in September.

Music artist and writer Shell will host a half hour show which will go out every week. The show - alongside great music, fun and guests - will particularly focus on the issues and pressures facing young girls today. Shell was in girl group tbc and now has a fantastic solo album out 'Have You Heard'. She writes books and also on the Cross Rhythms website.

Julia Fisher hosts the all new Close Encounters on Cross Rhythms. Julia will be digging deep under the surface of seemingly ordinary lives to discover the amazing true life experiences that have radically changed them, and hearing the songs that carry deep meaning for their journey. Everybody has a story to tell, and everybody's story is different, so tune in for inspiring, emotive, heart warming, and occasionally unbelievable stories of everyday people who have seen their lives totally transformed through a deeply spiritual experience - something we call, a Close Encounter!.

The Living Secrets of HIV/AIDS

Trans World Radio is developing a new radio series about HIV/AIDS for the Dhuluo- and Luo-speaking peoples in Kenya, southern Sudan and neighbouring countries

The Living Secrets of HIV/AIDS,” or “Malingling Mag Ayaki,” will be aired twice weekly. 104 fifteen-minute segments will cover topics like dealing with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis, secrets of dealing with HIV in the family, safer ways of disclosing your HIV status, abstinence, integration of orphans into families, health care for AIDS patients at home, and encouraging people to adopt AIDS orphans.

Trans World Radio has been addressing HIV/AIDS since the early 1990s, but only in English and Swahili, which have a broader listening audience than local dialects. Sponsorship raised by TWR’s partner in The Netherlands made possible the development of the new show, in the Luo and Dhuluo languages.

Luo is spoken in Nyanza province, which is the Kenyan province most affected by HIV/AIDS. Kenya has 1.1 million AIDS orphans, and 6.1% of its adults are HIV positive, according to UNAIDS.

As a result of a rise in prostitution, 33% of 15 to 19-year-old girls near the city of Kisumu are HIV-positive, according to a recent study by the National AIDS STD Control Programme (NASCOP).

A regular listener from Zimbabwe explained why he appreciates the daily HIV/AIDS program that Trans World Radio airs in his area, called “Saving a Generation.”

“Undoubtedly HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Most people here in Africa (south of the Sahara) are affected in one way or the other. If one is not infected, then one is definitely affected. I lost my only brother and his wife to the disease a few years ago.”

• Trans World Radio Africa

UK Fund Invests in GodTube

UK HEDGE FUND INVESTS HEAVILY IN GODTUBE
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

The owner of the site, GodTube.com recently won a $30 million investment from GLG Partners, a big London hedge fund.

GodTube offers Christian-content videos, as well as featuring prayer blogs and a Bible you may page through.

The investment put GodTube's value at nearly $150 million, according to PaidContent.org.

Also offered on GodTube are sermons, theological debates, Christian rap videos and skits (for example, the skit "See man watching porn get caught by Jesus!" plays out exactly as the title suggests.)

Introduced in late 2007, GodTube was the fastest-growing web site, as rated by comScore, attracting 1.7 million unique visitors for the month. Traffic to the site remains about the same today.

UCB to extend DAB reach in England and Wales

United Christian Broadcasters Limited (UCB) has secured DAB Digital radio capacity on MXR, covering five major regions and potentially reaching another 17.6 million people with the Gospel.

UCB is to extend its DAB Digital radio broadcasting reach across England and Wales with the addition of five regions which, with its existing London and Stoke licences, will mean that many of the UK's major cities will now be able to hear Christian radio, most of them for the first time.

UCB will commence broadcasting in the new regions on October 1st 2007 taking UCB's potential audience for its Christian radio output on the DAB Digital radio network to just under 30 million adults, according to Ofcom.

MXR Limited, which operates the five DAB Digital radio networks, covering almost 18 million adults, invited UCB to apply for access to their North East, North West, Yorkshire, West Midlands and Severn Estuary regions in March.

'We are really pleased to see UCB become a content provider on our multiplexes,' says Diane Wray, MXR Limited's Managing Director.'UCB is a quality broadcaster and they are bringing something new and exciting to these regions.'

Two Radio Stations
UCB is actually launching two radio stations across the five regions: UCB UK and UCB Inspirational. UCB UK is UCB's 'flagship' station which is currently being broadcast on DAB Digital radio across London and much of Staffordshire.

UCB's 21-year vision for national Christian radio broadcasting remains a driving force for the organisation and its many supporters.

'We set our sights on providing national Christian broadcasting back in 1986 and more recently determined we needed two very different radio formats to ensure we were able to meet the needs of all our supporters, regardless of their age,' says Ian Mackie, UCB's Chief Executive.
'This breakthrough takes us a long way to achieving both objectives.'

Towns and cities able to receive UCB's DAB Digital radio broadcasts for the first time will include Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol and Bath.

Web Links

• MXR Ltd
• UCB
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