Trans World Radio-Uruguay Celebrates 25 Years of Fruitful Outreach
 

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries  

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY (ANS) – Renowned Christian missiologist Patrick Johnstone has said that Uruguay, a country rife with challenges like poverty, secularism and an aging society, is one of the few Latin American countries with an extremely low evangelical presence on radio.

Thankfully, international Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio (TWR) is one ministry that’s making a lasting difference in this troubled land.  

According to a story posted on the Trans World Radio website (www.twr.org), October 1 marked the first quarter-century of influential and fruitful outreach to the people of Uruguay, and others across the Spanish-speaking world, by Radio Trans Mundial-Uruguay (RTM-UY), also known as Trans World Radio-Uruguay.

The story states that TWR-Uruguay’s first broadcast aired from the country’s capital city of Montevideo in 1981 over an AM station known as Radio Rural. Transmissions began with 30 minutes daily, and soon increased to two hours. Currently, TWR-Uruguay broadcasts three hours of biblically based programming each weekday and eight hours on weekends via a powerful 50,000-watt AM transmitter. Programs are heard by listeners in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil.

“I am delighted to celebrate this significant milestone with everyone connected with RTM in Uruguay, to applaud them for their great achievements over the years, and to thank God for His gracious hand on the work which He initiated 25 years ago,” says TWR President David Tucker.

TWR’s practical broadcasts provide spiritual nourishment to people living in a struggling nation.

“Uruguay is becoming old because of low birth rates and the emigration of young people,” says Esteban Larrosa, director of TWR-Uruguay. “Poverty has grown, especially among children. Marginalization, the lack of social and economic opportunities and the feeling of being left out by the system are the main enemies of peaceful coexistence. Malnourished children, unable to study and forced to beg or work, are the legacy we will leave behind if there is no change in the country’s social paradigm.”

RTM-UY’s impressive output of contemporary ministry is influential across much of Latin America. Its programs Mujeres de Esperanza (Project Hannah’s Women of Hope) and Tierra Firme (Solid Ground) are heard throughout the region, and both now have their own Web sites (proyectoana.org and tierrafirmertm.org). These Internet sites help TWR-Uruguay interact better with listeners and include audio, printed materials, free downloads, newsletters, discussion forums and more.

Additionally, the pioneering Jóvenes en el Aire (Youth on the Air), a nationwide contest for Uruguayan youth, aims to discover the radio producers and presenters of tomorrow who can reach their generation with the gospel of Christ.

For more information: Contact David McCreary, +1 919.460.3778.