24 May 2006

Radio Station HCJB, "the Voice of the Andes," said it will air its final
English-language broadcasts on international shortwave radio from Ecuador on
Saturday.
The Christian station's English Language Service, the organization said, is
shifting its emphasis toward teaching English as a second language.

"English was one of the first two languages, along with Spanish, to air when
the station began broadcasting in Quito on Christmas Day, 1931," it said in
a statement. It quoted station Director Doug Weber calling the move a
refocusing or "taking some of the resources that we've been using on the
broadcasts and focusing that into English-as-a-second-language (ESL)
things-programming that will go out on our other (mostly Spanish) outlets."

The statement continued:
"'We've had a very loyal audience and we're grateful to them,' Weber said of
the nearly 75 years of relationship via the radio. 'And we're grateful to
the Lord as well for the opportunity to be able to minister to so many
people through our English-language broadcasts for so many years.'"

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