TWR and Faith Comes By Hearing Join Forces to Transmit Historic Long-Range Digital Filecast

TWR and Faith Comes By Hearing Join Forces to Transmit Historic Long-Range Digital Filecast

By Michael Ireland, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

CARY, N.C. (ANS - June 22, 2016) -- Global media ministry TWR (also known as Trans World Radio) made broadcast history last week. 

The ministry says the historic broadcast occurred when it transmitted a digital data file over shortwave from Guam to Thailand. This communication exchange paves the way for simultaneous delivery of audio and other media formats through the airwaves.

According to a ministry news release, the digital file was sent using a 250,000-watt Thomson shortwave transmitter located at TWR’s station on the island of Guam and picked up by a receiver in Thailand.

This marked the first time a filecast had successfully been transmitted over a 3,000-mile distance.

In ther news release, the ministry says: “The transmission was achieved in partnership with Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH), which provided its media-rich Bible.is mobile app for the filecast. The Bible.is app contains the dramatized audio Bible, the JESUS film and more. It is part of FCBH’s Global Bible Network initiative, which uses mobile devices, satellites and language recognition to deliver God’s Word across the globe.”

TWR global leadership executive Steve Shantz, who was present on Guam for the transmission along with representatives of FCBH and TWR engineers, told ANS: “The missiological implications are significant.”

Shantz continued: “The end goal is to install the Faith Comes By Hearing Bible.is mobile-phone application and the dramatized audio Bible, which is available today in over 1,000 languages, onto mobile devices globally. The Guam transmission proved that TWR and FCBH have the technology to transmit these files over long distance into a network that can install the Bible onto mobile phones in the language of the user.”

Troy Carl, the FCBH vice president who oversees the Global Bible Network, stated: “This is a prime example of kingdom partners working together, each bringing their talents and expertise together in a perfect mesh so God’s Word can be heard by all. It is a historic step toward covering the earth with the gospel.”

Speaking fluently in more than 230 languages and dialects, TWR exists to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Its global media outreach engages millions in 160 countries with biblical truth.

According to the ministry website, FCBH says: “Whether created in the field or virtually online, heart-language Bible recordings using local speakers is at the core of what we do. Bible listening programs, hosted by local believers, provide a unique forum for listening and discussing Scripture to bring transformation. We provide the tools and technology. Field partners help us understand the local culture. Together, we are sharing God’s Word like never before.”

For more about Faith Comes By Hearing, visit faithcomesbyhearing.com. 

For more information on this news release, Contact Jon Hill, 919-460-3748, dmccreary@twr.org .  

Photo captions: 1) TWR staff carry out an historic broadcast from Guam to Thailand via shortwave transmitter (Courtesy, TWR). 2) Michael Ireland.

About the Writer: Michael Ireland is a Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, as well as a volunteer Internet Journalist and Ordained Minister who has served with ASSIST Ministries and ASSIST News Service since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia.

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