Listen to HCJB!

A promotion in 1937 offered cash prizes of $25, $10 and $5. To win, people had to pick up a free weekly schedule at a Reed & Reed store and then listen to HCJB between 6 and 7 p.m. to hear the winning number. In addition to listing HCJB’s radio programs, the pamphlet promoted recordings […]

Decorated by the King

In 1941, Ellen de Campaña began making regular live Swedish broadcasts on HCJB. In 1952, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden awarded Ellen a medal of the Vasa Order for her service to Swedish speaking people around the world. Ellen de Campaña was the first woman to be granted a medal of that order. HCJB […]

Hospital Vozandes del Oriente

Patients of the Shell medical clinic with serious medical needs were «hospitalized» at a nearby hotel. The need for a true hospital quickly became obvious and plans for one were put together. Missionaries from many different missions joined in construction of Hospital Vozandes del Oriente, which was completed in 1958. The radio ministry «Back to […]

HCJB and NBC

With the outbreak of World War II in the early 1940s, HCJB became an affiliate of NBC (National Broadcasting Company). NBC was one of the largest media networks in the United States. HCJB broadcast NBC programs and news about the war. HCJB also sent news items and certain Ecuadorian presidential speeches for broadcast on the […]

The First Patient

In October of 1949, Dr. Paul Roberts and nurse Kay Erb treated the first patient at the medical clinic. This first patient came to the clinic suffering from severe amoebic dysentery.

Russian Programs

Peter Deyneka was visiting Quito in early 1941 when he made the first 16 Russian language programs as a test for HCJB. Encouraged by the initial response, Peter and his staff at the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) in Chicago began recording Russian programs that they sent for broadcast from Quito. The first regular Russian broadcast […]

For One Sucre…

The station needed towers to support the radio antenna. But how could Clarence Jones and Eric Williams build them? The solution was to ask the Quito Electric company for their two tallest poles. The 85 ft. eucalyptus poles soon arrived at Quinta Corston. Two holes for the poles were dug 200 feet apart. They attached […]

Hydro Power

By the late 1950s, the cost of using diesel generators to power HCJB’s broadcasts had skyrocketed. Technical staff began looking at building a hydroelectric plant by the Papallacta River to greatly reduce the cost of electricity. Bob Wittig found a used hydroelectric generator in the U.S. for a near scrap metal price. Staff constructed a […]

HCJB’s first broadcast almost didn’t happen…

Radio experts had told Clarence to stay away from the mountains and the equator. So Clarence decided to have Eric, a former CBS engineer build an experimental transmitter that would allow them to test different frequencies. The experimental transmitter however was rather temperamental. The day before HCJB’s first scheduled broadcast, a mercury vapor rectifier tube […]

Your Microphone Friends

“The joy of Christ in the faces and lives of Mr. And Mrs. Cabrera is spontaneous and infectious. No one is around them long before he senses that the source of such happiness is the Christ whom they love and serve. Mrs. Cabrera was born in Madrid and Mr. Cabrera in Cuba… Many thousands have […]