Since May 1^st, we have been broadcasting twice a day! We are using a vareity of content, including our own Chinese content that is developed “in house” and also content from the underground Chinese church, which includes sermons from Pastor Wang Yi.

We have been able to confirm that our broadcasts are sucessfully “on air” through our own technical monitoring as well as from independent reception reports.

But it’s one thing to be “on air”. It’s another thing to ask: So is anyone really listening to shortwave radio broadcasts to China?

If that is your question, then the following data will amaze you.

One of the most accurate measures of Shortwave radio usage in China is how the world’s two largest radio broadcasters, the US and Chinese governments, are delivering their programs to the Chinese audience. The short answer – Shortwave radio has had a major upsurge in recent years on the part of both U.S. international broadcasting and China state broadcasting.

The U.S. government had looked seriously at making major reductions in SW broadcasting to China in the mid-2010s, but instead decided to maintain and subsequently increase its program delivery via SW. In fact, there are now unprecedented levels of SW broadcasting by the U.S. into China.

Not only has the tightening of China’s laws played a role, but even more so the regime’s intensifying cyber-monitoring and especially its use of the “social credit” system to control individual media use.

China’s huge state media system knows audience habits and preferences well. China state radio transmits over 400 hours daily to its population via Short Wave, with almost 200 different programs in five languages on a wide range of frequencies. This broadcasting represents a significant increase in SW airtime over the last several years.

China continues to be the world’s leading broadcast user of Shortwave, and likewise its largest producer of SW radio sets. Alibaba (Chinese equivalent of Amazon) offers over 1,000 different SW radio products, two thirds of them portable with many inexpensive, small and easily tunable models. The market for SW radios in China remains large, selling tens of millions of sets yearly.

China maximizes its use of all media delivery tools — as well as all blocking/control tools. As some in the West were predicting the demise of Short Wave broadcasting several years ago, China was ramping up investment in new and existing SW facilities.

Approximately 60% of the country’s adult population are estimated to be radio owners/users, with a majority on SW and split about evenly between urban/rural population.

• Pray for a strong and clear signal for the VOMK broadcast to China. Our broadcast engineers work hard to ensure that the signal is clear on a daily basis.
• Pray for each Chinese listener to the broadcast. The Chinese government is trying to restrict gospel content on the internet and also continuing to restrict in person worship gatherings. Pray that the hearts of Chinese believers would be encouraged through the gospel broadcasts on shortwave radio.