Utter, who is in the process of returning to South America after a short furlough in the USA, has kept in close contact with the growing radio network he and his team have established in recent years. Brian reported he received an E-mail from HCJB, one of the world's largest radio broadcasters, that their satellite network, ALAS, confirmed 125 affiliates are airing World Mission Broadcast (WMB) radio programs. Another E-mail arrived soon after saying 48 more stations were lined up to air WMB programs.
These statistics from HCJB, along with the current number of additional WMB local and regional radio programs, have revealed an audience of 13.7 million listeners in South America for March 2004 based on a broadcast industry standard formula. Since registering at 1.6 million in October, WMB has seen that number fall to .9 million in December 2003 before increasing to 1.3 for January, 8.4 for February, and 13.7 for March.
World Mission Broadcast radio programming in South America is just one part of the WMB ministry. WMB ministers through radio, television, and Internet programs in 79 countries, 35 languages, on 87 programs. They are now on 420 radio stations in South America, Central America, Mexico, USA, Cuba, Spain, and soon Equatorial Guinea in Africa. An additional 48 stations will be added soon in the country of Paraguay. Once they return to Argentina, a concentrated effort will take place in adding more affiliates in specific countries of South America. WMB will be one of the sponsors of COICOM, a Latin Christian Communications Organization and Convention, taking place this September in Guatemala. By years end, WMB's goal is to have more than 1,000 stations airing their programs free of charge. The ministry is completely supported by the annual WMB offering, traditionally taken in June by Nazarene churches.
As to the challenges an 13.7 million-listener base presents, Utter shared, “We have a tremendous problem. I'm sure we will need to hire someone just to handle the follow-up to the now hundreds of E-mails that we are receiving from listeners."
--World Mission Broadcast