HCJB

Lore & Background

HCJB began as the vision of Clarence Wesley Jones, a musician and graduate of Moody Bible Institute who worked under evangelist Paul Rader. After a seven-week trip in 1928 seeking a location for missionary radio in Latin America, Jones was encouraged by Christian & Missionary Alliance missionaries from Ecuador to consider that country. On August 15, 1930, the Ecuadorian Congress approved a 25-year contract for Jones to operate a radio station. The call letters HCJB were granted by the Ecuadorian government, with the prefix HC for Ecuador, and were chosen to represent "Heralding Christ Jesus' Blessings" (in Spanish, "Hoy Cristo Jesús Bendice").

The first broadcast on Christmas Day 1931 lasted 30 minutes, powered by a 200-watt transmitter from a studio in the Joneses' living room, with an antenna strung between makeshift telephone poles. Initially broadcasting only in English and Spanish, by 1941 the station added live programs in Russian, Swedish, and Quichua, and by 1944 aired programming in 14 languages. In 1951, HCJB acquired 45 acres near Pifo for transmission facilities. A 100 kW transmitter (HC-100) went into operation in 1990, designed and built by HCJB engineers.

The end of HCJB's direct shortwave broadcasts began when the Ecuadorian government demanded removal of the shortwave transmitter station due to the opening of the new Quito airport. The Pifo transmitter station was gradually shut down and dismantled by 2008.

On September 30, 2009, after nearly 80 years of shortwave broadcasting from Ecuador, HCJB ended its extensive worldwide shortwave transmissions. The mission renamed itself Reach Beyond in 2014. HCJB continued shortwave broadcast on a small level from Mount Pichincha on 6,050 kHz with Spanish and indigenous language programs for Ecuador, using a 1 kW solid state transmitter after 2017.

Reader's Guide

HCJB's significance lies in its pioneering role as the first Christian missionary radio station worldwide and the first daily radio station in Ecuador. For decades, its powerful shortwave transmitters made it a fixture for international shortwave listeners (DXers), who were often less interested in the religious content than in receiving a signal from South America. The station was widely known as "The Voice of the Andes" and was popular with a global audience, receiving hundreds of letters each week with reception reports.

HCJB created its own QSL cards starting in 1932, and in 1974 a shortwave listeners' club was suggested by missionary and radio engineer Clayton Howard. The station's legacy includes its role in "radio planting"—assisting local Christian ministries in starting their own FM stations—and its adaptation to changing media consumption, shifting from shortwave to satellite, AM/FM, and internet delivery. Though its high-powered international shortwave era ended in 2014, HCJB continues to broadcast domestically on FM and AM in Ecuador, and its small shortwave signal on 6.05 MHz is still occasionally reported by listeners worldwide.

Did You Know?

• In 1961, HCJB was licensed for the first television station in Ecuador.