Ecuador airport extends radio ministry's broadcasts

Broadcasts from HCJB Global Voice's shortwave station in Ecuador will continue at least through October 2008 as the Quito airport authority has granted the mission's request to postpone the dismantling of its shortwave radio towers.

Radio Station HCJB's agreement two years earlier with the Quito Airport Corporation (CORPAQ) had required the mission to remove the towers in Pifo, a town near Ecuador's capital city of Quito, to make way for a new international airport.

Languages that air via shortwave from Ecuador include Portuguese, Spanish, Quichua, Quechua, German, Low German, Cofán, Waorani and Culina.

"We asked for an extension last autumn," explained Doug Weber who directs mass media for HCJB Global Voice in Latin America. "We were (first) granted a six-month extension, and now we've been granted a full year.

"This also means we can continue to do some of our test broadcasts, particularly to Europe and to Brazil," said Weber, referring to broadcasts in the digital shortwave format being researched and developed by Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM).

What will happen after 2008? "We will continue to broadcast after the 2008 deadline on the remaining antennas for as long as we feel is reasonable and prudent," Weber said.