Tony Cummings reports on the UCB Cross Rhythms team planning revival.

The Cross Rhythms Experience with its fast moving recipe of rock, dance and pop, its in-your-face Jesus message and its John Smith spots recorded in Australia by the motorbiking apologist proved conclusively that 'religious' programmes could hold and keep a large listenership, the bulk of whom weren't Christians. Unable to get financial support from many West Country churches, Cross Rhythms formed Friends Of Cross Rhythms through the magazine to fund the enterprise. "We were getting letters from listeners," commented Chris, "telling of how they were profoundly touched by the Cross Rhythms Experience."

God was doing something with UCB as well. After two more temporary licences, in May 1993 UCB launched as a 24-hour, 7-day a week station on the Astra satellite, Sky Sports 7.56 MHz audio channel and some local cable TV stations. Relocated in a one-time textile warehouse in Stoke-On-Trent, UCB had years to plan for expansion but when it happened things were far from easy. Remembered Gareth Littler, "Our running costs quadrupled overnight. We needed a quarter of a million pounds per year to stay on air. They were difficult days financially. Sometimes we spent more than we received. When we started there was no money and no commitment to the money, we were heavily in debt."

To make matters even more precarious Ian Mackie, the pioneer who'd founded UCB, returned to New Zealand. Gareth Littler took on the unenviable task of keeping UCB on air and keeping the company solvent while remaining true to its long term commitment not to go the way of much American Christian broadcasting and make direct appeals for funding on air. Instead, UCB found a way of publicising its radio ministry while at the same time expanding its work to another realm close to its heart, getting Christians to read their Bibles. In the summer of '94 UCB began publishing free daily Bible study booklets The Word For Today. Compiled by an anointed pastor and Bible teacher Bob Gass, originally from Belfast and now living in the USA, the booklets proved a hugely successful way of sharing the vision of UCB among Christians and churches. But more importantly, they were an instrument in touching many, many lives.

On the walls of UCB's marketing manager Patricia Hargreaves' office are sellotaped letters from listeners. "Your music and testimonies have lifted, inspired and encouraged me greatly, especially when I have been through a difficult period of unemployment... "; "I would like to say how encouraged my husband is the The Word For Today as he is in prison and is often struggling with guilt and shame... "; "It's like God speaking direct to us for each day. " Patricia, grappling with an overflowing in tray, proofing another edition of TWFT, basing with a printer and overseeing a visit to a Christian exhibition momentarily stops to read a letter in today's post. It touches her and she sticks a photocopy, to the front of her window by which troop a regular stream of comers and goers to UCB's admin/production offices and radio studios. It's from a listener in Nottingham. "One man who came to our church received a copy of the present quarter (Word For Today) and kept reading it as a book and then read the personal decision at the end. He had a heart attack and when in hospital heard a nurse singing 'Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine'. He put his thumb up and said 'He's mine too'. He had another heart attack and died. "

As UCB fought to retain a foothold in the quickly diversifying radio market place with its satellite broadcasts, Chris Cole's Cross Rhythms Experience was doing more than holding its own. Its RAJAR (the official listening statistics), to the astonishment of some jaundiced media observers, made it at one time the third most popular programme on Plymouth Sound. In December 1993 a version of the Cross Rhythms Experience was recorded on cassette and released simultaneously with the magazine. It proved to be a big success with the Cross Rhythms readers.

A few months later the Cross Rhythms Experience suddenly saw a dramatic expansion of listeners beyond its loyal Devon audience. "Cross Rhythms got a grant from a religious organisation and that money paid for us to go on satellite," explained Cole. "Then TransWorld Radio took the show and put us onto Quality Europe FM. TWR also put us on in South Africa. Suddenly other people began to wake up to what the Cross Rhythms Experience was all about. The High Wycombe-based ILR station ElevenSeventy took us and a musicianary friend in New Jersey, Tony Loeffler, began to probe contacts he had with US radio stations, and one by one American stations agreed to take either the Cross Rhythms Experience or the other show we'd started, the Cross Rhythms Inspiration which featured softer worship-orientated music. The expansion of it all was completely God-breathed. The Cross Rhythms prayer supporters were holding us up in prayer. The Friends Of Cross Rhythms were financially supporting us - remember we weren't getting paid for any of the programmes we were sending out around the world - and though we couldn't seem to make any headway in our long stated aim to get Cross Rhythms programmes on other ILR stations, we all felt the hand of the Lord on what we were doing."

The Cross Rhythms Experience and the Cross Rhythms Inspiration programmes came to be broadcast on UCB after Chris Cole met up with Gareth Littler at a conference in Cranfield. Chris had been a long time supporter of UCB and almost a decade before had helped UCB's founder Ian Mackie organise a South West radio conference in Plymouth. Commented Chris about the agreement with UCB to take the Cross Rhythms programmes, "Part of my gifting is being naive! I really didn't realise the significance of UCB taking the programmes. I had almost a simplistic attitude towards getting the Cross Rhythms programmes out there - kind of, 'You run a radio station?'...open a bag of DATS....'Take one!'"

It didn't take long though for the full significance of what was happening with UCB to become clear not only to Cole but to the whole of the broadcast community. Ever since July 1994 with the commencement of retransmission of the UCB satellite programmes onto "ordinary" terrestrial AM and FM frequencies across parts of Ireland, a fast increasing number of listeners were discovering a radio station "committed to taking the Word of God to the nations." Its mix of 70 per cent music (largely the softer end of CCM with occasional specialist music programmes) and 30 per cent speech (interviews, testimonies, Bible readings, Bible teaching and news) proved popular of presenters were increasing in confidence and ability.

"This is a GREAT song!" It's 7.00ish in the morning and Anne Henderson emerges from the music library, her face glowing with pleasure. She's about to play Rebecca St James. She can hardly wait to go back into the control room of Studio 2 and slot the CD into the player.

On December 12th 1995 UCB moved into new premises at the Hanchurch Christian Centre, a sprawling complex of buildings that had once housed a sanatorium and then a school, on the outskirts of Stoke-On-Trent. It was another gigantic step of faith. Commented Littler, "Every time we wrote a budget it was out of date before the ink was dry! A new electricity substation had to be built to cope with our power needs and a new sewer laid for the village of Hanchurch as well as UCB. New fibre optics, telephone, gas and water supplies had to be brought onto site. Then came the discovery that the original building had been built without a proper foundation! But we remained totally dedicated to the Word of God and the Lord continually confirmed that the move was right."

Chris Rabone deftly stabs the Play/Pause button on the mini disc-recorder. Just one final play to check the edit. "Dr Carey added his son, a curate in a Wakefield diocese, is also running the Alpha course in his parish. This ends today's Christian News brought to you in association with New Christian Herald. " The music surges up... Yep, edit, clean.

Having moved into a facility that when the building of extensions is complete in two years will be one of the largest and best-equipped broadcasting facilities in Europe, UCB then rocked the religious broadcasting hierarchy in January 1996 with the announcement that they had obtained from the Russian Government international frequencies that would enable them to broadcast into the whole of the British Isles on Medium Wave and Long Wave from a near U.K. site. These frequencies had been intended to be used by the Russians for the broadcast of propaganda but with the fall of communism they were up for grabs. In a piece of breathtaking opportunism it was a Christian ministry called UCB which walked away with them.

"It was a miracle," Gareth stated bluntly. "These frequencies date from the days when Hitler and Stalin used radio for propaganda. What was once used for control will now be used to offer freedom in the Kingdom of God."

The granting of the frequencies was of course only the first step in the dream to give everybody in the UK the opportunity to hear two Christian radio stations, day or night, at the flick of a button. A great deal more faith, and finance, will be needed before the transmitter is built (estimated cost £3 million) and broadcasts begin (in about a year's time). In the meantime, the troops are being mobilised for the battles ahead.