Britain's first national Christian radio station launch

THE LAUNCH of Britain's first national Christian radio station, UCB Europe, took place on 3rd December to considerable mass media interest. The launch of the station - broadcast on 1386 Medium Wave from transmitters in Russia each day from 3.30pm to 1.00am - was described by a supporter in the Sunday Times newspaper as "a miracle". The Medium Wave start up attracted news reporters from all over Britain and was covered on BBC's national radio news, newspapers, magazines and local television. The London Evening Standard commented on the "extraordinary deal" which allowed old Communist frequencies to be used for the Christian gospel while The Sunday Times wondered at a "low-profile Christian broadcasting charity" which would "compete directly with the BBC's five national stations as well as Classic FM, Talk Radio and Richard Branson's Virgin."

Station manager Alan Ball said that "reception in the greater Manchester area is poor and can only be listened to in a few places though in the rest of the country - from Penzance to the highlands of Scotland - the medium wave signal can be fairly clearly heard. Also, one of the things we didn't expect was the large impact our broadcasts would have in Germany."

Ball reports a "huge increase" in the letters and phone" calls since the UCB Europe's Medium Wave launch expanded its existing 24 hour-a-day satellite broadcasting. He said, "Working on the BBC estimation that every letter or phone call represents 400 listeners we are clearly already reaching hundr