РАДІО НОВЕ ЖИТТЯ—RNZ (New Life Radio) now on the air from Odessa!
In February 2022, the scope of our mission changed, and to meet the need of providing God’s Word to a Ukraine struggling to recover from war and devastation, New Life Radio initiated a strategic plan to establish a new broadcast service in the Ukrainian language called РАДІО НОВЕ ЖИТТЯ (RNZ). PHASE ONE: In September, 2022, a beta version of this channel went on line, and in February 2023, we began limited live radio broadcasts, supplemented by our 24/7 automated radio schedule. Nove Zhittya is progressing in its development though it needs new staffing.
RNZ-Ukraine COST: $3,500/month. This includes support for three seminary trained missionary staff, studio facilities in Odessa , and internet transmission costs. This budget is similar to supporting ONE American missionary family to Ukraine per year and a cost effective means to proclaim the Gospel! listen at http://novezhitya.net (worldwide) or новежиття.укр (inside Ukraine). RNZ is currently looking for a program director to head up this service, and we expect a six month period through Fall 2024 to secure sufficient programming resources before we begin the next phase of the project.
Rationale: 97.4% of Ukraine’s 459 cities and towns have no local Christian radio station. As the people of Ukraine are now rejecting their past affiliation with all things Russian, including culture and LANGUAGE, it is clear that NLR’s Russian service can no longer properly serve all of their Ukrainian listeners broadcasting solely in the Russian language. The need to provide a Christian witness and Biblical worldview to communities across the nation that are recovering and redeveloping from this war is clear, and RNZ is in a position to accomplish this, using our radio facilities in Odessa with studios equally divided up into a simultaneous Russian/Ukrainian program operations.
FUTURE STRATEGY for RNZ’s expansion to make a satellite and FM network for Ukraine: Cost: $65,000/year
PHASE 2: As we pray for the ending of this war between Russia and Ukraine, CRFR&U will analyze the conditions that can lead to the next phase of this operation: 1) adding a satellite radio channel for RNZ to provide 100% geographic signal coverage of Ukraine; 2) using this satellite as the backbone for developing a network of small FM radio channels across the country in conjunction with local Christian radio committees that desire to have Christian programming for evangelism and discipleship support. Monthly Cost: $5,300 for staff, internet, and satellite per month. This is a new level of financing that is currently outside of our budgeting and would require new donors to make the project possible. Photo below: one of NLR’s previous affiliate radio stations in Russia.
HOW IT CAN WORK: RNZ will need to provide a nationwide signal to the 1000s of villages and cities in Ukraine with high audio quality via satellite that can then be used as the foundation for developing a network of hundreds of local FM radio affiliates. Each local Christian community can apply to the government for a radio frequency, and if secured, American churches can aid them by providing funding for a low cost FM transmitter/satellite package that will allow for 24/7 radio without personnel required. Average equipment cost: $2200 to $5000 per community. For larger cities, slightly higher cost transmitters would be required. For interested donors, the cost for the satellite radio channel is $1800 per month, a tiny sum for getting Christian radio into an entire nation! New Life Radio developed their national satellite and FM network in Russia 20 years ago in the same manner, and while it will be difficult, we might accomplish it soon in UKRAINE with your help!
RNZ is looking to the Slavic community for new recordings of Christian music in Ukrainian, as well as new recordings of instrumental versions of traditional Christian hymns to help us program our radio format.
PRAY that the Lord would lead us and bless us in establishing this new Christian service to teach HIS WORD to the suffering people of Ukraine. We have no illusions concerning the difficulty of bringing this network to fruition and know this is all up to our Lord, but the need is clear and we are positioned to meet it.
CRFRU has a 5 minute video presentation on this project: view it on Youtube– https://youtu.be/G30zjVDKCrQ