[HCDX] Liberia's ELWA burns to the ground
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[HCDX] Liberia's ELWA burns to the ground



http://zliangas.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post.html

Liberia's ELWA burns to the ground

http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2011/11/liberias-elwa-burns-to-ground.html

from Shortwave Central by noreply@xxxxxxxxxxx (Gayle)

One of Liberia´s oldest radio stations has been destroyed again. The Monrovia-based Eternal 
Love Winning Africa (ELWA) burnt to the ground on Tuesday night. Lee Sonius with HCJB 
Global says, "They lost everything. I´ve already seen some pictures of the building, and the 
destruction was quite widespread. They lost all of their equipment, programmes, and music."

The fire started around 9 pm local time. As to its cause, "The cause of the fire has not been 
completely determined yet, but it doesn´t look like it was due to an electrical problem." 
Several reports coming out of Liberia have been hinting at arson connected to political 
unrest.

After speaking with the station manager, Sonius explains: "The investigation is leading more 
toward the possibility that it was arson, or that it was intentionally set. Because the run-off 
election was yesterday, I asked him (the station manager) if he thought it could have anything 
to do with the election, and he said, `Well, I can´t rule that out.´"

The good news is that the transmitter was in a separate building and is unharmed by the fire. 
Sonius adds that "they actually had a small, emergency portable studio at the site of the 
transmitter. They are already back on the air in a temporary way."

Sonius was ELWA´s station manager in 1990 when civil war first destroyed the facility. In 
1996, radio ELWA was silenced again during renewed fighting. The staff, with the help of 
SIM, regrouped and rebuilt. Seven years later, HCJB came on board to help provide most of 
the resources for short-wave broadcasts from a unique transmitter and antenna, which they 
developed and installed.

The staff is shell-shocked, says Sonius. "I think the staff at this point must be thinking, `Why 
is all of this happening?´" However, Sonius says they´ve come back from total destruction 
before. "We have seen their resilience in the past, and the ministry has been going on. So I 
would be very, very surprised if the staff doesn´t get behind rebuilding and getting the Gospel 
back on the air."

Their ministry journey together will continue, says Sonius. "HCJB definitely wants to help, and 
that´s why I called them this afternoon to just assure them of our intention to help get them 
back on the air. Obviously, they´ll need to rebuild, and they´ll need all the studio equipment."

The radio station daily broadcast eight hours of English programming and one and a half 
hours of Liberian language programming. About three-quarters of the station´s income come 
from local listeners and churches. Both SIM and HCJB are raising funds to help.
(Source: Mission Network News/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)Standard rig : ICOM 
R75 / 2x16 V / m@h40 heads Sennheiser 
Please read and distribute this 15 year research article http://tinyurl.com/5vzg7e 
Please read my article on SINPO at http://tinyurl.com/yt7qjd
________________________
http://zlgr.multiply.com (radio monitoring site plus audio clips ) MAIN SITE 
http://www.delicious.com/gr_greek1/@zach (all mypages !!)
........
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece 
greekdx @ otenet dot gr  ---  
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000 
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop 


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