To celebrate the one year anniversary of the radio broadcasting providence in the Philippines, the Philippine FFWP sponsored what we believe may be the first "National Unificationist Broadcasters Workshop" ever held.

The Philippines began the radio providence as a way to educate the steadily-growing number of blessed couples in the country now reported to be around 13 million. Mass education requires mass communications and radio is an effective mass communicator in the Philippines since many people do not have television. We have also found that local radio shows are more effective than national shows because of the many different languages which are spoken in the country. Through a local show, the broadcaster can speak the language of the locality to directly reach the local communities.

The radio project has expanded' over the past year, from one station in Manila, the capital, to 14 stations throughout the country. The shows vary in length from a half-hour to one-and-a-half hours and are produced in the native languages of the provinces in which they are broadcast. Couples are informed about the existence of the programs when they receive the Blessing. Each blessed couple is given a leaflet with the station ID and time of broadcast and informed that they can learn more about the Blessing and creating a true family by tuning in to the program, called "tinig ng pagkakaisa," (voice of unity).

The broadcasters' workshop was designed to evaluate and improve our broadcasting and determine the next step for the project. Organized by Eric Niduasa, assisted by Rev. & Mrs. Lloyd Howell and Fe Miranda, this workshop, held Dec. 27 & 28 outside of Manila, had 21 participants representing 10 of the 14 stations presently broadcasting in the nation's various provinces.

The hands-on conference consisted of several segments dealing with both the spiritual and physical aspects of radio broadcasting. participants offered ideas to expand the content and improve the technical aspects of production and also practiced mock broadcasts.

The first day also included a working session wherein broadcasters listened to and evaluated sample programs of their fellow broadcasters. Through this we discovered that we had some dynamic, professional-sounding disc jockeys in our ranks.

Several lectures were also given during the two-day forum. A professional broadcaster discussed "The role of radio in the Philippines," and General Florencio Magsino (ret.), one of the founders of our radio show, described the history of the program.

Rev. Howell gave a special presentation titled "The role of the media in god's providence" and Donna Howell spoke on "communication skills" and how to apply them to radio broadcasting.

Later a brainstorming session was held wherein a list of 40 program themes emerged as a basis for developing 1998's broadcasts. Out of this session some of the participants realized the importance of joining local broadcaster associations and committed themselves to do so.

Our task ahead is to determine how large an audience we are reaching, how effective the programs are, and just who is listening. If any readers have ideas for measuring these criteria, or need information on beginning a radio project in your country, please contact Lloyd Howell Or Eric Niduasa at e-mail: ucrp@vasia.com.

Download entire page and pages related to it in ZIP format
Table of Contents
Copyright Information
Tparents Home