UCB International Blog

The Internet is the dominant source for news according to this study by Harvard University. Something that should be considered when allocating future efforts on radio news. The key for radio is news PLUS personalities. Ratings show that news stations do much better ratings wise when the station has “personalities” doing the news that connect with the audience.

Study: Radio still dominates at-work female listening.

The cubicle may have more options today from iPods to Pandora, but a new report from Alan Burns and Associates says radio remains the top pick. Of women employed full-time who listen to music at work, 54% generally listen to their music on radio. “Almost a quarter of those women (24%) do their at-work radio listening online, and that number is growing rapidly,” consultant Alan Burns says. The study of CHR and AC listeners shows about one-quarter (23%) use their iPod or other stereo system at work, 15% listen to internet-only music from providers like Pandora or Slacker, and 7% tune into Sirius XM Radio. The findings are based on Burns online survey of 2,057 women.

After putting together a team of strategically connected youth leaders from different churches and denominations to oversee the design its development, the youth version of The Word for Today was launched in January 2010 with a print run of 5000 copies. The cost of this edition is assisted by the financial sponsorship from other ministries with which we partner.

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UCB International is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Pitchford as General Manager of Brands and New Media. He is presently the Director of Development for UCB Australia. Andrew, Cheryl and family will move to New Zealand in late December so that Andrew can commence his new role in January 2011.

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UCB has launched the world’s first live Christian Mobile TV Channel. The UCB TV channel is available to almost any mobile phone in the world using a 3G or Wi-Fi connection. Viewers will be able to tune in and watch popular shows such as Adventures in Odyssey, Living Truth, Hillsong, Abundant Life and enjoy some of the best international conferences, documentaries and movies.

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Repairs to the Manasamody tower relay transmitter and antennas were recently carried out by Dawid Joubert, Hanno Cornelius, Chris Fourie (Jnr) and Zain technician Larry. Repairs included misaligned antennas, broken splitter box, connectors not waterproofed, short circuits in power supply, receiving antenna misaligned, relay transmitter improperly tuned during official tests by OMERT technicians upon arrival, etc. The soldering gun ran out of gas during repairs, which were completed by heating a broken soldering iron in a small hand-built furnace fired up with a truck tyre pump. Final repairs were completed 10 minutes before darkness fell! A special team indeed!

Well not quite – travelling over large potholes would be more like it. Our intrepid traveller is John Yinowut from the West Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. When he heard UCB representatives Denis Delaney and Roly Runciman were visiting, John travelled 180 kilometres to seek assistance for Christian radio in his village.

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UCB with reps from some of the radio stations who broadcast UCB News.L-R: Vicki Buchannan (Rhema FM Gladstone)Mandy Worby (UCB Australia) Christine Bergmann (Way FM Launceston)Phil Edwards (UCB Australia) Ian Worby (CEO, UCB Australia) Rick Broome (Rhema FM Gosford)Josh Reid (Ninefourone Wollongong)Smiling because they really enjoyed the profiteroles at morning tea time.
UCB Australia has seen good growth in its news service, which is broadcast hourly across UCB’s Vision Radio Network (almost 450 locations) as well as on 18 other radio stations as their ‘news of choice’.

UCB has been generating this ‘Christian worldview’ news service for almost a decade and has become a trusted source of information without the sensationalism or gruesome details found in many other news service providers.

In late June UCB began a second stream of bulletins to cater for stations wanting a credible and reliable family-friendly service but without the more ‘overt’ Christian/missions stories. UCB is now generating 162 bulletins per week across these two streams, distributed via satellite and the internet.

MC Renee Garvin interviewing UCB’s Phil Edwards about UCB News at the recent CMA conference on the Gold Coast of Australia.

As a major sponsor of the Christian Media Australia conference, UCB was able to promote its news service to other broadcasters, and has picked up two new subscriber stations as a direct result of this activity.

Chris Fourie from UCB Madagascar sends a letter of thanks for the loving prayers and support during his three months hospitalisation in South Africa earlier this year.

“No worries mate. Couple a good bashes sheeell be right!!! (I’ve got my hat on)”
Ian Worby, CEO UCB Australia.Live on location in Brisbane

Before

AWW …. Two corker new studios. All in fair dinkum kangaroo brown.

On Monday 21st June a dedication took place to mark the launch of UCB UK on DAB radio. The event was broadcast live for an hour from noon through till 1pm on UCB UK. Bob Gass was the key note speaker.

Gary Hoogvliet, Broadcast Director for UCB UK, had this to say, “23 years in the making, and when the license was finally awarded it seemed to happen within days, so quickly in fact that UCB UK was on air nationally and we did not have time to celebrate So it was six months before the dust of the launch had settled and we were able to thank God for His gift to us.

Famous people came, people who had supported us for years came, Bob Gass was the guest speaker and the dedication ceremony was broadcast ‘live’ on both UCB UK and UCB Inspirational.

The one hour broadcast was a moving experience with Ian Mackie, the founding CEO, recounting the journey, Managing Director David L’Herroux ‘visioning’ the future and UCB International President Hal Short praying the dedication prayer. Then the invited guests sat down to a celebration lunch joined by staff who had been with UCB through the journey.

It was a moving experience and a manifestation of God’s grace and goodness.

Today all of the UK has the opportunity to listen to one UCB national DAB station; over half the country can receive two other UCB DAB stations. Praise God!”