Protestant missionary station HCJB has been broadcasting evangelical programs worldwide via shortwave from "high in the Andes, at Quito, Ecuador" since 1931, but is ending its transmissions in English and French this year. Media technology has changed and the needs of the audience have changed: the shortwave audience for both languages has dropped, and many places that formerly had no Christian local radio now do have it. Perhaps the first missionary shortwave station, they were also the best, often with a gentle and positive approach that even non-believers didn't mind hearing. HCJB is focusing its resources on other languages and on producing programs to be aired on local radio in various parts of the world.
Catholic missionary radio will need to make the same transition. While shortwave can still reach some fair-sized audiences in Latin America, Africa, and much of Asia, broadcasting to the tiny SW audiences in North America, Japan, and Western Europe is already not an effective use of missionary donations. I sometimes wonder whether it was wise for EWTN to build a shortwave station when that technology was already on the wane. But the folks at EWTN radio know the trend, and they are offering their programming to Europe via satellite services.
Internet audio is becoming more prominent. Some of the countries in Asia are highly wired: South Korea has an amazing 19 broadband drops for every 100 people.
But how to get Catholic radio into people's cars? The US satellite services XM and Sirius have both been struggling financially, it seems; but those carriers would give a Catholic channel instant nationwide reach, a feat that is probably unattainable by building an AM/FM network.
