On the Day June 4 1948

China Hears Christ Loud and Clear

Khen Lim




Bob Bowman (L), John C Broger (C) and William J Roberts (R) (Image source: febc.org)

World War II had just ended but the Christian fervour for some remain unabated as it was for John C Broger, Bob Bowman and William J Roberts. Together, these men stumped up a measly $1,000 to start an impossible dream but it was Christ who delivered it when the odds were stacked against them.

Broger, Bowman and Roberts had known each other well before war broke. Already then, they had discussed and prayed on the idea that they could do something big for Christ. And so when war was over and the men came back in one piece, they got together and continued where they left off. Having just returned from his Pacific tour of duty, Broger was in two minds. His wife wanted him to stay, which wasn’t unreasonable since she dreaded not seeing him for yet another long period. But he could not walk away from his calling and as a soldier of Christ, he felt strongly in responding.

And so, from that paltry sum, the three men formed a non-profit international Christian company called Far East Broadcasting Company with the one hope of reaching China with the Good News but the Nationalist Chinese were not so keen, reasoning that if they allowed the broadcasting of Christian messages, the Communists would also want the same privilege. Undeterred, they explored other options but kept their eyes firmly focused on China.

And so they considered the Filipinos. Two days following their country’s national independence on July 4 1946, the trio arrived in the Philippines in search of a broadcasting licence. Although they were given the green light, work was cut out for them. Given that in exchange for the licence, they had to go on air by 8pm on June 4 1948, the problems they faced made it near insurmountable. The periodic typhoons were raising hell through the country, destroying much in their paths. Building materials for the fledgling nation were sparse and therefore, expensive. Finance was thinning faster than they thought. Then also, power outages were frequent and many of the power cables had laid underwater, making it dangerous for repair work. In short, the whole initiative faced great threats from the get-go.

On the day that they were scheduled to go on air, traffic jams were another big problem to negotiate but eventually they got to the studio with less than two hours to spare. In that short space of time, they also had to make sure that the iffy makeshift transmitter worked, which compounded on the problem. Seeing that they had no choice but to test it on their maiden broadcast, the only thing they could do was to pray.

And pray they did, singing, “All hail the power of Jesus’ Name.” Very shortly thereafter, the engineer flicked the switch and the broadcast was on for the first time. Suddenly the FEBC was on air and the transmitter miraculously flickered to life! Stunned to see everything coming together in the nick of time when they shouldn’t, the three men wept and gave thanks to God.

FEBC America president Ed Cannon with FEBC co-founder Dr Bob Bowman (Image source: febc.org)

Nobody could deny the Lord of His glory. Everyone knew that without His hand at work, all of this had as much hope as ice lasting in the desert. After years of planning and discussions, the three friends saw how God paved the way for the airwaves to penetrate far reaching places where people otherwise could not. Using this golden opportunity, they broadcast Christian messages and Bible studies as widely as they could. And soon, people heard the Gospel for the first time and received Christ.

Meanwhile news went around that the Communist Chinese government were manufacturing radios to be distributed to all their people, purely for their own propaganda purposes. With radios far and wide, they could indoctrinate the masses far more easily. But the FEBC saw this as something to exploit. With the same radios, they could access hundreds of thousands on the mainland.

But there was a setback. The Communist government decided not to play ball by refusing to abide by the international telecommunication guidelines, thus limiting the FEBC’s airwave penetration. Given the transmitter they had in use, there was not much more the three Americans and their local team could do. Clearly they needed more powerful transmitters but they didn’t have the means to obtain them. And so they prayed and let this issue to God to solve for them.

At that time, some of the most advanced and technologically most powerful transmitters in the world were in the hands of the Americans. Through their insistent prayers, God answered yet again and delivered to the FEBC, two such examples that were made available to them from the Office of War Information.

With new and powerful transmitters at their disposal, the men set forth to install them as close to the Chinese mainland as possible. That way, they could cover a far larger area in the Far East as never before, ensuring that over two billion listeners heard the Good News in various Asian languages.

World War II had just ended but the Christian fervour for some remain unabated as it was for John C Broger (centre), Bob Bowman (left) and William J Roberts (right). Together, these men stumped up a measly $1,000 to start an impossible dream but it was Christ who delivered it when the odds were stacked against them.

Broger, Bowman and Roberts had known each other well before war broke. Already then, they had discussed and prayed on the idea that they could do something big for Christ. And so when war was over and the men came back in one piece, they got together and continued where they left off. Having just returned from his Pacific tour of duty, Broger was in two minds. His wife wanted him to stay, which wasn’t unreasonable since she dreaded not seeing him for yet another long period. But he could not walk away from his calling and as a soldier of Christ, he felt strongly in responding.

Bob Bowman (L) and John Broger (R)

And so, from that paltry sum, the three men formed a non-profit international Christian company called Far East Broadcasting Company with the one hope of reaching China with the Good News but the Nationalist Chinese were not so keen, reasoning that if they allowed the broadcasting of Christian messages, the Communists would also want the same privilege. Undeterred, they explored other options but kept their eyes firmly focused on China.

And so they considered the Filipinos. Two days following their country’s national independence on July 4 1946, the trio arrived in the Philippines in search of a broadcasting licence. Although they were given the green light, work was cut out for them. Given that in exchange for the licence, they had to go on air by 8pm on June 4 1948, the problems they faced made it near insurmountable. The periodic typhoons were raising hell through the country, destroying much in their paths. Building materials for the fledgling nation were sparse and therefore, expensive. Finance was thinning faster than they thought. Then also, power outages were frequent and many of the power cables had laid underwater, making it dangerous for repair work. In short, the whole initiative faced great threats from the get-go.

FEBC's original transmitters (Image source: theradiohistorian.org) 

On the day that they were scheduled to go on air, traffic jams were another big problem to negotiate but eventually they got to the studio with less than two hours to spare. In that short space of time, they also had to make sure that the iffy makeshift transmitter worked, which compounded on the problem. Seeing that they had no choice but to test it on their maiden broadcast, the only thing they could do was to pray.

And pray they did, singing, “All hail the power of Jesus’ Name.” Very shortly thereafter, the engineer flicked the switch and the broadcast was on for the first time. Suddenly FEBC was on air and the transmitter miraculously flickered to life! Stunned to see everything coming together in the nick of time when they shouldn’t, the three men wept and gave thanks to God.

Nobody could deny the Lord of His glory. Everyone knew that without His hand at work, all of this had as much hope as ice lasting in the desert. After years of planning and discussions, the three friends saw how God paved the way for the airwaves to penetrate far reaching places where people otherwise could not. Using this golden opportunity, they broadcast Christian messages and Bible studies as widely as they could. And soon, people heard the Gospel for the first time and received Christ.

Meanwhile news went around that the Communist Chinese government were manufacturing radios to be distributed to all their people, purely for their own propaganda purposes. With radios far and wide, they could indoctrinate the masses far more easily. But the FEBC saw this as something to exploit. With the same radios, they could access hundreds of thousands on the mainland.

But there was a setback. The Communist government decided not to play ball by refusing to abide by the international telecommunication guidelines, thus limiting the FEBC’s airwave penetration. Given the transmitter they had in use, there was not much more the three Americans and their local team could do. Clearly they needed more powerful transmitters but they didn’t have the means to obtain them. And so they prayed and let this issue to God to solve for them.

FEBC in Philippines (Image source: mapio.net)

At that time, some of the most advanced and technologically most powerful transmitters in the world were in the hands of the Americans. Through their insistent prayers, God answered yet again and delivered to the FEBC, two such examples that were made available to them from the Office of War Information.

With new and powerful transmitters at their disposal, the men set forth to install them as close to the Chinese mainland as possible. That way, they could cover a far larger area in the Far East as never before, ensuring that over two billion listeners heard the Good News in various Asian languages.