BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, CUOPM) St. Kitts and Nevis-based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the world’s largest religious broadcaster has donated its long-time 50,000-watt Caribbean A.M. radio station, Radio Paradise to Flowing Streams Church in Vero Beach, Florida.
St. Kitts and Nevis-based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the world’s largest religious broadcaster has donated its long-time 50,000-watt Caribbean A.M. radio station, to Flowing Streams Church in Vero Beach, Florida.
Flowing Streams and its senior pastor, the Rev. Rick Wiles, produce a daily international radio talk show entitled Trunews, and will use Radio Paradise to extend its Christian message throughout the islands of the Caribbean.
Radio Paradise, which moved from Dutch St. Maarten to St. Kitts and Nevis in the early 1960’s, has been owned and operated by TBN since 1992.
The A.M. frequency reaches out to the many islands of the Caribbean, including the nation of Cuba, offering listeners an audio feed of TBN’s television programming, along with regional Christian programming. The new format will include music, ministry programs, and world news that is relevant to Christian listeners.
Mr. Wiles said he was overwhelmed by the gift from TBN and its founder Dr. Paul Crouch.
"The generosity of TBN’s donation of Radio Paradise in St. Kitts/Nevis to Flowing Streams Church is astounding," he said.
"Paul Crouch had no way of knowing that I had been praying since 2006 for a way to establish a radio broadcast ministry in St. Kitts to reach the islands. This is truly an answer to my prayers."
Mr. Wiles added that his church and ministry would "joyfully continue the work that Dr. Crouch and TBN started in the Caribbean to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the islands."
The donation, which a TBN adviser estimated had a value of at least a half-million dollars, is the second broadcast property transfer by TBN in the past two years.
In 2011 TBN donated over 150 low-power television stations to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, a non-profit organization which assists minorities, women, and underrepresented communities in purchasing and operating television and radio stations. That multi-million-dollar transaction represents one of the largest donations of such frequencies in broadcast history.
Dr. Crouch noted that for many years Radio Paradise has been a faithful Christian witness throughout the Caribbean islands, reaching into Central America and heard as far away as England.
"As it has for nearly a century, radio continues to be a dependable vehicle for the Gospel," said Dr. Crouch. "We were thrilled to find a committed ministry partner who can continue the vision TBN has had of reaching millions of individuals and families throughout the Caribbean with a Christian witness. We will lift up Pastor Wiles and Flowing Streams Church in prayer as they continue the legacy of Christian broadcasting that has gone out through Radio Paradise."
(Photo & Story by Erasmus Williams)