Central Africa Baptist Radio under construction

John is excited to be able to be a part of a Christian radio station here in Africa. Actually being in charge of setting one up is a bit overwhelming though. The radio room, recording studio and control room are located on the third floor of Central Africa Baptist College's new building. The radio room is pretty much finished, complete with carpet on the ceiling and bamboo mats on the walls to help with sound absorption. This room will house the computers from which the broadcast will originate.

The recording studio will be used to obtain some material to air on the radio, Lord willing. This may include choirs, individual musicians, scripture readings, and other recordings. In order to keep out the noise from the lower floors of the building and also the noise from outside , John made this room with a double floor and special sound resistant walls. The walls are actually two walls thick and filled with foam. There is a bar in front of the college and a large public university adjacent to the property, so there is quite a bit of noise pollution around. I think more than one of the dorm men have invested in ear plugs.

In order to transmit the radio signal from the college building to the tower site, which is at another location, John has to install an antenna on top of the building. He has secured the pole already. That was a delicate job since the peak of the roof is about 12 meters up. They had to buy an extra long extension ladder and made sure it was securely tied. The internet receiver for the college is also attached to this pole.







After the radio signal leaves the college building, it travels to the tower site. The radio station is renting space on the tower to put up their antennas to broadcast throughout Kitwe and beyond. Some equipment has to be located at this site, so a small building is being constructed at the base of the tower.






I (Sophie) obviously do not know all the ins and outs of this radio thing, but I wanted to share some pictures with you and give you the basic idea of what is going on. For those of you who are cringing at my ignorance, please forgive me.