FRANKLIN, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- What tune do you suppose people overseas most often associate with Tennessee? Would you guess Rocky Top, or perhaps a classic Country tune?
Charles Caudill, President of Franklin based World Christian Broadcasting says the ministry's unnamed theme song is likely the piece of music most widely associated with Tennessee. The tune is broadcast at the beginning and end of each hour on the ministry's powerful, globe-spanning, shortwave transmitters.
“The world is our audience," Caudill explained, "and we have received responses from every nation on earth and every continent.”
The organization's Franklin studios record transmissions in six languages daily, and for a Christian station the format is unique. Chinese Language Sr. Producer Edward Short explains that the station’s programs cover a variety of topics.
“We call it a magazine format," Short said. So in any given hour they’ll hear some popular music, they will have a bit of English teaching, they will hear some Bible teaching or Bible stories or even in some cases Bible drama.”
Short is a Middle Tennessee native who learned Mandarin serving as a missionary in Taiwan. He says one of the great joys of radio ministry is getting listener mail. He recalls one listener writing…
“‘At nighttime after the lights were out I laid in bed and listened to your radio station.’ He said, ‘I know your voice, I know your name.’ So that was quite encouraging to me,” Short said.
Use this link to sample the station’s English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Spanish programs online.
EDITOR'S NOTE: WMOT News Director Mike Osborne served as WCB's English Language Senior Producer for 20 years beginning in 1984. It was that work that brought Mike and his family to Tennessee in 1989.