Feba Radio

Feba Radio is a broadcasting network. It is driven by Christian values rather than by government or commercial aims. It was established in 1959 in the UK as the Far Eastern Broadcasting Associates (FEBA, later known as Feba Radio)  – associated with Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) operating in United States and Philippines and the Far East Broadcasting Associates of India (FEBAI).

Initially, Feba Radio (UK) was an idea initiated by Douglas Malton and John Wheatley who, together with other individuals in UK, were interested in supporting what FEBC-USA was doing. FEBC-USA had difficulty reaching audiences in North India and identified Seychelles as a promising location to build an international shortwave transmitting station for this purpose.

Seychelles was a British crown colony, and in 1968 Feba Radio (UK) was incorporated as a charity and a company with the primary aim of planning, building and operating a radio station there. It was unique in having the antennas built over a lagoon 1 km offshore. The station was in many ways modelled on FEBC-USA's station in Manila, providing for multi-lingual programme production close to the station. Most of Feba's activity was in Seychelles, as a foreign company, with a small support operation in UK.

In 1970, Feba Radio (UK) began regular shortwave broadcasts from their station in Seychelles using temporary equipment. The next four years saw the development of studios, offices, housing, transmitters, and the offshore "reef" antenna system. The "oil crisis" during this period seriously increased electricity cost and heightened the need for good strategic planning. Thereafter milestones in developing the Feba Radio network were often linked to international conferences held roughly every two years.

In June 1976, there was an international conference in Seychelles at a time when the nation of Seychelles gained independence and the offshore antennas were approved for use after a two-year delay, so the temporary antennas were dismantled and transmitted power levels were increased to 100 kW. Feba Seychelles' schedule was expanding to cover Southwest Asia, the Middle East and Africa. An English news service was introduced with the intention of expanding that into other languages. The English used on Feba programmes is predicated on the idea that most of the audience are not native speakers, and it uses a vocabulary and pacing ("Feba English") similar to that used in Simple English.

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