The development of South American religious broadcasters during the Pandemic.

Walking through the streets of large and small South American cities, especially in Brazil, an interesting factor immediately comes to the eye: it is easy to notice the immeasurable quantity of churches and places of worship, both Christian and Evangelical, each of them with its own independent organization.

During the pandemic there has been a considerable increase in the presence of these places. Have you ever wondered what is the relationship between religious institutions and the world of broadcast in South America?

First of all, it should be remembered that the main form of income of television and radio broadcasters is advertising, one of the most affected market area, in the broadcast segment, during this period of crisis. This situation has brought the entire advertising industry to its knees, consequently the broadcasters have no longer been able to pay salaries and/or make technological investments to improve its broadcasting equipment. The direct result is a curious phenomenon: no longer able to support themselves, Latin broadcasters rent their radios or televisions to religious institutions, in most cases evangelical. These, managing to collect continuous and substantial donations from the devotee, can pay the rent. By doing so, they transmit and therefore promote their beliefs in a much more widespread manner among the population, expanding and reaching more followers.

Furthermore, since they do not need the studio – physical parts – in their organization, they use to install a bridge-link inside the church through which the signal is sent directly to the place of transmission. In this way they manage to have less expenses for personnel, places and materials.

Finally, these institutions, almost as if they were a “franchise”, open other churches and “branches” in the cities where they can carry out worship activities. Precisely for this reason it is considerably easier to find churches of any order in the streets of South America, which has become a frequent feature of the cities of the Latin continent.

Today, radio and church are viscerally connected, linking altars and microphones in a phenomenon that challenges researchers in the field of communication. 

The first Brazilian radio program of a religious nature was broadcast 73 years ago: “A Voz da Profecia”. And it has been for more than twenty years that ELENOS with its transmitters has accompanied the evolution of this essential link, providing high-performance equipment and thus ensuring its constant development.

If you want to know more about the different models of ELENOS high efficiency transmitters, contact us on our website.