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The First Television Station of The Congregation Of The Mission

By Jose Alberto Orlovski, C.M.

Director

In 1994, the Congregation of the Mission launched a television station in the city of Araucaria, in the state of Parana, Brazil. The station is owned by the St. Vincent De Paul Foundation which is active in education and mediums of social communication. The Foundation is managed by members of the Congregation of the Mission and lay people from the local community.

General Situation

The Foundation owns RADIO IGUACU AM 830 which was founded in 1958 and TV ARAUCARIA UHF Channel 23 which was founded in 1994. Both are located in Araucaria, a city with 90,000 inhabitants. Araucaria is only 25 kilometers outside of Curitiba which is the capital of the state of Parana and has 1,800,000 inhabitants.

The radio station reaches a distance of 120 kilometers and operates 24 hours a day. Several hours are dedicated each day exclusively toward evangelism.

The television station operates from seven in the morning until midnight and reaches a distance of 25 kilometers.

Projects

In 1998 the television station adopted digital technology for its cameras and video equipment which has improved picture quality. The SVHS system was used prior to the digital technology.

The construction of a 95-meter tower near Curitiba is expected to be complete by December 1998. The tower will allow us to reach the entire metropolitan region, which has a population of 2,500,000 people.

General Programming

General television programming is transmitted via satellite. The station provides educational and Christian programming to its viewers. On Sundays from eight to nine in the morning, mass is transmitted from the Aparecida (Brazil's patron saint) Basilica.

Local Programming

From Monday through Saturday from eight to ten p.m., programs featuring local parishes, commentaries, interviews, religion, and the bible are transmitted. The Telediario Regional is also transmitted. It focuses on local news, social issues, politics, economics, religion, and community services. Furthermore, current events are always interpreted from a Christian perspective.

Sundays from eleven to twelve noon, "Club TV" is broadcast containing the most important news of the week, biblical commentaries, liturgical commentaries, interviews, programs produced by religious entities, and masses from parishes within the region.

Values and Advantages

Before the Church obtained its own mediums of communication, it was costly and difficult to find time slots for evangelical programming despite all of the television and radio stations in Brazil. Each day these stations place more and more hurdles for the Church to overcome.

So much so that it is worth the sacrifice and investment for the Church to own its own mediums of communication. The content of evangelical programming is important so that the programs can be used in parish catechisms and pastorals. These are the objectives of TV ARAUCARIA, which will amplify its magnitude so that it will reach the entire metropolitan region of Curitiba. The programs and video recordings made at the station through the use of its digital equipment and increased magnitude from the new tower can be used to reach schools and communities in other Brazilian cities.

It is gratifying to see the reach of the Vincentian Fathers of the Southern Province, who are assuming this evangelical work through Radio Iguacu and TV Araucaria, grow. Their work is facilitated by the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, which pervades our acts and the lives of our communities.

Copyright 2009 Congregation of the Mission