I continue to hope that my article about what’s going on with the International English broadcast will feature something besides the pandemic. But as of early February—Covid continues to keep everyday life from returning to normal.
According to Bloomberg.com, as of January 28th, about 83 million doses of Covid vaccine had been administered in 59 countries around the world. And the daily average was about four million doses. In the U.S, about 26 million does have been administered, which averaged about 1.25 million per day.
In the U.S., news reports indicate that some locations don’t have enough medical personnel to put the available doses in people’s arms. Other locations don’t have enough doses. President Joe Biden has pledged the U.S. will have 150 million doses available by early May.
Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca should soon be making vaccines available to supplement the existing Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Johnson & Johnson’s is a single-dose vaccine.
Uncertainty is fed by the emergence of virus mutations, the severity of the variants, and their possible resistance to the human immune system and the vaccines.
In the meantime, our reporting team of Kelly Ann Monahan, Marcy Bryan, Doug Poling, and Paul Ladd will keep you informed.
The Pacific Rim and Southwest Asia
The Pacific Rim, the Indian subcontinent and southwest Asia provide the reasons Your New Life Station broadcasts the International English Hour. The Pacific Rim is that part of the Eastern Hemisphere that encompasses English-prevalent countries of the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. Additionally—English is widely spoken in Indonesia. And English is the official language of government and commerce in the southwest Asian countries of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In Japan and countries of the Middle East, many speak English as a second language.
Your New Life Station’s broadcast schedule makes use of Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), a 24-hour system also known as Greenwich Mean Time. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behind UTC; Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind. When some parts of the world return to daylight saving time for the warm weather months, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is four hours behind UTC, and Central Daylight Time (CDT) is five hours behind. Outside the U.S.—most locations are on standard time all year rather than daylight time. Karachi is five hours ahead of UTC. Mumbai and New Delhi are five-and-a-half hours ahead. Manila, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lampur are eight hours ahead. And Tokyo is nine hours ahead of UTC.
You can use our listener website www.knls.org to hear the English Hour if you’re not into shortwave radio. You can also access the broadcast through the KNLS app on your mobile device or through Google or Safari. If you listen via shortwave radio, you can access knls.org to get our broadcast frequencies.
The English Hour is the Asian continent’s source for the music of our time and the message of all time. We work to provide a geographical balance in the topics we feature as we take listeners from “Alaska to Asia to Africa to America.” Our Eye on the World stories often show the interdependence of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
Since our target audience is mostly non-Christians, our content is different from a typical Christian format station in America. While we provide our share of positive, uplifting content, some of our programming also provides an honest look at the dark side of life on Earth. Indeed, some program segments and music selections may raise questions that a thoughtful truth seeker will ask. And other segments, such as the Bible or Christian lifestyle lessons, serve to answer those questions.
Music to Love
Music is a universal language. Probably 80 per cent of the world’s pop tunes are sung in English, and are enjoyed by people everywhere, many who are themselves not proficient in English. The English hour features your favorite songs from today’s best music. International pop charts show that your favorite music is also the favorite of people who are culturally diverse—whether in Nairobi, Sydney, Singapore, or Jakarta.
The songs are pop, rock, r & b, and occasional hip-hop and country music that crosses over to the pop charts. The English Hour generally features music by artists from the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. But music artists from all over the world have found their names on or near the top of international pop charts.
In February, Your New Life Station’s listeners will hear new music from Justin Bieber, Meduza featuring Dermot Kennedy, SZA, and The Weekend.
News to Know
The English hour features reporting about topics of current interest. Marcy Bryan reports about entertainment, business, and news about religion and social issues. Kelly Ann Monahan has the latest developments in medicine, science, and computer technology. Paul Ladd provides special reports about diverse topics, religious and secular. Doug Poling provides commentary on the news from a Christian perspective on Today’s News & the Good News. And Adam Holtz, Jonathan McKee and Kristin Smith of Focus on the Family provide Plugged-in reviews of the latest movies, music, and computer games. In February—they’ll continue to rate, for family friendliness, the numerous movies featured on streaming services as theatres struggle to reopen across the world. And Kristin Smith will comment on the song “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo
Upcoming Reports for February 2021
You may have heard about the Mediterranean diet. And you may want to know more about it? Kelly Ann Monahan tells us why.
It’s a successful movie that became a ride at Disney theme parks–then an internet sensation–then a Broadway musical. Marcy Bryan reports about the journey of Ratatouille.
What does a new law addressing coronavirus relief have to do with UFO’s? And will we learn what the U.S. Defense Department knows about “unidentified aerial phenomena”? Marcy has the story.
The boys made a quarter-million dollars selling anchors for Christmas tree ornaments. What did they do with the money? Marcy has that story.
In normal year—Ford would sell more pickup trucks in the U.S. than any of its competitors. Who beat them in 2020? Marcy reports about that, too.
And Marcy reports about initiatives by Apple and Starbucks to address racial inequality.
Has political bias become common in news reporting? Paul Ladd discusses this question with TV journalist Sharyl Attkisson.
What did the owners of a restaurant in Germany do after Covid shutdowns forced it to close? And why are its employees working there again? Doug Poling has the answer on Today’s News & the Good News.
The Covid pandemic is the worst one in over a century. Doug delivers a historical report about the 1918 Spanish flu.
A Message to Live
This is what we’re about and why we’re on the air and on the internet. Our mission is to present the lessons of the Bible, including and emphasizing the Good News in an interesting, non-threatening way.
Ongoing Series
- All God’s Giants with Larry Souder
- Andy Baker’s Prayer Lesson
- Author’s Journal with Wesley Paine
- Believer’s Hall of Faith with Bill Young
- Creation Moments with Paul Taylor
- Deuteronomy with Phillip Camp & Paul Ladd
- Eye on Religion—Bible archaeology emphasis with Marcy Bryan
- Family Minute with Brit Ryan
- First Person with Paul Ladd
- God’s Money with Steve Maganelles
- God’s Passion for Humanity with Bill Young
- Groundwire with Sean Dunn
- Hope in Conflict with Larry Souder
- Jim Daly commentary
- Joy of Peacemaking with Larry Souder
- Life Stories with Joe Norris
- Living with Conflict with Greg Taylor
- Profiles of the New Testament with Bob Borquez
- Profiles of the Old Testament with Royce Kessler
- Promises with Royce Kessler
- Refiner’s Fire with Paul Ladd
- The Big Picture with Steve Diggs
- The God Who Makes Himself Known with Bill Young
- The Journey with Greg Taylor
- Today’s News & the Good News with Doug Poling
- True Stories of the Bible with Bill Steensland
- Unforgettable Conversations with Larry Souder
