HCJB, “the Voice of the Andes”: Promoting American Christian Fundamentalism in the Indigenous Andes

In 1931, a group of devoted American evangelicals led by Clarence Jones, known as Mr. Radio in evangelical circles, launched the short-wave radio station HCJB the Voice of the Andes, in Quito, Ecuador. Despite its conservative religiosity, this radio station pioneered in many regards concerning media technologies and missionary developments. For instance, it was the world’s first evangelical missionary radio station, the first radio station in Ecuador, one of the first radio stations to reach global audiences, and the first media project that focused on the modernization of indigenous people in Latin America. My presentation explains how The Voice of the Andes contributed to bringing evangelical Christianity to indigenous communities previously controlled by the Catholic Church, such as the Misaks from Colombia. This story includes The Voice of the Andes's innovative forms for financing its work and its relationship with the Liberal Ecuadorian government.