United Christian Broadcasters is celebrating 35 years of existence this year, with the Staffordshire-based media charity continuing to develop towards the future.
Founded in 1986 by Ian Mackie, UCB believes in offering people in all circumstances and from all walks of life, the opportunity to hear, watch or read the word of God in a relevant and engaging way.
Through radio, UCB Player (On Demand Christian TV) and two daily devotional publications (the UCB Word for Today and the Word for You for young adults), the team reach a huge number of people each year.
The UCB Prayerline, staffed by volunteers, takes up to 100,000 calls each year, with UCB broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
UCB is now under the stewardship of chief executive David L’Herroux who has maintained the ethos of the initial founder.
Writing in a recent edition of The Parliamentary Review, he talked about how UCB has been able to influence people's lives for the positive through its programming.
"We’ve heard from former alcoholics, from people who feel they’ve found freedom from depression, sickness – the list goes on," he said.
"We are big believers in the power of testimony. We believe that when a person hears a life-changing story, it helps them to believe that change is possible for them too. But this is not about us or what UCB can do; we’re just a platform to tell people about how a relationship with Jesus Christ can change their lives."
UCB went national back in 2009 with UCB UK, before launching UCB 2 in 2016, which L’Herroux described as "more reflective" in its style.
"It’s geared towards an audience who may have been Christians for longer, so there are programmes with Christian talks and music ranging from contemporary praise to southern gospel," he said.
"Over the years, we also developed a Prayerline phone service whereby callers can receive prayer from trained volunteers, a TV channel with an on-demand app service and a daily Bible devotional called the UCB Word for Today."
