Though long a volatile, unsettled area, it is populated with culturally and ethnically diverse peoples. Currently, TWR airs programs to the Middle East via several powerful AM and shortwave transmitters, including one in Central Asia. Many Middle Eastern people listen to radio programs transmitted from stations outside their own countries. Since missionary radio plays such a strategic role in the Middle East, response from listeners is always encouraging. More than 100,000 letters are received each year.
Many experts differ on the precise borders of the Middle East region.
But not in question is the fact that this vast land is rich in history and controversy. Home to some of the world's oldest religions, the Middle East desperately needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Trans World Radio proclaims the Good News of God's love to North Africa, the Middle East, and Euroasia, whose combined population numbers more than 413 million. TWR ministers in a religious climate where 93 percent of the people practice Islam. Radio is also an ideal medium to teach God's Word, for roughly half of the people who speak Arabic are illiterate, with figures in some countries as high as 90 percent.