An Indian FM station aired the country’s first Seventh-day Adventist radio program this week.

Produced by Adventist World Radio, the program was recorded in the Telugu language and aired in the city of Hyderabad in East Central India, where the language is widely spoken.

Previously, Indian listeners could only hear AWR programming in India through shortwave radio, on demand, and podcasts recorded in 13 languages spoken in the country. 

The radio ministry arm of the church recently signed a contract with a broadcast agency in India for an initial series of 11 Telugu programs. AWR officials said additional broadcasts in Hindi and English are planned for major cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.

Hyderabad is home to more than 9 million people. After China, India is the second most-populated country in the world.

“This is a very significant step to reach the large cities of India, which comes after two years of intensive work negotiating with related agencies and preparing the programs,” said AWR President Dowell Chow.

The Adventist Church is currently focusing on mission to cities, where half of the world’s population now lives. Mubai is one of dozens of major urban centers worldwide that the church has identified for concerted evangelism, beginning with New York City next year.