Catholic Radio Question

[freddyb590]

Hi, everyone. . .

Pittsburgh is to soon be getting one or more Catholic-formatted stations.  A group known as "St. Joseph's Missions" based in Latrobe, PA has bought WAMO-AM, WAMO-FM, and WPGR-AM.  (The WAMOs are now WAOB-AM and WAOB-FM.)  As of now, all three signals are silent, and there's no word on when these stations will come back on the air.

My question is:  is there such a thing as locally-based Catholic radio?  Or, are the majority of Catholic stations pumped with programming from EWTN or another source?  Does anyone have a good example of a "local" Catholic station (and, maybe, a website for it)?  I'm just curious as to the "sound" that such a station may have, as compared to a typical Christian teaching-and-talk station.

[Alan McCall]

Here's one of the better ones that programs locally to St. Petersburg/Tampa, Fla.:

http://www.spiritfm905.com

My market has one of those pumped-in EWTN satellite feeds.

I've pretty much stopped listening to the radio altogether except for my own station.

The local Catholic station was knocked off the air and apparently stayed off for days.
I wouldn't have known either except for a phone call from the out-of-town manager
asking me if it was on the air or not.

[rbrucecarter5]

My question is:  is there such a thing as locally-based Catholic radio?  Or, are the majority of Catholic stations pumped with programming from EWTN or another source?  Does anyone have a good example of a "local" Catholic station (and, maybe, a website for it)?  I'm just curious as to the "sound" that such a station may have, as compared to a typical Christian teaching-and-talk station.

Dallas got two of them at once, one English the other Spanish language.  I hate to tell you, but the professionalism and creativity was solely lacking.  I've heard Spirit 90.5, and I can tell you the difference between it and what was in Dallas was light years.  The best they could muster in Dallas was what sounded like a land line phone feed of Catholic mass - not exactly the sort of thing that would garner any sort of following at all.  I heard a little Spanish language praise music on the other station, but the audio quality was awful. 

When we did our show, we tried not to differentiate ourselves by sectarianism.  We were generic Christian, and tried not to offend any denomination by content.  No CCM I am aware of is anti-Catholic, it if was we wouldn't have played it.  I know some teaching shows on that station were, but we had no connection to them other than the frequency of the station.  The only blatantly anti-Catholic songs I know of are all secular and way out of bounds for a Christian station.  So we could have been called a "Catholic friendly" station, same as we could "Baptist friendly", or any other denomination.  There is such a small audience for Christian radio, you really can't afford to offend anybody.  We even had Mormons and Jehovah Witness listeners.  I have my feelings about that stuff, but then again, if they were listening - they got generic Christianity.  Some would still call it fundamentalist, because we didn't budge on the deity of Jesus from Creation, or the inerrancy of the Bible, and substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  But most CCM doesn't deviate from those fundamentals.  We did pull some music on occasion when we found out we were being fooled - a rastafarian group comes to mind.  Saying a dead Ethiopian ruler is god doesn't make him any more god than saying Ronald McDonald is god.  That was the only group I can remember pulling over doctrine, though.

[charles hobbs]

The only blatantly anti-Catholic songs I know of are all secular and way out of bounds for a Christian station.

Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young"? 

[rbrucecarter5]

The only blatantly anti-Catholic songs I know of are all secular and way out of bounds for a Christian station.

Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young"? 

That is a bad one, all right.  I remember being offended and I am not even Catholic.

[Limp73]

Here in Ohio there are several Catholic broadcasters who do some local programming. One is St. Gabriel Radio based in Columbus which owns current originating station WUCO 1270 AM licensed to Marysville (northwest of Columbus) since 2007. It currently has two repeaters..one of which is WVKO 1580 in Columbus which they started leasing about a year ago and is in hopes of purchasing and making it the originating station. Then there is WFOT-FM 89.5 licensed to Lexington serving Mansfield which is somewhat of a repeater but also does local programming exclusively for the Mansfield area. The rest of St. Gabriel's schedule is from EWTN Radio.

http://www.stgabrielradio.com

Radio Maria USA(based at originator KJMJ Alexandria,LA) has a network of seven repeaters...two in Ohio,...one in the Port Arthur/Beaumont Texas market, a new FM in Hollidaysburg PA serving Altoona and the others in central Louisiana. A lot of programming comes from Ohio to the KJMJ Alexandria main studio via a Tieline POTS/Codec in Minster(WHJM licensed to Anna). A new studio is also in the works for the other station in Springfield(WULM),near Dayton. No studio has yet opened in the Altoona area. There is a need for a bigger volunteer base in Pennsylvania and in Ohio including a need for volunteer enginners to maintain its stations,local fundraising functions public file workers and other volunteers to check church bulletins for events that may be broadcast worthy such as a Tatiana concert or a local apperance by motivational speaker Matthew Kelly and Sister Ann Sheilds. The new studio in Springfield needs a donation of pressure-treated lumber so volunteers can construct an outdoor stairway entrace leading to the upstairs studio location.

http://www.radiomaria.us

A new Catholc station is in the works in the Toledo area "Annunciation Radio" which will begin with WNOC in Bowling Green(south of Toledo) and sister station WHRQ in Sandusky. Both stations for the most part are planned to be locally originating and will include programming from Ave Maria Network based in Ann Arbor,MI..and possibly from EWTN as well. Both stations have had their licenses granted and are now having major fundraisers to get their towers installed to get up and on the air soon.

http://www.annunciationradio.com

[ai4i]

Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young"? 

That is a bad one, all right.  I remember being offended and I am not even Catholic.

You must admit though, Virginia would be in much less danger with Billy Joel than many a young boy in a confessional with many a contemporary priest!

[Prais]

Dear ai4i,

interesting. If I were you, I wouldn't believe the hype. Do you know any priests?

In the business I'm in, I know over 270 priests and have daily dealings with many of them.

Prior to my present position, I owned 4 radio stations for close to 20 years, and hired/managed several hundred "radio people" many of whom have gone on to "better" markets.

I feel like taking a shower just thinking about many of them.

Personally, I would feel MUCH LESS SAFE among the sloppy, perverted,lying, degenerate, drug addled, moronic, lazy creeps in radio (many who you would know and admire their success).

Those priests (mentioned above) are the most generous, positive, helpful people I've EVER met.



 

 

[ai4i]

the sloppy, perverted,lying, degenerate, drug addled, moronic, lazy creeps in radio

And those are just their good qualities!

[Prais]

O,
in the paragraph about radio people, I forgot "unwashed, under educated  and over-egoed."

So that paragraph should read,
the sloppy, perverted, lying, degenerate, drug addled, moronic, lazy unwashed, under educated  and over-egoed creeps in radio.

There, thats more accurate. If you contact me privately, I can give you specific examples.