Religious Radio Organization Cheers Upcoming Opportunities to Acquire More Signals

[Delete My Account]

These stations are absolutely competing with commercial stations, too, and pulling listeners away from them. That's not cool.

It's "not cool?"

No one is forced to listen or not listen to any station. If those commercial stations don't appeal to whoever, they're free to tune away. Are you suggesting they're entitled to audience? It is cool that people have a choice. And the choice of public radio happens to be a bargain, especially in rural markets where there's even fewer choices, and often, not even regional news coverage, much less local. At least many NPR affiliates are regional networks that cover the state level things far better than a local station on autopilot because their market can't sustain commercial radio well at all. I've been to plenty of those markets.

I've never understood why commercial operators felt they should be entitled to audiences they didn't appeal to.

 

[davideduardo]

I've never understood why commercial operators felt they should be entitled to audiences they didn't appeal to.

I personally love it when a commercial station converts, as it leaves more revenue for the rest of us.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Keep in mind that a significant portion of the EMF stations are translators, not full A, B or C class FMs.

Roughly 400 (I counted them). That's a little less than half (44%) of their stations. But I also know that they lease them to secular operators in markets where they also have full-power FMs.

Still, that's well over 500 full-power signals. Which seems, to cite one of the seven deadly sins, seems like gluttony in the light of the situation facing public radio.

 

[CTListener]

But humans are His instrument. We don't have telepathy except in Hollywood sci-fi movies.

Rising from the dead is a sci-fi concept. Virgin birth is a sci-fi concept, Turning water to wine is a sci-fi concept. So are turning a woman into a pillar of salt, parting a sea, receiving slabs of wisdom atop a mountain in the Middle East, finding gold plates with similar wisdom on a hill in western New York, and all the other scriptural events of all the other religions. Surely telepathy is well within the capabilities of a truly supreme being! If salvation and eternal bliss are attainable in only one way, why wouldn't a loving deity tell his most remarkable creations what that way is by imprinting it on their brains at birth rather than reveal it to one group of people in one part of the world and rely on them to convince everyone else -- an impossible task? I'm glad that most other religions (and even non-evangelical branches of Christianity) don't proselytize; otherwise there'd be nothing but religious broadcasters on AM, FM, longwave, shortwave, satellite radio and even the fillings of our teeth.

 

[ted chittenden]

Roughly 400 (I counted them). That's a little less than half (44%) of their stations. But I also know that they lease them to secular operators in markets where they also have full-power FMs.

Still, that's well over 500 full-power signals. Which seems, to cite one of the seven deadly sins, seems like gluttony in the light of the situation facing public radio.

A couple of interesting points about K-Love. First, it is one of only two broadcasters on the island of Puerto Rico that includes English talk 24 hours a day. (The other is a three-station conservative talk religious network anchored out of San Juan's WBMJ-AM.)

The other interesting thing to note is that K-Love actually once had an NPR affiliate on one of its HD channels in a particular market. This was in West Palm Beach, FL, where the FCC allowed the sale of the (then) local public radio affiliate at 90.7 mHz to the Educational Media Foundation. A local group of public radio supporters, led by an accountant, petitioned the FCC to reconsider and lost. The group then threatened to go to their U.S. representative and senators seeking redress for their grievance. At this point, K-Love agreed to let the 90.7's HD2 channel carry the programming of Miami's WLRN-FM; in addition, a translator assigned to the Educational Media Foundation was allowed to carry the programming of that channel.

I don't know when that agreement ended but it is not in place today. WLRN-FM is now being carried by the HD2 channels of one of the IHeart stations in the area and I recently read that (and this was before the Rescission bill) WLRN-FM had purchased a former independent R&B station WFLM (I believe it's at 104.7 mHz a bit north of West Palm Beach) with the intention of having it become a full satellite of WLRN-FM.

But back to my original point. K-Love is the only Christian outlet I know of that ever let an NPR affiliate use one of its HD channels plus one of its translators, even though that use was because it was under duress. None of the other main U.S. religious outlets have ever done the same; in fact, from AFR to VCY America to the Bott Radio Network, all have criticized NPR for having a liberal bias in its reporting.

 

[ted chittenden]

A couple of interesting points about K-Love. First, it is one of only two broadcasters on the island of Puerto Rico that includes English talk 24 hours a day. (The other is a three-station conservative talk religious network anchored out of San Juan's WBMJ-AM.)

The other interesting thing to note is that K-Love actually once had an NPR affiliate on one of its HD channels in a particular market. This was in West Palm Beach, FL, where the FCC allowed the sale of the (then) local public radio affiliate at 90.7 mHz to the Educational Media Foundation. A local group of public radio supporters, led by an accountant, petitioned the FCC to reconsider and lost. The group then threatened to go to their U.S. representative and senators seeking redress for their grievance. At this point, K-Love agreed to let the 90.7's HD2 channel carry the programming of Miami's WLRN-FM; in addition, a translator assigned to the Educational Media Foundation was allowed to carry the programming of that channel.

I don't know when that agreement ended but it is not in place today. WLRN-FM is now being carried by the HD2 channels of one of the IHeart stations in the area and I recently read that (and this was before the Rescission bill) WLRN-FM had purchased a former independent R&B station WFLM (I believe it's at 104.7 mHz a bit north of West Palm Beach) with the intention of having it become a full satellite of WLRN-FM.

But back to my original point. K-Love is the only Christian outlet I know of that ever let an NPR affiliate use one of its HD channels plus one of its translators, even though that use was because it was under duress. None of the other main U.S. religious outlets have ever done the same; in fact, from AFR to VCY America to the Bott Radio Network, all have criticized NPR for having a liberal bias in its reporting.

Here is the Wikipedia article on WFLV-FM in West Palm Beach.

WFLV - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It confirms that the HD2 channel of the station no longer carries WLRN programming but doesn't specify the date when the relationship was terminated.

 

[cc333]

...there'd be nothing but religious broadcasters on AM, FM, longwave, shortwave, satellite radio...

Be careful. At the rate things are going, this very well could happen, especially on AM and FM; not sure about longwave (never really used in the US) or shortwave, (which is pretty much dead).

c

 

[b-turner]

Those of you blasting Christianity, consider this: the religious stations are making it financially meaning they have the listeners. This seems to indicate there are many, many more Christians among the thousands of flavors of Christianity, than you think and with all those signals more are joining the ranks. Scary stuff for non-Christians.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Those of you blasting Christianity, consider this: the religious stations are making it financially meaning they have the listeners. This seems to indicate there are many, many more Christians among the thousands of flavors of Christianity, than you think and with all those signals more are joining the ranks. Scary stuff for non-Christians.

But remember K-Love has positive and clean lyrics that can be enjoyed by non-Christians.

 

[TheBigA]

Scary stuff for non-Christians.

I don't find it scary at all. I'm the kind who says live and let live. If they have the money and inclination, then more power to them. I guess the issue to me is they use public airwaves to try to convert people. Which is exactly the point some politicians have about Soros investing in Audacy. They don't want him using the public airwaves to convert voters. But that's exactly what some Christians are doing. If it's wrong for Soros, it should be wrong for Christians, but they don't see it that way. If broadcasting is supposed to be unbiased and reflect all views, then that should be demanded from Christian owners too. But we know that won't happen. It's not the Christians who are scary, but the politicians who support them. The law should be applied equally, and it's not.

 

[b-turner]

Actually I think it is more of an IRS issue and the class of non-profit the minisry is classified. The owner of a station I managed was an IRS expert. One large ministry that he was fighting for a frequency was breaking several 'rules' for the IRS Class of non-profit they were. When he took that to them saying he was turning them over to the IRS they agreed to a gentleman's agreement of bailing out on that frequency and any future frequencies where his name appeared. And he said he'd be watching them for any infraction in the future and report said infractions. He sorta acared them straight.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Those of you blasting Christianity, consider this: the religious stations are making it financially meaning they have the listeners. This seems to indicate there are many, many more Christians among the thousands of flavors of Christianity, than you think and with all those signals more are joining the ranks. Scary stuff for non-Christians.

What about those of us who are Christians and find all this to be overkill?

I am living proof that such people exist.

 

[cc333]

What about those of us who are Christians and find all this to be overkill?

I am living proof that such people exist.

This has been mentioned elsewhere in this increasingly long thread, but it's good to mention it again: these organizations (VCY, EMF, etc.) are greedily hoarding stations so they can flood everyone with their content.

Seems a lot like gluttony, which, last I checked, was one of the Seven Deadly Sins, so, yeah.

Smacks rather loudly of hypocrisy to me.

c

 

[b-turner]

I agree. The issue, as a Christian, has always been Christianity is perfect, it just takes man to screw it up. Everybody has the same gameplan but as men we have to put lines in the sand over little things we should be able to agree to disagree upon. That in hearding a bunch of radio ministries on a station, I had to have this in the rules for your on air program: You agree to not to be critical of any denomination. Where there is a difference, present your best case instead.

 

[ted chittenden]

This has been mentioned elsewhere in this increasingly long thread, but it's good to mention it again: these organizations (VCY, EMF, etc.) are greedily hoarding stations so they can flood everyone with their content.

Seems a lot like gluttony, which, last I checked, was one of the Seven Deadly Sins, so, yeah.

Smacks rather loudly of hypocrisy to me.

c

A minor correction. The "Seven Deadly Sins", including gluttony, are not listed in the Bible. The first time the term was used that I know of (and gluttony is listed here) was in one of the poems in Jeffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." Going by memory, the poem/story that lists these sins is "The Parson's Tale."

 

[b-turner]

cc333 - they are not duplicating signals but trying to get their message to everyone. It is not gluttony or hypocrisy. Neither apply here. The FCC does have an issue with the number of signals covering a certain area owned by a single entity.

If I was to question motives, I can easily say your writings are based on hate or at the very least negativity. Usually in such cases a person has been harmed or traumatized by that they speak so negatively about. So what's your story? I realize there are lots of Christians in name only. In fact I find those tht hve to constantly remind you they are tend to be nothing like those that are.

 

[davideduardo]

A couple of interesting points about K-Love. First, it is one of only two broadcasters on the island of Puerto Rico that includes English talk 24 hours a day. (The other is a three-station conservative talk religious network anchored out of San Juan's WBMJ-AM.)

But there are quite a number of stations that play all or part English language music.

What has happened there is that the population of "continentals" (non-Puerto Rican English dominant or English only) has almost disappeared since the manufacturing Federal tax incentives ended. So there is no market for all-English stations. At one point, we had two MOR and one CHR stations in San Juan all in English. Now there are none.

 

[davideduardo]

Rising from the dead is a sci-fi concept. Virgin birth is a sci-fi concept, Turning water to wine is a sci-fi concept. So are turning a woman into a pillar of salt, parting a sea, receiving slabs of wisdom atop a mountain in the Middle East, finding gold plates with similar wisdom on a hill in western New York, and all the other scriptural events of all the other religions.

Sci-Fi means "Science Fiction". Religious tenets are not "fiction" but articles of faith. Those of us who believe in a religion that includes such an act occurred also believe that such acts are Acts of God and totally factual. They are just not things humans can do.

This is all part of the greater belief that all of "this" did not just appear out of nowhere. That is the greatest miracle of all.

 

[K.M. Richards]

A minor correction. The "Seven Deadly Sins", including gluttony, are not listed in the Bible. The first time the term was used that I know of (and gluttony is listed here) was in one of the poems in Jeffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." Going by memory, the poem/story that lists these sins is "The Parson's Tale."

Sadly, that distinction is lost on many who think avoidance of same is part of the "perfect Christian definition". So long as they do, I feel justified in referring to those in this discussion.

 

[cc333]

cc333 - they are not duplicating signals but trying to get their message to everyone. It is not gluttony or hypocrisy. Neither apply here. The FCC does have an issue with the number of signals covering a certain area owned by a single entity.

If I was to question motives, I can easily say your writings are based on hate or at the very least negativity. Usually in such cases a person has been harmed or traumatized by that they speak so negatively about. So what's your story? I realize there are lots of Christians in name only. In fact I find those tht hve to constantly remind you they are tend to be nothing like those that are.

I can see how I come across that way, but that wasn't my intent.

There's nothing wrong with Christianity, nor have I been particularly harmed by it. I have some good friends who identify as Christian, in fact.

I just don't care much for the attitudes of those relative few who like to preach on the radio and insinuate that I'm somehow a bad person because I don't believe what they believe.

Likewise, I haven't been particularly harmed by these organizations' seemingly relentless thirst for more stations. And one of the major reasons why I don't like it is that it seems like they're crowding out other potential station owners and formats that could serve a wider, non-Christian audience, such as, for example, public radio, which up to now has been protected (or, at the very least, propped up), and thus largely spared from being bought out and subsumed into these extensive religious radio networks.

It's hard enough for the small, independent operators as it is. Why make it worse by cutting their funding and crowding them out by outspending them 10:1?

Which returns us to the main topic at hand: These religious organizations lobbied for the rescission of CPB funds, and now that they got what they wanted, they are now hoping to gobble up now-vulnerable public radio stations and use religion as an excuse for doing it, basically because they can.

c