AM Radio -Worldwide

[stephensmith]

Speaking of religion ... I am not religious myself, and quickly dial away when I hear the typical on-air preacher, but I always kind of liked "Unshackled."

I had a Jewish friend who disliked "Unshackled" because sometimes he would hear it and start getting into the story, only to realize midway it as "a Jesus play" as he called it.

I'll often listen to "Unshackled" all the way through, though. I even have the podcast version subscribed to in my podcast app.

 

[DXingRadio]

I hadn't thought of KAAY in a long time (clear channel out of Little Rock, right?). I remember it from the late '60s. I could pick it up late at night, and it was then ahead of the curve in playing long-form rock and "weird" songs that my local top-40 station stayed away from. Did it get religion at some point?

According to Wikipedia its been religion since 1985, and even before that was airing some late night religious programming.

 

[stephensmith]

This is the kind of thing I would hear ONLY on KAAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cq-A8BouRg

 

[JRH]

I hadn't thought of KAAY in a long time (clear channel out of Little Rock, right?). I remember it from the late '60s. I could pick it up late at night, and it was then ahead of the curve in playing long-form rock and "weird" songs that my local top-40 station stayed away from. Did it get religion at some point?

The long-form rock was the late night/overnight show "Beaker Street." During the daytime, it was mainstream Top 40. Between the two, from about 7-10pm, KAAY had a block of paid religion throughout the 60s and 70s.

 

[kevtronics]

There is a lot of current bad apples in that field still with Peter Popoff and Joel Osteen being some of the most noteworthy. Also T.D Jakes is a pretty corrupt pastor out to make money off of his useless "self improvement scam books".

Don't forget televangelist Jim Bakker, who went to prison for five years for accounting fraud. But it's all OK because he asked Christ for forgiveness, and he now once again runs a ministry and is one of the most popular evangelists on TV.

 

[davideduardo]

Don't forget televangelist Jim Bakker, who went to prison for five years for accounting fraud. But it's all OK because he asked Christ for forgiveness, and he now once again runs a ministry and is one of the most popular evangelists on TV.

While not excusing improper, unethical or illegal acts in any field, I do want to point out that in any field of endeavor there will always be those who misbehave. Lawyers, accountants, doctors, phatmavists, builders, electricians, truckers, DJs and people from any given field may occasionally do wrong. And wrongdoing is not exclusive to any one field.

 

[anotherguyTN]

The long-form rock was the late night/overnight show "Beaker Street." During the daytime, it was mainstream Top 40. Between the two, from about 7-10pm, KAAY had a block of paid religion throughout the 60s and 70s.

So they were dollar a holler at least during some parts of the day even then. I think WLAC in Nashville was like that until they went all news/talk.

I'm really surprised that considering Cumulus owns KAAY that they're staying with this format. I think they're doing more Southern gospel during the day, but I can't believe that the format is that much of a money maker compared to news or sports talk, and the fact that they're definitely in it for the money and not to be a ministry.

 

[JRH]

So they were dollar a holler at least during some parts of the day even then. I think WLAC in Nashville was like that until they went all news/talk.

I'm really surprised that considering Cumulus owns KAAY that they're staying with this format. I think they're doing more Southern gospel during the day, but I can't believe that the format is that much of a money maker compared to news or sports talk, and the fact that they're definitely in it for the money and not to be a ministry.

Not really dollar a holler, some stations made pretty good money selling time to religious programs back then.

There's really not much Cumulus could do with KAAY. Little Rock already has well-established talk and sports stations on FM. Cumulus owns the FM talk station. Cumulus also has an AM sports station in Little Rock, which is usually a no-show in the ratings, as is KAAY.

The only AM that showed in the most recent ratings was Salem's urban gospel KZTS (with a 0.6) and it's simulcast on an FM translator. AM is pretty much a lost cause in Little Rock.

 

[Wimmmex]

Don't forget televangelist Jim Bakker, who went to prison for five years for accounting fraud.

For overselling a hotel.

he asked Christ for forgiveness

Forgiveness and redemption are universal Christian values.

and he now once again runs a ministry

I don't think he runs anything. He appears on a program produced and run by others.

and is one of the most popular evangelists on TV.

Ummm...not by a longshot.

 

[Syfy]

Don't forget televangelist Jim Bakker, who went to prison for five years for accounting fraud. But it's all OK because he asked Christ for forgiveness, and he now once again runs a ministry and is one of the most popular evangelists on TV.

Right people even said like sylvia browne was corrupt even though she helped many people through her appearances on Montel and books. That is whole other subject though about corrupt mediums/psychics.

 

[gr8oldies]

Interesting old time readio production. I find myself feeling sorry for the "sinner" spouse after their spouse converts to fundamentalism and is in church 7 nights a week. Of course, at the end of the show everyone converts to fundamentalism.

Speaking of religion ... I am not religious myself, and quickly dial away when I hear the typical on-air preacher, but I always kind of liked "Unshackled."

I had a Jewish friend who disliked "Unshackled" because sometimes he would hear it and start getting into the story, only to realize midway it as "a Jesus play" as he called it.

I'll often listen to "Unshackled" all the way through, though. I even have the podcast version subscribed to in my podcast app.

 

[b-turner]

Not sure fundamentalism is used correctly from the time I spent working at a Christian station. Fundamentalism is a very specific interpretation with no variance in interpretation. I found most of the denominations I dealt with preferred a looser line of thinking that allowed for individual interpretation. I knew one guy that went to a church that told him if he went in mixed company to see a movie in a movie theatre, they were going to hell because the opposite sex shouldn't be in a dark room together. That guy figured one of the founders of that denomination had a hard time keeping it in his pants. I'd call such a rule very fundamentalist. Another guy I knew went to a Church of Christ (all Church of Christ are different by the way, fully independent without organization formally) that didn't believe in celebrating Christmas or Easter because the Bible didn't specifically say to. A Church of Christ preacher I knew said their congregation celebrated Christmas and Easter. He pondered if that preacher that said you can't celebrate Christmas & Easter since the Bible doesn't say to, drives a car, saying he find nothing saying you can drive a motorized vehicle in the Bible. Just a few things I recall from working at a Christian station a few years and dealing with so many flavors of Christianity.

 

[davideduardo]

Not sure fundamentalism is used correctly from the time I spent working at a Christian station. Fundamentalism is a very specific interpretation with no variance in interpretation.

good point. I think that "fundamentalism" is being confused here with "evangelical". There are a wide range of evangelical churches and preachers, with a wide interpretation of the literalism of the Bible.

 

[gr8oldies]

I'm not sure if I ever worked at a small town radio station that sold religious time on Sundays that didn't have a Church of Christ preacher. I remember having to fill out the half hour with an acapella album. They buy that time to preach about themselves being the one true church and all of the other churches are wrong.

Not sure fundamentalism is used correctly from the time I spent working at a Christian station. Fundamentalism is a very specific interpretation with no variance in interpretation. I found most of the denominations I dealt with preferred a looser line of thinking that allowed for individual interpretation. I knew one guy that went to a church that told him if he went in mixed company to see a movie in a movie theatre, they were going to hell because the opposite sex shouldn't be in a dark room together. That guy figured one of the founders of that denomination had a hard time keeping it in his pants. I'd call such a rule very fundamentalist. Another guy I knew went to a Church of Christ (all Church of Christ are different by the way, fully independent without organization formally) that didn't believe in celebrating Christmas or Easter because the Bible didn't specifically say to. A Church of Christ preacher I knew said their congregation celebrated Christmas and Easter. He pondered if that preacher that said you can't celebrate Christmas & Easter since the Bible doesn't say to, drives a car, saying he find nothing saying you can drive a motorized vehicle in the Bible. Just a few things I recall from working at a Christian station a few years and dealing with so many flavors of Christianity.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm not sure if I ever worked at a small town radio station that sold religious time on Sundays that didn't have a Church of Christ preacher. I remember having to fill out the half hour with an acapella album. They buy that time to preach about themselves being the one true church and all of the other churches are wrong.

And those who have been in radio a long time will remember how the United Church of Christ published guides on how to file against the renewal of radio stations. Essentially, the idea was to spot stations that did a fair to poor job at fulfilling their news, PA and Other requirements and then oppose the renewal.

That movement cost many stations a lot of money in legal fees and distracted management from improving the stations subjected to that harassment. In many, if not most, of the cases the only sin of the filed-against stations was being a lower billing station that could not afford to do many of the things the filing thought they should be doing.

The Church of Christ was even more aggressive with TV stations. An example:

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/465/519/290119/

Recently they have opposed the Sinclair purchases or mergers, among other TV related issues. A Google search on "Church of Christ" FCC license renewal will bring up a bunch of them.

 

[gr8oldies]

I do remember that. UCC and "The Church of Christ" are way different entities. UCC is one of the most liberal "progressive" denominations in Christendom, The CoC is a loose federation of church bodies that broke away from UCC/Disciples but claim to be the only authentic Christianity handed down by the original apostles.

And those who have been in radio a long time will remember how the United Church of Christ published guides on how to file against the renewal of radio stations. Essentially, the idea was to spot stations that did a fair to poor job at fulfilling their news, PA and Other requirements and then oppose the renewal.

That movement cost many stations a lot of money in legal fees and distracted management from improving the stations subjected to that harassment. In many, if not most, of the cases the only sin of the filed-against stations was being a lower billing station that could not afford to do many of the things the filing thought they should be doing.

The Church of Christ was even more aggressive with TV stations. An example:

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/465/519/290119/

Recently they have opposed the Sinclair purchases or mergers, among other TV related issues. A Google search on "Church of Christ" FCC license renewal will bring up a bunch of them.