Move over Evangelical Protestants ?

[Dighton Rockhead]

This week's Scott Fybush online newsletter "Northeast Radio Watch" is reporting a station sale in the Boston market, of 1060-WBIX from Alex Langer to a Catholic broadcaster, Holy Family Communications, based in upstate New York.

http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2010/100712/nerw.html

Given the huge majority of Roman Catholics in Rhode Island, and Bristol County Mass, isn't it just a matter of time before a Catholic broadcaster finds a property here to buy?

If I remember correctly, a great deal of Catholic programming was quickly dumped when the former 1220-WRIB changed hands some years ago.

 

[VelvetR]

It will be interesting to see what format the new Catholic stations present.

Most are "all religion, all the time" featuring programming of the sort produced by Mother Angelica, heavy on doctrine. But there are exceptions.

KBVM is Portland, Oregon was one with a more broad format but in recent years has become far more conservative.

KNOM in Nome, Alaska, was the first U.S. Catholic station. The format started out as mostly music, an odd mixture of country and easy which catered to local tastes. Totally non-commercial, the station sounded commercial with 10-30 second PSAs, most locally produced, focused on local needs. At the time that included basic sanitation and helping people transition from a barter economy to a cash-based one. Heavy on news - mostly local, as in 1971 it was not possible to get any network service and what was available from AP was pretty limited.

There was some religious programming but it was not exclusively Catholic - so long as the message was positive it was aired.

These days the music has shifted toward the current hits though they are watched carefully for content. There's a little more religion, particularly at night, but the PSA content remains and is tailored constantly to deal with current issues.

Would this work in metro areas? Somehow I don't think so. I believe the new stations will be docrtinaire, preaching to the choir, so to speak. But it'd be fun to see someone try the KNOM approach!

(KNOM.org)

 

[Skynet74]

Every person who I ever met that listens to religious radio always feels a need to preach to me. People who listen to other formats have never done that to me. Not once have I ever been preached to about Michael Savage or Dan Yorke. But lookout. Once you run into a religious radio fan, it's almost guaranteed that they will stand on the corner (or) in a store (or) in a parking lot, wherever they can catch you making eye contact with them. The next 20 minutes of your life will be spent listening to them as they give you your own private sermon. It's not easy to walk away from these people either. They are so nice to you that you end up feeling guilty leaving. They always have either a WARV Bumper sticker on their car, or they will make it a point to tell you that they listen to the station. I'm not making this up. It has happened to me more times than I can count.

 

[N1WVQ]

Every person who I ever met that listens to religious radio always feels a need to preach to me. People who listen to other formats have never done that to me. Not once have I ever been preached to about Michael Savage or Dan Yorke. But lookout. Once you run into a religious radio fan, it's almost guaranteed that they will stand on the corner (or) in a store (or) in a parking lot, wherever they can catch you making eye contact with them. The next 20 minutes of your life will be spent listening to them as they give you your own private sermon. It's not easy to walk away from these people either. They are so nice to you that you end up feeling guilty leaving. They always have either a WARV Bumper sticker on their car, or they will make it a point to tell you that they listen to the station. I'm not making this up. It has happened to me more times than I can count.

At least it's not Shine 1220 or K-Love. Blecch!