Religious Broadcasters Want To Prevent Another WNAZ

[DToTheJ]

http://www.wbir.com/national/articl...-unfair?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

The FCC countered the trend by allowing nonprofit stations and putting strict limits on involvement from sponsors, also called underwriters. Those stations can mention sponsors but not specific products or prices, and they can't encourage listeners to shop at certain businesses.

"You can mentioned their slogan, but you can't have any calls to action or any qualitative language," [David] Deese said. "That's where the rule is." He said those rules helped kill Trevecca's WNAZ-FM after 43 years on air. Declining donations and outdated equipment made it impossible to keep going, so the station sold its bandwidth and will end broadcasts in January...

It's not as if it was their fault that the signal was sold to another owner...

 

[jetfli]

The rules killed WNAZ, so another Christian broadcaster is buying it... so they can get killed by the rules too? For martyrdom, maybe? The NAZ issue seems more of an issue related to what independent owners can afford to do vs. what organizations that own multiple stations can afford to do, not a Christian/religious/non-commercial radio issue.

 

[JustinT]

I can see why a business would want to underwrite an NPR station. And along those lines, I can see why a business may have some interest in underwriting a Christian contemporary music station like WAY-FM. But for the Christian talk/teaching stations that operate like ministries, a church-of-the-airwaves if you will, underwriting seems a little odd to me. It would be like going to church and seeing a billboard hanging from the side wall, or a church website having pop-up ads for a completely unrelated business. There's no way Moody's underwriting could be from anything but Christian bookstores.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The NAZ issue seems more of an issue related to what independent owners can afford to do vs. what organizations that own multiple stations can afford to do, not a Christian/religious/non-commercial radio issue.

It will be interesting to see what the Bott organization sets up as a structure to operate NAZ. Since the license is for a "non-commercial educational (NCE) purpose in the eyes of the FCC" I assume there will have to be an organization created to own and operate this station. How much different will be their challenge from what the previous organization faced.

The college is in the "college business" and those depend on endowments and gifts. You can't have a radio station upsetting the supporters. A broadcasting organization does exactly that. The broadcaster does not have to pamper the alumni and the donors so I agree with your basic premise, though I might word it differently. ;D

But for the Christian talk/teaching stations that operate like ministries, a church-of-the-airwaves if you will, underwriting seems a little odd to me. It would be like going to church and seeing a billboard hanging from the side wall, or a church website having pop-up ads for a completely unrelated business. There's no way Moody's underwriting could be from anything but Christian bookstores.

Preach and Teach radio has been supported in recent years by those who are comfortable with church as it was in 1911 and 1811. We could say CCM radio is supported by those who are comfortable with where part of the church is in 2011.

We have a lot of small churches.... less than 200 members... made up primarily of people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. These churches are struggling to keep their doors open and their roof sealed up. What happens to Preach and Teach Radio when these churches and their current dominant members are gone?

Billboards on the church wall? Amusing, but close to reality: Maybe you don't remember those hand-held church fans with advertising on the back side.

 

[deltas69]

Maybe you don't remember those hand-held church fans with advertising on the back side. I remember them...and always wondered.."why are they advertising funeral homes??? :

 

[jetfli]

[It will be interesting to see what the Bott organization sets up as a structure to operate NAZ. Since the license is for a "non-commercial educational (NCE) purpose in the eyes of the FCC" I assume there will have to be an organization created to own and operate this station. How much different will be their challenge from what the previous organization faced.

Bott has both commercial and non-commercial divisions. Local employees can report to either division. The cleanest way to do things would be to change everything locally to be part of the non-commercial division. But they do have other markets where they own both a non-commercial FM and a commercial AM.