Sunday religious advertising on non-religious stations

[virgilstreetnc]

How are you approaching local churches, or churches in your county for Sunday morning broadcasts? Any examples of a programming sales plan targeting the religious broadcasting on non-christian stations?

 

[mleach]

The last station I worked at was a 1000 watt AM sports/talk station however between 6am and Noon on Sundays, its religious. From what I have been told there is actually a waiting list among the churches to get on the air there. Its also automated though for years we actually had a board-op for that. The reason to go automated wasn't so much as to save money but rather politics. One church I was told wanted to have their people come in to run the board ( I guess there were concerned about the moral standards of our board-op ), however our engineer was NOT happy about the idea and raised hell about it ( sorry for the bad pun ), so to keep the piece we went automated. Now for the advertising, for years only bonus spots aired and the weather. No promos, no ads for "adult" businesses, no beer ads and no political ads. However when the religious shows went automated, only the shows aired with the legal ID in between. Thats it.

The other two AM stations I worked at ( one news/talk and the other oldies ), they too had religious shows on the Sunday morning line-up but neither do now. Again politics played a role there too. The oldies station ( now standards ), dropped one show becuase the host didn't pay their bill and another show was dropped because that host rather spend the entire hour talking about President Clinton, movie stars, Disney and so forth than talk about the Bible. One listener I remember called us up and told us if she wanted to hear that crap she would watch Entertainment Tonight. I agree, religious shows should spend more time talking about Jesus and less than the Backstreet Boys. Our PD had enough and once the contracts ran out they stuck with the oldies.

The news/talk station dropped religious shows, as I recall for two reasons. One of our long time clients was a family steak house. I believe they were actually the first sponsor the station had way back in 1962. Well in 1995 the owner retired and sold the business to two lesbians. Their ads continued to air on Sunday mornings ( why not ? The ads were for their steak house, nothing to do with their private life ) and one of the churches as I recall made a stink about their ads being aired before their program because of their lifestyle.

Then around the same time two seperate preachers who did seperate shows I remember got into a rather nasty tiff about one having 3 more minutes of airtime than the other. As with the oldies station, the n/t PD he had enough and they too cancelled the religious shows.

Neither the oldies station nor the news/talk, aired any commericals on Sunday mornings until the last show ended.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The first thing that SHOULD happen is that you assess the "religion climate" of your community. Do some of the local churches tend to be combative with each other? If so, you can expect them to produce broadcasts that are combative. Are there some CHURCHES that would offend your commercial sponsors. Would any businesses choose to not advertise on your station because they disapprove of one of your religious broadcasts? (I'm thinking of 'Brother Stair' based in South Carolina who buys time around the region on various stations.)

If you are not comfortable evaluating churches and programs, look for someone who can help you.

Before you start your sales effort: come up with a written policy. You want to avoid the kind of rivalry the previous post talked about when one pastor felt the other pastor was poaching his time. Make it clear how much broadcast time they get. A half-hour broadcast CANNOT get a full 30 minutes if you are going to do a station break and run commercials at the break. (Broadcasting 101) Most pastors have not taken Broadcast 101 and don't understand this concept. Policy should make it clear what days and time are available for broadcasts. (Are you willing to have a daily 15-minute program by a preacher at say 9:30 in the morning? That's an old Southern tradition in rural areas.)

Do you have a place, a studio for a live broadcast? Do you have a place where one live broadcast can happen, the station break happen, and the second broadcaster be in place to start his (her?) live broadcast? Requiring pre-recorded programs solves a lot of problems for the station but some churches will resist this policy. (They will give you a song and dance that The Holy Spirit cannot work if the broadcast is not live. You have to be tough enough and secure enough in talking this subject to smile and point out that they must serve a very small and weak God if he can't lead them in a recording session.)

In writing: have a payment policy. Does everyone pay cash in advance? Under what terms can monthly billing be offered.

In writing: describe technical quality. If a church is going to pre-record, who provides the recording equipment? Spell out what the quality of the equipment must be. You might gather up some recordings of church broadcasts and create a sampler CD: This is the type of sound we will accept. Here is the type of sound we will reject and cancel. (This may be distortion and technical issues, this may be content: I personally have no problem rejecting a church with a pastor that sounds like cross between a tobacco auctioneer and a dog on a coon hunt.)

When you take over the station, see if there are any existing broadcasts that you inherit and visit with them personally and spell out the policies you will enforce.

Yes, send letters to all churches inviting them to consider having a broadcast and inviting them to contact you.

Run announcements on the air announcing that time is available for church broadcasts. A few during the week in good. Announcements on Sunday morning when people will be driving to church are good. Small rural churches often broadcast because a church member likes the idea and agrees to pay for the broadcast outside his budget contributions to the church or in addition to regular offerings. It isn't always the PREACHER who is the mover-and-shaker for establishing a broadcast.

Send follow up letters to all churches every couple of months until you have sold the slots you plan to sell.

Lest anybody get the idea I sound harsh toward churches in my suggestions.... I'm a life-long active church person and I ran a religious station at one time. I've lived through the collection problems, I've lived through the feuds over adjacent broadcasts bickering on the air, etc. Write this down in that little book you keep your schedule and your passwords in: "Not all preachers are nice guys under all circumstances at all times."

 

[mleach]

The first thing that SHOULD happen is that you assess the "religion climate" of your community. Do some of the local churches tend to be combative with each other? If so, you can expect them to produce broadcasts that are combative. Are there some CHURCHES that would offend your commercial sponsors. Would any businesses choose to not advertise on your station because they disapprove of one of your religious broadcasts? (I'm thinking of 'Brother Stair' based in South Carolina who buys time around the region on various stations.)

If you are not comfortable evaluating churches and programs, look for someone who can help you.

Which brings this up. Should a station edit/censor the content on a religious show? The last station I worked at, in the same county was a rather large church. Last I heard they had a membership of nearly 3000. Very big church !! Even though I never attended any of their services, I know many who have. From what I was told the Pastor of the church sometimes uses words like "******" and "queer" during his services. If this man bought time on your station, would you allow the use of those words on your radio station? What if he calls someone in your community a "queer" on the air? Then that becomes a legal issue. Who gets sued? You or the church who paid for the time or both?

Then you have some of those so-called "young people churches" that do the My Space/ You Tube thing. Some of them preach that having sex outside of marriage is not a sin as long as its not gay sex. Should a station censor a message like that from a paid broadcast?

Should a church have a say on who board-ops their show? Should the board-op even meet with the church? Years ago we had a Sunday morning board-op who was HIV positive. Believe it or not there was a debate about whether or not he should be allowed to run the religious shows because of HIV. I think we even had one paid broadcaster who decided to take his business elsewhere as a result.

Anyway its all of thsee situations why so many commerical stations over the years have gotten away from religious broadcasts. Yes they do bring money in, but quite often you get a dose of drama with it too.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Which brings this up. Should a station edit/censor the content on a religious show?

Back in the 1950 - 1970 era I think a number of pastors and churches got a little lesson or two in "sensitivity training". Some of our evangelical friends had been pretty plain spoken in their worship services. I remember when preachers in the south regularly told [pardon me if this if offensive, I don't mean for it to be.] stories that began: "Then there is the story of this colored man....." and many would try and imitate the vocal characteristics of negro people in their community. And during the Civil Rights Era some churches were pretty plain spoken on their stand on segregation. This had gone on for years in what seemed to be "the privacy" of a worship service. When the new radio station came to town and they began broadcasting, there were some real "Uh-oh" moments while congregations came to terms with the fact that worship is not a closed private meeting after all.

I think if you will tune through the cable channels that carry national ministries today you will find some ministries are quite plain spoken on sexuality issues. A large, large national TV ministry may have attorneys review broadcasts. These people do their own taping and have full editing control before they turn them over to cable or broadcast outlets.

I am not a lawyer and I did not sleep at Holiday Inn Express last night. Any station faced with church groups pushing you up against the wall need legal counsel to work with you on this.

In small towns and even some mid size cities, public reaction is something to be more concerned about than legal issues. If your small community has some pretty 'conservative' views on all the topics you mentioned in your question, I would be worried about a boycott by advertisers more than I would worry about lawsuits and FCC issues.

The advice thrown around is that small town broadcasters really need to get out and know your community. That means get to know your ministers also. If you reach out to them when you come to town, they may pick up the phone to call you about something that is irritating them or their members. Ignore them and nasty letters to the editor and boycotts may be your first notice that you have violated some local value.

There is probably a lot less of that stuff today than there was in previous years.

Who runs the board? If it is my station I am NOT going to have the church provide an operator at the station. If to improve the quality of the broadcast they want a person at the church riding gain, more power to them. For a highly automated station here is the big decision: The automation could open up a line from the church with no board operator on your end. I would have to have a very, very warm a fuzzy relationship with that particular church before I would do that. If you have wall-to-wall church broadcasts on a Sunday, live and taped... I think you are going to have a board operator. Scares the bejabbers out of me thinking that some youngster maybe still in high school and making $7 or $8 per hour is going to be sitting their making "lawyer type decisions" if you are carrying controversial groups.

Most churches are not controversial and not out on some kind of edge. Most churches are not interested in broadcasting.

When you make a list of churches that want to broadcast, the percentage who might be on the edge of "proper" broadcasting style will go up quite a bit.

Sorry to be so long. You asked what time it is, so I told you how to make a watch.

My expertise is limited but if anyone has specific questions send me a Personal Message through Radio-Info and maybe I can guide you to the needed source for an answer.

 

[radioboy]

As a former station operations manager, here are a few thoughts as well.

As far as the board operator question...that's not their decision. Our station had a total of three employees.
All of us were able to work any shift, any day. We had no automation. (Thank goodness it was a daytimer in this case.) One of the three of us would be on duty on Sundays during the paid preaching programs. The
programmers didn't have to even go into this territory. Even when there was a preacher live in the studio, one of our employees was the board op. Period. Never had any problems there.

As for the content...on the program contract there was a disclaimer that basically gave the station the right to cancel any program for any number of reasons including objectionable program content. We also
reviewed any programs that we were not familiar with, before any contracts were signed. I may have one of
those blank contracts floating around if you want the exact wording. Never had to cancel a single preacher
for that reason. (Non-payers, on the other hand...) The disclaimer keeps the station in control, rather than the other way around. If they know they can be yanked for inappropriate content, it's amazing how quickly
their taped shows can be cleaned up and edited.

Also when establishing a new paying customer, make sure that they are paying in advance. This worked wonders for us. For companies we knew and had a relationship with that we KNEW would pay, we didn't make this requirement. For the others, yes. Don't put them on the air until you have the money.

I think the key is relationships. If both the station and the programmer can trust each other, it's a win-win.

A different station in our market, a rock FM station, had a locally hosted Southern Gospel music show on Sunday mornings for many, many years. Being that the host had been a DJ, and a policeman, I think he may have gotten to run the board himself. Seems like a strange combination, but it must have worked to last
over 20 years!

Good luck to you.

 

[bk77]

As for the content...on the program contract there was a disclaimer that basically gave the station the right to cancel any program for any number of reasons including objectionable program content. We also
reviewed any programs that we were not familiar with, before any contracts were signed. I may have one of
those blank contracts floating around if you want the exact wording. Never had to cancel a single preacher
for that reason. (Non-payers, on the other hand...) The disclaimer keeps the station in control, rather than the other way around. If they know they can be yanked for inappropriate content, it's amazing how quickly
their taped shows can be cleaned up and edited.

For over ten years I was in charge of the religious broadcasts that aired on my station. Never had to cancel anyone either, and I guess we were lucky as to my knowledge we never had one who didn't pay their bill either.

Now for content, once the contracts were signed I had to listen to each broadcast. Mainly more for quality than anything else. The one rule we had was that the churches need to bring in at least three weeks worth of shows at one time. So with that being said most of our preachers came in once maybe twice a month. Why? Sundays were automated. It worked for us. Since the preachers ( some of whom didn't even live within our coverage area ) had proof that their shows aired, but we had a high turnover rate for board-ops too. That took care of that situation.

Now for the content of the message itself, never had a problem either. BUT...that could be an issue down the road for some. One of my co-workers is a 24 year old woman. She lives with her 23 year old boyfriend and they have 3 kids together. Not only do they go to church but she worked for a group that was one of those behind our state banning gay marriage. She has no problem pointing out in the Bible how homosexuality and abortion is wrong but bring up her lifestyle she will tell you that according to her church, there isn't a thing wrong with it ( sex with her boyfriend, having kids out of wedlock ). Her church says that is ok. She was saying that her church even says there nothing wrong when one lies and does not tell the truth. Mmmmm..I was always told that is a sin. False witness ??

I have to admit if her "church" was planning to buy time on my station, even with cash in hand I would turn them down.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Now for the content of the message itself, never had a problem either. BUT...that could be an issue down the road for some. One of my co-workers is a 24 year old woman. She lives with her 23 year old boyfriend and they have 3 kids together. Not only do they go to church but she worked for a group that was one of those behind our state banning gay marriage. She has no problem pointing out in the Bible how homosexuality and abortion is wrong but bring up her lifestyle she will tell you that according to her church, there isn't a thing wrong with it ( sex with her boyfriend, having kids out of wedlock ). Her church says that is ok. She was saying that her church even says there nothing wrong when one lies and does not tell the truth. Mmmmm..I was always told that is a sin. False witness ??

I have to admit if her "church" was planning to buy time on my station, even with cash in hand I would turn them down.

Are you sure "that is the hill you want to die on?" You know one person who has a lifestyle that you think is not correct? Is that the basis for making a decision on who gets air time and who doesn't?

Would you ask the church to define their view of marriage and co-habitation? Would you ask the church whether their broadcast would contain material on that subject? Do you know for a fact the church actually condones the practice of your coworker or does she simply make that claim on her own?

I see a slippery slope here. Does your station have now, or do you plan soon to publish a written "Statement of Acceptable Theological Practices" ?

I must confess that much of my concern in accepting or rejecting new religious broadcasts would focus on their "sound". Would the "sound" repel listeners or draw listeners? Now, is that a fair test? If someone contested a license renewal based on the idea that I had failed to serve the community through a form of censorship, would I be hurting?

Which would you rather have your lawyer defending: I turned them down because they sang off-key. I turned them down because they said words during a baptism that were bad theology. I turned them down because I disagreed with the marital status of one of their members.

Mother said there would be days like this. :

 

[bk77]

Are you sure "that is the hill you want to die on?" You know one person who has a lifestyle that you think is not correct? Is that the basis for making a decision on who gets air time and who doesn't?

Would you ask the church to define their view of marriage and co-habitation? Would you ask the church whether their broadcast would contain material on that subject? Do you know for a fact the church actually condones the practice of your coworker or does she simply make that claim on her own?

I see a slippery slope here. Does your station have now, or do you plan soon to publish a written "Statement of Acceptable Theological Practices" ?

Yes I would ask the church in question what their views on marriage/living together/ hetrosexual sex outside marriage if they would come into my station and asked if we could put them on the air. If they say something like "..well hetrosexual sex outside of marriage is OK with God", I would have to ask them to show me in the Bible where exactly does it say that. Plus I would make time to attend one of their services too. Maybe my co-worker "thinks" her church has no problem with her lifestyle, its one of those things of course that can't be answered by a third party. One reason for doing all of that is that I have to consider the other religious programs we do air. How would they feel if we would to air a show that pretty much goes against everything they have preached about for years? They may be offended enough to take their business elsewhere and just as bad, they may get the idea by putting a show that is "far out there", that we ( the radio station ) may approve of that lifestyle. Hey, I have no problem of any church trying to get younger people to attend and to listen to their broadcast, but re-writing the Bible ( if that is what their goal is ) just to satisfy them is not the answer.

For years we aired 6 different kinds of religious shows, some of whom had been with us longer than I have been alive. Never had a problem with any of them as far as content goes also we never had any complaints from listeners either. No they don't know a lot about Broadcasting 101 but they pretty much know common sense. They use their time to preach the Gospel and while they do speak out against current hot topics ( homosexuality, living together, abortion and so forth ) they also know that there is a line that if they would cross could lead to trouble down the road, maybe/maybe not with us but perhaps with the community too. I remember reading several years ago about some local preacher who was taken off the air at one small radio station because he felt he should read the names of those in community who have HIV and AIDS because "they are going to hell". There are some things one can't do on the air and that is one of them. But those kind of stories are very few and far between.

Your are 100% right that "Most churches are not controversial and not out on some kind of edge" and this applies to about 98% of all chruches, but its that 2% that needs to be watched. With that being said, no plans on having an Statement of Acceptable Theological Practices" anytime soon. But if some church or anyone who wants to buy time on Sundays, if any of them do approach us that seems to be "way out there", like saying its ok to do drugs ( I was at a church once in Colorado who believed that ) then I have to look at the whole picture. The community, the listeners and the others who buy time to make a final decision if they were to actually get on the air or not.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

With that being said, no plans on having an Statement of Acceptable Theological Practices" anytime soon. But if some church or anyone who wants to buy time on Sundays, if any of them do approach us that seems to be "way out there", like saying its ok to do drugs ( I was at a church once in Colorado who believed that ) then I have to look at the whole picture. The community, the listeners and the others who buy time to make a final decision if they were to actually get on the air or not.

I think you have summed up what may well be the thinking of many broadcasters: "I judge the community, the listeners and the others who buy time. From that I make my decisions." (my paraphrase, not an exact quote of what you said.)

Let's change the focus away from the sexuality issues a bit and see if any of these scenarios begin to indicate that at some point we may have to reduce our policies to writing:

A great number of churches teach that baptism is for those old enough to make their own religious choice and it should be by immersion. How would you respond to a existing customer (church) who complained that your newest broadcast was by a church that baptised babies by sprinkling?

A great number of churches have strong feelings that clothing is clearly gender specific. How would you respond to an existing customer (church) or simply a listener complained that your newest broadcast was by a church where women wore slacks in place of skirts?

Would you insert your self into conversation with one of your broadcasters who chose to announce that the congregation was participating in the boycott of a local fast-food restaurant as part of the effort to get tomato growers to raise the pay of the harvest laborers in Florida?

You probably have broadcast sponsors and listeners who strongly feel that a church to ORDAIN only men for the ministry? Would you sell time to a church group led by a female minister/preacher?

If you were to get hauled into court by a church you refused to sell to, or found yourself receiving letters from the FCC to explain how you made a decision in one of these areas, do you have a system of logic as to why you found some of these issues important and some of these to not be issues?

I don't propose that we attempt to have debate on any of these issues. The board editors would likely move us to the "Take It Outside" discussion area. I am interested in the logic by which you decide when you have an issue which would result in a decision not to broadcast, and when you decide there is no issue at hand.

 

[bk77]

I think you have summed up what may well be the thinking of many broadcasters: "I judge the community, the listeners and the others who buy time. From that I make my decisions." (my paraphrase, not an exact quote of what you said.)

Let's change the focus away from the sexuality issues a bit and see if any of these scenarios begin to indicate that at some point we may have to reduce our policies to writing:

A great number of churches teach that baptism is for those old enough to make their own religious choice and it should be by immersion. How would you respond to a existing customer (church) who complained that your newest broadcast was by a church that baptised babies by sprinkling?

A great number of churches have strong feelings that clothing is clearly gender specific. How would you respond to an existing customer (church) or simply a listener complained that your newest broadcast was by a church where women wore slacks in place of skirts?

Would you insert your self into conversation with one of your broadcasters who chose to announce that the congregation was participating in the boycott of a local fast-food restaurant as part of the effort to get tomato growers to raise the pay of the harvest laborers in Florida?

You probably have broadcast sponsors and listeners who strongly feel that a church to ORDAIN only men for the ministry? Would you sell time to a church group led by a female minister/preacher?

If you were to get hauled into court by a church you refused to sell to, or found yourself receiving letters from the FCC to explain how you made a decision in one of these areas, do you have a system of logic as to why you found some of these issues important and some of these to not be issues?

I don't propose that we attempt to have debate on any of these issues. The board editors would likely move us to the "Take It Outside" discussion area. I am interested in the logic by which you decide when you have an issue which would result in a decision not to broadcast, and when you decide there is no issue at hand.

I would have no problem selling airtime to anyone or anybody. After all each religion is different. The Catholics are different say from the Mormons who are different from the Baptist and the list goes on. All of them have the right to spread their word anyway they want and anywhere they want too. Freedom of religion.

Now the part about being taking to court because one says no air time. Does a station have the right to say no to a business who wishes to advertise their goods and services with them? You bet they do and it is being done. In the Hagerstown, MD market WLTF-FM a light AC station will NOT sell airtime to beer companies or those so-called strip bars. And unless they have changed to their policy recently, I have been told that WIKZ-FM Mix 95.1 will not sell time to adult book stores. If stations are not allowed to say no, does this mean that Coors Beer could sue WLTF for not allowing their ads to run there reguarless if its during their religious shows on Sundays or during Delilah at night?

Now for religious shows, if a station doesn't have the power to say no to a broadcast, that is scary. What is stopping some group of people who worships satan from getting a show on the air someplace? After all they consider their practice
a "religion" and the place where their worship " a church" just that they worship Satan and not Jesus. A radio/TV station should have the right to say NO to such a broadcast.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Lutheran Synod denied the Klan the right to air a program on their station in St Louis and lost the license. Klan pushed the issue with a lawyer and at the FCC.

They could have just charged a higher price?

 

[davideduardo]

Lutheran Synod denied the Klan the right to air a program on their station in St Louis and lost the license. Klan pushed the issue with a lawyer and at the FCC.

KFUO on both AM and FM continues to operate, owned ty the Synod. The AM is the nation's longest continuously operating religious station, dating to 1924.

The FCC issues the station had were related to a filing by the NAACP in regards to the station EEOC efforts. There is nothing even in the FCC database about klukkers and KFUO.

 

[mleach]

Lutheran Synod denied the Klan the right to air a program on their station in St Louis and lost the license. Klan pushed the issue with a lawyer and at the FCC.

KFUO on both AM and FM continues to operate, owned ty the Synod. The AM is the nation's longest continuously operating religious station, dating to 1924.

The FCC issues the station had were related to a filing by the NAACP in regards to the station EEOC efforts. There is nothing even in the FCC database about klukkers and KFUO.

Since they are considered a "hate" group I would be very surprised if the KKK could do anything to force a station ( radio or TV ) to air a program by them.

On a similar note is the infamous Westboro Baptist Church ( Fred & Shirley Phelps ). A few years back the governement declaired that church a "hate" group thanks to their pickets and other rather odd behavior. Of course they get their airtime on many Tv stations whenever they do show up to conduct their "religious service" or they call their pickets. However there are many stations who don't give them airtime. When the Phelps picketed the funeral of children's TV legend Fred Rogers I remember hearing that the four main Pittsburgh stations ( KDKA, WTAE, WPXI and WPGH ) all had made a promise to each other NOT to even as much say they were even there. Since I don't live in Pittsburgh I can't say if those stations followed through with their promise or not.

I do know of a few radio stations who tried in the past to interview Fred & Shirley only to not air the interview mainly because Fred Phelps often used the "F" word when they tried to interview him. Hey if a jock can't say it..well neither can Fred Phelps.

Front Royal, Virginia's WFQX-FM in 1994 turned away Exodist International ( the anti-gay group ) from buying time on their station. I don't remember if Exodist was planning on buying a whole half hour for a show just simply they wanted the station to run their spots. Anyway Exodist never did try to force WFQX to air anything by them. One factor in WFQX's favor was that even though the group has close ties to many churches, Exodist is not a church per-say but rather a for-profit business as in one must pay Exodist if they want the group to help them go from gay to straight. Also the fact that Exodist was planning on using WFQX's airwaves to out another radio announcer who they heard a rumor could be gay ( on a competing station no-less ) in an attempt to try to "change " him to straight. That didn't work in Exodist's favor either.

 

[Harry_Balsagna]

Lutheran Synod denied the Klan the right to air a program on their station in St Louis and lost the license. Klan pushed the issue with a lawyer and at the FCC.

KFUO on both AM and FM continues to operate, owned ty the Synod. The AM is the nation's longest continuously operating religious station, dating to 1924.

The FCC issues the station had were related to a filing by the NAACP in regards to the station EEOC efforts. There is nothing even in the FCC database about klukkers and KFUO.

Since they are considered a "hate" group I would be very surprised if the KKK could do anything to force a station ( radio or TV ) to air a program by them.

On a similar note is the infamous Westboro Baptist Church ( Fred & Shirley Phelps ). A few years back the governement declaired that church a "hate" group thanks to their pickets and other rather odd behavior. Of course they get their airtime on many Tv stations whenever they do show up to conduct their "religious service" or they call their pickets. However there are many stations who don't give them airtime. When the Phelps picketed the funeral of children's TV legend Fred Rogers I remember hearing that the four main Pittsburgh stations ( KDKA, WTAE, WPXI and WPGH ) all had made a promise to each other NOT to even as much say they were even there. Since I don't live in Pittsburgh I can't say if those stations followed through with their promise or not.

Well if a preacher uses the term "******" or "queer" from his pulpit, wouldn't many people consider that church to be a hate group?

On the other hand, the people that go to such a church obviously approve of what is being said, as do the radio listeners that keep listening. So what is the difference between a preacher using those terms and a shock jock doing the same?

 

[tcsnrayp]

>>> if a preacher uses the term "******" or "queer" from his pulpit, wouldn't many people consider that church to be a hate group? <<<

I know I would.

 

[Kent T]

Here's some of my rules regarding religious programming

No ******, queer or other derogatory or offensive content on air!
All preachers must pay in advance!
No preacher may put down the station, it's employees, or it's advertisers or other preachers on this station.
No Cassette content, all recorded shows must be provided on 7 1/2 IPS. 1/2 track stereo reel, minidisc, or on CD-R format at 44.1 .wav files.
All content must meet station technical requirements and levels must be consistent
Only station board operators must be used.
No live programming
This station requires that contracts must be signed and any program provider must meet our standards and practices or content can be pulled at any time by this station.
These policies may be subject to change.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Here's some of my rules regarding religious programming

I understand the goals and quality you want to achieve, and maybe the wording is fine for this forum... but if you are going to reduce your policy to writing which can be handed to prospective purchasers of time.... and attach to written agreements for time, the wording you have used is a bit "in your face"..... which is what you are telling your prospects for religious time you DON'T want THEM to be.

Also I suspect you are addressing something other than a small rural market (which is where the original post that started this thread was.... quite small and rural.)

Consider using the term churches in place of preachers.

On my way out some Sunday mornings I tune a local station with back-to-back wall-to-wall religious programs.... some of which do not meet your technical standards. One of them is a Sunday School class with no PREACHER involved. Under your rules, they could claim they are exempt... your rule is only for preachers.

I suggest you clarify you sentence about station board operators. You indicate no live programs, all must be recorded in advance and delivered on7.5 ips tape or on CD. Does your policy intend to say: Your tape/CD must have one of your board operators on site to make the recording?

I think if you and I were writing this policy together, right up front there with the "offensive content" line I would lobby for a line spelling out some restrictions on what is fair-game in political commentary and observations by the church (or preacher if you please).

 

[bturner]

Been there..done that. From experience a few rules:

You have the station and full right to pick and choose who goes on the air and under what conditions. You make all the choices. If the church doesn't like your rules, board-op etc., then the church is seeking out the wrong station.

I had a cooking show during the week. They talked about wine and how to select the right wine for a dinner. One Sunday buyer called acting like a jerk. I told him point blank: "You're acting like a child and if you're unhappy I'll let you out of your contract. If you continue to call and insult me, then you're not worth the hassle of putting up with you." He found his place and never gave me any more problems.

I had another complain I shorted him a minute. I didn't as I spelled out 28 minutes in the agreement. Most weeks he got 29 minutes as we didn't have that commercial that went at :28. I told him my commercial rate was $40 a minute and for another $40 each week he'd get 29 minutes. After he balked at a 50% increase in his rate for a minute, I said take it or leave it. Never another complaint.

The key is, you set the quality standard from audio to content. If they gripe, you don't want them

You sell the time. All they're buying is time. They can ONLY have the time they buy. Anything else is purely your station's decision and not open to discussion. The people who are serious about the opportunity to reach the masses will gleefully oblige by the rule and be happy they can minister to the public through your station. The ones on power trips or always up for picking fights will never be there in the long term anyway, so cut them loose quickly...anyway those types are few and far between. They're usually let on they're trouble the first time you talk to them.

This is not to say you shouldn't be there to coach and help the church that buys time. Treat them as nice as you would a big advertiser. It's tougher for them to give you a hard time if you have a track record of being nice to them.

 

[Prais]

WGN, Chicago airs a local church followed by the Lutheran Hour 5-6am Sundays. The host just prior(Brian Noonan), seems bent on aggravating the churches, as he talks about LOTS of perverted stuff.

I'm POSITIVE it's on purpose because of the system there, and the repetition of these topics each week.