Catholic Radio

I've been feeling guilty for about a month now. Yeah, Catholic guilt -- the Cadillac of guilts. Well, maybe not that guilty. No hood ornaments, even in the pre-conciliar models. (WHAT is he talking about?)

Anyway, the reason for the guilt is that my friend, Cubeland Mystic, asked me if I'd blog on something really exciting and important and I said "Sure...." and just left his message in my inbox. So, dang it, here it is.

Cube is friends with Doug Sherman, President of Immaculate Heart Radio. IHR is doing great work in the realm of Catholic Radio way out in the western US and they've just cracked into the 5th largest market in the country, San Francisco-oh-oh, baby! as Jackie K might say.

I'm going to include the entire press release, but if you're too lazy to read it, just hop on over to this page and donate or pledge some money to this worthy cause. I'm going to give them some as soon as I sell my lawnmower.

Sacramento, May 21 (CRU) — Immaculate Heart Radio, which operates a network of Catholic stations in California, western Nevada, and much of New Mexico, announced today that it is purchasing historic KOIT 1260 AM in San Francisco from Bonneville International. The $14 million deal will bring Catholic radio to the fourth largest radio market in the country, with 5,891,000 people 12 years of age and older, and the fifth largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the nation, 7,039,362 people.


The daytime signal of KOIT will cover the entire Bay Area and the distant cities of Santa Rosa and San José with a good signal, given the 5,000 watts (reduced at sunset to 1,000 watts) and the transmitter location on the bay. San José also enjoys an excellent nighttime signal.

The stunning news had been rumored for several weeks in the broadcasting world, and there were a number of postings in the online radio forum RadioInfo.com. The sale by Bonneville of the last station in their once full portfolio of San Francisco Bay Area stations to Immaculate Heart was stated, as was IHR president Doug Sherman's name. Catholic radio circles, too,
were abuzz that a Catholic broadcaster was about to embark upon a major market in California, which necessarily narrowed the field considerably as to likely buyers, one of whom was Immaculate Heart. But no one would identify the station or purchaser. According to comments in RadioInfo, Bonneville International, owned by the Mormon Church, took special pains to accommodate Immaculate Heart Radio, preferring to sell to a fellow religious group rather than a commercial interest.

The new Catholic station will serve the Church of four dioceses in the Bay Area : the Archdiocese of San Francisco, presided over by His Excellency Archbishop George H. Niederauer (425,000 Catholics, about 24% of the population); the Diocese of Oakland, presided over by His Excellency Allen H. Vigneron (381,000 Catholics, about 16%); the Diocese of San José, presided over by His Excellency Patrick J. McGrath (423,000 Catholics, about 25%); and the Diocese of Santa Rosa, presided over by His Excellency Daniel F. Walsh (150,000 Catholics, about 19%).

“The possibility of purchasing a station to bring Catholic radio to the Bay Area is exciting and clearly a gift from the Lord,” said Doug Sherman, president of Immaculate Heart. “But it is not a done deal. We have already been given strong support and blessings from the Bay Area bishops, Right now, we are talking to major donors. As soon as we can see that we have sufficient support to make a go of this, we are going to be asking for everyone's help. This is a $15 million project to cover the purchase price and expenses.”

“To make sure this project is viable, by the end of this month we have to know that we have enough major donations to put down a $700,000 payment to Bonneville, which is non-refundable. We are talking big money here, obviously,” he said, looking at the multi-million dollar transaction. “While we have to be at 100% confidence by May 31st, we don't have to have it all in hand or pledged, but we have to see the momentum there, and we have to have a sufficient amount in hand. We have to know we can pull it off,” he emphasized; “A Catholic lender will write the check for the station in mid-August if we can show that we are well on the way and things look reasonably good— that we have been pledged the funds. Right now we are at the $4 million mark, but by the end of May we hope that figure will have risen considerably.”

Sherman says that after the first of June, if things go as everyone hopes and God is willing, the second phase of soliciting donations will be broadened to include everyone interested in helping to bring Catholic radio to the Bay Area. This will be the time for fund raising dinners, meetings with donors, and short talks after Mass in parishes throughout the four dioceses. On-air promotions over IHR will also seek the help of listeners.

“We have met with all four Bay Area bishops, and we have their prayers, blessings, and support,” added a happy Sherman. “They see this as a great opportunity for the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith to be broadcast over the airwaves of the Bay Area, where millions will be able to learn more about our faith.”

“This is a huge undertaking for us, and we are asking your prayers,” he concluded.