Well, everyone’s abuzz about a new Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is venturing into satellite radio, announcing a deal yesterday to work with Sirius Satellite Radio to create a 24/7 Catholic channel.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the channel, scheduled to begin this fall as the Catholic Channel, is a way to "spread the word in a new way."
Sirius executives, however, first approached the archdiocese with the idea several months ago, Mel Karmazin, the chief executive of Sirius, said. The company’s market researchers concluded that Catholics were badly underserved by radio programming, he said.
Of the 17,000 licensed terrestrial radio stations in the United States, 1,700 are Protestant or evangelical Christian in nature, while just 130 are Roman Catholic, said Stephen Gajdosik, president of the Catholic Radio Association. But the number has been growing by about one station a month, he said.
Well, we’ll see. Media efforts under the control of the institutional church – whether they are electronic or print, are rarely successful, "successful" being defined as engaging or interesting. Look at diocesan newspapers, and contrast them with the work of everything else from NCR(eporter) to the Wanderer. No matter what your place on the Catholic scale, which would be a more interesting read (even if by "interesting" you mean – "gets your blood pressure going") – your local diocesan paper or NCR(eporter).
Sure, diocesan-sponsored efforts have a place – information. That’s invaluable. But believe me, the pressures of not offending anyone, from bishops to influential laity to various chancery personnel to your priests, is a powerful internal censor.
Not that there aren’t problems with other types of Catholic media as well. They all have their own idiosyncratic personal magisteria – of issues we don’t acknowledge, people we would never in a million years have on, perspectives we ignore. But with them, there’s no pretense about it, and everyone knows what they’re getting with an EWTN, Catholic Answers or Relevant Radio. Or, in print, NCR(eporter) or NCR(egister)
My advice, for which not a single soul has asked, and for good reason: Catholic Channel: Be bold. Have something that no other Catholic press organ, print or electronic – has – debates and discussions between wildly different sorts of Catholics. Have Sullivan v. Ponnuru. Have Weigel and Michael Baxter discuss just war. Have Joan Chittister discuss religious life with Mother Assumpta Long. Have an open-ended, free-for-all weekly "Inside the Vatican" gossip fest! Give Fr. Robert Barron a show! Fr. Altier! (heh)
Not going to happen, of course – because that would shatter the image that church folks are determined to promote: that Church is a nice boring place full of nice boring people who all get along all the time –
…no matter what Acts of the Apostles says.
(Get your comments in quickly on this one – I’m going to close all comments in a couple of hours, as I depart for, as it happens, EWTN)
(BTW – EWTN is already on Sirius, isn’t it?)
(And, as an afterthought – here’s a more serious suggestion – this new channel should work something out with Vatican Radio and bringi a lot of their programming over hear to the satellite audience. It’s excellent stuff. Definitely broadcast Fr. Reg Foster – the Latin Lover – !!!)
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