There is a lot stirring in Catholic media. I came across this on the National Catholic Register page:

Come October, Catholics will have an unprecedented opportunity to double the number of FM terrestrial stations operating across the country. That’s when the Federal Communications Commission is opening the application window for new FM non-commercial educational (NCE) stations. [More…]

What should we make of this “unprecedented opportunity”? Is it great news that there is the possibility to double the number of stations that broadcast Catholic programming? On one level it is. Any opportunity to expand our capacity to proclaim the Good News should be welcomed with joy. God has used and continue to uses Catholic media to change lives and to save souls. An expansion of Catholic media should therefor be welcomed.

As scripture informs us “”For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28). Does there exist the infrastructure to see this expansion to completion? From the article, the only concrete example given was the making available of low interest loans available to stations. If the operating cost for a medium sized station in a medium sized market is $20,000 per month, and the donor base provides $5,000 per month, no amount of low interest loans will fix the situation.

While I work with Catholic radio stations to assist them develop and grow the financial base to allow them to operate, I must say, that there does not exist the financial infrastructure to support 150 new radio stations. Currently there exists no comprehensive plan to found and grow radio stations available through the Catholic Radio Association (CRA). There do exist models from outside the CRA but the CRA has declined to be embrace. [Disclaimer - my company is one such provider].

There is a disconnect in what is happening with Catholic radio and what is happening in media in the United States. From the article we read: “Programming, said Gajdosik, is improving, but what is really needed is more stations.” I suggest this statement runs counter to what is happening in media as a whole in th United States. What we see instead is a de-emphasis on the way the media in transmitted and an increased emphasis on the content alone. For example, television viewers identify themselves less-and-less with a network and more and more with the programs. I watch Heroes and occasionally My Name is Earl. I almost no idea which channel these exist upon. Similarly, a young friend of mine listens to Rush Limbaugh every day but never gets near a radio. Instead she consumes the podcast.

One way to look at this is to think of a town that has five brands of pizza. In this town there are a large number of people who deliver pizza. You call a delivery person and ask them to get you pizza. ‘What kind’ they ask. You say, “Papa Johns” or “Pizza Hut” or “Dominoes”. You are not likely to describe a pizza to someone, have them pick it up, and not care whose pizza it is. In this case, it is not the delivery method that is important, rather it is the product. It’s all about the pizza.

Catholic media should be ‘all about the pizza’. Content really is king. To consider delivery before product usually results in your receiving a product you don’t want. All this effort by the CRA is going into a delivery method while the product is left to develop itself. This, at least, appears to be the plan of action. While it is possible this is a winning formula for Catholic radio since it is a micro-niche product, it is definitely counter to movement of the rest of media.

Frankly, I don’t know if the CRA is up for the challenge. 150 new stations in a year is an exciting prospect. However, it may be a case of ‘be careful of what you wish for’.

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