American Christian radio – where is it going?

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- I am a huge fan of radio and here in Los Angeles, we have a wide choice – about 90 radio stations broadcasting in a plethora of languages. We’ve got what I call “Combat Radio,” where the hosts attack just about everyone and everything, several NPR stations, and of course, because of the make-up of the local population, many Spanish language stations.

Dan Wooding interviews Baroness Caroline Cox from the British House of Lords for KWVE

There are also many Christian stations in the area and they each have their own distinctive styles of programming.

I have the privilege of having a weekly interview show called Front Page Radio which is broadcast each Sunday at 5:00 PM on KWVE 107.9 FM, which is the flagship of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, California. 

This is a station that features a lot of wonderful worship music and also sermons from many of the Calvary Chapel pastors, which of course, include Chuck Smith’s The Word for Today. (www.kwve.com).

I can well remember that when I first moved to the United States in 1982, I was fascinated to discover so many Christian radio stations dotted across the country, especially as, at that time, Great Britain, where I was raised, didn’t even have one Christian radio station. The British government had deemed that the British people didn’t need stations like this as the BBC had its own religious broadcasting output. Fortunately, things have changed in the UK and there are now many Christian stations all over the country.

But back to America! In my early days, most of the stations here seemed to be pretty insular with little to none coverage of world affairs. It was mainly a succession of preachers and some talk shows that covered just American material.

I was at that time, working as media director for Brother Andrew’s Open Doors USA ministry and I spent a whole year trying to interest broadcasters in telling the story of the Persecuted Church, but without any success.

I started a news service with Dr. Dale Kietzman called the Open Doors News Service with lots of stories about persecution around the world, but still got no interest at all from radio broadcasters, although strangely enough I did from Christian TV, including CBN.

President Ronald Reagan with Ben Armstrong and Jerry Falwell

In a bid to try and get some radio broadcasters to start widening their horizons, I went to an NRB Convention in Washington, DC, and there I asked Dr. Ben Armstrong, the then director of the organization, why his people didn’t seem interested in what was happening around the world to our persecuted brethren and he told me, “Dan, you have to understand that most people here simply don’t care. They want to know what is in it for them. They like to have a simple solution to a problem and if that solution is tax-deductible, they like that even more.”

Then Ben gave me some advice, saying, “Dan, don’t give up and don’t ever lose your English accent, because people will think you are more intelligent than you are.” I laughed at his back-handed comment, but have stuck to his advice.

But then came what I thought was a big break. One local station invited me into the studio in Orange County to talk about this topic that was so close to my heart and I spent an hour outlining over the airwaves the plight of our brothers and sisters around the world. Finally, the host invited callers and, after a long wait, someone actually called in. I held my breath awaiting his insightful question and then he asked, “Mr. Wooding, why does the British press persecute the Royal Family.” I couldn’t believe my ears. It seemed that he hadn't listened to a word I had said.

But then Austin Hill, a talented breakfast host on the now defunct KYMS, invited me to do a weekly update on the Persecuted Church and we did this together for a whole year and I began to realize that American Christians do care, it was just they weren’t hearing much about these amazing and inspiring people. (By the way, Kay Poland, who was at the station at that time, has now taken up the KYMS call letters for the the one she runs in Post Falls, Idaho. 

(www.kymsradio.com). Sadly the station I was on closed down, but the comments we got were all favorable, so it encouraged me to keep on trying.

Jim Warren pictured in the 1980's with his Bible and newspaper in hand

It wasn’t long before Jim Warren, the then host of Prime Time America on the Moody Broadcasting Network invited me on a weekly basis to bring updates for his listeners, especially when I was overseas, where we would do live link-ups from many locations. Jim was extremely knowledgeable about the world we live in and wanted to educate his listeners and give them a world perspective. Sadly, we lost dear Jim, who was one of Christian radio’s great “Prime Time” players at the age of 73. He, died on May 23, 2011, after a long illness.

For me, the big breakthrough came ine at least some of Christian radio here, when 9/11 turned America and the world upside down and Christians here began to realize about the plight of Christians especially in the Islamic countries and I was flooded with requests to talk about this topic, which have continued up until today.

I have the joy of doing a regular spot with Janet Parshall on her In the Market with Janet Parshall show on Moody, and for many years have done a weekly Thursday morning update with Roy Hanschke and Denise Washington-Blomberg on KPOF -- AM 91 -- The Point of Faith in Denver.

I also get the opportunity to catch up with overseas radio stations such a Rhema Radio, UCB UK and London-based Premier Christian radio, with regular spots. I challenge you to listen to these stations on the Internet and see how these stations operate. It will be quite an eye-opener to many of you.

However, I still believe that there are still some rather insular Christian stations here in the States, especially on a few of the talk shows where the hosts don’t seem to realize that the Church of Jesus Christ is all over the world and not just here. Sometimes, when I tune in, all I hear is politics from one perspective and I am sure it will get worse as the Presidential elections approach.

Harold Camping

One segment of Christian radio in the US got a real black eye with the 2011 end times prediction made by American Christian radio host Harold Camping who stated that the Rapture and Judgment Day would take place on May 21, 2011, and that the end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011. Camping, then president of the Family Radio Christian network, claimed the Bible as his source and said May 21 would be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment “beyond the shadow of a doubt”. 

Camping suggested that it would occur at 6 p.m. local time, with the rapture sweeping the globe time zone by time zone, while some of his supporters claimed that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world's population) would be 'raptured'. Camping had previously claimed that the Rapture would occur in September 1994.

Of course, the vast majority of Christian groups, including most Protestant and Catholic believers, did not accept Camping's predictions; some explicitly rejected them, citing Bible passages including those stating “about that day or hour no one knows”. An interview with a group of church leaders noted that all of them had scheduled church services as usual for Sunday, May 22.

Following the failure of the prediction, media attention shifted to the response from Camping and his followers. On May 23, Camping stated that May 21 had been a “spiritual” day of judgment, and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God. However, on October 16 Camping admitted to an interviewer that he did not know when the end would come, and October 21 passed without Camping's predicted apocalypse.

So what about the future of Christian radio, especially here in America? Well I believe that our American broadcasters have a wonderful opportunity to let their listeners know about exciting things that are going on in God’s World. There are so many heroes of the faith that never get coverage on radio in America, yet they have so much to teach us.

We share their stories daily on our ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net) and I would like to invite all broadcasters wherever you are located, to use our material for your programming. We present it free of charge, and if you would like to have a free subscription, just send me an e-mail atassistnews@aol.com

After all, if we are not going to allow our listeners to be inspired by this knowledge and instead just continue giving them a steady diet of insular broadcasting, we are depriving them of something that can change their lives and bring them joy, challenge and inspiration.

So my challenge to my fellow Christian broadcasters is, why not become a world changer? I am sure your listeners would join you in this crusade. The question is, will you accept?

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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