Catholic Radio

Well, I had lunch with Orville the other day, and he observed that it's nearly fund-raising time again for the local Catholic radio station, KEXS. He pointed out that there are about 85 Catholic radio stations in the country, and 15,000 Prot ones. The heretics have the numbers now, but only a few years ago, there were only a handful of Catholic radio stations, so we're gaining on them.

The local radio station has a fairly broad base of support, including lots of folks from the two canonically-regular traditional communities in town. Now, I may have said this before, but it bears repeating. You don't have to like every single thing the Catholic radio station folks program in order to think that the Catholic radio station is a worthwhile endeavor. I certainly don't like every single thing KEXS puts on the air. I think I've said enough about Jimmy Akin in this blog for folks to fairly draw the conclusion that I'm not a big Catholic Answers fan. There's lots of other stuff I don't like as well--no need to get into the list. However, Mrs. Curmudgeon likes Ray Guarendi's show, and there are other interesting things they program as well. Every once in a while, they rerun Dale Alquist's series on Chesterton, which is delightful, for instance. Opus Dei Fr. Jim McCloskey's series on Catholic authors, and the current one they're running on St. Thomas More, are quite informative (even if they come across as dry--they'd be much more enjoyable if we were sitting in front of a fire with Fr. McCloskey and his guests, sipping port, listening to the same conversation). Except for some things I've heard Fr. Groeschel say on one show (which may have been heard out of context), I've never heard anything that was blatantly heretical on the station.

Yes, I know there's an argument to be made to the contrary. Most of the programming comes from EWTN, and there are issues with EWTN in some areas, as Chris Ferrara has pointed out. But the fact of the matter is that the local radio station isn't the same thing as EWTN, or the Monahagn-funded Ave Maria Radio, or Catholic Answers. It's a local apostolate that's bringing the area the best that Catholic progamming it can find, and that's the best programming that it can find right now. If we think it could use better programming in some instances, well, . . . . I'd guess that there are others connected with the station who would agree. How do they get get better programming? They raise more money, so they can produce it themselves or support others who will do so.

And so my point is that it's good to have Catholic Radio at all, and it should be supported, even if it ain't precisely what we wish it was. Remember, there ain't nuthin that's exactly what it should be on earth--if there were, there would be nuthin to look forward to in heaven.

The generous couple who initially initially backed the Kansas City station, KEXS, are to be commended, as are the other families that are doing so much to help them keep it growing. The rest of us ought to help them out, too, and honor their efforts. They're doing more than some cantankerous blow-hard blogger like me is doing to evangelize the city. They're a powerful voice that runs counter to much of what gets put in the Catholic Key and the National Catholic Distorter (I really love the 20-second spot, recorded by the original station manager, in which he calls on the audience to pray for the staff of the Catholic Key, National Catholic Distorter, and the Leaven).

Anyone disagree?