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Religious broadcasting refers to broadcasting by religious organizations, usually with a religious message. Many religious organizations have long recorded content such as sermons and lectures, and have moved into distributing content on their Internet websites.

While this article emphasises dedicated religious broadcasters, many non-dedicated stations transmit religious programs; a state with no religious station may broadcast much religious programming.

Religious broadcasting can be funded commercially or through some sort of public broadcasting-style arrangement (religious broadcasters are often recognized as non-profit organizations). Donations from listeners and viewers, often tax-deductible, are solicited by some broadcasters.^[1]

In some countries, particularly those with an established state religion, broadcasting related to one particular religion only is allowed, or in some cases required. For example a function of the state-owned Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation is by law "to broadcast such programmes as may promote Islamic ideology, national unity and principles of democracy, freedom equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam..." (s. 10(1)(b)).

Radio[link]

(The distinction between radio and television broadcasters is not rigid; broadcasters in both areas may appear in the Radio or Television section in this article.)

Australia[link]

Religious radio stations include

• Melbourne Jewish Radio

Netherlands[link]

• Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation^[2]
• Humanistische Omroep: A small broadcaster dedicated to secular Humanism.
• IKON (Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland): A small broadcaster representing a diverse set of nine mainstream Christian churches.
• Joodse Omroep The new name of NIKmedia (Nederlands-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap): Dutch-Jewish broadcaster.
• NIO (Nederlandse Islamitische Omroep): Small Islamic broadcaster.
• NMO (Nederlandse Moslim Omroep): Small Islamic broadcaster, slightly more progressive than the NIO.
• OHM (Organisatie Hindoe Media): Small Hindu broadcaster.
• RKK (Rooms-Katholiek Kerkgenootschap): Small Roman Catholic broadcaster, actual programming produced by the KRO. Roman Catholic events and services on television are broadcast by the RKK.
• ZvK (Zendtijd voor Kerken): Small broadcaster that broadcasts church services from some smaller Protestant churches.

United Kingdom[link]

In the UK there were as of March 2006^[update] fewer than ten radio stations defining themselves as Christian. British broadcasting laws prohibit religious organisations, political parties, local government and trade unions from running national analogue terrestrial stations. Some religious radio stations are available in certain areas on the MW (medium wave) or VHF (FM) wavebands; others transmit using other methods, some of them nationally (such as via digital terrestrial TV broadcasting, satellite and cable).

There are two main stations, Premier Radio is available on MW in the London area and United Christian Broadcasters is available via DAB in both the London and Stoke on Trent areas.

There are several UK-based radio stations which serve a genre group or locality, such as Cross Rhythms based in Stoke-on-Trent, a contemporary music station with a local FM community radio licence. Branch FM operates across West Yorkshire and is a volunteer-run community Christian radio station. Like most other local Christian stations, they also use the Internet to gain national coverage.

There are other UK-based radio channels which apply for regular temporary licenses, such as Flame FM on the Wirral, Cheshire which applies for two months of local FM broadcasting per year via a Restricted Service Licence (RSL), and Refresh FM, which regularly broadcasts in Manchester for 3 or 4 weeks over the Easter period.

Also there are religious broadcasters that transmit to the UK from outside on medium wave at night (when MW signals travel much further) by buying airtime on commercial stations such as Manx Radio (from the Isle of Man) and Trans World Radio (from Monte Carlo).

Although there are tight restrictions on religious groups setting up their own radio and TV stations, there is a legal requirement for the BBC and ITV to broadcast a certain amount of religious programming. Some commercial local radio stations carry a limited amount of religious programming, particularly in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland

United States[link]

• Air1
• Klove

Television[link]

(The distinction between radio and television broadcasters is not rigid; broadcasters in both areas may appear in the Radio or Television section in this article.)

Africa[link]

T.B. Joshua's Emmanuel TV.^[3]

Ezekiel TV is a Christian television network started by Ezekiel Guti of ZAOGA Forward in Faith Ministries International (FIFMI) in 2008, based in South Africa. Most of the programming is from Zimbabwe, where ZAOGA FIFMI is headquartered. The channel broadcasts on the internet on the FIFMI Website, www.fifmi.org

Middle East[link]

In the Middle East, Christian satellite broadcaster SAT-7 operates five channels, SAT-7 ARABIC, SAT-7 PARS (Farsi), SAT-7 KIDS (Arabic), SAT-7 PLUS (Arabic) and SAT-7 TÜRK (Turkish), which broadcast in the prominent languages of the region with more than 80% of programs made by and for people of the region.^[4] SAT-7's satellite footprints reach 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as 50 countries in Europe, with "free to air" programming. SAT7, founded in 1995, is the first and largest Christian satellite broadcast organization operating in the region. It is supported by Christian churches from a variety of denominations in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as supporters from Europe, Canada [1], United States [2], and Asia.

Norway[link]

ES TV is a Norwegian Christian Pentecostal TV station.

Pakistan[link]

A function of the state-owned Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation is by law "to broadcast such programmes as may promote Islamic ideology, national unity and principles of democracy, freedom equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam..." (s. 10(1)(b)).

Turkey[link]

Islamic broadcasters include^[5]:

• TGRT, Turkey’s first nationwide "Islamic" television channel, est. 1993
• STV, affiliated with the Gülen movement, est. 1994
• Kanal 7
• Mesaj TV

United Kingdom[link]

In the UK, religious television operates differently from the US. No religious station broadcasts on the five analog terrestrial channels (which are to be phased out by 2012). Most religious stations transmit via direct-to-home satellite, some are streamed live via the Internet. The BBC and ITV broadcast religious programmes, such as Songs of Praise and Highway, as part of their public service remit. The 2009 Ofcom report found that religious broadcasting on public service channels was watched on average for 2.7 hours per year in 2008, decreasing steadily from 3.2 in 2006 and 3.6 in 2001. In 2006, 5% of viewers found religious broadcasting to be of personal importance.^[6]

In 2010, the commercial television broadcasters reduced their religious output due to poor viewing figures; at the start of the year ITV1 planned to show one hour and Channel Five had no plans. The BBC is obliged by its licence to broadcast 110 hours per year.^[7]

Dedicated religious channels available include:

• Daystar, US network. Creation videos with music. Teaching and preaching. Started broadcasting on Freeview on 28 February 2011^[8], discontinued on 11 October 2011.
• GOD TV, based in Sunderland (UK), is the longest established of the currently running TV channels on Sky in the UK, and the only one that is also on the major cable TV systems in the UK.
• God's Learning Channel (GLC) broadcasts the same lineup simultaneously to the US and Europe via the Eutelsat W-2 Satellite for Direct-to-Home broadcast.
• Inspiration, US Network. Programming from around the world. Preaching. Missionary bias.
• Islam Channel. Broadcasts across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and streamed on the Internet, and will broadcast in North America. Ruled to have breached the UK broadcasting code by airing discussions containing contentious views on violence against women and marital rape in 2008-9.^[9]
• Revelation TV, in London, produce a lot of live programmes from their studios.

See also List of Islamic television and radio stations in the United Kingdom

United States[link]

In the United States, Christian organizations are by far the most widespread compared with other religions, with upwards of 1,600 television and radio stations across the country (not necessarily counting broadcast translators, though because many outlets have low power and repeat national telecasts, the difference is often hard to define).

Christian television outlets in the U.S. usually broadcast in the UHF band. While there are many religious content providers for religious and faith-based television, there are few nationally recognized non-commercial television networks such as Daystar Television Network (operated by Marcus Lamb and Joni Lamb) and Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) (operated by Paul Crouch and Jan Crouch). Unlike the larger religious network providers available to the mass public, many smaller religious organizations have a presence on cable television systems, either with their own channels (such as the 3ABN service) or by transmissions on public-access television (common for local congregations) or leased access channels. Sunday mornings often see religious broadcasts on regular commercial broadcasting and BBC outlets. Religious broadcasters in the U.S. include:

• BYU Television
• Calvary Chapel
• Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN)
• Christian Television Network (CTN)
• Daystar Television Network (Daystar)
• Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN)
• Family Radio (FR)
• Familyland Television Network
• GOD TV
• God's Learning Channel (GLC)
• Golden Eagle Broadcasting
• Islamic Broadcasting Network^[10]
• Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association (LeSea Broadcasting)
• Living Faith Television (LFTv)
• Loma Linda Broadcasting Network (LLBN)
• New York Jewish Radio WMDI-LP - 107.9 FM Lakewood, NJ^[11]
• Salem Communications (SC)
• Sky Angel
• Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)
• The Hope Channel
• The Inspiration Network (INSP)
• The Old Path (TOP)
• The Worship Network
• Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN)

Industry organizations[link]

United Kingdom[link]

The UK equivalent of the NRB is the Christian Broadcasting Council, but affiliation is much less common. Additionally in the UK is the Church and Media Network, formed in 2009 as a successor to the Churches' Media Council, which states that it seeks to be a bridge between the media and the Christian community.

United States[link]

Christian broadcasters (but not other religions) in the U.S. are organized through the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) organization.

Funding[link]

Financially, US channels tend to fare a lot better than UK based ones. The American concept of asking viewers to donate money to a channel to keep it going on air is considered more culturally acceptable than in the UK; as a result more money is raised this way. There used to be no advertising revenue model – the traditional method of running commercial TV in the UK – that worked for religious TV channels^{[citation needed]}. The UK government's Broadcasting Act 1990 allowed ownership of broadcasting licences by religious organisations and their officers and those who controlled them in some circumstances;^[12] this had previously not been allowed.

Religious channels aimed at a UK audience could get around this previous restriction by basing themselves offshore, often in a European country that permits asking viewers for money on air. Stations may appear to be based in the UK, but actually broadcast from another country. However Ofcom since lifted the restriction, and channels with UK licences can now ask for funds on air.

The other primary method for raising funds to run religious channels is to accept paid advertising. Traveling preachers and large churches and ministries often set up a TV department filming what they do; they then buy slots on TV channels to show their programmes. Often the same programme from an organization is shown on several channels at different times as they buy slots. The vast majority of organizations which do this are US-based. In the UK this tends to make Christian TV channels appear to be US-based, as most material originates there. Some UK TV channels have invested in making programmes to complement advertising, most notably GOD TV and Revelation TV.

See also[link]

• List of religious topics
• Political science of religion

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mariah Blake, Columbia Journalism Review, 5 May 2005, "Air Jesus"

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2009)

John Irving Bloom (born January 27, 1953), who uses the pseudonym Joe Bob Briggs, is a syndicated American film critic, writer and comic performer.

Early years[link]

Bloom was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Thelma Louise (née Berry) and Rudolph Lewis Bloom.^[1] He was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, and attended Vanderbilt University on a sports-writing scholarship. He began his writing career at Texas Monthly and Dallas Times Herald. While a movie reviewer at the Herald, he created the humorous persona of "Joe Bob Briggs" to review "exploitation" movies.

Persona[link]

Briggs's acting persona is that of an unapologetic and unrefined redneck and male chauvinist with an avowed love of the drive-in theatre. He specializes in humorous but appreciative reviews of b-movies and cult films, which he calls drive-in movies (as distinguished from "indoor bullstuff"). In addition to his usual parody of urbane, high-brow movie criticism, his columns characteristically include colorful tales of woman-troubles and high-spirited brushes with the law, tales which inevitably conclude with his rush to catch a movie at a local drive-in, usually with female companionship. The reviews typically end with a brief rating of the "high points" of the movie in question, including the types of action (represented by nouns naming objects used in fight scenes suffixed with -fu), the number of bodies, number of female breasts bared, the notional number of pints of blood spilled, and for appropriately untoward movies a "vomit meter". A typical such concluding paragraph would be, "No dead bodies. One hundred seventeen breasts. Multiple aardvarking. Lap dancing. Cage dancing. Convenience-store dancing. Blindfold aardvarking. Blind-MAN aardvarking. Lesbo Fu. Pool cue-fu. Drive-In Academy Award nominations for Tane McClure. Joe Bob says check it out." "Aardvarking" is Brigg's euphemism for sexual intercourse.^[2][3]

Originally, Brigg's film reviews were limited to pictures shown at local drive-ins. Later, after a tongue-in-cheek 'battle' with his own convictions, he also began reviewing films released on VHS and DVD.

Reaction to redevelopment of 42nd Street[link]

During the early 1980s when the City of New York was in the planning stages of renovating and restoring its run-down 42nd Street district, which included closing many grindhouses showing B-movies on double and triple bills around the clock, Joe Bob expressed great opposition. He encouraged a "Postcard Fu" campaign, i.e., encouraging film fans to write to officials and pressure them into saving "the one place in New York City you could see a decent drive-in movie." He felt that 42nd Street movie houses rightfully belonged to all Americans and should be preserved as places where "Charles Bronson can be seen thirty feet high, as God intended".^[4]

One man show[link]

An Evening with Joe Bob Briggs, Joe Bob's one-man show, debuted in Cleveland in July 1985. Later re-titled Joe Bob Dead in Concert, it evolved into a theatrical piece involving story- telling, comedy and music that was performed in more than fifty venues over the next two years, including Caroline's in New York, convention centers, theaters, music clubs, comedy clubs, and regular engagements at Wolfgang's and the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Television[link]

In 1986, as a result of the stage show, Joe Bob was asked to be a guest host on Drive-In Theater, a late- night B-movie show on The Movie Channel, sister network of Showtime. Briggs went over so well that he was eventually signed to a long-term contract. For fourteen movie introductions, he had a side-kick, actor/musician Chris Aable, host of a local Los Angeles TV Show, "Hollywood Today", who played himself while always surrounded by beautiful girls. In one episode at a mansion with Chris Aable and a dozen pretty girls in the swimming pool, Joe Bob stood beside the pool in his cowboy outfit and asked with his trademark redneck accent: "Chris, how come you always get all the women?" Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater became the network's highest-rated show and ran for almost ten years, and was twice nominated for the industry's Cable ACE Award. He appeared on some 50 talk shows, including The Tonight Show (twice) and The Larry King Show. He was also a commentator for a Fox TV news magazine for two seasons.

Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater ended when the network changed format in early 1996. He was off the air for only four months before joining the TNT network, where he hosted MonsterVision for four years. That show ended in July 2000, when once again the network changed format. In 2011, the most definitive account of the Monstervision series as well as recent interviews with Briggs and Monstervision series mailgirl Honey Gregory appeared on the cult movie website, Mondo Video. In the late nineties he spent two seasons as a commentator on Comedy Central's The Daily Show (under his given name John Bloom), with a recurring segment called "God stuff" beginning on the 2nd ever episode in 1996. He starred in Frank Henenlotter's documentary Herschell Gordon Lewis - Godfather of Gore.^[5]

Writing[link]

During these TV years, Briggs remained active as a writer, working as a contributing editor to the National Lampoon, freelancing for Rolling Stone, Playboy, the Village Voice, and Interview. He was the regular humor columnist and theater critic at the National Review, and he published five books of satire--Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In, A Guide to Western Civilization, or My Story, Joe Bob Goes Back to the Drive-In, The Cosmic Wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs, and Iron Joe Bob, his parody of the men's movement. He also wrote and performed in special shows for Fox and Showtime, and collaborated with veteran comedy writer Norman Steinberg on an NBC sitcom that remains unproduced. His two syndicated newspaper columns--"Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In" and "Joe Bob's America"-- were picked up by the New York Times Syndicate in the '90s, and he continued to write both until putting the columns on hiatus in 1998. For one year he wrote a humorous sex advice column in Penthouse. In November 2000 he started writing the "Drive-In" column again, this time for United Press International, along with a second column, "The Vegas Guy", which chronicles Joe Bob's weekly forays into the casinos of America. In 2003, Briggs delivered Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies That Changed History.

In 1998, Bloom retired from writing newspaper reviews, only to return two years later due to popular demand^[6] and continue his column as Joe Bob with UPI. Bloom has also appeared on television as a host of TNT's MonsterVision horror movie marathons, and has an internet website, The Joe Bob Report,^[7] with collections of movie reviews and other articles.

Briggs was president of the Trinity Foundation of Dallas, Texas, a non-denominational, non-profit public foundation that serves as a religious watchdog group and publishes The Door, a Christian satire magazine, of which Briggs was a regular columnist and investigative reporter. Some of the efforts of Bloom's religious watchdog reporting and satire were featured (under his given name John Bloom) in God Stuff, a regular segment in the first two seasons of The Daily Show. In addition, some of his writing can be seen in Choice: The Best of Reason, a compilation of the libertarian magazine's work over the past four decades. As of Halloween 2007, Briggs is Head Online Doorkeeper of the Wittenburg Door (the misspelling is deliberate), a magazine of religious satire.

Books[link]

Joe Bob Briggs' movie reviews are collected in the now out-of-print books Joe Bob Goes to the Drive In and Joe Bob Goes Back to the Drive In. His most recent books, Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies that Changed History and Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies that Changed History, contain all-new material. Recently, Briggs has contributed audio commentaries to DVDs released by Media Blasters and Elite Entertainment including Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter, The Double-D Avenger, Blood Sisters, Warlock Moon, Samurai Cop, I Spit On Your Grave, and several Ray Dennis Steckler films including The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies and Blood Shack.

Joe Bob Briggs appeared as himself in the 2008 novel Bad Moon Rising by Jonathan Maberry. Joe Bob is one of several real-world horror celebrities who are in the fictional town of Pine Deep when monsters attack. Other celebrities include Tom Savini, Brinke Stevens, Ken Foree, Stephen Susco, Debbie Rochon, James Gunn and blues man Mem Shannon.

Under his given name, John Bloom, he also co-wrote the nonfiction book Evidence of Love: The Candy Montgomery Story (1984). The book recounts the 1980 Wylie, Texas, murder case in which Montgomery killed her ex-lover's wife, Betty Gore, by striking her a total of 41 times with an ax and whose highly publicized trial ended in an unexpected^[8][9] "not guilty" verdict.

Controversy[link]

In 1985, "Briggs" wrote a column about the "We are the world" video, in which he wrote a mocking description of starving African children, and made derogatory comments about the American Negro College Fund. The resulting controversy ended Bloom's position at the Dallas Times Herald, though his syndicated column merely changed distributors.^[10][11]

Bibliography[link]

• Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-in (1986), ISBN 0-385-29442-5
• A Guide to Western Civilization, or: My Story (1988), ISBN 0-385-29671-1
• Joe Bob Goes Back to the Drive-in (1990), ISBN 0-385-29770-X
• The Cosmic Wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs (1990), ISBN 0-394-58890-8
• Iron Joe Bob (1992), ISBN 0-87113-488-8
• Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies that Changed History! (2003), ISBN 0-7893-0844-4
• Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies that Changed History (2005), ISBN 0-7893-1314-6

Filmography[link]

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joe Bob Briggs

• Official website
• Joe Bob Briggs at the Internet Movie Database
• ACME Joe Bob Briggs
• Interview with Kittenpants.org
• Interview at The Onion AV Club

Jordan Sekulow (born July 14, 1982 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American lawyer, radio talk show host, Washington Post blogger and political consultant. In addition, he is the Executive Director at the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), an international public interest law firm and educational organization founded by his father, Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the ACLJ.^[1]

Education[link]

Sekulow graduated from George Washington University, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science. While there, he was a founding father of the Thetz Zeta chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. He graduated with a J.D. from Regent University in 2009. Jordan also co-founded the Regent Journal of Law and Public Policy in 2008. Jordan has an LLM in International Human Rights Law from Georgetown University Law Center.^[2]

Radio and Television[link]

Sekulow is the host of The Jordan Sekulow Show, a daily talk show featuring prominent political guests such as Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain.^[3][4] It airs on WAVA AM 780 and Sirius and XM Satellite networks.^[5] Along with his father, Jay Sekulow, Jordan co-hosts Jay Sekulow Live!, a syndicated daily radio program that airs on nearly 850 AM and FM stations nationwide, as well as on XM and Sirius Satellite networks.^[6] He is the co-host of ACLJ This Week, a weekly television news program broadcast on TBN and Daystar.^[7][8]

Blogging[link]

On December 15, 2010, The Washington Post's On Faith blog introduced Jordan Sekulow featured blog, Religious Right Now, exploring "what social conservatives want."^[9]

Political Consultancy[link]

During President George W. Bush's 2004 Campaign, Sekulow served as the National Youth Coalition Director for the Bush-Cheney Campaign. In the 2008 Presidential Republican Primaries, Sekulow worked for Mitt Romney, serving as a Vice-Chair of his National Faith And Values Steering Committee.^[10][11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.jordansekulow.com
• http://www.aclj.org/

Describing himself as "Broadcast comedy's best kept secret," Yapp first came to prominence in the mid 1990s on Martin Kelner's radio shows on BBC North and Jazz FM playing the character Dame Dora Dale. This led to the award-winning BBC 7 show Pleased to Meet You ^[1] in 2006. Two new episodes were transmitted by BBC Radio 4 Extra over Christmas 2011.

A semi-finalist in the 2000 Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award, he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008 (Bum Notes) and 2009 (Hallo, Music Lovers & Free at Four).

He had a regular slot on BBC 6 Music's Shaun Keaveny breakfast show ^[2] until July 2011.

Yapp also created and performed The Chesney Bentings Mysteries for BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce show as part of 2011's Comic Relief.

In August 2011, he began presenting his own Saturday morning show on BBC Radio Leeds, as well as providing cover for Wes Butters during the week.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pleased to Meet You
• Jake Yapp
• Chesney Bentings