ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention may end 64 years of radio ministry, according to its North American Mission Board.
The board has laid off the two remaining members of its radio production staff as of the end of April, rehiring them for at least two months on a contract basis while a final decision is reached, according to sources and a NAMB spokesman.
Based at NAMB's Media Production Group in Fort Worth, Texas, the radio staff is responsible for producing five weekly 30-minute programs, each broadcast free by up to 400 stations, mostly during non-peak or overnight hours.
Once the mainstay of Southern Baptists' broadcast ministry, the radio programs produce no revenue and have dropped in popularity, NAMB says. “Strength for Living,” the preaching show known as “The Baptist Hour” when it launched the SBC's radio ministry in 1941, is now available on about 400 radio stations, reaching 430,000 radio listeners.
“Over the course of several months and as part of a comprehensive communications study, NAMB has been taking a close look at radio operations to determine their effectiveness and the viability of continuing this area of ministry,” NAMB said in a statement to Associated Baptist Press.
A decision is expected “sometime in the next few months,” the April 28 statement said.
The two radio staff members recently were told their jobs were being eliminated at the end of April. But NAMB later moved them off the payroll and to contract status through June, while a decision is reached.
“Even if changes are made in present programming,” the NAMB statement said, “there are viable alternatives being considered which will help NAMB achieve its major objectives and ministry assignments.”
Begun as the Radio Commission in 1941 by Baptist pioneer Samuel Lowe, the Fort Worth-based ministry later became the Radio and Television Commission when TV programming was added. The RTVC was dissolved and combined into the new North American Mission Board during the SBC's restructuring of its agencies in the 1990s. The television ministry, still based in Fort Worth, was spun off as FamilyNet after a merger with Jerry Falwell's cable TV ministry. But the radio programs, which once numbered almost a dozen, remained separate and administered by NAMB, which is based in suburban Atlanta.
The remaining five 30-minute radio programs, in addition to “Strength for Living,” are “MasterControl,” a newsmagazine aired on about 350 stations; “Country Crossroads,” a country-music show aired on about more than 400 stations; “Powerline,” adult contemporary music, about 400 stations; and “On Track,” contemporary Christian music, about 225 stations.
About 1,250 total radio stations air NAMB programs, since many stations carry more than one. All except “On Track” are more than 35 years old. The Media Technology Group also produces radio spots, likewise distributed free.