Swords and Scallops

Via The Chronicle:

Catholic station on the air
Radio Maria broadcasts from western Ohio village


James Hannah
The Associated Press
WEST MILTON — Bringing a Catholic radio station to western Ohio is no easy task. Just ask the small group of volunteers who tried to do it for four years before the heavens parted.
In a few weeks, the group found a radio frequency when few were available, got the station running two days before its license would have expired, and patched the transmission tower after a lightning strike put it out of business.
It’s been a struggle, but the station is accomplishing things, said volunteer James Meyer.
Today, Radio Maria is broadcasting to listeners who live within 40 miles of its tower just outside the village of Botkins. WHJM-FM is the first Radio Maria station in Ohio and only the sixth English-language version in the United States.
“There’s Christian radio everywhere, but not the Catholic perspective,” said coordinator Mary Pyper. “What we wanted to do was to bring a different flavor.”
About 130 Catholic radio stations broadcast in the United States, up from only five 10 years ago, according to the Catholic Radio Association.
English-language Radio Maria stations are in Alexandria, Natchitoches, New Iberia, and Lake Charles, La.; Port Arthur, Texas; and now Botkins.

130 stations now, hopefully we'll see that number increase. There are about 1,000 Protestant radio stations; we need to be able to continue to spread the word!