Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Catholic Conversations #196: Faith, Volunteers, and Airwaves: Celebrating Catholic Spirit Radio

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Catholic Conversations #196: Faith, Volunteers, and Airwaves: Celebrating Catholic Spirit Radio · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Hello and welcome, friends. I'm Stan Ketzig. You know, some of the best conversations
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happen when we simply sit down together, maybe with a cup of coffee or tea in
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hand, and talk about what matters most. The joys, the questions,
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the everyday moments where we find our faith.
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That's the spirit of this show. Welcome to Catholic Conversations.
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This is your place to listen in, to reflect, and to feel connected. it.
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Whether you're commuting, working at home, or actually sitting with that cup
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of coffee like I am right now, we're so glad you've joined us.
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Each week we'll explore the beauty and the depth and the lived experience of the Catholic faith.
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We'll chat with interesting guests, we'll dive into timeless teachings,
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and we'll discuss how our faith illuminates our modern lives. So get comfortable.
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Let's start a conversation that matters.
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And that is what Catholic Conversations is all about on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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Today, we are doing something very special.
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We are celebrating the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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It was 16 years ago that the guy that's in the studio had this little,
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I guess it must have been a seed of, something came to him. He heard a voice.
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His name is John Hall. He is the founder.
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He is the main man here at the radio.
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It's not just a station, It's a network, and John, I'd just like to say happy
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15th anniversary, but I want to go back to the 16th.
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Was it a year before you started this? When did this whole thing,
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this amazing Catholic conversation, our Catholic Spirit Radio Network come about? It was an idea, right?
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Yeah, so it was actually probably more like 17 or 18 or 20 years ago. Really?
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Maybe not quite 20, but initially—,
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As the story goes, as I can remember, I used to travel for my job,
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and I would hear Mother Angelica on the radio in some of the places I would travel.
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And what was your job? I was a broadcast engineer. Okay, and you still are? Yeah.
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Okay. And I'd travel, and I'd hear Mother Angelica on.
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I'd hear Terry and Jesse on the air, and Mother Angelica was always calling
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for people to start radio stations,
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and I'd hear that, too. And that's really sort of what sparked it.
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You know, I didn't realize there was Catholic radio.
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But to getting exactly how Catholic spirit radio got started,
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it was probably 18 or 19 years ago, a friend of mine and I had access to software
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from a company he worked at.
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And the FCC, the government, which controls radio frequencies for non-commercial
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entities, opened up what they call the filing window.
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And that's where you can put in an application. And if yours is the best application,
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there's multiple factors for that, but you win.
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So we put in four or five applications.
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We lost four, and we won one, which happened to be Ellsworth,
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Illinois. So, a station was available and you could- Station was,
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we found the availability of it with the software that we borrowed from his
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employer. Okay, gotcha.
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And we did that for five stations. And the one that we wanted the most,
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of course, was Ellsworth, which would serve Bloomington Normal.
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And we saw that it could potentially be upgraded in the future if certain things
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happened, where it would be even more powerful.
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When we applied for it, it was 300 watts.
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So it was a low-power radio station, and you are, you just thought,
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you and your friend, and your friend's name?
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Morgan. Morgan. You and Morgan are just talking, and you go,
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you know, was it like Morgan? Let's apply for these, because we traveled a lot
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together. usually, you know, sometimes a couple times a week in the same van
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when we had big jobs that we had to go to out of state.
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And we talked and we said, let's file for these. And I, and we,
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we filed for them and we won the Ellsworth, Illinois permit to build a radio station.
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Now at that point I was thinking about, you know, we were thinking we probably
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put on a music, Christian music station.
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I was going to ask you, did you ever put, did you ever build the station from
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the ground up before? Was this going to be something you'd never even tried?
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I've built a lot of stations from the ground up at this point.
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Oh, okay. So you know what you were doing. Okay.
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This was probably, yeah, that's sort of what the gig was. Okay.
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So it was no big deal to you.
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I built radio stations since I was like five years old with Mr.
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Microphone. I hear you. Oh, I got to hear about that. Yeah.
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So after that, you know, I had several renditions of that as time went on.
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Yeah, and I quickly learned that my place was, I enjoyed playing DJ,
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but I liked the engineering part of radio better.
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Okay, so creating the entire, the microphones, everything that goes into this.
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People hear us, but they don't have a clue what it takes to put a whole studio
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or anything together, and wow. Yeah, so I liked it all. I liked it all.
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The whole thing of radio was really magical to me, where you could broadcast,
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you know, from a tower and reach thousands, millions, perhaps. Right, right.
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Right. It's so unbelievable. It's magical, magical. Absolutely.
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So that's how it started, and we ended up—.
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And winning that construction permit, they call it. And we had three years to
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build the station from that point. So we applied.
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The first thing we had to do was form a not-for-profit. And what year was this?
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That was probably 18 years or 19 years ago, we formed a not-for-profit.
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Then we filed probably, it was probably a 17 years ago.
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Then it went through the government's process. Yeah.
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And then we, it might've been longer than that.
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It might've been 18, but it doesn't matter. But then we got,
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we finally were awarded the construction permit.
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And from that, we had three years to actually get this on the air.
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Okay. So I start this conversation going, you had an idea 16 years ago,
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but no, it was a long time before that.
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So there's a lot of pre-planning, a lot of pre-thought that has to go into all
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this, which I learned over the years. It's not an easy, it's not a bam, click, you're there.
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It's not like you're broadcasting on...
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On the internet or on YouTube or Facebook. It's not anything like that.
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It's a very time-consuming process.
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Tell me what it's like when you get, hey, we won.
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You get the application in the mail or the confirmation.
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Yeah, at that time, you actually got it in the mail. You look at each other
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and what do you say? Well, at that point.
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When we actually got to CP, we were both at different jobs. Oh, okay.
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So this is going to be a part-time thing that you're going to hopefully put
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together? So Morgan had had, or was in the process of moving to Kentucky,
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I think. Okay. I was still here in Illinois.
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And we had looked at various different sites for this station to build.
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One site was perfect, but it required a very expensive antenna.
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So that means you had to put up the antenna? We had to put it up.
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We had to buy a special antenna that was custom manufactured.
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Oh my. Which was over $10,000.
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Which is a lot of money. We didn't have that kind of money. So we found another broadcast site.
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Where we could sort of, our plan was to hold on to the, it would let us hold
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on to the license and get the station on the air until we could get the funds
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to move it back to the other site.
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Because this site that we found was 10 miles away and it only required a regular
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antenna, which was $1,000.
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And you know, $1,000 versus $10 or more, actually, and it was more than $10,000 for the antenna.
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And when you say funds, John, I
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gotta, I gotta tell you, it takes a lot of funds. It takes a lot of funds.
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And this was, you know, 15 years ago. What were you thinking?
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Like, how are we going to do that?
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Yeah, there was no way I could see that we could get the directional antenna.
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But we did have used surplus, a regular antenna between us. Okay. So...
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It was, you know, 15 years ago, we went out, we leased a site.
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It was called the Busby Tower at the time. Was it your own money at that point?
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You didn't have anybody behind you? It was Morgan and I split the bills. Okay.
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So we built it out. He came back to town one weekend and we built it out with
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used equipment mostly, if I recall correctly.
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So we built this site and it was literally plain CDs and a legal ID at the top of every hour.
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Okay. That it was rotating that.
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That was the station. Just getting your signal out, just feeling what it's like. Yeah.
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Okay. So, and we didn't know exactly what we were going to do with it. Okay.
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And so then, what do you do with it?
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Then you and Morgan, when do you finally go, you know what, let's get some regular
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broadcasting on this. How do you go about that?
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Well, what happened was Morgan finally decided that he was done with it.
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Oh, okay. Probably about a year into it. And at that point, I had decided that
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I wanted to put... I had been...
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Mother Angelica had been speaking to me throughout my trips,
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engineering-wise, on the radio, and Terry and Jesse as well.
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And I've been convicted to put Catholic radio on because I had this station I could, I should.
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But I really personally wanted to put music on.
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Okay. Because I love music radio.
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I love personality radio.
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So it was a sort of an inner fight. So your heart and your ear are two different things. Yeah.
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It's like, okay. But the ultimate, the short story is Mother Angelica 1. Okay.
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And I launched EWTN on this basically 200 watt, it was a little more than that,
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station that you could hardly hear in town. Okay. So it was just a small station.
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It was, yes. One little station. I was out in Aerosmith, Illinois.
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You could pick it up in Bloomington Normal if you were in the right spot and
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you had a good radio in the car, perhaps.
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But it was very difficult to receive. Okay, so at this point,
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you have a building, you have a tower, you're with EWTN?
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We have a tower building where our transmitter is.
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We didn't have a studio building. Oh, you didn't even have a studio.
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There was no studio. All the CDs were being played from the transmitter site.
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So what happens? Do you go and get ahold of EWTN and say, Hey,
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we'd like to borrow your signal?
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How does that work? I talked to EWTN and it was the gentleman before Jack Williams.
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I think his name was John. And he,
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sent a contract over and said, yeah, we can, we would love to have you in his affiliate.
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And we signed up, I signed up and, but we were basically EWTN 24 hours a day,
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no breaks. It was actually fed.
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I can't even tell you how it was fed because it's, nobody would understand it,
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but it was fed by another broadcaster who was generous enough to let us use
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a back channel feet on their station.
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Okay. And that's what kept it on the air for a good year or two.
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But you're still paying electric. We're paying electric. We're paying telephone.
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We're paying tower rent. Tower rent.
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Even back in that time on that tower, it was quite a bit of money.
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You ever look in the mirror at that point and go, what am I doing?
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This is a lot of money on me. And you, at that point, you had no front rent.
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Every month, especially when Morgan, you know, left and said, hey, it's yours.
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I, you know. And what's the other voice telling you? Keep going, John.
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Keep going. Keep going. But then you look at the, you know, you look at the
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wallet and see the power bills, you know, several hundred dollars.
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The rent. I can't remember that side.
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I think it was $600 a month. Wow. Wow. And that was a while ago. Oh, yeah.
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So that's one station. Right now you've got 16 stations. Yep.
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But that's just. How do you get there, John? Well, that's just the beginning
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of that station because that, after that, the Lord allowed what was basically
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in our way to get out of our way.
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There was another station that was on the same frequency.
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They were going to build something. They decided not to build it. Okay.
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So it allowed us the possibility of upgrading to 3,000 watts,
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but from the other tower location where we needed that special antenna. Wow. So...
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That's, that was where we were left.
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So we, I applied to move to that site. And when you file an application,
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you have so many years to build.
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So I think we had three years or two years at that point to build the station
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at the new site at 3000 watts.
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And with, but we would need this new antenna.
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We would also need a new transmitter. Oh my. Because our existing transmitter
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was a thousand watts and it, we needed something that had at least triple that amount of power. Yeah.
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And not cheap, not cheap at all.
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So we needed, I can't remember the numbers, but Bob and Lynn might remember
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when they're in here, but it was quite a bit of money.
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Every month when you would look at the bills coming in, would you just go,
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I guess what I want to ask is there's got to be a voice going, keep going, John.
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It's going to be okay. And there's another voice of reality going,
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oh my gosh, I got a lot of money to raise to keep this thing on the air.
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And then other stations are now available.
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And so what do you do? It all initially started very slowly, luckily.
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Okay. It seemed like it was a very slow process initially.
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Every month, we picked up our first donor, which was Pam, and she was on our board for a while.
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Okay. But she was listening to the station. I think even when it was in Aerosmith
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at a couple hundred watts, she was listening near Clinton. I can't think of the name of the town.
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That's the town, not the band. Yeah, near Wapella, Wapella, Illinois. She was able to hear it.
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And she was, I believe, our first donor ever. So that was encouraging.
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And, you know, you just say, hey, we need to multiply this.
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But in the meantime, if I have to keep paying it, yeah, it's worth it because I hear what's on the air.
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I know people's lives are being changed by this, but we need to get to this
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next point. We need to...
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We need to move this on. And I didn't know how to do that, really.
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You know, it was difficult.
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Well, I got to tell you, this is fascinating. If you are just tuning in,
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this is Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network. John Hall is our guest.
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We are talking about the 15th anniversary of Catholic Spirit Radio.
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This is an amazing story, and it just proves that if you have an idea and if
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you listen to God in your heart and in your head, amazing things can happen.
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Absolutely amazing things can happen.
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John, how does you go to... I'm still wondering how we get to 16 stations here.
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Is it one of those things that just snowballs?
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Well, what happened is we eventually were able to, with the help of a lot of
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people, which we'll talk about I think probably in the next section,
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we were able to finally get the first
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station moved back and it ended up being 7 000
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watts the lord opened up the spectrum and
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it allowed he allowed us to broadcast at 7
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000 watts toward bloomington normal okay so that
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was a huge blessing then the next blessing and
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i'd have to try to remember this was there was an available translator
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for bloomington okay that came about and
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this is another story there's a big story to this but that came
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about and the company that had
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it wasn't going to build it i pursued it because i saw it was available and
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we just had to pay the fees that they had to pay to to apply for it it was like
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four thousand or five thousand dollars well it's hard to find that kind of money
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that's there's another story behind that and then and then the The third station,
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which was a couple years,
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several years maybe later, I'd have to look at the timeline, Pontiac, Illinois.
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A Catholic radio apostolate from another city called me, and they said,
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hey, we've got a donor who has a station in Pontiac, Illinois,
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that they want to donate. We don't want it.
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You're the closest affiliate to Pontiac, Illinois. Do you want it?
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And I said, yes. You were gifted a station? Yes. Okay. Wow.
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Wow. So that was Pontiac, Illinois.
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Now, that's another long story. And it wasn't, we were gifted a station,
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but it was in the back of a bar.
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The antenna was 50 feet above the ground, and it needed lots of work.
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Wow. Well, I know we have to take a break here. If you're just tuning in,
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we're talking about the 15th anniversary of Catholic Spirit Radio. We're celebrating.
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You're listening to Catholic Conversations, and we'll have more of this phenomenal
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journey after the break. But first, here is a very special word from one of our bishops.
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Hello, this is Bishop Louis Tilka from the Diocese of Peoria.
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I want to congratulate Catholic Spirit Radio on their 15th anniversary.
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I was pleased to visit and bless the station's studio.
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You are touching the souls of so many. The listeners in the Diocese of Peria
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appreciate your efforts.
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I wish you again a very happy anniversary and hope you keep our airways full
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of the Lord's love and words.
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May the Holy Spirit bless this ministry, its volunteers, and all its listeners.
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In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Amen. You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Monday, March 9th is Catholic Spirit Radio's 15th anniversary.
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Celebrate with us by stopping by the radio station at 108 Boykin's Place in
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Ormel for a slice of anniversary cake.
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9 to 5, Monday, March 9th. Thanks for your support and prayers for 15 years.
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Welcome back to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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Thank you to our bishop, who gave a very nice, very, it was beautiful.
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It sounded great, didn't it, guys?
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Yeah. It sounded fantastic. A very nice welcoming and celebration of the 15th
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anniversary of Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Before the break, we were talking to John Hall, the man that started it all.
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John, I don't know what we can do here because, you know, we were talking about the beginning.
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We barely scratched the surface, and all of a sudden you go from two radio stations to 16.
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Can you speed it up and tell me how the heck you did that? Did you go gambling,
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John? No. No, no luck there.
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Okay. All right. I'm just checking. I wish. How does this happen?
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The quick story is after, I don't even know, we picked up Lincoln.
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A friend of mine was selling Lincoln, Illinois.
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Okay. And we purchased that one for a very low, low price price.
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And then Morris, we'd been pursuing Morris, Illinois for years.
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We couldn't afford it. It was over $200,000.
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And eventually they came back to us and said, how about this price?
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And I think it was a much lower price, like $20,000 or less.
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And we were like, absolutely.
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And that's how we got on there. Morris, it was a God's blessing.
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It wasn't, he brought it to us in time.
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And DeKalb, we pursued similarly.
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And that's how those stations got on. But now we go to some of the other stations.
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There was another FCC filing window. They have these every 10 years or so,
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maybe depending on the government.
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It varies. But there was another window. So we had applied for 10 stations.
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10 stations. So you go from a little 300-watt station to a low-power station with an idea.
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And now you're going for 10 stations. But we don't have to build them.
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Top of what you have, okay. We can apply for them. Okay.
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And we had purchased the software as things had moved on through the years.
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We'd purchased the software.
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So we had the software. I just had to take the time to find these stations.
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And it was sort of a strategic and sort of, I was open to what God wanted us
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to do. Yeah, God kept opening channels for you, sure.
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Move us where you need us. So we found these frequencies and we applied for
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them. And we got nine of the 10. Wow.
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However, we built, I think, seven of them, two of them.
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One of them was Wilmington, Illinois, which we already covered with Morris.
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So we did not build that and we did not build Kankakee, Illinois,
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because it was a directional pattern and we couldn't find an antenna,
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a tower site that would fit it.
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So those two, we didn't build. The other ones we built, which were Wisconsin.
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Harvard, Illinois, Macomb, Charleston, Illinois, Clinton, Illinois.
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And Aerosmith, Illinois, as well, was one in there. I believe I may be missing one.
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So we built all the CPs out, thanks to God.
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It was unbelievable that we could get the funds to do that. But most of that
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was done with as efficiently as possible.
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Nobody can build a station cheaper than Catholic Spirit Radio.
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And it's through eBay and through other sources that I'm able to source through
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being in the engineering community.
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I can find equipment that nobody would maybe want or use, but we repurpose it
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and we get on the air and it works out. Well, it's a fascinating story so far.
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You went from an idea many years ago to one station, to two,
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to three, to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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And then to finish it, there's one more. Rockford, Illinois,
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in the center of Rockford, we were very blessed with a translator,
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a company that sold us a translator in Rockford.
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For anybody that doesn't know what a translator is, it repeats the signal.
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It's on 94.5 in the center of Rockford.
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We got it for like $20,000, $25,000.
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So you expanded your coverage then? We expanded our coverage.
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It's a great signal, and it's worth $250,000.
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But we were blessed with that. That was just laid into our lap by the Lord.
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Now, we've talked, John, about all of the vision and the voice that you heard
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and getting started, but you don't do it alone.
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You need great people. And I've got great people in the studio today.
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These are the two people—.
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They were the first local programming that you had.
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If someone tunes into their show on the weekends, they can get great advice.
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I just kind of call it grandfatherly and grandmotherly advice.
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I hope that doesn't offend Bob and Lynn Johnston of being Catholic.
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It plays every weekend, every Saturday and Sunday.
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You have such a great program. And I don't even know, how did that even start, John?
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How did you run into these? Well, like I said, when we were on the first station
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and we needed to upgrade, we needed an antenna,
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I needed a transmitter, and we had time. We had a certain amount of time we
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had to build it. I had no idea how that was going to happen.
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Bob and Lynn, they can tell the story on how we met and how it all started.
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Let's hear how they threw it into gear. It was a very cold end of January,
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beginning of February. Right.
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Dark, icy, windy.
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You paint a picture of us as a dynamic. We were a couple of cold, wet stragglers.
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Well, you have a warm broadcast every weekend. How did this even come about?
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How do you two and John meet?
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Well, we were teaching RCIA at that time, my wife and I, back at that time. And what is RCIA?
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It's Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. Okay. And now it's called OCIA,
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Order of Christian Initiations for Adults.
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But back then it was called RCIA, the Right of Christian Initiations.
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And at any rate, John, we had a meeting.
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I'll just cut to the chase. We had a meeting at a jewelry store here in Normal.
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And one of the people that we knew that Lynn had a Bible study with and so forth
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and a little group and so forth with was very interested in radio,
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Catholic radio and so forth.
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So she arranged for a meeting at her son's jewelry store.
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Did you know John had a station at this time? Yes, we did, but very, very distantly.
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We didn't really know much about anything at all.
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Anyway, the upshot of it was the meeting turned out to be on a very cold,
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bleat, miserable February night.
25:15
Ten inches of snow, it seemed like, about on the ground and about ten above zero. Yeah.
25:20
God doesn't make it easy, does he? So we went to the meeting and it seems to
25:25
me, John, we were talking about like the station out at Ellsworth.
25:31
And it was like talking around $80,000 or $100,000 or something like that. Was that the figures?
25:37
It just seems in my head it was a figure beyond our reach. Yes, probably.
25:42
And I don't know, you know, what happened, but I went away from the meeting
25:46
thinking, this will never happen.
25:48
But then it turned out that we talked about it a little bit in RCIA,
25:53
and we had a person interested very much in spreading, you know,
25:59
Catholicism and so forth in there who was able to donate quite a bit.
26:04
And he was willing to make a pretty good donation, and it sort of went from there.
26:09
Well, that had to feel good. And then John, I think, got that price down.
26:12
I mean, he did things that were incredible.
26:15
We literally went with the cheapest antenna that happened to be manufactured in Italy. Okay.
26:22
But the cheapest antenna that we could find, it's still serving us to this day.
26:25
Really? But yes, we were able to find one that fit within the donation amount,
26:33
pretty much. That is amazing.
26:35
And Lynn, did you keep these two guys in line during that meeting? Of course. Okay.
26:41
That's my job. Okay. I'm just checking here. Well, how does it get to,
26:45
then you become friends, and then how do you go, John?
26:51
Have you two had any broadcast experience before?
26:54
No. Okay. John, how do you go? You don't want it. You two might be great on
26:58
there. I don't remember. Okay.
27:02
I remember. Oh, let's hear it. Let's hear it. The first show,
27:06
the first few shows that I did, I wrote everything down.
27:09
I'm not kidding. I wrote it all down on paper, and I was pretty well almost
27:12
reading everything. And then one day I got here, and somehow or another I had
27:19
the show all written down.
27:22
But I had, like, the first two papers, and I had about six or eight papers,
27:26
and the rest of them were gone. I was looking all over.
27:29
I didn't have anything. I didn't know what to do.
27:33
So I fudged, and I got through it. We've all been there.
27:37
And then it just went from there. The first shows, if I remember right,
27:42
were initially 30 minutes.
27:44
Yeah, they were 30 minutes. 30 minutes. I don't know when we transitioned to
27:46
an hour, but it wasn't long. No. It didn't take long. No.
27:50
Well, Bob's got a background in speech.
27:53
Yeah, you guys really carry yourselves well on air, and it's well produced,
27:58
and that's why I wondered, without any broadcast experience,
28:01
it must be that you had to write everything down.
28:04
Do you now, when you do your shows, do you talk about what subject we're going
28:08
to do this week, or do you have like bullet points or something and just go
28:11
for it, or is it written out still? No, I mean, I know what I'm going to do,
28:14
you know, and I have the subject and so forth.
28:16
And a lot of times I read from articles a lot anymore, but I just put bullet points down. Okay.
28:23
And so that I can look and glance at what I'm going to do and go that way. It's a lot easier.
28:29
Yeah, yeah. And now you two are the beginning of the expansion of local programming then, right, John?
28:36
This was it. This was the first shot into this. And what did you think at first
28:41
when, you know, when you heard Bob and Lynn and did you did you have any suggestions or did you did you?
28:48
I just I think I remember just putting together the intro and outro and Bob
28:53
came in with the programming and it was wonderful. Yeah. And I thought, wow.
28:59
That's what I thought. I was thinking it's almost like divine. Yes, absolutely.
29:05
Everything about Catholic Spirit Radio is really divine. There's nothing that
29:09
really makes, it doesn't, you couldn't do it any other way.
29:14
Yeah, it's all. God has his hand in all of that. People are pointing people
29:17
in this direction. Every day. Oh, I can just imagine.
29:20
I would agree because when I first did it, I would leave the station and I would
29:25
think, oh my God, that was awful.
29:28
And then I would go home and listen. I do that every week, so don't feel bad.
29:31
I would go home and listen. That never goes away.
29:32
I would go home and listen to it, and I think, well, it wasn't too bad.
29:36
No, no, it's great, yeah.
29:37
And so that boosted me a little bit, and I went from there. I think people are listening.
29:43
When they tune in, they want to feel good.
29:47
They want good advice. They want to feel uplifted, and you have that in your
29:53
program on weekends. And I do want to get in also, then we did a lot of work,
29:58
didn't we, John? A lot of money raising.
30:00
I mean, we went out to a lot of the churches all around, you know,
30:05
in the diocese and appealed to, you know, what I would appeal was the chicken and the egg.
30:13
And another lady and I worked together.
30:16
Her name was Julia Thornton at the very beginning. and then she got married,
30:22
and I think her name became Julia Reintahler. Yep.
30:25
And she had spent some time in Washington, D.C., working with one of the congressmen
30:29
there and had been out of the church for a while and then sort of came back into it.
30:33
And I think she was influenced by Catholic radio in that area there somewhere.
30:38
Oh, okay. And so she was very, very strongly, you know, in favor of having the,
30:43
you know, Catholic radio. Wanted to help out.
30:45
And she volunteered to help out. And we would go to various churches and to
30:50
a lot of Knights of Columbus chapters and talk about
30:55
And we would present it. I would do sort of like the tech hard,
30:59
more presentation, apologetics and so forth.
31:02
And she would tell her story about how she was converted back into the church
31:07
and more of a soft approach than mine. And it worked out very well.
31:15
So it grew little by little. First of all, the stations grew. The stations grew.
31:18
And really the whole story behind all of this is we had a group, ultimately.
31:28
A lady by the name of Beth was sort of in charge of, she was the station manager, I would say.
31:35
She took care of everything and helped get all this situated.
31:41
And she was a sales, radio sales lady.
31:45
And she wasn't Catholic. But she had volunteered Great Plains Media,
31:50
who we operate from their building and have with their blessing and generosity
31:57
throughout our 15 years here.
32:00
They allowed us to exist. At first, we existed as nothing.
32:04
And then they allowed us, with the owner's blessing, to exist under my desk upstairs. Yes.
32:11
In a closet. In a closet. Yeah, yeah. Right. Oh, I remember that. Yeah.
32:16
I mean, we were in a closet. I forgot about that almost.
32:19
And we upgraded from that little space into, I guess, the closet got a little bit bigger.
32:24
And that's when Ann came along and Beth had handed the reins over to Ann.
32:30
And it was a little bit bigger closet, but it was like a room,
32:32
a room with a desk. And that was it.
32:35
And it wasn't, I don't know if it was 10 by 10.
32:38
I don't even think it was 10 by 10. Speaking of Ann, Ann Weber is right next to you.
32:42
Ann, can we introduce you now or do you want to wait till the next?
32:45
Sure, no, that's fine. What are you thinking so far as you celebrate 15 years
32:49
of broadcasting on this incredible network? It is incredible.
32:53
Amazing. Just amazing. I cannot believe the growth. You know,
32:55
I walked in the doors to say, do you need a volunteer?
32:58
And I never, ever, ever dreamed that this would become what it is. She made the mistake.
33:05
Well, the studio is amazing. The studio, this is, I've been in broadcasting
33:10
studios throughout my career, and this is one of the best broadcasting studios
33:14
I've ever been in. I wonder why.
33:17
Could it be God or is it John? It's God. It's God.
33:21
Because everything you see in this studio is used equipment,
33:24
and God has made it all come together.
33:27
And our earliest, and Ann has them written down here as Think Tank people,
33:30
but we had a lot of people with Great Plains Media that helped us design stuff,
33:35
helped us design our original logo.
33:37
We had Billy Mack, Caitlin Christakos, who did all that for Great Plains and
33:45
helped us with the literature and spreading the word and helped Beth.
33:49
And then we had Megan Zimmer from upstairs, who her dad owned the company.
33:56
Oh, wow. She gave us approval. And these people, I remind you,
34:00
are not Catholic or minimal or not practicing. We had Cody Welland,
34:06
who was a sales manager upstairs, and of course, Beth.
34:09
Can we say your last name? Beth Agnew. There you go.
34:12
Then we had my good buddy, Fistbump, who would—and that was his sort of nickname,
34:18
Josh McGall, who would help Bob.
34:21
Sometimes I think he would go out. Yeah, he'd go with Bob. Wow.
34:24
Fistbump would go with me. So there was a group from the radio station upstairs,
34:29
and most of these people were not religious that God had used to—,
34:35
to do this. Wow. And my show, my show being, you know, our show,
34:39
I should say, Lynn and I, I started by myself on the show and then Lynn came
34:43
with me shortly thereafter.
34:45
But the thing is, the name of the show, Being Catholic, that was Beth.
34:49
She named it, well, she had to come up with a name while we weren't here or I wasn't here.
34:56
And then she asked me and she said, you can change it if you want to, but here's what I did.
35:01
And she told me the name and I said, that sounds like a pretty good name.
35:04
And I said, let's just, keep it. It's an incredible name.
35:06
I just want to tell everybody out there, you're listening to Catholic Conversations
35:09
on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
35:11
We're talking about the 15th anniversary of this radio miracle.
35:15
We'll have more of this phenomenal journey after the break, but first,
35:18
here is a special word from another one of our amazing bishops.
35:22
Hello, this is Bishop Thomas John Paprocki from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
35:27
Happy 15th anniversary to the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
35:30
We're very glad that you reach the Springfield Diocese with your broadcast network.
35:35
Thank you for all you do on air, online, and in our communities.
35:39
May God abundantly bless you, your listeners, and your radio ministry as you
35:44
continue to grow and share the Catholic faith.
35:46
You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
35:50
Monday, March 9th is Catholic Spirit Radio's 15th anniversary.
35:53
Celebrate with us by stopping by the radio station at 108 Boykins Place in Normal
35:57
for a slice of anniversary cake.
35:59
9 to 5, Monday, March 9th. Thanks for your support and prayers for 15 years.
36:04
Did you know there's an app for Catholic Spirit Radio? Listeners with phones,
36:08
tablets, and other devices can tune into our programs and podcasts anytime.
36:11
Just go to the Google Play or Apple App Store to download the app Catholic Spirit Talk Radio.
36:16
It's free. Get all the quality programs you know and love. Monday,
36:19
March 9th is Catholic Spirit Radio's 15th anniversary.
36:23
Celebrate with us by stopping by the radio station at 108 Boykins Place in Normal
36:26
for a slice of anniversary cake. 9 to 5, Monday, March 9th.
36:30
Thanks for your support and prayers for 15 years.
36:40
Welcome back to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
36:44
I'm Stan Ketzig. Before the break, we were talking about the 15th anniversary
36:47
of Catholic Spirit Radio.
36:49
We heard a very special message from one of our bishops, and we thank him for that.
36:54
John Hall, the founder of Catholic Spirit Radio, is sitting here.
36:58
Ann Weber, who I don't know how many hats she wears. everything that goes on
37:02
behind the scenes and is there.
37:04
We have Being Catholics hosts, the amazing Bob and Lynn Johnston.
37:11
And they're giggling, but you really are.
37:13
And everybody that's involved with this radio station has been amazing because
37:18
without every person that's ever walked through the doors or helped out,
37:23
including our listeners who pray for us and support us, they are amazing.
37:27
And John, do you have more amazing people you want to talk about on this journey
37:30
that have helped you along the way?
37:31
I mean, there's so many, and I'm afraid I forget to mention everybody,
37:37
but Beth, we mentioned Beth, Julie Reintahler, who, you know, appeared.
37:43
And I went back and we looked.
37:45
I was talking to Bob over the weekend. I figured out how exactly she got involved
37:49
because I didn't remember.
37:52
It's quite a story. And Ross? Ross, Ross Carter.
37:58
This, for me, started in her living room. We belong to the same prayer room. Okay. Okay.
38:06
And got to talking about, wouldn't it be nice to have Mother Angelica's radio station locally?
38:14
Oh, you guys couldn't hear it back then. And there was no internet.
38:17
It's not like you could tune in. Well, no. Mm-hmm.
38:20
I mean, the internet wasn't like it is now where you get every message.
38:22
Well, yeah, there was an internet, but we did not use it anyway.
38:26
So, you know, we're of that generation. I hear you.
38:32
Anyhow, we got to talking about it, and a group of us were there,
38:38
and Rod said, well, we knew Alan Drake. Mm-hmm.
38:43
Alan Drake from El Paso, Illinois, had a station that we broadcast of. Okay.
38:51
Mother Angelica's station. In Peoria. In Peoria. So she says,
38:56
maybe we could get a hold of him.
38:59
Okay, so he came and talked to us. You know, and he's talking about,
39:03
oh, well, you know, you need about $250,000.
39:08
And we go, really?
39:11
Well, this is not going to happen. And then Rod says, well, you know,
39:17
she said, I'll talk to my son. He took over.
39:21
He runs Jack Lewis Jewelers here in town. Johnny, her young son, John Leo.
39:26
And she talked to Johnny, and then Johnny said he knew of John Hall,
39:34
who was wanting to get a radio station going, a Catholic radio station.
39:41
So, he set up a meeting.
39:45
Jewelry store that's what you talked about at the beginning so those channels
39:49
all opened up that's how it all came about yeah now see this is a mother angelica
39:55
miracle yeah well absolutely.
39:58
Yeah yeah i mean you know and we live that miracle again and again every every
40:04
it keeps mother has brought i truly believe everything here and she continually
40:11
does it well you have There's 16 radio stations right now.
40:15
Where do you see this going in the future, John? Any big announcements to make or anything?
40:20
Well, radio station-wise, there's going to be another window coming soon for translators.
40:25
So we're going to be applying in markets where we're not.
40:28
They're smaller radio stations that basically cover a city.
40:32
And we're going to apply for a bunch of those, God willing.
40:35
And hopefully, maybe we'll win a few of those and be able to build a few more
40:39
stations. But you never know. We're always looking for stations.
40:43
We're always open to two more, but we, you know, it's all dependent upon our listeners.
40:49
Our listeners bless us with the finances to make all this happen.
40:53
And yeah, so that's one part of it. We're also at this point looking to,
40:58
we've had a wonderful opportunity to be able to,
41:02
to basically be where we're at at our current location, rent-free,
41:08
more or less, for 15 years.
41:10
But now we have an opportunity that is almost, we can't really pass up.
41:15
We have an opportunity to buy our location.
41:17
You're going to buy this building? We are doing our best. Wow.
41:23
That's amazing.
41:25
Angelica. The Lord has made that a possibility.
41:29
Wow. Open that up as a possibility. And that's what we're working on right now.
41:34
Wow. The doors keep opening ever since 15 years ago when you looked at your
41:40
friend Morgan and you and Morgan put that first low power station on the air.
41:46
The doors just keep opening. God keeps blessing.
41:49
Us and you and everybody here today, including we just have another.
41:54
Do we want to say hello to another guest that just walked into the studio?
41:58
I'd like to say hi to Kathy, Kathy Fulton.
42:01
Last name Fulton Sheen, or is it just Fulton? I wish.
42:07
And Kathy, tell everybody what you do here at this radio station.
42:11
I just help in the office. That's what I get to do. Let's just say she does amazing help.
42:17
Without Kathy, we're just so thrilled.
42:19
Kathy also serves as our board members. And Stan, maybe it's a good idea that
42:23
we mentioned the current board members. Yeah, could you do that for us? Yeah, so Kathy is one.
42:28
Also, Marty Dawson, David Lau, Tony Pecora, Father David Sable.
42:34
Shirley Slitztoser, Jim Tabor.
42:37
And we also have Jerry LaPiccolo, who is deceased.
42:41
But he told me before he died that he would continue to attend each of our board meetings.
42:46
So we count him as a current one. And we have some past ones.
42:50
I'm just going to throw them out as well. Of course, we talked about Beth and Julian.
42:53
And Bob and Lynn were board members. Deb Lesser, Michael Vogel,
42:57
Joe Blaney, Jennifer Pinter, Carolyn and Carl Wenning, Father John Horton,
43:03
Judy Weber-Jones, Deacon Al Lundy, and Pam Elliott.
43:07
Wow. Now, Deacon Al has a radio show on the weekends, too.
43:11
Yes, he does. Anybody else that does shows on the weekends we need to mention
43:14
or anything that you want to make sure that— You do, Stan.
43:18
You do. Well, David and I do do Catholic Conversations. Catholic Conversations, yes.
43:23
And those are the ones that are broadcast right out of this particular studio.
43:27
We have two other ones that are doing it far away, different remote locations,
43:33
and they do them. And they're also heard on other radio stations as well.
43:37
Now, we are airing this on the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday.
43:43
But we have an opportunity for anybody listening right now,
43:47
to write down our address and come visit us for the big anniversary.
43:51
John was saying, what is going on this?
43:53
John, I'm going to let you announce it because Anne was going,
43:56
wait a minute, wait a minute. Go ahead, John. Anne keeps covering my mouth.
44:00
What are we having on the actual anniversary, on the 15th anniversary of Catholic
44:05
Spirit Radio, John? What goes on? I'm going to Anne announce it.
44:09
I've got a question. Anne, have you told him yet?
44:13
Yeah, he knows. He knows. He keeps renaming it, though. So on Monday,
44:17
it's this Monday, March 9th, 2026, will be our actual 15th anniversary.
44:24
And so we made it this far.
44:28
Thank you, Lord. And what we're doing on Monday, this Monday,
44:31
from 9 o'clock in the morning till 5 at night, we might even be here a little bit later.
44:36
So you come to our door, and we're having a slice of cake day.
44:40
So stop by for a slice of anniversary cake. If you haven't seen the station,
44:44
we'll show you the station. Did you say take a tour?
44:46
Did you say? No, I didn't say. I didn't say. We are having Slice the Cake Day,
44:51
and you'll get to meet anybody who happens to be here. That sort of sounds like an...
44:55
Open house. Well, what's an open house?
44:59
An open house is... Stopping for some cake. Yeah, stopping in for a slice of
45:02
cake and a tour of the station. And they could have some water, maybe a coffee.
45:06
Yes, and we have some coffee tea because Rich Staley, one of our business sponsor
45:11
manager, he has a wonderful little coffee display that he has in our studio.
45:16
And thinking of that, we do want to thank Bob. Bob also sells radio spots for
45:21
us, and so does Carolyn Wenning.
45:22
Unbelievable. So we're happy for those type of volunteers. And we are,
45:26
yeah, we're always looking for volunteers. So when you come for your cake,
45:28
if you want to volunteer, we'll write your name down. And trust me, we will use you.
45:33
So between 9 and 5, just stop in.
45:37
You'll see us. 108 Boykin's Place in Normal. You just come to the door,
45:41
ring the doorbell if it's not already open, and we'll set you up with a big
45:45
whopping piece of cake. I just ordered it today, so it's going to be yummy.
45:49
If you're wondering how to get here, it's within walking distance of Portillo's.
45:52
It's not necessarily that easy to find, but if you put in the address on your
45:57
GPS, it'll get you right here. And Wendy's is there. Kroger's is there.
46:01
And the biggest, most beautiful rosary is lit up right on the building on the
46:05
outside. Right. On the north side is the door. Yeah.
46:09
The building. So that's our, you know, that's our big celebration is on Monday. Yes, on Monday.
46:14
But we're going to be, we decided, we're celebrating all year. All year.
46:17
All year long. I mean, how often do you get to 15?
46:20
So we're going to celebrate all year long. So our Carathon, which is April 7th
46:24
through 10th, we are going to be recognizing people who make positive differences.
46:27
I can't give out the theme at this time, but we're going to be recognizing people
46:33
like we're recognizing 15 years here at Catholic Spirit Radio.
46:36
And of course, we'll have Fall Appeal and we'll be able to talk about our 15th year as well then.
46:40
We're going to have outdoor rosary events and we'll be tying in special connections
46:44
to our 15th anniversary there.
46:46
But on May 14th, a biggie, a biggie, we're having a gala. A gala, John.
46:53
Is that like an open house? No, it's bigger than an open house.
46:59
And it's going to include dinner, cocktails, a live auction,
47:02
and somebody very special is coming in to be our presenter.
47:06
And that's Dr. Ray Garendi. And so watch your emails and your bulletins for
47:12
details on this, because it will be a big fancy to-do.
47:15
So we want you all to come, and it's going to be really neat.
47:20
We have four amazing women who are in charge of this, and watch for that in May.
47:25
And then in August, in August 10th through 12th, we're going on an anniversary tour.
47:32
And we're going to the Wisconsin area, where we'll be visiting two basilicas,
47:36
four national shrines, getting a plenary indulgence.
47:40
And in fact, with all the bathroom breaks involved, we'll be stopping at 15 different places.
47:46
Right, Kathy? Kathy's in charge of that.
47:51
So several other things are in the works, including a possible really cool,
47:56
cool raffle, but I'd lose my job as a volunteer if I discussed any of those details. So just keep,
48:02
Just keep your ears peeled to your emails. If you don't have your email address,
48:05
get that to us right away.
48:07
Keep watching your emails. Listen, of course, on the radio, we'll announce things,
48:11
and also Facebook. So we have a year of fun.
48:15
Any other great things that you might have planned that we don't know about
48:18
that you're, you know, that...
48:21
Like, is there a goal? John, is the voice, is the voice talking to you?
48:25
Is God saying, John, this is where we're going next?
48:27
Oh, he talked into Anne. He's talking to Anne.
48:31
No, God always wants us to expand.
48:35
And that's what we try to do as efficiently as possible.
48:39
And speaking of Anne, without Anne, this would be chaos.
48:43
Anne came here. She, I think, had sent an email to Beth at the time who was
48:48
working here. and Anne had an idea, and Beth said, well, why don't you come here and help?
48:53
And Anne, I think he eventually acquiesced to Beth and came.
48:58
And Beth handed me my to-do list, and I started my fifth-grade teacher voice,
49:02
and we got things moving and grooving, I guess, right? That's absolutely right.
49:05
Hey, it's been wonderful.
49:06
I mean, if I wanted to talk about a place to volunteer, learn not only a different
49:13
world, the radio world, but I learned a lot about my faith just by hanging out
49:17
with all of these wonderful people and just listening to the station more often.
49:22
You know, anytime you tune into this radio station, you feel something uplifting.
49:26
And I just want to say to anybody that visits us on the 9th of March,
49:31
when you can come in for the open house, sorry, for cake and for coffee,
49:37
there is a spirit that you feel when you walk through the doors here.
49:41
It is a very reverent spirit that I've only felt a couple of places.
49:45
So you have really, there must be a lot of prayer going on in here.
49:49
And can you talk a little bit about the Fulton Sheen Chapel that you have?
49:52
You actually have a chapel in the radio station here.
49:54
Yes, it's not a chapel, but it is a prayer room.
49:57
A prayer room, okay. And some generous, two generous donors gave us money and
50:02
created it for us so that we would have a spot, yeah, we'd have a spot for prayer
50:06
and reflection. And we use it, the.
50:09
Stairs radio station, people come down and use it. Wow.
50:12
And anybody coming by who just needs a quiet time or a small group that wants
50:17
to meet over prayer, they're welcome to use it as well.
50:20
Are you planning any more of the outdoor rosaries?
50:23
I always got a kick out of that. It sounded so fun with the root beer floats
50:27
and stuff. That's beautiful. Yes, we do.
50:30
Family-oriented. Every May and every October we do. Okay.
50:34
Anything else you'd like to add before we go as we celebrate this 15 years?
50:37
I just, I think it's absolutely amazing. Does anybody have anything?
50:41
Bob, Lynn? I think our rule of faith here is pretty much like Mother Angelica's rule of faith.
50:50
We have one foot in the air, and we don't know where it's going to come down next.
50:55
Well, when you think about the Mother Angelica story, if anybody knows that,
50:59
where it's almost crazy that she got the, you know, the EWTN network.
51:04
The way that all came about is just kind of like you, John, in a way.
51:09
And I know you're a very humble man, and you don't want to take any credit for
51:14
it, but you've turned every screw in here and put this entire thing together.
51:18
And without you, it wouldn't have happened. Without all the volunteers, none of this happens.
51:24
Without the listeners, this doesn't happen. We've got to thank the listeners.
51:27
Oh, my. Without them, wow.
51:29
You know what I'm saying? Yes. You would not believe the times that we're down
51:32
and out, and we'll get a phone call from somebody with an uplifting story.
51:35
Or we'll say, hi, we don't have enough funds for this, and we'd really like
51:40
that. And suddenly we have donations that are coming in the mail.
51:43
It's crazy. Or somebody's stopping at the door, ringing the doorbell,
51:46
and Kathy's going to answer it. And here we go.
51:49
Look what they gave us, Ann. I mean, our listeners are a gift, a gift.
51:54
It's amazing. And every time that they donate, every time they say a prayer
51:57
for this, they're gifting other people.
52:00
Yes. People driving across the roads that happen to tune in,
52:04
people who are homebound and can't get out.
52:07
This is their community. Exactly.
52:10
Whether you're an early Catholic or a longtime veteran Catholic,
52:15
we try to meet you at every single level.
52:17
And so we thank, without our listeners, without our supporters,
52:20
without our prayers, we couldn't do it.
52:23
Absolutely. We appreciate you, the listener, for partnering with us for 15 years on this mission.
52:28
You have partnered with us, as Anne said, by praying with us and by supporting us with your donations.
52:34
Actually, you partner with us every time you tune in and tell somebody about the station.
52:38
We're in 16 markets throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. We're heard on the Internet
52:42
throughout catholicspiritradio.com.
52:44
And you can also download the app and listen on your iPhone or Android.
52:49
Siri can hook you up. I don't know how any of that works. But I guess you just
52:52
say, Siri, put on Catholic Spirit Radio, and all of a sudden it pops on.
52:56
We have great, great listeners. We have great people in the studio today,
52:59
Bob and Lynn Johnston, Ann Weber, John Hall.
53:03
I'm Stan Ketzig. And as we go out, we have a very special person that's going
53:10
to lead us in prayer. Her name is Kathy Fulton.
53:12
And Kathy, you are going to be on the tours that go along.
53:16
Yes, I'm very excited about that. Well, thank you for all that you do.
53:20
God bless you for your spirit, and if you'll bless us now with a closing prayer,
53:24
and just thank you. Yeah, we'll give it a go.
53:28
I'm not Deacon now, but I'll do my best.
53:32
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father,
53:36
we gather today to give you all glory and praise for guiding Catholic Spirit
53:41
Radio through 15 years of proclaiming the good news, 15 years of trusting in
53:47
you, 15 years of bringing souls closer to your Son.
53:51
15 years of saying yes to your call.
53:55
Lord, we thank you for every listener whose heart has been stirred,
53:59
every donor whose generosity has sustained this mission, every volunteer and
54:05
staff member who has labored in faith, and every soul who has encountered Christ
54:10
through these airwaves.
54:13
Grant to Catholic Spirit Radio and to all who listen the courage of Mother Angelica,
54:19
who dared to do the ridiculous so that God could accomplish the miraculous.
54:26
As she began EWTN with just $200 and a garage, teach us to trust not in our
54:33
own resources, but in your divine providence. Give us the fortitude of St.
54:40
Maximilian Kolbe, who took bold risks to carry the gospel into the darkest and most desperate places.
54:47
May we never shrink from proclaiming truth, hope, and mercy wherever you send us.
54:54
Fill us with the charity and zeal of Archbishop Fulton J.
54:59
Sheen, who reminded us that It does not require much time to make a saint.
55:06
It only requires much love.
55:09
May love for you and for souls be the heartbeat of this ministry.
55:15
Holy Spirit, move us with fresh fire and holy boldness.
55:20
Jesus, let your example guide every word spoken and every program aired.
55:27
Holy Father, lead Catholic Spirit Radio forward into the next 15 years with
55:35
deeper faith, greater trust, and abundant fruit.
55:39
May all that is done through this mission be for your glory and for the salvation of souls.
55:46
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
55:49
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you.
55:55
Happy birthday, Catholic Spirit Radio. Happy birthday, Catholic Spirit Radio.
55:59
Fifteen years. Beautiful.
56:01
Greetings, everybody. This is Bishop of Rockford, David Malloy.
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On behalf of all the Catholics in the Diocese of Rockford, I extend our gratitude
56:09
and prayers to Catholic Spirit Radio for broadcasting the good news of our Catholic faith for 15 years.
56:14
We pray this anniversary is just one of many milestones to come for Catholic Spirit Radio.
56:18
God bless you and grant you much support and continued success.
56:22
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