THE PIONEERING JOURNEY OF CHRISTIAN RADIO THROUGH SATELLITE DISTRIBUTION: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE MOODY BROADCASTING NETWORK 1982 – 2002 _______________________________ Presented to the Faculty Liberty University School of Communication _____________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts in Communication Studies by Kornel Gerstner May 2007 ii Copyright by Kornel Gerstner All rights reserved iii THESIS COMMITTEE: Chairman Carl D. Windsor, Ph.D. Reader Michael P. Graves, Ph. D. Reader Harry W. Sova, Ph. D. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .........................................................................viii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................x CHAPTER I: Introduction...................................................................................1 D. L. Moody’s Vision..............................................................................1 WMBI’s beginning..................................................................................4 Education through radio waves...............................................................9 Staying with Audio Broadcasting .........................................................11 CHAPTER II: The Development of Radio.......................................................13 Amplitude Modulation (AM)................................................................14 The Birth of FM.....................................................................................15 The Development of Networking .........................................................17 Satellite ..................................................................................................19 CHAPTER III: Methodology ............................................................................21 CHAPTER IV: MBN and its Administration ...................................................24 Birth of Moody Broadcasting Network ................................................25 MBN – Organization.............................................................................27 Moody Broadcasting Network – Mission Statement [1981] ...............28 Philosophy of Christian Broadcasting ..................................................30 Broadcast Programming Division.........................................................31 Broadcast Stations Division ..................................................................35 Broadcast Development Division .........................................................37 Affiliates....................................................................................38 Distribution................................................................................39 Moody Audio Ministry .............................................................41 Christian Radio Consortium .....................................................41 v CHAPTER V: MBN and the Federal Communications Commission .............43 The Lansman – Milam Petition.............................................................44 The Development of Satellite Distribution...........................................46 ACCU*Watch........................................................................................50 CHAPTER VI: MBN and its Programming .....................................................52 Programming .........................................................................................52 Special Events........................................................................................61 Programming during September 11, 2001............................................62 CHAPTER VII: MBN and its Listeners............................................................63 MBN’s Influence on Listeners..............................................................64 Listeners’ involvement with MBN .......................................................67 Reaching People Nationally..................................................................70 International outreach............................................................................70 CHAPTER VIII: MBN and its Expansion .......................................................72 Affiliates ................................................................................................73 Moody Owned-and-Operated Stations .................................................74 Translators .............................................................................................75 Repeater Station Growth .......................................................................76 Satellators...............................................................................................76 Cable ......................................................................................................77 Satellite ..................................................................................................78 Internet ...................................................................................................78 International...........................................................................................79 CHAPTER IX: MBN and its Influence.............................................................81 Influencing Moody Bible Institute........................................................81 Influencing the Industry ........................................................................84 Influencing the Audience ......................................................................86 Partnering with Other Organizations ....................................................89 CHAPTER X: Conclusion.................................................................................93 APPENDIX........................................................................................................96 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................112 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my appreciation to many people who have helped greatly in the accomplishment of the project. While it is impossible to adequately mention each of them, there are certain ones I wish to mention. My committee members, Professor Carl Windsor, Professor Michael Graves and Professor Harry Sova, have offered insightful and useful comments, encouragement, patience and prayer throughout the project. I am also grateful for the talents of many who helped me complete various stages of my research. The MBN staff at Moody Bible Institute: Phil Shappard and Perry Straw provided various research materials, and allowed me to make copies of them. Dave Woodworth, who responded to my emails and helped me find specific data about MBN’s programs and radio stations. Tom Svoboda, my former boss, who gave me the opportunity to work at MBN, as a satellite operator, and experience the power of Christian radio and MBN’s success first hand. My family: my sister, Andrea Bardwell, who not only prayed for me constantly, but also helped me with every paper and research project, who guided me with her wisdom and experience from the first day of this project. My fiancé, Réka Jobbágy, who believed in me, and respected my time when I needed it, and encouraged me to keep going. My parents, Margit and Károly Gerstner, who have given me not only words of encouragement and prayer, but also financial support when I needed it. vii My friends, Dr. Darlene Graves, Dr. Bill Mullen, Ashley Johnston, Jeff Boettger, Erik Stejanko, Grace Kang, Robin Ringer, Renee Peckham, Zsolt Kulcsar, Istvan Szabo, Janos Lukacs and the Hungarian Baptist Churches in North America that prayed for me, pushed me to my limit, spoke words of encouragement and helped me not to lose focus, but to stay on track. Furthermore, I wish to thank Dr. Carl Windsor for his knowledge and insights of Christian radio, as he guided, directed and continually encouraged me, and for his faith in my abilities to complete the work. Finally, I am humbled by God’s grace that He has given me this opportunity to share what He has done through Moody Broadcasting Network. May He receive all the Glory! viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AM Amplitude Modulation ATS Automatic Transmitter Control CBS Columbia Broadcasting System CD Compact Disc CRC Christian Radio Consortium DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite EAS Emergency Alert Systems FCC Federal Communications Commission FM Frequency Modulation IMS International Media Services MAM Moody Audio Ministry MBI Moody Bible Institute MBN Moody Broadcasting Network MBN-1 Moody Broadcasting Network’s Primary Satellite Feed MBN-2 Moody Broadcasting Network’s Secondary Satellite Feed MIS Moody Institute of Science MTTN Music Through The Night ix NAB National Association of Broadcasters NBC National Broadcasting Company NLT New Living Translation NPR National Public Radio NRB National Religious Broadcasters O&O Owned-and-Operated OL Open Line PTA Prime Time America RCA Radio Corporation of America RM Rule Making SRN Salem Radio Network x ABSTRACT This project is a historical overview of the development of the Moody Broadcasting Network. Moody Broadcasting was the first Christian radio network that developed and used satellite distribution effectively. The project looks at the uniqueness of Moody Broadcasting Network, as part of a greater organization, Moody Bible Institute. During the twenty years, MBN was able to not