L-A Radio: 93 KHJ Returns To English As Catholic Radio

Doug Sherman

Back in the glory days of Top 40 radio, 93 KHJ was the king, home to the latest hits and big audiences, not to mention famed DJs Sam Riddle, Robert W. Morgan and the Real Don Steele.

But now, according to the LA Times, KHJ 930 AM is the latest in a growing number of Catholic-themed religious broadcasters.

Instead of the Beatles and Motown, the station is broadcasting rosaries and Catholic-themed talk shows.

For Catholic radio in America, it is one of the biggest moves yet into a medium evangelists have long dominated. And it underscores how an old technology such as radio still plays an important role in faith in America, according to Jeff Gottlieb at the Times.

About one-fifth of American adults listen to religious radio, about the same percentage who share their religious faith online, according to a study by the Pew Research Center released this month. Despite the digital shift, the study showed little difference between old media and new media when it came to sharing faith.

Protestants, the study showed, tended to listen to religious programming on the radio far more than Catholics, and white evangelicals were more than three times as likely as Catholics to listen to Christian rock.

KHJ is the latest addition to Immaculate Heart Radio, the nonprofit network created by Doug Sherman in 1997.

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The company paid $9.75 million to buy KHJ from a Spanish-language broadcaster. Immaculate Heart will spend about another $300,000 on billboards and other promotions.

KHJ 930 AM (5Kw, DA-Night)Coverage

Sherman, 67, spent two years raising the funds to buy KHJ, and the company is still paying off the bank loans and low-interest loans from donors, whose names Sherman didn't disclose. Its most expensive purchase was a San Francisco station that cost $14 million.