Nashville Catholic Radio

(Nashville Catholic Radio has recently joined the NCCF community and has graciously provided this write-up about the organization, its history, and its growing success in a part of the country where many would think such success was unlikely. Readers will be impressed by its story, its initiative, and its response to the hunger for the Good News. –  Dana Robinson

Catholic Media Productions / Nashville Catholic Radio is a 501C3 organization based at the Catholic Pastoral Center of the Diocese of Nashville, TN. We were established in 1986 to support our original program called “We Believe” which was created by Deacon Jim Walsh and Methodist Minister Dr. Richard Shriver to bridge the gap between Catholic and Protestant beliefs. It was and still is our most popular program. The program ran on a local radio station and subsequently televised and ran on over 20 public access television channels around the country.

In 2016 we launched our Catholic Faith-based radio station, WBOU 100.5 FM in Nashville, to run this program and the programming of Relevant Radio. Over the last 8 years we have developed many more local programs and now run 16 hours a week of self-produced programs. Being a low-power FM station has provided us with many benefits and with our app and streaming options, we can now be heard worldwide via the internet. In addition to We Believe, some of our local programs include Around the Diocese, Parenting Matters, Catholic Mom’s in the Middle, Virgin Most Powerful, Belonging for Young Catholic Adults, Drippy with Jesus, and Faith in Business among others.

In 2020, Catholic Media Productions turned ownership over to the Diocese of Nashville. However, Catholic Media Productions still runs the station. Our growing group of Volunteers handle all facets of operations. Thanks to some super technical staff members, we were even able to repair our transmitter and some other equipment after a direct lightning strike practically destroyed our operation. There is no question, Divine Intervention from our true owner, Jesus Christ saved the day. 

We currently broadcast in English from 5 AM until 8 PM. WBOU runs Hispanic programs from EWTN from 8 PM until 5 AM. Nashville and middle Tennessee’s Hispanic population has exploded over the last 20 years and one of our major goals in the near future is to add local programs in Spanish as well as increase all our local programming.

Thanks to the fact that we have tripled our listenership in 2024, we feel we are “beginning” to fulfill our plan by “Shining the Light of our Catholic Faith” to our fast-growing Catholic community in Middle Tennessee. Our future goals are continuing to grow our local programs in both English and Spanish. We also plan to develop a 24-hour Hispanic offering for this rapidly growing population in our area. Nashville Catholic Radio is seeking out any other frequencies that may come available within our Diocese area to add more radio reach. As all our programming is 100% Catholic faith-based run by an entirely volunteer organization, we pray for continued volunteers to produce new programs, assist us in production, and vastly expand our community outreach. 

Our future is bright and we treasure the relationships we have built, the audience we have gathered, and the new horizons we seek. Since 90% of our funding is self-grown, we are digging in to seek more and new sources to fund our growth. This summer we will be having our first “Writers Night” fundraiser. You can imagine all the talent we are blessed with in the Nashville area being a solid leader in Christian, Country, and other music genres. So obviously, our Team is excited and interested in making it the huge success we need.

If you ever get a chance, tune us in at 100.5 FM (Nashville only), pick up our free app (Nashville Catholic Radio) or pick us up on the web at Nashvillecr.com. We would love to receive your input and any suggestions to improve our programming and community outreach.

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