EWTN
The Eternal Word Television Network is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock and commercial-free Catholic programming. It is the largest Christian Catholic television network in the United States, and is purported to be "the world's largest religious media network", reaching 425 million people in 160 countries, with 11 networks.
The network was originally founded by Mother Angelica, in 1980 and began broadcasting on 15 August 1981 from a garage studio at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, which Mother Angelica founded in 1962. She hosted her own show, Mother Angelica Live, until health issues led to her retirement in September 2001. As of 2017, Michael P. Warsaw, who is a consultant to the Vatican's Dicastery for Communications, leads EWTN.
In addition to its television network, EWTN owns the National Catholic Register newspaper, which it acquired in January 2011, and Catholic News Agency. The network maintains an online presence through its primary site, EWTN.com, and it has a dedicated commercial site, EWTNReligiousCatalogue.com. EWTN also has a 24-hour radio network, offering Catholic talk and worship programming to about 350 radio stations around the U.S. as well as SiriusXM Satellite Radio and shortwave radio. Some of the schedule is the audio from EWTN television shows and some is original programming for radio listeners.
Regular network programs include a daily Catholic Mass and sometimes in the Tridentine Mass format, the traditionalist Stations of the Cross, a taped daily recitation of the Rosary, and daily and weekly news, discussion, and Catechetical programs for both adults and children. Christmas and Easter programming; the installation Masses of bishops and cardinals; coverage of World Youth Days; and Papal visits, deaths, funerals, conclaves, and elections are also presented. Spanish language broadcasts are available on all platforms. On December 8, 2009, EWTN began broadcasting high-definition television.
The network is overseen by a non-profit board of trustees, with the network's funding provided solely by viewer support and purchases from the network's online store, known as the EWTN Religious Catalouge; the network has no financing from either The Vatican, nor the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or provider retransmission consent.
Development
Mother Angelica made her profession of vows in 1953. In 1962 she established Our Lady of the Angels monastery. During the 1970s, she was an in-demand lecturer and produced pamphlets and audio and video tapes. She had been a guest on local station WBMG, and on shows on the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. After she gave an interview on then-Christian station WCFC in Chicago, she decided she wanted her own network. "I walked in, and it was just a little studio, and I remember standing in the doorway and thinking, 'It doesn't take much to reach the masses'. I just stood there and said to the Lord, 'Lord, I've got to have one of these'".Mother Angelica purchased satellite space and EWTN began broadcasting on August 15, 1981, with four hours of daily programming, which included her own show, Mother Angelica Live, a Sunday Mass, and reruns of older Catholic programs such as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's Life Is Worth Living. The remainder of the time was filled with shows produced by dioceses across the country, shows from Protestant sources which Mother Angelica determined were in concert with Catholic teachings, and children's shows such as Joy Junction and The Sunshine Factory. About one-third of programming time consisted of secular content, such as re-runs of The Bill Cosby Show, public domain films, and cooking and western-themed shows. EWTN eventually increased its broadcast schedule to six hours per day and then to eight hours per day by 1986. Secular content was gradually reduced from 1986 to 1988, and satellite distribution was expanded late in 1987, after which EWTN acquired a far more desirable satellite channel and began broadcasting around the clock. At this point, EWTN began broadcasting the praying of the rosary on a daily basis and added a number of educational shows. In-house production of original programming gradually increased. The Mass became televised daily in 1991 from a chapel on the monastery grounds. Most shows from non-Catholic sources were eliminated and a more theological image gradually developed.
From 1982 to 1994, the network had competition from another Catholic broadcaster, the Catholic Telecommunications Network of America. The network was sponsored by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops which poured $30 million into the venture before it failed.
In 2000, "in the midst of an apostolic visitation by San Juan Archbishop Roberto González Nieves" to investigate Mother Angelica's authority over the station and monastery, Mother Angelica gave control of EWTN to a board of lay people.
As of 2011, the network's chairman of the board and chief executive officer is Michael P. Warsaw.
As of 2019, EWTN programming was available through "more than 6,000 TV affiliates as well as on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire and YouTube". In addition to its Irondale campus, the network maintains a Washington, D.C., facility for its news division, along with a West Coast broadcast facility on the campus of the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.
Other media
Radio
In 1992, EWTN established the largest privately owned shortwave radio station, WEWN. The station broadcasts from Vandiver, Alabama, in the vicinity of greater Birmingham.In 1996, Mother Angelica announced that EWTN would make its radio signal available via satellite to AM and FM stations throughout the United States at no cost.
In 1999, programs included Mother Angelica Live and "Life Is Worth Living" with Fulton J. Sheen. WGSN in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was an affiliate. Current radio programs include Open Line in which callers can have their questions regarding the Catholic Faith answered.
In 2004, EWTN announced an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio, which thereafter merged with XM Satellite Radio to become Sirius XM Satellite Radio. EWTN broadcasts on Channel 130 on Sirius XM.
As of August 2020, EWTN Radio is affiliated with 384 stations in the United States and more than 500 stations globally.
Newspapers
In January 2011, EWTN acquired the National Catholic Register, a newspaper founded in Denver, Colorado, in 1924 as a periodical for local Catholics, and which became a national publication three years later. EWTN officially assumed total control on February 1, 2011. EWTN also owns Catholic News Agency which is a Catholic news service with bureaus across America, Latin America and Europe.News coverage
The EWTN news department produces a daily news service for television and radio, featuring news sources including Vatican Radio. A reflection of its size and influence is that it has 30 staff members covering the Vatican alone, "far outnumbering other English-language media outlets". Tracy Sabol is no longer the lead anchor of the network's nightly news program, EWTN News Nightly, succeeding Lauren Ashburn, who in turn succeeded founding anchor Colleen Carroll Campbell. Veronica Dudo is currently the lead anchor of EWTN News Nightly.It also produces The World Over Live, which reports current events. Journalist and author Raymond Arroyo, who is EWTN's news director, hosts the program. The program is conservative in its political orientation and generally conservative in its religious orientation. Notable guests have included Robert Rector of The Heritage Foundation, author and activist George Weigel, political commentator Laura Ingraham, conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan, and the late columnist and commentator Robert Novak, a Jewish convert to the Catholic Faith.
Finance
While the network has trustees, it does not have shareholders or owners. A majority of the network's funding is from viewer donations about which it advertises 100% viewer supported, which keeps it from advertising secular or non-Catholic programming. Its traditional plea for donations is "Keep us between your gas and electric bill".Mother Angelica developed the fund raising slogan for viewers, "Please keep us between your gas and electric bill!"
History of programming
EWTN was founded by Mother Angelica, PCPA, in 1980 and began broadcasting on August 15, 1981, from a garage studio at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, which Mother Angelica founded in 1962.Mother Angelica hosted her own show, Mother Angelica Live, until suffering a major stroke and other health issues in September 2001. Repeats now air as either the Best of Mother Angelica Live or Mother Angelica Live Classics. From then until her death on Easter Sunday of 2016, she led a cloistered life at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.
In its early history, EWTN broadcast Catholic programming from a great variety of Catholic sources, which ranged from Catholic charismatic programming, such as that of Fr. Michael Manning, to programs focusing on social reform and social justice, such as Christopher Closeup, to doctrinal programs hosted by clergy. The network began broadcasting daily rosary broadcasts in 1987 and daily Mass in 1991.
In the early 1990s, EWTN began producing more of its own programs. This effort marked a conspicuously conservative shift in its overall orientation, with programs on topics of social reform and justice gradually eliminated and replaced by programs on doctrine and programs of dialogue. The shift was apparent in the daily televised Masses, which, in 1992, began incorporating Latin into the liturgy and gradually eliminated contemporary music. Some untelevised Masses are totally in English and some include more contemporary music. On Christmas Eve of 1993, Mother Angelica and the nuns of her order reverted to traditional habits. From 1992 on, the Latin portions of the Mass included the Gloria, introduction of the Gospel readings, the Sanctus, and the remainder of the Mass after the Great Amen, beginning with the Lord's Prayer.
Among its notable weekly programs are The Journey Home and Life on the Rock. The Journey Home, hosted by Marcus Grodi, presents converts to the Catholic Faith. Grodi is a former Presbyterian minister who converted to the Catholic Faith in 1992. Although most guests are former Protestants, former members of non-Christian faiths and former atheists occasionally appear. Life on the Rock is hosted by Rev. Mark Mary, MFVA.
The HD feed first became available to Comcast customers in Richmond, Virginia, and its vicinity on May 11, 2010.
In October 2011, EWTN became available through the Roku streaming player. The player provides six live channels of EWTN at no cost, including English, Spanish, and German languages, thus permitting users to view the channel on their televisions. In addition, select EWTN programs can be viewed through the video on demand option, and a live feed of EWTN Radio is available.
Often, EWTN airs special programming – holiday-specific programs; coverage of the deaths of Supreme Pontiffs; Papal conclaves, Papal elections, inaugurations, and visits; Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Easter Masses; installations of bishops, archbishops, and cardinals; and World Youth Days.
EWTN's top news program, EWTN News Nightly, is hosted by Veronica Dudo and features correspondents Erik Rosales, Owen T. Jensen, Mark Irons and Colm Flynn. It was previously anchored by Lauren Ashburn, who in turn succeeded founding anchor and journalist Colleen Carroll Campbell, and Tracy Sabol.