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Christian radio

>> A New York religious radio station tries to save the souls of wayward Montrealers

by GENEVIÈVE MARSHALL

Are Quebecers religious enough? Not everybody thinks so.

“Less than one per cent of Quebec is [evangelical] Christian. So because of that, it’s almost like a missionary field,” says Teri Billiter. According to him, the lack of religion in the province should make it a target for religious organizations, specifically evangelical groups on the radio.

Billiter is the station manager for WCHP 760 AM, a little religious radio station in Champlain, New York, less than an hour’s drive south of Montreal. WCHP’s on-air gospel lessons are aimed specifically at New York’s neighbours to the north. “Obviously, most ministries want to target anywhere they can reach people that aren’t getting the gospel,” he says. For Billiter, that place is Quebec.

The American station even transmits a few hours every day of French-language programming across the border, in association with Quebec churches such as Nouvelle Vie, a protestant evangelical church located in Longueuil. It has been associated with WCHP for about 12 years, according to Jocelyn Olivier, a representative for the 3,000-member church. “[WCHP] knew that there was a francophone audience that listened to the station, that’s why they offered airtime to a few francophone people, a few francophone ministries and churches,” he says.

Along with Billiter, Olivier is also concerned about the state of religion in the province. “When there are surveys done, in papers or on the radio, as to, ‘Do you believe in God, do you believe in the person of Jesus Christ, in traditional religious values?’, in Quebec, 80 per cent and more of people say yes,” says Olivier, who admits that although the numbers are high, many of these people don’t go to church.

“It’s a little bit paradoxical that people in 2008 still say they believe in God, believe in Jesus, believe in the gospels, believe in the good news, but they don’t seem to be able to find a place to practise their faith,” he says. “The facts are there, churches are empty. If we had something interesting to offer them, I think Quebecers could come back to the Church.”

Bienvenue, Dr. Dobson

WCHP was founded in 1987 in order to get national American religious groups broadcast in Quebec. Because of its prime location near the Canadian border, conservative religious organizations such as Focus on the Family and Back to the Bible quickly began airing programming on WCHP in the hopes that Quebecers would tune in regularly to get their religious fix.

“[The national programs’] dream was to reach Montreal with the gospel. And so when they went to look for licences that were available, they wanted to get one obviously as close to the border as they could,” says Billiter. It would be hard for Billiter to be any closer to the border, as the radio station is mere miles away from Canada, sitting on a desolate piece of land with a huge radio tower looming behind it, blasting the gospel into Quebec. To a passerby, the small blue house WCHP calls home would look almost inconspicuous, but for the battered sign underneath one of the windows that reads “WCHP 760 AM. 25,000 Watts of inspiration. Fulltime Christian Radio.”

Every day, WCHP broadcasts programming from about 7 a.m. to sometime in the late afternoon or early evening (the schedule varies depending on the month). Programming includes The James Dobson Family Minute (“Brought to you by the CLC bookstore”) and Focus on the Family. Even though the station has its own sign-on morning show with local hosts, most programming is syndicated and comes from outside organizations.

Spreading the news from America

So why use an American outlet to reach Quebecers? “There are a lot of people applying to the CRTC for licences and there are just not many available right now,” says a representative for Eagle-Com Marketing, the group that represents Focus on the Family in Canada. “I know there are a few applications for the CRTC right now [from other religious stations] and we’re hopeful that some will be approved.”

Nouvelle Vie’s Olivier reiterates this sentiment. “I think that everything that has to do with shows, not just ours, but with religious shows or stations, I think [the CRTC] has norms. It’s very, very strict, very, very hard to meet the CRTC norms on this issue.”

Back in Champlain, Billiter is bypassing any CRTC laws by airing from the United States. He focuses on reaching Quebec, because, after all, “There are lots and lots of people there that need to hear about Jesus Christ,” he says.