The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento has closed on its $1.39 million purchase of KRJY-AM and is making the launch of Radio Santisimo Sacramento 1240 AM (Blessed Sacrament Radio) a big event. Bishop Jaime Soto is presiding over a mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine at 6:00 pm Friday (10/7) before the switch is flipped at 7:00 pm for the bishop to speak the first words on the new station serving Hispanic Catholics.
“This is an important milestone in the history of our diocese. The possibilities here are enormous,” said Monsignor James Murphy. The diocese has embarked on a fund-raising campaign to pay the operating costs and debt service for the new station.
Radio Santisimo Sacramento will include local programming, radio programs in Spanish from the EWTN network and Guadalupe Radio in Los Angeles. Father Salvador Gomez of Our Lady of Guadalupe will help oversee programming, which will include a program normally featuring Bishop Soto.
“We have the best radio programming coming from other sources and also produce our own local programs for youth and families to help strengthen their Catholic faith,” said Father Gomez. KRJY will broadcast 24/7.
RBR-TVBR observation: As more and more mainstream News/Talk programming moves from the AM band to FM, new owners are stepping forward with ideas to make use of the senior band. One is certainly spoken work programming in Spanish and other languages besides English. It shows that there is still demand for AM stations, but makes Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) look foolish with their claim that AM stations now have parity with FM.
