I emailed Sky Angel to express my sadness over AFR no longer being carried. This is what I emailed:
"This is just a quick note to express my sadness of the termination of
the AFR network on Sky Angel. That was one of my favorites with shows
like "The AFA Report". If that wasn't one of the best christian radio
networks around, standing up for what Christians believe in, standing
in the face of secularism, I don't know what is. I pray that this
network returns someday. Thank You."
Sky Angel emailed back within the hour with this reply as to why they are no longer carried:
"Thanks for writing Sky Angel. For more information on AFR go to
www.skyangel.com/AFR
The new channel we're now carrying is much of the same programming on
AFR because AFR carried that programming feed on its network as well;
any other AFR programming is carried on Sky Angel's other
networks--unfortuantely AFR was extremely repetitive to what Sky Angel
already carries.
Regarding "standing up for Christians," while AFR does tackle some
controversial topics, frankly AFR, and specifically Don Wildmon,
refused to promote or even talk about Sky Angel off and on throughout
the nine years we gave AFR free air time (AFR was suppose to promote
Sky Angel in exchange for the free air time contractually and was
chosen over other networks for that reason). I had a major ministry
leader tell me personally that at a meeting that Mr. Wildmon attended
with other Christian leaders several years ago, when Sky Angel came up
as an exciting television solution for Christians, Mr. Wildmon wouldn't
even state out loud that his network was on Sky Angel; the ministry
leader was shocked and disappointed when I told him AFR is carried on
our service and had been for seven years at that time.
That's basically why we are parting ways--the lack of promotion of Sky
Angel by AFR, which they committed to do contractually. We had a phone
conference with AFR a few months ago to try to find a solution and Mr.
Wildmon wouldn't even give us the courtesy of attending the phone
conference. The day after that AFR terminated their station carriage on
Sky Angel. While they made the decision, we were in agreement with it
because of the problems with them not adhering to the promotional
requirements.
I think personally it is extremely sad that AFR and personally Don
Wildmon will not promote the nation's only Christian owned
multi-channel operator and the only satellite/cable service in the
nation doing any family programming, even though he's made his life
work over lobbying the nation for cleaner television. And just so we're
clear, it's not because of the programming content Sky Angel carried
when AFR was added nine years ago or even now-- in fact AFR's general
manager specially told me he does not have Sky Angel in his own home
but a secular television service. Many other Christian and family
groups have endorsed Sky Angel, including Focus on the Family's Family
Research Council and the very respected Parents Television Council; so
other groups do applaud what Sky Angel is doing and are proud to put
their name alongside our name.
While I know that promoting a solution will impact fundraising (a lot
of Christian ministries use the marketing tactic of "fighting" against
something to get people to send in funds), and I am very sensitive to
that, I personally believe that as Christian leaders when a solution
comes along we have a moral responsibility to let Christians know about
it, even if it will affect our pocketbooks. And since television is the
number one influence on our nation's culture, there is nothing more
important than supporting the only television service that is owned and
controlled by Christians and is providing family-friendly programming.
We are actually very excited about this new network, "America's Talk
Satellite Network"; our Christian subscribers tell us they want to be
informed and this network is going to help them know the issues that
are important to Christians. If you liked AFR you're going to love this
station.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Johnson
VP Programming
Sky Angel
I emailed her a thank you for the detailed response and she responded by saying,
"Normally I don't give such a detailed response but because you were so specific I thought it would be helpful to know. AFR executives told us they "can't get into Don Wildmon's head" (a direct quote) about why he won't promote Sky Angel, but there it is."
So, that is Sky Angel's answer as to why they no longer air AFR. BUT, I emailed AFR to get their side of the story. This is the quick note I sent to them:
"Dear AFR,
Yesterday I noticed that AFR is no longer carried on
Sky Angel. Today, I voiced displeasure over this to
Sky Angel because I love the "AFA Report" program and
other programs that are aired on AFR."
I also sent them the reply I got from Sky Angel. THIS is their response and their version of the story as to why you will not find them on Sky Angel anymore:
"Michael,
Thank you for your note. Sky Angel's response seems to me to be very
distorted. The contentious, angry, and vindictive tone may help you to
understand why we had so much trouble coming to an agreement. We ran
regular spots for Sky Angel and promoted them in other ways. I
personally
frequently mentioned Sky Angel in our program Today's Issues as an
excellent
source of Christian programming.
Ms. Johnson's contention that AFR programming was duplicated elsewhere,
and
that we ran the new talk programming on our network indicates ignorance
on
her part about us. Our network programming is exclusive to us. We
have
about 4 hours a day of syndicated programs, Dr. Dobson, Adrian Rogers,
Michael Youssef, and others. Those individual programs may be carried
elsewhere, but Today's Issues and AFA report, as well as AFA News and
our
issues oriented specials are exclusively on AFR. We do not carry the
programming from other networks.
We never had a problem with Sky Angel or telling people about Sky
Angel.
Our problem was with the contentious Ms. Johnson, and from the looks of
her
response to you, that problem continues.
Don Wildmon is not the ogre that she portrays.
We know the people who replaced us on Sky Angel. They are fine people
and
do provide excellent radio. They obviously operated differently than
we do,
but we have respect for them.
Blessings!
Marvin Sanders
There you have it!
