Supply Side is a series of occasional articles about companies in the radio broadcast supply ecosystem.
Fletcher Pride is owner and executive producer for the Christian News Radio Network.
Radio World: What is the Christian News Radio Network?
Fletcher Pride: Christian News Radio Network is a radio news provider that produces newscasts for a Christian audience. These newscasts cover national and worldwide headlines in an unbiased manner. We currently produce three 3-minute reports daily and plan to add four 1-minute reports in the future.
RW: How is it different from currently available network options?
Pride: Our product has two major differences compared to other options. First, our content is free and fully noncommercial compliant. We believe this is needed because many Christian stations and networks either lack the budget for a paid news service or simply don’t want to spend the money but still want quality news content for their listeners.
Second, we are not branded to a specific network. Two other main options for news in the Christian space are Salem Radio News and American Family Radio News.
Both of these are branded to their parent networks. Stations we spoke with during development of our product expressed worries that carrying these products might confuse listeners about who actually operates the station. This has the potential to hurt support for listener-supported stations.
RW: How did the network come to be created?
Pride: I started the network back at the beginning of April following the abrupt end of World Radio News from World Magazine. They did something similar to what my network is doing and were carried by a radio network I work with. Their closing created a need for this kind of content, so I worked with a few other people to launch this.
RW: Who creates the content?
Pride: Our news director and producer, Jim Miller, creates and produces our content. Jim is an industry veteran who has worked in radio news for over 25 years. He has worked in a number of major markets such as Chicago, St. Louis and Oklahoma City.
RW: Where is the operation based?
Pride: Our network is based in Missouri, though most of our work is remote.
RW: How is content distributed technically?
Pride: We distribute our content via FTP.
RW: What commitment is required by a station to carry the programming?
Pride: We have a standard affiliate agreement that must be signed prior to carriage. After that, you must carry the programming at the times indicated by the station in that contract. The station can drop the program and terminate the contract at any time for any reason, provided we are alerted.
RW: What is your business model?
Pride: Our business model funds our programs through organizations or companies that embed 15-second noncommercial, compliant messages within our newscasts. Our current newscasts lack these messages, but we will be adding them soon.
When we launch our 1-minute newscasts, we will have a shorter announcement to the same effect. These messages are reviewed by a broadcast attorney prior to broadcast to ensure that they are noncommercial compliant.
RW: How many affiliates do you have?
Pride: We currently have between 50 and 75 affiliates. This number is fluid as we are actively signing more stations.
RW: What else should we know?
Pride: You can hear our latest news reports, along with archived reports, at our website.
Stations interested in signing on as an affiliate can email [email protected] or call (573)507-0542. They can also sign up on our website by clicking the “Station Signup” button in the navbar.
We are also looking for companies and organizations interested in sponsoring this program. Any such interested party can contact us via the aforementioned email and phone number.
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