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Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American
radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...
, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in
Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...
(moved most operations to
Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
in early 2021), targeting audiences interested in Christian values and what it describes as "family-themed content and conservative values." In addition to its radio properties, the company owns Salem Radio Network, which syndicates talk, news and music programing to approximately 2,400 affiliates; Salem Media Representatives, a radio advertising company;
Salem Web Network Salem Web Network is a Christian website company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia with offices in Dallas and Nashville. The company is owned and operated by Salem Communications. History Salem Web Network began with the acquisition of On ...
, an Internet provider of Christian content and online streaming with over 100 Christian content and conservative opinion websites; and Salem Publishing, a publisher of Christian themed magazines. Salem owns 117 radio stations in 38 markets, including 60 stations in the top 25 markets and 29 in the top 10, making it tied with Audacy for fifth-largest radio broadcaster. FamilyTalk is a Christian-themed talk format on Sirius XM Radio Channel 131. Additionally, Salem owns conservative websites Townhall.com, RedState, Hot Air, and PJ Media, as well as Twitter aggregator Twitchy. The company was founded by brothers-in-law
Stuart Epperson Stuart W. Epperson is co-founder and chairman of Salem Media Group, and a member and the president (as of 2016) of the conservative Council for National Policy ("CNP"). In 1984 and 1986, Epperson was the Republican nominee for the fifth Congr ...
and Edward G. Atsinger III and, unlike many Christian broadcasters, is a for-profit corporation. This allows it to buy stations in the commercial radio band which are often higher-powered than those of the FM non-commercial band, and to accept commercial advertising.


History

In 1974, Atsinger (chief executive officer] and Epperson (chairman of the board) combined their radio assets to create Salem Communications. Beginning with stations in North Carolina and California, Atsinger and Epperson purchased station properties in Boston, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and other markets, converting them to Christian talk stations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they expanded formats to include
contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
(with most stations under this format branded as "The Fish"), news talk (branded as "The Answer"), Spanish-language Christian content, and business programming. Many of Salem's stations are licensed to subsidiaries, organized by geographical area and media cluster as the company has acquired new stations and their previous licensees. Salem Communications Corp acquired Twitter curation site, Twitchy.com. In January 2014, the Company announced the acquisition of the assets of Eagle Publishing, including
Regnery Publishing Regnery Publishing is a politically conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Henry Regnery in 1947, and is now a division of radio broadcaster Salem Media Group. It is led by President & Publisher Thomas Sp ...
, Human Events, and RedState, as well as sister companies Eagle Financial Publications and Eagle Wellness. On February 23, 2015, Salem Communications changed its name to Salem Media Group. In 2015, Salem Media Group expanded their digital platform with acquisitions of several businesses and assets, including DividendYieldHunter.com, Stockinvestor.com; DividendInvestor.com, a Spanish Bible mobile app, along with its related website and Facebook properties; the DailyBible mobile app; the Daily Bible Devotion mobile app; and also, Bryan Perry's Newsletters. In 2016, Salem Media Group continued to expand by acquiring the websites ChristianConcertAlerts.com, Historyonthenet.com and Authentichistory.com; as well as Mike Turner's line of investment products, including TurnerTrends.com; the Retirement Watch newsletter and website, Retirementwatch.com; and the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
mobile application. Salem Media Group also acquired Mill City Press from Hillcrest Publishing Group, Inc. In July 2017, Salem Media Group merged DividendYieldHunter.com and transferred all content into DividendInvestor.com. In March 2019, political writer Raheem Kassam and lawyer Will Chamberlain purchased '' Human Events'' from Salem Media Group for $300,000. In early 2021, the company moved most operations from the former main operations city of
Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...
to
Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
, the same location of their long-owned radio station KLTY.


Radio stations and licensees

Salem's radio stations are organized into six categories: * Christian talk and teaching, which consists of brokered programming in blocks produced and paid for by local and national ministries (the long-form format makes traditional commercial breaks impossible), with some stations branded as ''The Mission'' or ''The Word''; * Conservative talk, a variant on the
News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
/
Talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...
format, focused around Salem Radio Network's Talk programs (see below). Most of these stations utilize the branding names ''The Answer'' or ''The Patriot''; * Contemporary Christian Music, an FM format with such stations branded as ''The Fish''; * Spanish-language Christian talk and/or music, utilizing the branding ''Radio Luz''; * Business talk, with these stations collectively branded as ''The Wall Street Business Network''; * and a grouping of other stations not in one of those five categories. , Salem's radio stations and licensees (with stations arranged by state and market served) are: Bison Media Inspiration Media, Inc. New Inspiration Broadcasting Co., Inc. Salem Communications Holding Corporation Inspiration Media of Texas, LLC. Reach Satellite Network, Inc. Salem Media of Massachusetts, LLC. Salem Media of Colorado, Inc. Salem Media of Hawaii, Inc. Salem Media of Illinois, LLC. Salem Media of New York, LLC. Salem Media of Ohio, Inc. Salem Media of Oregon, Inc. Salem Media of Texas, Inc. SCA-Palo Alto, LLC.


Salem Radio Network

Salem Radio Network is a
satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a ''broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than ter ...
network serving general market News/Talk stations and Christian-formatted stations through affiliate partnerships serving more than 2,700 radio stations. The five major divisions are SRN Talk, SRN News, Salem Music Network, Salem Media Reps and Vista Media Reps and SRN Satellite Services. * SRN Talk produces general market News/Talk shows featuring nationally syndicated hosts Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Sebastian Gorka,
Brandon Tatum Brandon Orlando Tatum is an American conservative political commentator, former police officer and former college football player. Early life and education Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Tatum was an All-American football player in high school. ...
, and
Charlie Kirk Charles J. Kirk (born 1993) is an American conservative activist and radio talk show host. He founded Turning Point USA with Bill Montgomery in 2012, and has served as its executive director since. He is the CEO of Turning Point Action, Stude ...
. It also produces Christian market programming featuring ''The Eric Metaxas Show''. * SRN News is a news source for conservative and Christian radio serving over 2,000 affiliates, and stations also take newscast branded by Salem's Townhall.com. * The Salem Music Network has three satellite offerings – Contemporary Christian, Praise and Southern Gospel. * Salem Media Reps specializes in Christian, family-themed and conservative media, radio, online, print and mobile. * SRN Satellite Services provides satellite distribution and production services to over 70 organizations and ministries. The satellite feed for Salem's general market programming can be heard on the CRN Digital Talk Radio Networks, on CRN3.


Salem Publishing

Salem's flagship publication, '' CCM Magazine'', was in the Christian music industry for more than 25 years. Salem no longer prints CCM Magazine, but it still exists in an online-only format. Other magazine publications include ''Singing News Magazine'', which discusses happenings involving the
Southern gospel Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as ...
community.Salem Publishing – Salem.cc
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Salem Author Services

Under the umbrella of Salem Author Service are Xulon Press, Mill City Press, and the websites Bookprinting.com, Bookediting.com, Publishgreen.com, and Libertyhill.com. Xulon Press is a
self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...
digital publisher of books targeting a Christian audience. They use print on demand technologies that store books electronically and print them only as they are ordered. Xulon was founded by Christian author and publisher Tom Freiling and was acquired by Salem in 2006.


Salem Español Online

Salem owns a collection of Spanish language sites that provide a variety of Christian and family-friendly resources online. A few of those sites are CristoTarjetas.com; ElsitioCristiano.com; BibliaVida.com and LuzMundial.com.


Political activities

The founders of Salem Communications support various religious causes, and are noted for their role in spreading politically conservative opinion to areas dependent on radio for current events information. In 2005, Epperson was reported in '' Time'' magazine as one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America". In 2004 he co-chaired "Americans of Faith", a religiously based Republican electoral campaign. Both founders have served on the Council for National Policy, a group of conservative influencers, intellectuals, donors, and former elected officials known to feature right-wing extremists as members, and Epperson has served as president of the Council. They gave $100,000 to the Bush presidential reelection campaign and $780,000 to the 2000 "California Defense of Marriage Act" (Proposition 22) ballot measure.


References


External links

* {{authority control 1980s establishments in California Mass media companies established in the 1980s Political organizations based in the United States Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Christian mass media companies Christian websites Mass media companies of the United States Companies based in Ventura County, California Conservative media in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States