Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) t ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, mainly broadcasting

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

and religious programming involving the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. Relevant Radio operates an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

network and a

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...

network. Its English-language network has 94 owned and operated stations and 75 affiliates, while its Spanish-language network has 7 owned and operated stations. The network originates from studios in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea le ...

, with additional studios in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

;

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

;

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

;

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

; and

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

. The network airs a variety of programming aimed at practicing Catholics, mostly in a listener-interactive talk format. "Morning Air", which the network describes as "a classic drive-time format that combines inspiration & entertainment" was the first program developed by Relevant Radio in 2003. The network now airs almost exclusive programming developed internally, which also is available to stream live or by podcast on a free mobile app.

History

The network was founded by a group of Catholic businessmen, including Bob Atwell and John Cavil (who founded

WJOK WJOK (1050 AM) is a Roman Catholic Christian formatted radio station licensed to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, that serves the Green Bay and Appleton- Oshkosh areas. The station is owned by the Green Bay-based Relevant Radio network. The statio ...

in 2000) and Mark Follett, who had been the owner of Anchor Foods, an Appleton-based distributor of frozen appetizers. Starboard Media Foundation, Inc. bought the license to a radio station in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, that had been carrying all-sports programming, and turned it into an all-Catholic station, saying the call letters stood for "Jesus Our King". The station received its license from the FCC on December 12, 2000, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is the patron saint of Relevant Radio along with Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. On October 13, 2016, Relevant Radio announced that it would merge with Loomis, California-based Immaculate Heart Radio, which owned and operated 36 stations in the western United States at the time of the merger. The merger was completed on July 31, 2017, with all stations being licensed to Immaculate Heart Media, Inc., while Relevant Radio continued as the on-air branding. The corporate name was changed to Relevant Radio, Inc. in February 2020. In 2019, Immaculate Heart Media purchased 13 AM stations and seven translators from

Salem Media Group Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher formerly based in Camarillo, California (moved most operations to Irv ...

. In October 2019, Immaculate Heart purchased the 6 radio stations owned by Northern Michigan-based Baraga Broadcasting, as well as assuming the LMA of affiliate station

WMQU WMQU (1230 AM) is a radio station which previously broadcast a sports format until March 2016 when it became an affiliate of Baraga Radio, a regional Catholic radio network based in Traverse City, Michigan. As of now it is currently affiliated wi ...

, which is currently owned by Blarney Stone Broadcasting. On May 17, 2021, the 5 Spanish-language Relevant Radio stations have switched to the English-language version.

Station list

English language stations

Former Spanish language stations

Sources

* "Catholic network calls Green Bay home", Green Bay News-Chronicle, date uncertain, 2004. (Newspaper now defunct)

References

External links

*
Catholic News Service reports on troubled times at Relevant Radio
{{American broadcast radio American radio networks Christian mass media companies Christian radio stations in the United States Catholic radio stations Companies based in Green Bay, Wisconsin 2000 establishments in Wisconsin Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Relevant Radio stations