Salem Communications Corporation

Salem Communications Corporation, a publicly-traded radio broadcasting company, "provides programming targeted at audiences interested in religious and family issues. The Company owns and operates radio stations in large metropolitan markets. Salem also operates Salem Radio Network, a national radio network offering syndicated talk, news, and music programming to affiliated radio stations."

About
Salem Communications Corporation promotes itself as "the leading provider of radio programming, online resources and magazines targeted to the Christian and family themes audience."

Salem Communications states that it currently "owns and operates 95 radio stations nation-wide, with 60 stations located in the top 25 most populated U.S. markets," with the majority of its stations operating "within clusters involving three strategic formats" and its "foundational format ... Christian teaching and talk, featuring well-known speakers such as James Dobson, Janet Parshall, Dr. Charles F. Stanley and Chuck Swindoll."

In April 2006, Salem Communications purchased conservative website Townhall.com.

Propaganda
On February 21, 2005, Sarah Posner, writing for the The Gadflyer, reported that:


 * "And while the mainstream media is asleep at the switch, CNP (Council for National Policy) members' access to conservative media outlets enable them to collaborate and disseminate their propaganda. ...


 * "Another example is that five directors of Salem Communications Company are or have been officers and directors of CNP: Salem's president and CEO, Edward G. Atsinger III; Stuart W. Epperson (host of Truth Talk Live, a radio show broadcast on Salem's radio network); Roland S. Hinz (who is also president of Hi-Favor Broadcasting, LLC, which has purchased radio stations from Salem to implement a Christian format in Spanish); [former Ronald Reagan cabinet member] Donald P. Hodel; and Judge Paul Pressler (a retired Texas judge who has made a career of advocating a conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention). Salem owns over 100 Christian broadcast radio stations, is the provider of Christian programming on XM Satellite Radio, and recently agreed with America Online to provide the only Christian talk radio station on the AOL Radio Network. Last year, Salem was ranked in the top 100 in Fortune Small Business magazine's list of fastest growing small public companies. Salem is the seventh largest owner of radio stations in the country, and while it barely rivals Clear Channel Communications at over 1,200 stations, the combined Christian broadcasting power of Salem and American Family Radio -- a project of the American Family Association -- would rank them fourth, just behind powerhouses" Clear Channel, Cumulus Media (Cumulus Broadcasting), and Citadel Communications Corporation. "Many Republican House and Senate candidates, as well as the Bush/Cheney campaign (Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.), the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Majority Issues Committee, the issue advertising committee formed by [Tom] DeLay, have been the beneficiaries of not only Atsinger's largesse, but that of Salem Communications' political action committee as well."

In a February 28, 2005, follow up, "Salem Communications and the White House" Posner wrote:


 * "So let's recap: Salem Communications, which owns SRN News, is intimately involved with CNP, which for more than two decades has evaded paying federal income taxes by operating as a tax-exempt educational organization but conducting its activities in secret. Had CNP complied with the law, it either would have had to forego its tax exemption or made its activities, speeches, panel discussions, and publications available to the public. But it did not, so the American public helped finance its secret meetings, which included secret meetings with Bush Administration officials. SRN has a correspondent in the White House press pool who partied in the basement with Scott McClellan. All this hardly seems like the makings of an objective reporter."

Jon Rappaport wrote in his November 3, 2004, Populist Party article "Enter, Mr. Blackwell: Was He Bush's Trump Card In Ohio?" that


 * J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State, "controls every aspect of the voting process, from his office. ...


 * What may not be so well known is that "Mr. Blackwell is a member of the national advisory boards of Youth for Christ and was formerly a domestic policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Mr. Blackwell has held the nation's highest security clearance. He is a contributing commentator for Salem Communications, delivering commentaries on Salem's more than 90 [Christian] radio stations nationwide."

Salem Communications Corporation is listed among the many high-profile clients of the Alexander Strategy Group, a "Full Service Lobbying and Public Affairs Firm" with close ties to the Republican Party.

Divisions

 * Salem Radio Network
 * Salem Web Network

Board of Directors

 * Stuart W. Epperson, Chairman of the Board
 * Edward G. Atsinger III, President and CEO
 * Eric H. Halvorson, Director
 * Roland S. Hinz, Director
 * Denny Weinberg, Director
 * Richard A. Riddle, Director
 * David Davenport, Director
 * Judge Paul Pressler, Director

Executive Officers

 * Stuart W. Epperson, Chairman of the Board
 * Edward G. Atsinger III, CEO
 * Eric H. Halvorson, President and Chief Operating Officer
 * Joe D. Davis, President, Radio Division
 * David A.R. Evans, President, New Business Development, Interactive and Publishing
 * Greg R. Anderson, President, Salem Radio Network
 * James R. Cumbee, President, Non-Broadcast Media
 * Evan D. Masyr, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
 * Jonathan L. Block, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Contact details
Salem Communications Corporation 4880 Santa Rosa Road, Suite 300 Camarillo, CA US 93012 Phone: 805 897-0400 Fax: 805 384-4520 URL: http://www.salem.cc/ NASDAQ: SALM [Industry: Services - Broadcasting & Cable TV]

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Salem Radio Network
 * Deseret Management
 * manufactured journalism
 * Richard Land
 * The Bush Theocracy
 * White House correspondents

External articles

 * Salem Communications Corporation Political Action Committee, Congress.org.
 * "Profile of Top 10 Corporate Radio Groups. Radio Broadcast Companies,", Corporate Media Portal: "Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, radio group owners had a limit of 12 stations nationally. Now, there is no limit to their greed and deceptions. ... Many of the big media groups have contributed $5,000 or more so far to the National Association of Broadcasters Political Action Committee (lobbyists). We are attempting to connect the dots between Politics and Corporate Media. It's a vicious cycle, broadcasters contribute soft money to politicians, politicians pass legistlation favorable to Corporate Media's interests, politicians use soft money campaign contributions to wage their wars in the Corporate Media. They in turn make money off the Political advertising, and contribute back to the Political Action Fund."
 * Stuart Epperson, "Law of Unintended FCC Consequences," Washington Dispatch, May 6, 2004.
 * Top 100 Corporate Donors By Percentage, Follow Your Money, as of February 8, 2005. Republicans: Salem Communications Corporation ranked 17th at 98.60%. (broken link).
 * Sarah Posner, "Just who is the Council for National Policy, and why aren't they paying taxes?," The Gadflyer, February 21, 2005.
 * "Social Security Misinformation," Media Matters for America, February 25, 2005: "Salem Radio Network personality Janet Parshall misrepresented the solvency of the Social Security system on Scarborough Country."
 * Sarah Posner, "Connect the Dots," The Gadflyer, February 26, 2005.
 * Mariah Blake, "Stations Of The Cross. How evangelical Christians are creating an alternative universe of faith-based news," Columbia Journalism Review, 2005.