In honor of Good Friday, one of the holiest days on the Christian church calendar, I wanted to do a quick review of how churches in Erie County leverage old and new media to share the Good News.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, appeared weekly on radio and television from the 1930's through the 1960's

Of course, religious messages have utilized media since the dawn of communication. The newspaper usually publishes the Easter and Christmas letters of the local bishops to their faithful. Fiery preachers and novenas were heard daily on local radio, and the word “televangelist” was created for TV messengers.

We’ve written before about the sheer volume of full-time religious radio signals in the Erie market, however religion still plays a small yet important part of the broadcast day on secular stations.

Easily the most viewed local church program on TV is Fully Alive, Sunday mornings at 8:00 on WICU, produced by Erie First Assembly of God. For over two decades, the church has presented the message of their lead pastor, Rev. Jack Risner, and his predecessors with a high-quality, multi-camera production, including music, and sometimes drama and dance. Fully Alive usually wins its time-slot in the Nielsen’s.

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