Saunders: Most Christian radio static on story

Saturday, November 4, 2006

As the Ted Haggard story continued to unfold Friday, most Christian-oriented radio stations in Denver basically stayed with regular programming.

Exceptions featured commentary offered by two live talk show hosts: Bob Enyart at 3 p.m. on KLTT (670) and Pastor Gino Geraci, who discussed the controversy during his 4 p.m. show on KRKS-FM (94.7).

Neither host rushed to the defense of Haggard. Both spent time commenting on how Christians around the country would be bothered by all aspects of the story as it continued to unfold.

Enyart called the allegations "devastating," pointing to a survey showing that many Christians and New Life Church members believed that at least part of the charges against Haggard were accurate. He predicted that church officials would try to "sweep the controversy under the rug."

Geraci said he was "sadly examining" all aspects of the story, wondering how Christians would respond.

Both KLTT, owned by Crawford Broadcasting, and KRKS, owned by Salem, feature Focus on the Family programming on a regular basis.

Founder James Dobson provides taped-ahead-of-time commentary on KRKS.

"If Dobson has comments about Haggard, they won't be aired until Monday," said Ryan Kloberdanz, program director of KRKS–FM and KRKS-AM (990).

Many of Denver's nine Christian-oriented stations urged listeners to spend Sunday praying, adding Tuesday's election was "a critical time for Christians."

Early in the afternoon, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) produced stories on its Web site concentrating on the fact that accuser Mike Jones had failed a lie detector test.

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5424