Catholic Radio

We have two sons, ages 12 and 11. One of the challenges of listening to the radio, is screening the material to be family oriented. Some of the songs, even my beloved country, are not appropriate for young listeners. If the boys hear a song come on and want the station changed because of the content, it obviously makes them uncomfortable and they should not have been exposed to it. I was surprised at how observant they were with the lyrics of the songs. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way while listening to one of my favorite cds. That was an embarrassing moment, listening to them yell "Change it" and "Turn it off!" and realizing it was mine, not just something we stumbled on while listening to the radio.

As they have gotten older, it is easier to listen to the radio. If the subject matter is not the most appropriate, it gives us a discussion topic. We have had some very interesting talks in the ten minute drive from school to home based on song lyrics.

Lately, however, we haven't had those types of discussions. Sirius and XM Satellite Radio joined each other sometime this past winter. Our Surburban had XM, but XM did not have a Catholic based station that we had ever discovered. With the joining of the two satellite radio providers, we gained the Catholic Channel (XM 117). Greg and Jennifer Willits were personalities I had followed on my Ipod, through their podcast "Rosary Army". Now, they host "The Catholics Next Door." They are people like us, living lives like ours, with children like we have children. I enjoy my fifteen spurts of their show in the morning on the days I have to run errands.

If I have afternoon errands instead, I get to listen to "The Catholic Guy with Lino Rulli." He has a more informal approach to his show, which I will admit was a bit hard for me to get used to in the beginning. Now, however, I will say I enjoy listening to the banter between the personalities, especially on Thursday and Friday afternoons when they have their priest guests.

With Dave's new job, he is now carpooling. His little Grand Am is not as comfortable as my Suburban, so on his weeks to drive, he leaves the Grand Am for me and takes my vehicle. The Grand Am is ten years old and has a regular radio. Today, I realized how much I miss it on the weeks he drives. I hopped in the car to take our youngest to school and I was listening to local news radio. Because of the time of day, I couldn't find anything but news. There were no Willits. Then, this afternoon I had to go to the bank. I hopped back in the car and there was no Lino.

Before today, I hadn't realized how much I looked forward to the brief tidbits of time where I could hear another Catholic perspective on life. There have been times where I have rolled my eyes and times where I almost cried, but there has never been a time listening to Catholic Radio when I did not have to think about what I was hearing. I am thankful for the merger, thankful we are able to have XM Radio, and thankful for the people of the Catholic Channel, from the people who share their talent on air to everyone who makes it possible for it to be heard. I only wish we would have had it sooner. If we had, maybe we would not have had to discover how inappropriate my music choices have been.