USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - USCCB's Flagship Radio Program Marks Its Fifth Year in Production

USCCB's Flagship Radio Program Marks Its Fifth Year in Production

WASHINGTON, DC (June 10, 2005) -– This month, the award winning Catholic Radio Weekly, a 30-minute program produced by the U.S. bishops' Catholic Communication Campaign, celebrates its fifth year of providing a weekly look at Church news and the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Produced in a magazine-style format, CRW examines the work of the USCCB through interviews with bishops and staff on current issues they are addressing and covers other stories of interest to Catholics. Regular features of the program are provided by several USCCB departments, including Film & Broadcasting, Pro-Life Activities and Catholic News Service's Rome bureau. Other features include Paulist Father Larry Rice's "Facts of Faith" and Franciscan Father Greg Friedman's "Sunday Soundbites."

CCC's Executive Producer for the program, Pat Ryan Garcia, says the success of CRW has led to further expansion of the USCCB's radio efforts.

"Since we began producing Catholic Radio Weekly, the Catholic radio movement has gained momentum," says Garcia. "There are now more than 130 Catholic stations in the United States, and we are helping to fill their need for programming with CRW and four other weekly half-hour programs, American Catholic Radio, Lino at Large, Catholic Bookmarks and Personally Speaking with Msgr. Jim Lisante."

CRW was launched in June 2001 to an initial group of 12 diocesan subscribers. The program is currently used in the radio ministries of 27 Catholic archdioceses and dioceses, and is carried by two Catholic radio networks (Relevant Radio and Ave Maria Radio) that together serve more than 30 stations. CRW is also carried by an additional 25 independent secular and religious stations across the United States and current and past episodes can be heard on the Internet at http://www.usccb.org/ccc/catholicradio.shtml.

CRW was honored with an Award of Merit in the 2005 Religion Communicators Council DeRose-Hinkhouse competition and a 2001 Communicator Crystal Award for a special program reflecting on the events of September 11, 2001.

Co-hosts Johnny Holliday and Carol Lehan have been with CRW since its beginnings.

Johnny Holliday is a broadcasting legend who began his career as a rock-and-roll deejay at Cleveland's WHK. For more than 20 years, his daily sports reports have been heard on the ABC Radio Networks and he has been the voice of the University of Maryland basketball and football teams since 1979.

Carole Graham Lehan is Performing Arts Director at Glenelg Country School in Howard County, Maryland, and Program Director for the Cappies (an awards program for high school theatrical productions) of Baltimore. She is also an accomplished actress and voice-over talent who is known to many Catholics as the host of "Sunday to Sunday," the video bible study program produced and distributed by Paulist Media Works. She has been nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards (Washington, D.C.'s local "Tonys") in acting, directing, and playwriting.

Frank Morock, the writer/producer of Catholic Radio Weekly is president of Media Masters, Inc., an independent production company, and Director of Communications for the Diocese of Raleigh. He recently completed two consecutive three-year terms as president of the Catholic Academy for Communications Arts Professionals (formerly Unda-USA), the North American chapter of the Vatican-sanctioned international organization for Catholic Communicators, SIGNIS.

Pat Ryan Garcia, Director of Distribution for the CCC, is executive producer of the program. She is in her 15th year with the CCC, where she has overseen production, distribution and promotion of radio and television programming and public service campaigns. Before joining the USCCB staff, she was director of advertising and promotion for the ABC-owned radio stations WABC-AM in New York, NY, and WMAL-AM in Washington, DC.

Catholic Radio Weekly is offered to diocesan and independent Catholic radio ministries free of charge on a non-exclusive basis.

The Catholic Communication Campaign is an activity of the USCCB that develops media programming, public service announcements, and other media resources to promote Gospel values. Donations from Catholic parishioners make possible the work of the CCC. For more information, visit their website at www.usccb.org/ccc.

Catholic Radio Weekly is used in the radio ministries of the following dioceses:

Archdiocese of Boston Diocese of Brownsville* Archdiocese of Chicago

Diocese of Buffalo Diocese of Corpus Christi* Diocese of Des Moines

Archdiocese of Dubuque Diocese of Fairbanks* Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend

Diocese of Gaylord Diocese of Harrisburg Diocese of Laredo*

Diocese of Metuchen Diocese of New Ulm Archdiocese of Hartford*

Diocese of Sacramento Diocese of Raleigh Diocese of St. Petersburg*

Archdiocese of San Francisco Archdiocese of Santa Fe Diocese of Wilmington

Diocese of St. Cloud Diocese of Youngstown Diocese of Rockford

Diocese of Evansville Diocese of Jackson Diocese of Orlando