Catholic Nuns: ‘They’re Special … Because They’re Our Teachers’
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Normally, I’m not big on setting New Year’s resolutions.
I sometimes make the start-of-the-year, “fresh slate” goals, but I’m not obsessed with coming up with them.
But I recognize the value of such promises in both good intentions and, when fulfilled, ultimate benefits derived (to oneself and, potentially, to those around us). So, last year at around this time I made one.
Radio: ‘First Love’ … and Never Far Away
I’ve always loved radio.
Like the stories of an untold number of broadcasters, I fell in love with the ‘magic of radio’ at a young age. It’s almost cliché, but true: I remember listening — via transistor radio while in bed — to signals carrying baseball play-by-play from sometimes far-flung locales.
By around age 12 or so, I had dreams of working in radio. I recall rewriting newspaper stories into pretend radio newscasts (writing is another true love) and recording them onto a portable cassette recorder.
Later, in college, I worked at the student radio station (of course); and then, in the summer of 1984 (while still in college), I landed my first paying job in radio at a small station in the lovely Village of Attica, N.Y. Over the next 15-plus years, I bounced around (typical of radio careers) from “town to town, up and down the dial” (borrowing a line from the opening theme of “WKRP in Cincinnati”). I worked as a DJ, newscaster, traffic reporter and various other positions.
Even during times when I wasn’t working directly in broadcasting, there always was a thread to radio: I researched it in graduate school (my master’s thesis focused on radio localism and the public interest); I wrote about radio as a newspaper columnist (column name: “On the Radio”); and, ultimately, after transitioning to college faculty, I taught radio to aspiring broadcasters (while also overseeing the station where I, as a 17-year-old freshman, got my start three decades earlier — thus, coming full circle!).
Along the way, I got a call one day from an old radio friend: Would I be interested in returning to a weekend shift at a station where I’d worked more than 20 years earlier? (Yes, I replied … and I’ve now worked there, part-time, for the past 15 years.)
Grateful for Decades of Ongoing Rewarding Work
I’m providing all this background in order to convey a couple things:
• After all these years (I’m now in semi-retirement), I still consider it a true privilege that I’m one of the people who occasionally gets to talk on the radio (and get paid for it). To this day, upon arriving for my weekend shift, I often think, “It’s my turn! I get to be on the radio today!” (not unlike the dreams of that kid 50 years ago).
• Because of the pleasure radio still brings, I was inspired, around 12 months ago, to ponder anew how I might show appreciation for my now avocation — knowing that having a platform to talk on the radio to a live audience is an opportunity not afforded everyone.
I should point out: I work for a secular (non-religious), mainstream, adult-contemporary music-formatted station (thus, it’s normally not our place to “preach” — especially considering it could have the opposite effect of that intended if it turned off some unsuspecting listeners).
Throughout my 40+-year radio career, however, I’ve always believed in the tenet: The public airwaves are a public trust. Thus, we broadcasters (including station owners and the people entrusted to be on the air), as stewards of a public resource, have an obligation and responsibility to utilize the public spectrum in the public interest (it comes with the privilege of broadcasting; this was the broader theme of my research).
The beauty of this mindset: The philosophy meshes perfectly with a Christian outlook. (Can you see the connecting threads? I do.) With this in mind (and returning to the topic of New Year’s resolutions), I resolved, at the start of last year, to share something broadly faith-related once a week on my show throughout 2025.
Importantly, though, I didn’t want it to come across as “preaching” (or in any way be controversial).
A year ago, I worried that finding good content to fill 52 weeks could prove challenging. So, I gave myself leeway: During any given week, if necessary, I could simply mention the St. Mary’s Church steeple — visible, in the distance, from our 8th-floor studio window — while, for instance, talking about the weather. (As it turned out, I didn’t need to rely much on the fallback.)
By forcing myself to “widen the net” of resources for my weekly “show prep,” I identified seedlings that could be turned into content. Upon the death of the pope and the election of new U.S. born Pope Leo XIV, I found no shortage of regular, interesting and relatable tidbits to share on the air. They included stories about a Chicago-style pizza delivered 5,000 miles to the pope in Rome; a new beer named in his honor; a #14 Buffalo Bills jersey presented to him by the bishop of Buffalo and more. Other times, I gave simple props to churches on milestone anniversaries and plugged church-sponsored festivals and other events (PSA-style content that’s always appropriate).
Not only was it easier than I had expected it would be finding suitable content, but the material typically was better (especially when tied to a local angle) than the usual pop-culture drivel often provided by national show-prep services. (I’d argue that more stations, especially those with similar family friendly formats, could benefit from using the kind of content I found after pushing myself.)
Moreover, I believe it might be more effective when listeners hear someone on a mainstream radio station (as opposed to a religious station “preaching to the choir”) who’s unafraid of, for example, sharing the origin of St. Patrick’s Day … answering the question, “Do animals go to heaven?” … or sharing an amusing papal-related tidbit — precisely because it’s not presented as “in your face” sermonizing (to the contrary, it often was very subtle, although I once stated before offering serious advice: “Coming from a most unexpected place: Me … on a mainstream radio station”).
My Ultimate Goal
In addition to simply identifying wholesome content for my show, I thought if just one person, over the entire year, after hearing me mention something interesting about church … or prayer … or saints’ feast days was inspired to attend a church service, my aim would be fulfilled. (More specific advice offered to people of different faiths on Holy Saturday: “To Jews … if it’s been a while since you’ve been to temple, go to temple. Christians: If it’s been a while since you’ve gone to church, go to church…. Catholics: If it’s been a while since you’ve been to Mass, go to Mass.”)
Listen to what it sounded like (including more than 52 weeks — because I actually began before the start of the new year, unintentionally coinciding with the Jubilee Year of Hope):
52 Weeks: New Year’s Resolution Fulfilled (“Radio Clips & Airchecks” podcast on Spotify.com)
Aside: On the radio, I use a pseudonym that, for me, dates back more than 30 years (to a different radio station). When I first began using it (meshing, essentially, my first and middle names), there was no intentional religious connection (it just sounded like a good “radio name”). Then again, maybe my radio name (like my first and middle names), was less chosen by me than it was given to me (again, can you see the threads?).
Michael Saffran (M.S. Rochester Institute of Technology) is a “cradle Catholic,” journalist, podcaster and writer. He attends, and serves as a lector at, St. Mary’s Church/St. Boniface Church (part of the Southeast Rochester Catholic Community), in Rochester, N.Y.
He is a semi-retired former college media instructor (and SUNY communication lecturer emeritus). He taught courses in broadcast journalism, media management, newswriting, radio/audio-media production, and public-relations writing. He also has worked as a media columnist, newspaper editor, public-relations specialist (healthcare and higher education) and radio broadcaster.
