Tom Terry
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Tom Terry (1963 - ) is an American author and broadcaster currently residing in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Terry is the author of two books (When Shadows Dream: Twilight, and Faith and Freedom). He works as the managing director of Eagle TV, which under his management became one of the most popular TV stations in Mongolia.[1]
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[edit] Early career
Terry began his broadcast career in 1979 as an intern with KHYT radio in Tucson, Arizona, lead by veteran broadcaster Rich “Brother” Robbin. Following his intern stint with KHYT, Terry bounced from a mobile DJ company to minor DJ work in a Tucson bar until he became a born-again Christian in 1982. Shortly thereafter he became a weekend radio announcer at KVOI in Tucson where he quickly ascended to the weekday morning show and become Operations Manager in 1983.
[edit] KLYT
In 1988 Terry moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to take the position of Operations Manager at KLYT. Low ratings and audience response drove Terry and General Manager Randy Rich to make radical changes to KLYT’s format along with initiating outreach strategies that eventually helped make KLYT one of the most well-known and respected radio stations in market.
Arguably KLYT’s most important social outreach was the anti-drug program, “Yes to Life” (YTL) featuring station manager and former NFL player Randy Rich presenting 2-3 anti-drug messages a week in public schools statewide. During Terry’s management of the program during 6 ½ years of its 10 year run, “Yes to Life” became a cornerstone of KLYT’s work. Terry and Rich soon formed a partnership with the D.A.R.E. program, which helped to further deepen the YTL's influence. “Yes to Life,” became the springboard used by KLYT to bring the station’s live broadcasts onto public school campuses where students often received print materials, and participated in radio programming advocating the Bible. The “Yes to Life” program was eventually forced out of Albuquerque Public Schools (two years after Terry’s departure from KLYT) on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state.
In 1991 Terry became involved in the controversy surrounding the showing of the movie The Last Temptation of Christ to gifted students at La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. Terry's interviews with the teacher who showed the movie, Joyce Briscoe, did not result in any changes, however, the situation launched Terry into conservative social commentary and politics, using KLYT as a platform to advance a socially conservative political agenda. Within weeks of the controversy Terry launched the live 5-minute twice-daily “Commenterry,” during KLYT’s morning and evening drive time. “Tom Terry’s Daily Commenterry” quickly became a highly listened-to program by Christian conservatives.
In 1993 Terry’s daily radio commentary came to an abrupt end following on-air comments he made about the biblical figures of kings Saul and David in comparison to the election between George Bush and Bill Clinton. Pastors with Albuquerque mega-church, Victory Love Fellowship demanded an accounting from Terry for his supposed endorsement of Bill Clinton for president. In a meeting with Senior Pastor Rob Carman and KLYT management, Terry protested stating that the church’s leadership misunderstood the broadcast and that he did not endorse Clinton, that in fact he opposed Clinton’s presidency on ideological and moral grounds. Terry's assurances were not enough. Carman threatening to stop the church's significant financial support of KLYT if Terry’s broadcasts continued. The pressure proved to be too much and Terry’s commentaries were canceled a week later.
[edit] Cutting Edge Magazine
Shortly after launching Terry’s daily commentary, Terry was named as editor of the newly created Cutting Edge Magazine. He served as Editor for four years. Cutting Edge greatly expanded Terry’s influence among New Mexico’s social conservatives as the magazine produced articles on a variety of controversial subjects including abortion, AIDS, education policy, medical ethics, the welfare state, and abuses by social service workers. Cutting Edge quickly became known as the print-platform for Terry’s views on social and political issues.
Terry’s most controversial issue of Cutting Edge was a 20,000 word article on gun control. The magazine cover featured a pistol with large bold letters, “Why you Should Own One of These.” Within days of release more than 25,000 copies of the magazine flew off store shelves. Terry’s article earned him the ire of some New Mexico lawmakers including a popular State Senator who accused Terry of advocating violence and vigilantism.
During his time at KLYT Terry also briefly served as producer of the nationally syndicated radio program, “Calvary Connection,” with Calvary Chapel of Albuquerque pastor, Skip Heitzig. Terry finally left KLYT in December 1995 to pursue media missionary work with Campus Crusade for Christ, International.
[edit] The Mission Field
In 1997 Terry joined the President’s Office of the late Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. He worked on national syndication of the radio program, “WorldChangers Radio.” The program was short-lived, eventually transforming into a daily short-form program, “The Lighthouse Report,” just as Terry’s stint in the President’s Office was ending.
In 2001 Terry moved to the Islamic world where he helped a partnership of organizations launch a radio project sharing the Gospel with Muslims.
During his time with Campus Crusade Terry also launched a personal Internet project, Aboutisa.com, targeting Muslims with the Gospel. The site garnished thousands of visitors each month, eventually becoming a target of Islamic ire through chat rooms and forums. The site also served as the download point for five booklets about Islam and Christianity authored by Terry, the most popular being, “Does Allah Love Me?,” which eventually wound up on numerous websites devoted to Christian-Muslim dialog and evangelism. Terry still maintains downloadable versions of the booklets on his current web blog.
During his final two years with Campus Crusade, Terry worked almost exclusively on the website, using it as a platform to conduct live online sessions sharing his faith with Muslims in the Middle East and Asia. He abandoned the project in 2002 when took up residence in Mongolia.
[edit] Eagle TV - Mongolia
Terry left Campus Crusade for Christ in July 2002 intending to renew his radio career in the United States. However, circumstances provided Terry an opportunity to take over the management of Eagle TV in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar. From 1994 to 2002 Eagle Television was operated on terrestrial Channel 8 by Mongolian Broadcasting Company (MBC). MBC was a joint venture of the American nonprofit, AMONG Foundation, and Mongolia Media Corporation (MMC).
The station became both successful and controversial with uncensored live commentary from viewers and live international news coverage. Despite its success with viewers, infighting between the shareholders caused it to shutdown and lose its broadcasting license in spring 2003. Terry’s tenure at MBC lasted only six months.
Terry remained in Mongolia during the next year, employed by the former TV station’s American shareholder, AMONG Foundation, in hopes of re-launching the now defunct operation. Multiple negotiations with the Mongolian shareholders and ruling party politicians failed to restore the status of MBC.
After the Eagle TV's closure, AMONG Foundation formed Eagle Broadcasting Company,[2] appointing Terry as Managing Director, and charging him with re-launching Eagle TV as a cable TV channel. About half a year later the new Eagle TV began broadcasting on SANSAR Cable as Mongolia’s first all-news cable channel with uncensored public commentary during live newscasts.
Negotiations between the former business partners resulted in a new agreement in September 2005, and a new boadcasting license. The agreement and license gave the Eagle Broadcasting Company exclusive use of channel 8 for ten years, and exercising exclusive control over all television content during that period.[3]
[edit] Faith and Freedom
While serving as the Managing Director of Eagle TV, Terry tried to document the impact of Christian missionary work on the advancement of freedom and democracy around the world. He interviewed missionaries representing work in 24 countries along with researching the history of western Christianity and political movements. This research lead to publishing the book, Faith and Freedom: How the Missionary Principle Facilitates Political Freedom.
Portions of "Faith and Freedom" tell the story of Eagle TV, using the TV station's work in journalism and Christian missions as an example for the advocacy of Christian principles in media and society. While the book advocates Christian principles in governance, it also denounces the creation of “Christian countries” and theocracies, and claims to document how the principles of the Great Commission from the Bible have facilitated modern-day political freedom.
[edit] Publications
- American Genesis (nonfiction, history) - self-published e-book, 1992, 2001
- When Shadows Dream: Twilight (fiction) - iUniverse (self-published), 2005, ISBN 0-595-34494-1
- Faith and Freedom (nonfiction) - Xulon Press (self-published), 2005, ISBN 1-59781-725-2
[edit] References
- ^ Luke Distelhorst (2006-07-25). Eagle TV Becomes Most Watched News Channel. MonInfo.
- ^ Mongol News, "Eagle's Staff Got Paid," May 2, 2003.
- ^ Across Pacific Magazine, Eagle Television Begins Broadcasting on Channel 8, October 18, 2005.
