Salem Media Group

Salem Media Group, Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: SALM
Industry	Mass media Commercial radio broadcasting
Genre	Radio broadcasting, publishing, internet content provider
Founders	Stuart Epperson Edward Atsinger III
Headquarters	4880 Santa Rosa Road Camarillo, California, United States
Key people	Stuart W. Epperson; Chairman of the Board Edward G. Atsinger III; Chief Executive Officer
Website	salemmedia.com

Salem Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SALM; formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Camarillo, California, targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values.^[1] In addition to its radio properties, the company owns Salem Radio Network, which syndicates talk, news and music programing to approximately 2,400 affiliates; Salem Radio Representatives, a radio advertising company; Salem Web Network, an Internet provider of Christian content and online streaming with over 100 Christian content and conservative opinion websites; and Salem Publishing, a publisher of Christian themed magazines. Salem owns 117 radio stations in 38 markets, including 60 stations in the top 25 markets and 29 in the top 10.^[1] FamilyTalk is a Christian-themed talk format on Sirius XM Radio Channel 131. Additionally, Salem owns conservative blogs Townhall.com and Hotair.com.

The company was founded by Stuart Epperson and Edward Atsinger III and, unlike many Christian broadcasters, is a for-profit corporation. Also unlike their non-profit counterparts, Salem stations transmit high-powered signals in commercial radio bands.

History

Former logo of Salem Communications.

Ed Atsinger (Chief Executive Officer) and Stu Epperson (Chairman of the Board) combined their radio assets to create Salem Communications. Beginning with stations in North Carolina and California, Atsinger and Epperson purchased station properties in Boston, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and other markets, converting them to Christian talk stations. In the 1990s, they expanded formats to include contemporary Christian music (with most stations under this format branded as "The Fish"),^[2] news talk (branded as "The Answer"), Spanish-language Christian content and most recently, business programming.^[3]

Many of Salem's stations are licensed to subsidiaries, organized by geographical area and media cluster as the company has acquired new stations and their previous licensees.

Salem Communications Corp acquired Twitter curation site, Twitchy.com. In January 2014, the Company announced the acquisition of the acquisition of the assets of Eagle Publishing, including Regnery Publishing, HumanEvents.com, and Redstate.com, as well as sister companies Eagle Financial Publications and Eagle Wellness.^[4]

On February 23, 2015, Salem Communications changed its name to Salem Media Group.^[5][6]

Licensees

Salem's licensees include:^[7]

Bison Media

Caron Broadcasting, Inc

Common Ground Broadcasting, Inc.

Inspiration Media of Texas, LLC

Inspiration Media, Inc.

New Inspiration Broadcasting Co., Inc.

Pennsylvania Media Associates, Inc.

Reach Satellite Network, Inc.

Salem Media Group, LLC

Salem Media of Colorado, Inc.

Salem Media of Hawaii, Inc.

Salem Media of Illinois, LLC

Salem Media of Kentucky, Inc.

Salem Media of New York, LLC

Salem Media of Ohio, Inc.

Salem Media of Oregon, Inc.

Salem Media of Texas, Inc.

Salem Media of Virginia, Inc.

SCA -Palo Alto, LLC

South Texas Broadcasting, Inc.

Salem Radio Network

Salem Radio Network is a satellite radio network serving general market News/Talk stations and Christian-formatted stations through affiliate partnerships serving more than 2,400 radio stations. The five major divisions are SRN Talk, SRN News, Salem Music Network, Salem Media Reps and Vista Media Reps and SRN Satellite Services.

• SRN Talk produces general market News/Talk shows featuring nationally syndicated hosts Mike Gallagher, Bill Bennett, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt. It also produces Christian market programming featuring The Eric Metaxas Show, TodaysChristianMusic.com, CCMmagazine.com, Southerngospel.com, Youthworker.com, Preaching.com, Familyfiction.com and Christiancollegelink.com.
• SRN News is a news source for conservative and Christian radio serving over 1,100 affiliates.
• Salem Music Network has three satellite offerings – Contemporary Christian, Praise and Southern Gospel.
• Salem Media Reps specializes in Christian, family-themed and conservative media, radio, online, print and mobile.
• SRN Satellite Services provides satellite distribution and production services to over 70 organizations and ministries.

The satellite feed for Salem's general market programming can be heard on the CRN Digital Talk Radio Networks, on CRN3.^[8]

Salem Publishing

Salem's flagship publication, CCM Magazine, was in the Christian music industry for more than 25 years. Salem no longer prints CCM Magazine. Other magazine publications including Homecoming from Bill and Gloria Gaither, FaithTalk, Youth Worker Journal, Preaching and Singing News Magazine.^[9]

Salem Eagle

In 2014 Salem acquired Eagle Publishing, whose assets include Regnery Publishing, Eagle Financial Publications, Eagle Wellness, and the websites Human Events and RedState.

Xulon Press

Xulon Press is a self-publishing digital publisher of books targeting a Christian audience.^[10] They use print on demand technologies that store books electronically and print them only as they are ordered. Xulon was founded by Christian author and publisher Tom Freiling and was acquired by Salem in 2006.^[9]

Political activities

The founders of Salem Communications support various religious causes. In 2005 Epperson was reported in Time magazine as one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America".^[11] In 2004 he co-chaired "Americans of Faith", a religiously-based Republican electoral campaign. Both founders have served on the Council for National Policy. They gave $100,000 to the Bush presidential reelection campaign and $780,000 to the 2000 "California Defense of Marriage Act" (Proposition 22) ballot measure.^[12]

References

1. 1 2 Asbout Salem – Salem.com
2. ↑ Salem's CCM format – Salem.cc
3. ↑ Salem history – Salem.cc
4. ↑ "SALM acquisition of Twitchy.com". 
5. ↑ Salem rebrands to Salem Media Group – Radio Ink Magazine
6. ↑ "Salem Communications Corporation renamed to Salem Media Group". Radioandmusic.com. 23 February 2015. 
7. ↑ Salem station list – Salem Media Group
8. ↑ Salem Radio Network – Salem.cc
9. 1 2 Salem Publishing – Salem.cc
10. ↑ "About Xulon Press". 
11. ↑ "Stuart Epperson – The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America". Time (magazine). February 7, 2005. Retrieved November 7, 2013. 
12. ↑ "A Higher Frequency". Mother Jones. Retrieved December 10, 2011. 

External links

• Salem Media Group
• Salem Radio Network
• List of Salem-owned news/talk stations
• Salem Web Network