PBS rules New Orleans affiliate may continue daily Mass broadcast

June 17, 2009

A PBS board has ruled that its New Orleans affiliate-- which had been threatened with the loss of PBS programming-- may continue its daily Mass broadcasts from the archdiocesan cathedral.

“There are a lot of people who rely on that (Mass),” said station manager Ron Yager. “On certain occasions when we don’t have the Mass for technical reasons, the phones are ringing. If we had to take it off, I don’t know what the people who rely on it would do-- the elderly, the sick, people who can’t get out to church. This means a lot to them.”

Yager added, “After (Hurricane Katrina) and we were able to get back in our studios and people were asking us to put things back on the air, it wasn’t ‘Barney’ or ‘Sesame Street’ or ‘NewsHour’ they were asking for. They were asking for the Mass.”

 

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Further information:

• PBS board rules that WLAE-TV can continue broadcasts of Catholic Mass (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
• PBS board might pull the plug on WLAE’s daily Mass (New Orleans Times-Picayune)