SCOBA Agency to Launch 24-hour Internet Radio

Ft. Lauderdale (January 10)--Technology is rapidly changing the way Americans listen to the radio. This year 58% of US homes with internet access have high speed internet, either DSL or Cable and a growing number of Americans are listening to web based radio.

The audience for internet radio increase 50% this past year with 12% of Americans 12 years of age or older listening to internet radio. The fact is internet radio is developing faster than FM radio did when it was introduced just 30 years ago.

This is why Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) is launching The Ark, a 24 hour a day internet radio outreach designed to be a listening alternative for you and your family. The Ark will be a fully functioning media resource for Orthodox Christians to provide positive, uplifting contemporary Orthodox Christian music and more. The Ark will also be a wonderful teaching resource to share with the growing internet media listeners the rich theology and beautiful worship of Orthodox Christianity. The Ark will launch its 24 hour ministry Sunday, January 21st, 2007 on www.receive.org. This is also Share The Light Sunday all across the nation in all our Orthodox Christian parishes, a Sunday established by our Orthodox hierarchs to call the faithful to support the media ministry work of OCN.

Rev. Dr. Christopher Metropulos, founder and Executive Director of OCN, said “The Ark is another way OCN is using every means available to create a national, sustainable, and effective media witness for our Church. Orthodoxy is simply not well known in too many communities across America. The Ark will help change that!”

Programming on The Ark will focus on Orthodox Christian contemporary music by Orthodox artists like Jimmy Santis, Fr. Peter Jon Gilquist, Eikona, Monica Matthews, and Andrew Anthony. It will also feature OCN’s premier syndicated radio program Come Receive The Light. Plus more teaching ministry programming is being developed to share the rich, scriptural teachings of Orthodoxy to more and more spiritually seeking Americans. Emmy Louvaris, the Program Director for The Ark, states “As a working mother of two daughters, my girls are constantly listening to music on the internet or their IPods. Our Church needs to provide an alternative to all the stuff out there. I want my children to stay connected to the Church.”

OCN is committed to using media to being an effective support to the ministry of the local parish. Because of this commitment, The Ark will also be a customizable ministry tool for local parishes. Every parish that becomes a Share The Light Parish in 2007 will be eligible to receive a customized version of The Ark for their home page. A local parish will be able to share parish announcements, festival news, and even a Sunday sermon. When visitors come to that parish web site, they will enjoy all the programming of The Ark AND local parish information.

The Ark is the second media ministry product produced by OCN. Our first was the nationally syndicated half hour program Come Receive The Light. To learn more about OCN and how we are using media to share the timeless beauty of Orthodoxy, go to www.receive.org.

OCN is a commissioned agency of SCOBA, the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, and our Orthodox hierarchs have directed OCN to find effective ways to use modern media to raise awareness of our Orthodox faith in the minds of the general population and to be an “assistant” to local parish priests in keeping our faithful attached to the Church between worship services.

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