CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — Lee County listeners are invited to tune in to the Good News Network (GNN) on WMJB 95.3 FM.
Good News Network is the umbrella organization for GNN Radio, based out of Georgia, which broadcasts via satellite to 26 English speaking affiliates and six Spanish speaking affiliates throughout Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
As a salesman for an animal feed business, Clarence Barinowski traveled over 50,000 miles a year, and spending so much time in his car made him wish he could hear some Christian broadcasting. Based on cost, there was no way to make it happen over a large territory. But when President Ronald Reagan deregulated the radio airwaves, satellite technology made it possible to build a broadcast facility much more inexpensively.
In 1982, Barinowski incorporated the Augusta Radio Fellowship Institute and filed for a frequency. In 1984, the permit was granted, and a tiny Sunday School room became radio station WLPE, transmitting a signal via microwave to a tower in Sweetwater, South Carolina, from which it was sent out to listeners.
GROWTH OF THE NETWORK
As support increased, the vision enlarged. A search for places to put more stations in communities without Christian radio saw applications in Georgia for Jesup (WLPT), Vidalia (WGPH), Byron (WPWB); in North Carolina for Harkers Island (WLGP); and in South Carolina for Florence (WLPG). Growth continued, as large gift allowed GNN to build stations in Barnwell, South Carolina (WHBJ) and Fair Bluff, North Carolina (WGHJ).
Expansion continued with WFAL, serving south of Atlanta to Macon; WJTB in Columbia, South Carolina; WJNA in the Clemson/Anderson/Toccoa area; WZTR in Dahlonega, Georgia; WQDK in Gatesville, North Carolina, and Suffolk, Virginia; WMJB in Columbus, Georgia/Valley, Alabama; and WBHC in Hampton, South Carolina. Then the broadcast spread to WZIQ in Albany, Georgia; WWGF in Donalsonville, Georgia; WTHP in Gibson, Georgia; WPMA in Greensboro, Georgia; WLPF in Ocilla-Tifton, Georgia; WNNG in Unadilla, Georgia; WSJA in York, Alabama; with repeaters in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Richmond Hill and Blakely, Georgia.
An opportunity to purchase WBLR in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, allowed GNN to reach many Spanish speaking people who live and work there. Soon, more Spanish stations were added in Soperton and Sparta, Georgia, and repeaters in Lake Oconee, Georgia, and Batesburg and North Augusta, South Carolina.
A traveling salesman’s dream to have a local Christian radio station has been fulfilled above and beyond, as the network is now able to reach the world through the internet.
ABOUT GOOD NEWS NETWORK:
GNN Radio is a non-profit funded by donations from individuals, businesses and ministries. To learn how to get involved or to request FREE program guides and car decals, go to gnnradio.org or call (800) 926-4669.