Eternal Word Television Network

EWTN—or The Eternal Word Television Network—is a television and radio operation that broadcasts Catholic religious programming, via satellite and shortwave radio.

Development and Evolution of EWTN

EWTN signed on in August of 1981 with 4 hours a day of programming. They ran The Mass only on Sundays. They produced "Mother Angelica Live" two nights a week. They also ran reruns of pre-EWTN Mother Angelica's teaching series and talks. They filled the rest of the time with shows produced by Catholic dioceses across the country. They also ran Christian drama shows produced by the Lutheran Church such as "This Is Life" and "Patterns For Living", a drama show called "Westbrook Hospital", a few Protestant teaching shows that were in agreement to catholic principles, and Christian Children's shows like "Joy Junction" and "The Sunshine Factory". About a third of the time EWTN aired secular shows such "Bill Cosby" (from the late 60's), public domain movies, a few cooking shows, and a few western shows.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Initially they ran the Mass once a week on Sundays. In 1986 EWTN dropped the secular shows and was completely religious at that point. In 1987 EWTN was able to get a Satellite Channel full time and went 24 hours a day. At this point they began running the Rosary daily, added far more teaching shows from across the country. They slowly began to produce more of their own shows.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1991 they began to run the Mass daily. They also increased production to nearly half the day. They also became more selective about their programming. They began rejecting shows they felt were "too progressive." They also dropped almost every non Catholic produced show. They began mixing Latin in the daily and Sunday Mass. Mother Angelica also began wearing the older type clothing. They changed their image to more of a traditional look and attitude which they still have today. While following church teaching all along, in the past 15 or so years they have leaned more traditional as well as conservative.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~