Christian Scientists to Sell Radio Station
The Christian Science Church said Friday it had agreed to sell a short-wave radio station broadcasting news and religious programs to Africa as part of a consolidation of its broadcast activities.
The Boston-based church said it signed a letter of intent to sell the station, using the call letters WCSN, to Prophecy Countdown Inc. of Mt. Dora, Fla., for $5 million.
The church will use the money from the sale of the station, based in Scott’s Corners, Me., to buy another transmitter for its WSHB radio station in Cypress Creek, S.C., so it can continue to broadcast to Africa.
WSHB currently broadcasts to the Americas and Europe. The church also broadcasts to Asia, Australia and New Zealand from Saipan Island in the Pacific.
The Christian Science Church, which has published the Christian Science Monitor newspaper since 1908, rapidly expanded broadcasting and media activities in the mid-1980s.
It was forced to reverse that expansion and cut back its media empire to avert a financial crisis in 1992 when a failed experiment in television, the Monitor Channel, shut down after draining hundreds of millions of dollars from church funds.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
