EL CENTRO – Amid the a whole bunch gathered on the St. Mary Catholic Church Corridor for the annual JP2 Radio Profit Dinner to listen to nationally famend speaker Fr. John Riccardo in his first go to to the Imperial Valley, a progress report of types was given these gathered on the growth of the native faith-based radio station.
JP2 Radio, a radio station first opened in El Centro in 2015 (95.7 FM), has since grown from its second sign tower (93.3 FM in Brawley) to past the boundaries of Imperial County, spreading to San Diego as of 2021 (1450 AM in Escondido), including its most up-to-date broadcast antennae in downtown San Diego in 2023 (93.7 FM in downtown San Diego).
As of August 2023, the Catholic speak radio station now has a attain of two.6 million between Imperial and San Diego counties, JP2 Radio station supervisor Raul Caro stated on the Profit Dinner on Friday, November 17 in El Centro. The station launched in Escondido on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2021. The station additionally has plans and has been working towards increasing its sign in Honolulu, Hawaii however these plans have but to take form, Caro stated on the profit dinner.
The rationale for the radio station and the growth is to proceed the Imperial Valley-based radio station is “JP2 Radio seeks to transform, invigorate, and encourage listeners within the Imperial Valley group by offering high quality Catholic programming centered on Christ, the tradition of life, marriage and household, and repair to others,” in accordance with JP2radio.com.
“That is what you get out of Catholic radio: you’re in your car, you’re listening to one-on-one dialog, and that transforms you,” Caro stated. “We’re attempting arduous so everybody is aware of we’re on the air.”
“I’m right here to say we don’t have a station in Honolulu however not all is misplaced,” Caro stated. “It’s straightforward to place up a tower imagine it or not – after getting the cash, in fact – and the technical half shouldn’t be that large of a deal; what’s arduous in Catholic radio is absolutely to supply your personal content material … in order that’s one in all our objectives is to supply our personal native content material.”
Caro stated JP2 Radio has two domestically produced exhibits: the “Stay Fireplace Rosary” on Mondays at 7:30 p.m., created and recorded in Imperial County, and the “JP2 Morning Crew” at 9 a.m. on Fridays, which is created and recorded together with John Paul the Nice Catholic College in Escondido. The domestically produced present, “Sacred Coronary heart Narratives,” which used to air on JP2 Radio has since been discontinued.
“As time goes by that is going to get higher and we’ll produce extra exhibits,” Caro stated. “We’ve a crew that we’re bringing on board … with time our aim is to have a morning drive present (from) San Diego.”
The annual JP2 Radio Profit Dinner function one of many major methods the listener-supported station receives funding, by means of donors.
The annual profit dinners for the radio station began in October 2016 with its first visitor speaker, well-known Catholic writer and radio host Patrick Madrid. Since then, the dinners have continued to usher in top quality and well-known Catholic audio system resembling EWTN (Everlasting Phrase Tv Community)’s Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Dr. Ray Guarendi, Fr. Wade Menezes. Fr. Donald Calloway, Dr. David Anders, Catholic Solutions President Christopher Examine, Catholic Solutions radio host Cy Kellett and Friday’s keynote speaker Fr. John Riccardo, whose talks are regularly broadcasted on JP2 Radio and nationally on EWTN Radio.
“It’s a testomony to the work that JP2 and Raul Caro is doing that we don’t must journey exterior of Imperial County to listen to this caliber of Catholic males communicate to us,” occasion emcee and Stay Fireplace Rosary host, Eddie Madueño.
“This isn’t only a gathering however it’s celebration of our religion,” Madueño, a retired El Centro Police Chief, stated on the occasion. “It’s a shared journey within the spirit of communion and a testomony to the enduring affect of JP2 Catholic Radio.”
The visitor speaker, the Rev. John Riccardo, is a missionary and ACTSs XXIX (29) government director from Detroit, Michigan. Ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1996, after 23 years of parish ministry Fr. Riccardo based the Acts XXIX ministry “to proclaim the gospel in a gorgeous and compelling approach and to equip clergy and lay leaders for the age during which God has chosen us to reside,” in accordance his bio on the JP2 Radio web site. Riccardo graduated from the College of Michigan in addition to the Gregorian College in Rome, the place he studied and likewise graduated from the Pope John Paul II (the radio station’s namesake’s) Institute for Research on Marriage and the Household.
A extremely sought-out speaker, Caro stated it took about 5 years of consistency to get the Rev. Riccardo to talk within the Imperial Valley. Riccardo stated he and his three-person staff had traveled over 8,473 miles inside every week, touring over 13 states together with Florida, and north-central states, on their missionary trek main as much as touchdown within the Imperial Valley on November 17 for the JP2 Radio Profit Dinner.
“Raul was gracious sufficient to chase me down for a short while to return out right here,” Riccardo stated. “I’ve an enormous coronary heart for Catholic Radio. I do not assume there’s a higher device for evangelization anyplace, fairly actually, merely due to the attain.”
Riccardo stated his barely over one-hour speak on the night time was about “What precisely is the mission that belongs to a disciple of Jesus?” as a result of “my expertise is that most individuals do not actually know, so I wish to discuss it, provide some examples of people that have finished that, after which hopefully mobilize all of us who’re right here tonight to go on the market and to proceed the work that Jesus started when he rose from the lifeless and triumphed over demise.”
Riccardo stated the message he conveys, even to non-believers, summarizes the gospel of Jesus Christ in two easy phrases: “You matter.”
“In a world which is more and more lonely and more and more feeling like no person sees me and no person will get me — we’re residing by means of what’s being known as proper now ‘The New Nice Melancholy’ due to the psychological well being disaster,” Riccardo stated, “the message of the Gospel that I simply wish to proclaim loud and clear is: Jesus sees you, He is aware of you, He thinks you are price dying for, for you He is defeated although not but destroyed the powers of sin, demise and Devil; and He is aware of what He is doing and you do not have to be troubled proper now.”
“Jesus died for the ungodly individuals (and) that’s me – that’s you,” Riccardo stated throughout his speak. ”It’s not sufficient to trust in him; we want his coronary heart.”
Amid the 410 attendees on Friday, Riccardo stated despite the fact that his staff travels regularly the warmed and kindness of those that obtained them within the Imperial Valley made it ‘really feel acquainted’ to him.
“I like the variety of the age and the ethnicities,” Riccardo stated of the Imperial Valley crowd gathered in El Centro. “It is only a good vibe right here, which is nice.”
“It looks like residence,” he stated.
Along with the FM and AM stations listed above, JP2 Radio might be listened to on-line at JP2radio.com. For extra on John Riccardo, go to actsxxix.org and rescueproject.us.
