{Riding the radio range}: one of the largest Christian radio networks in the nation traces its roots back to Don Wildmon's boyhood in northeast Mississippi.

Little Don Wildmon rode hard to the top of the ridge and jerked the reins, his horse skidding in a cloud of dust. Five-year-old Don peered across the rocky Wild West terrain, searching for a hero.

Who would it be this time? The Lone Ranger, maybe?

A horse whinnied, and in the distance a rider approached. Wait, two riders. Yes, the Lone Ranger! But he was being chased by a man in a black hat who was gaining on him. Closer and closer the two riders came to the ridge where young Don watched. The bad guy was about to catch the Lone Ranger, but ...

Suddenly, static from an old radio's speakers interrupted the boy's adventure, yanking him back to his family's living room in Ripley, Mississippi.

Radio?

"That was in the '40s and '50s, before television," said Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association (AFA). "People would sit around the radio and listen to the Lone Ranger and Tonto or the Shadow or Fibber McGee. But radio was better. Had to use your imagination."

Today, Wildmon still believes in the power of radio to touch people--on a much bigger scale. The American Family Radio (AFR) network he founded in 1987 is one of the fastest growing Christian radio networks in the world. Headquartered in Tupelo, AFR includes some 200 stations across the United States ("the numbers fluctuate during the year as we add or drop stations," says Wildmon).

Pat Vaughn, general counsel to AFA, says AFR's economic impact on Mississippi is substantial. "You have an organization with over a hundred employees in Mississippi, so there's the spending and taxes locally by that group. But there's also the $16 million annual revenue that AFR helps bring in from friends of this organization across the country. Purely from a financial viewpoint, that's more money plowed into the local economy than many businesses can claim."

The radio network's birth, however, had nothing to do with money or recognition. Don Wildmon simply wanted to reach people with a message he felt was needed. A decade earlier, he had founded the National Federation for Decency (later to become AFA) with a simple request of the United Methodist congregation he was pastoring: Turn off your TV for a week. The national media picked up on the church's No-TV-for-a-Week stand, and Wildmon discovered thousands who shared his vision. He began sending newsletters and other direct mail pieces to supporters of AFA, but he was continually in search of cost-effective ways to reach his audience. In 1987, he made a discovery. "I was flipping through a copy of Broadcasting magazine and discovered that the Federal Communications Commission allowed for non-commercial FM radio stations to deliver their signal to local communities by satellite." He knew the relative cost to reach people would be much lower than direct mail.

AFA immediately filed with the FCC to open a radio station in Tupelo. Four years later, in 1991, WAFR went on the air. In February 1993, the second station in the AFR network was added in Jackson, Tennessee. From that point, the growth of the network rocketed; by the summer of 1997, AFR had 156 stations in 27 states. Remarkably, AFR has built more stations in a shorter period of time than any other broadcaster in the history of broadcasting.

Not surprisingly, the radio network's success has attracted unwelcome advice to move the organization elsewhere. "I remember having some meetings in Washington, D.C., and the people said 'You should move here,'" Wildmon says. "But I've never had any desire to move anywhere. This is where I grew up, where my four children grew up, and where my grandchildren are growing up."

There was more than familiarity to his decision to keep the network in his home state--there was also the culture of putting one's money where the heart is. "I think it says something about Mississippi, with all the news about us being a so-called poor state, that we are number one per-capita in benevolent giving."

Even those in AFR who have been transplanted to Mississippi see the value of AFR staying put. "Being planted in Mississippi gives us an environment that fits with who we really are," said Marvin Sanders, general manager of AFR and co-host of the program "Today's Issues." "A decidedly different culture pervades this area, one that we see as positive compared to other parts of the country. The soil is rich for our roots here."

Morning radio host J.J. Jasper, a Christian comedian and Kentucky native who speaks at events nationwide, agrees. "Even people who listen to AFR are sometimes surprised to find that the flagship station is located here in Tupelo. The experts have said go to Nashville or Colorado Springs, but Don has ignored them, and we have flourished here. I'm always introduced now as being from Tupelo, and I'm proud of it. Besides, I'm raising Southern belles here now," he says of his three daughters.

The programming of AFR is about 70 percent music and 30 percent talk. The music is described on the AFR website (www.afr.net) as "light contemporary with a good mixture of old favorites, designed to serve the largest possible audience." The "talk" side of AFR's schedule includes recorded talks from internationally known speakers such as Charles Colson, Phyllis Schafley, James Dobson, and D. James Kennedy. A range of family-oriented issues are addressed through shows such as "Down Gilead Lane" and "Adventures in Odyssey" for younger listeners, "Daughters of Promise" and "Christian Working Woman" for women, and "Today's Father" for men.

In 1995, AFR introduced a separate news department with the goal of delivering "accurate and unbiased information on issues of interest" to listeners. "AFR News is the largest Christian news organization in the country," says Pat Vaughn. The approach of AFR news is so different, apparently, that other radio stations not in the AFR network are beginning to subscribe to it. AFR News broadcasts at five minutes before the hour every hour of the day on weekdays.

From one Mississippian's vision, an entire nation of people is being reached, Vaughn believes, with the best part of our state's values. "Mississippi is still a state made up, primarily, of small towns. And that's how AFR was spread--mainly in small towns that had no Christian radio station. It's sort of the Wal-Mart approach to broadcasting, and it has worked for AFR."

And the man who once rode the radio ranges with his heroes--what does he think of all the growth? He shrugs and discounts any power he has garnered to influence the masses through the American Family Radio network. "I couldn't care less about anyone knowing the name of Don Wildmon," he says, "but if one person has been affected for good through the work of AFR, I'm thankful for that. And I'm glad we can do it right here at home in Mississippi."

To find your local AFR station, visit www.afr.net.