Transcript [00:00] Joining us now on the news line is a [00:02] return guest to the program. Pleased to [00:04] welcome the president and CEO of NRB, [00:06] the National Religious Broadcasters [00:09] Association. He is Troy Miller. Mr. [00:10] Miller, good morning and thank you for [00:12] the time. Well, good morning to you as [00:14] well and thanks for having me on again. [00:16] NRB.org is where you can go to learn [00:19] more as folks are finding that on the [00:21] interwebs. Mr. Miller, tell us NRB, [00:24] National Religious Broadcasters. Who are [00:26] you folks and what do you do? [00:28] Yeah. So, NRB is the largest uh [00:32] association representing Christian [00:34] communicators in our country. We have [00:35] over 1,700 members. We advocate for free [00:39] speech, freedom of religion, and uh [00:43] another number of other issues that make [00:45] the most friendly regulatory and legal [00:48] environment that there is for Christian [00:50] communicators across the country and [00:51] around the world. And these days, you've [00:54] got a much broader base from which to [00:57] draw membership because in the old days, [00:59] not even that long ago, relatively [01:01] speaking, there were folks who had [01:03] government licenses and microphones and [01:05] that's pretty much it. But I'm guessing [01:07] that the reach is so much broader now [01:10] thanks to the availability of podcasts [01:12] and similar dissemination methods. [01:16] Well, it is. Um, as you said, you know, [01:18] we started off as a as an organization [01:21] mainly representing radio, but over the [01:23] years radio and television, radio and [01:25] television program producers, the [01:27] Christian film publishers, and now all [01:30] things digital, including, you know, [01:32] podcasters, short form, uh, video makers [01:36] on on Instagram and YouTube and and all [01:39] of these other platforms. Look, [01:40] everybody today practically has at your [01:43] fingertips the fingertips the ability to [01:46] be a communicator and a and a pretty [01:49] large communicator. There's a recent [01:51] study out that said the average social [01:53] media person reaches about 480 people in [01:56] their circle of influence. So, um, today [01:59] everybody's a communicator and we're out [02:00] there trying to protect the rights for [02:02] them to do, uh, whatever it is God's [02:04] called their ministry to do. Do you [02:07] find, and this one is just like putting [02:09] it on a tea for you, Mr. Miller, but [02:11] I'll do it anyway. Do you find a more [02:14] receptive audience in the White House [02:16] these days as opposed to the last four [02:18] years? Well, that's a pretty easy tea [02:21] up. Absolutely. Uh we have a a much more [02:25] receptive audience in the executive [02:28] branch. um uh almost every part of the [02:31] executive branch um including the areas [02:34] that we deal with uh mainly in the [02:36] Federal Communications area, the Federal [02:38] Trade Commission uh just a number of [02:41] areas um not only just friendly but just [02:45] a great group of godly people and people [02:47] who are living out their own personal [02:49] faith. [02:51] Now, you hear a lot of people talk about [02:55] separation of church and state, and I [02:57] dare say most of those who say that have [03:00] no idea what the Constitution actually [03:02] says on the topic, in particular, the [03:04] First Amendment. But even if they have [03:06] read it, they they are either [03:08] misinterpreting it innocently or, shall [03:11] we say, maliciously. Uh, and you just [03:13] talked about these good people of [03:16] professed faith in the White House. [03:18] There's nothing wrong with that, is [03:19] there? [03:21] There's absolutely nothing wrong with [03:22] that. Imagine and and and you know that [03:24] whole term separation of church and [03:26] state came from a letter that Thomas [03:29] Jefferson wrote as many of you know to [03:31] the Danbury Baptist. And the idea was it [03:34] really got mislabeled by by the leftists [03:37] who wanted to use this the progressive [03:39] separation of church and state. But the [03:42] essence of that letter and the essence [03:44] of what's in the constitution and other [03:47] uh documents in our government is the [03:48] separation of state and church. The [03:52] state is to stay out of all things [03:54] religious including an individual's [03:56] religious conscience. So there's [03:58] absolutely nothing wrong with anybody [04:01] holding any federal, state, or local [04:03] office across this country and [04:06] continuing to live out their Christian [04:09] worldview. Matter of fact, that's what [04:11] most of our founding fathers called for [04:14] was people that would uh govern and [04:16] oversee us and they would do it in such [04:18] a way that their Judeo-Christian values [04:21] and morals played through in the kinds [04:24] of decisions that they made. Troy Miller [04:27] is president and CEO of the National [04:29] Religious Broadcasters Association, [04:32] nrb.org. For more, he joins us live on [04:35] the newsine on News Talk 1540 KXL. We've [04:38] passed the supposedly magic 100 day mark [04:42] of the current president's second [04:44] administration. There have been a number [04:46] of things that frankly I dare say if you [04:50] had looked at the list and said that's a [04:52] pretty good four years, but it was done [04:54] in a 100 days with regard to topics that [04:56] you and your members care about. [04:58] Identify a few of these of great [04:59] importance to you, please. Yeah, you're [05:02] right. this administration has been uh [05:05] definitely had the pedal to the floor [05:07] and uh flying they've done more in 100 [05:09] days than most have done in their entire [05:12] uh time in the office. And look, two [05:14] things I think that the president when [05:15] he spoke at the NRB convention in 2024 [05:18] and he laid out his you know vision and [05:22] and specifically how government and [05:25] religion should um relate and and in the [05:28] times cooperate together. A number of [05:30] things he said he would address. First, [05:32] he addressed right off the bat uh for [05:35] the prolifers who were who were put into [05:38] prison, who were persecuted uh by the [05:40] previous administration uh for simply [05:43] praying. He pardoned those folks. He got [05:46] them out. That was one of our top [05:47] issues. Um because that's just down to [05:49] earth. He affecting people's lives. [05:52] Second, he put in uh as you know the [05:54] team the the the um task force together [05:58] to look at the weaponization of [06:00] government against and specifically [06:03] against Christianity and then broader [06:06] against religions uh out there and that [06:08] task force has been put together. Um [06:11] Attorney General Pam Bondi is leading [06:13] that. She they just held their first [06:14] meeting. our general counsel, Mike [06:17] Ferris, was one of the people that [06:18] testified at that meeting uh about [06:21] what's going on. So, we are really [06:23] excited. We've seen the already seen the [06:25] deweaponization of the government uh um [06:29] in place. We want to see it go deeper uh [06:32] into the sort of deep state of [06:34] administrative state there. But he's [06:35] held those two things up. And the third [06:37] thing he's done in his appointments, [06:39] especially at the Federal Communications [06:42] uh commission with uh Chairman Carr [06:45] there, um they've stepped up not only [06:48] deregulating a lot that goes on that [06:51] affects us broadcasters out there, but [06:53] also reversing some of the DEI and other [06:56] intrusive measures that were underway. [06:58] So, we're very pleased with this [07:00] administration in their first 100 days. [07:02] And in fact, many of those latter [07:05] provisions, those trample your first [07:08] amendment rights with regard to [07:10] practicing faith and uh operating a [07:13] business in the way your faith tells you [07:15] to operate your business. [07:19] Yeah, exactly. And look, that was one of [07:22] the key things that we've been fighting [07:24] is that, you know, a lot of what the [07:26] government would want to do, which was [07:29] which is prohibited by the first [07:31] amendment. And this is to to the heart [07:33] of what Jefferson was getting at because [07:36] he didn't want the government to declare [07:38] any kind of national denomination. And [07:41] the issue was that that that the freedom [07:44] of conscience, the freedom of an [07:47] individual person, not even just a [07:49] church or a denomination, but the [07:51] freedom of that individual person to [07:54] live out their faith as their conscience [07:57] dictates, not as the government [07:58] dictates, but as their conscience [08:01] dictates. Um, that's one of the things [08:03] we're hoping. We've seen some of the um [08:06] uh executive orders that have already [08:08] brought uh that sanity back. Um and [08:11] we're hoping that Capitol Hill up here [08:13] will put some of those executive orders [08:15] into permanent legislation so that we [08:18] don't see those kinds of intrusions uh [08:20] by these regulatory agencies. Again, [08:25] we're speaking with Troy Miller, [08:26] president CEO of NRB, the National [08:29] Religious Broadcasters Association, [08:31] nrb.org or for all manner of [08:34] information. One of the things that has [08:36] been done over the past and and I'm [08:38] going to get it's probably been 20 years [08:40] now. Just shows you how quickly time [08:42] flies, but the the Federal [08:44] Communications Commission set up uh [08:48] areas on the band, particularly the FM [08:51] band for low power FM stations, a whole [08:54] different category, and they were just [08:56] designed to serve a limited geographic [09:00] area. Those have been tremendous [09:02] vehicles or they certainly were at the [09:04] time for churches or groups of [09:08] religiousminded individuals to have [09:11] their own space on the band. Are those [09:15] still as popular in an age of podcasts [09:18] and streaming and and everything as they [09:20] were at the time? because I know you [09:22] just go up and down the dial and I've [09:24] done a lot of driving across the state [09:26] in the past month for uh speaking [09:28] engagements and I'll just go up and down [09:29] the dial and I come upon all manner of [09:32] these low power stations hypers serving [09:35] their faith-based communities [09:38] hypers serving their their local [09:40] faith-based communities which is a big [09:42] push for us and yeah they are still very [09:45] popular as a matter of fact um here in a [09:47] few weeks you can go to nrv.org [09:49] uh we'll be releasing a study that we [09:51] did with the Bara Group and you'll see [09:54] how uh still how much traditional radio [09:58] uh in particular is is one of the top [10:01] mediums that are listened to and as a [10:03] matter of fact uh radio is is across the [10:06] board is listened to even uh than most [10:10] digital platforms today and uh so these [10:13] are very popular they're a lowcost means [10:16] uh for local communities local churches [10:19] to get in and reach their communities. [10:21] And um look, we're looking at where the [10:23] FCC is going with some of these [10:25] ownership rules and also with some of [10:27] the way the spectrum is going to be [10:29] distributed down the road here. And that [10:31] is one of the things that we want to [10:33] protect. nrb.org if you'd like more [10:36] information and if on any of these [10:38] topics you're thinking, well, we should [10:39] do that at my church. I have a feeling [10:41] uh the folks at NRB are very happy to uh [10:44] to provide guidance and counsel and help [10:46] folks out. We should also note today is [10:48] May 8th. As we've said on this program [10:50] multiple times, it is the 80th [10:52] anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. [10:55] You yourself wore the uniform at a [10:57] different era. Thank you for that. And [10:59] uh NRB is paying close attention to the [11:02] needs of veterans during Military [11:04] Appreciation Month. This is more than [11:06] just simply a hearty handshake and [11:08] thanks for a job well done. You folks [11:10] are digging deep into the things that [11:12] are really needed. [11:14] That's right. And if most people don't [11:16] know, um we have um fortunately a crisis [11:20] amongst our veterans today. Veterans as [11:23] a demographic group uh have one of the [11:26] highest, if not the highest suicide [11:28] rates. Uh they also have one of the [11:30] highest rates of addictions um and [11:33] divorce and depression. And so, um, as [11:36] veterans have, you know, protected this [11:38] country, we're going to at the end of [11:40] the month, we'll be we'll be celebrating [11:43] and and remembering Memorial Day. And as [11:45] you said, today was Victory Day across [11:48] Europe. And as we know, freedom comes [11:51] with a price. It is not for
