It sounds as if San Francisco just got an early Christmas gift: a Catholic radio station to herald the good news:

At noon on Monday, December 10, Immaculate Heart Radio began broadcasting in San Francisco on 1260 AM. Though already broadcasting in several California cities, Immaculate Heart Radio’s expansion to San Francisco makes it the first Catholic radio station to cover the dioceses of San Francisco, San Jose, and most of Monterey and Santa Rosa.

A non-profit lay apostolate founded by its president Doug Sherman, Immaculate Heart Radio is dedicated to spreading “the knowledge, love and practice of the Roman Catholic Faith by means of radio.” It offers programming that is primarily catechetical in nature, but it also features devotional and inspirational shows. Besides carrying many of EWTN’s shows, Immaculate Heart Radio features “Catholic Answers Live,” regular broadcasts of the Mass and the rosary, as well as popular priests such as Fathers John Corapi, Frank Pavone, and Mitch Pacwa.

Sherman started Immaculate Heart Radio in 1997 with his first station, KIHM, in Reno, Nevada. At that time, there were only seven full-time Catholic stations in the U.S., compared to more than 1,600 Protestant stations. Today, IHM has 20 stations in California, Nevada, and New Mexico.

In its mission statement, Immaculate Heart Radio proclaims “an absolute faithfulness to the Holy Father and the Bishops in union with him. We are bound to accurately and fully transmit the Faith as proposed by the Teaching Authority of the Church. We are specifically bound by the vehicle in which it is proposed for our time, the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We hold everything we broadcast up to the Catechism as its standard. These qualities shape our service to the faithful in the several dioceses in which we broadcast, our obedience to the bishops of those dioceses, and our assistance to local priests and religious.”

While Sherman is passionate about delivering solid Catholic programming to the faithful, he is equally determined to reach non-believers through the airwaves. “I have heard from people who told me that Immaculate Heart Radio brought them closer to God … or back to the Church … or back to the Sacraments … or into the Church for the first time,” he said in a press release. “I have heard from people who have been away from the Church for twenty or thirty years … or longer! I’ve heard from people who were on the verge of suicide … until our programming gave them hope and a reason to live.”

Interested in tuning in? Check out the network’s website.