NEWSPAPER columnist and the host of TVJ's Profile, Ian Boyne, has now expanded into radio with a new religious discussion programme to begin airing on Radio Jamaica today at 12:15 p.m. Called Religious Hardtalk, the show will be a first of its kind on Jamaican radio, says Boyne, and will feature interviews, updates on religious issues and trends as well as debates and discussion.
The programme premiers with a discussion on Christians and sexuality and will feature a divorced Christian Minister, a single female Christian, a pastor who did research on infidelity among pastors and a Christian lecturer in psychology at a theological seminary.
"I have had the concept for years but never seriously explored it," Boyne explains. "When I presented it to the head of News at RJR, Moya Thomas, she immediately grabbed it and in no time put everything in train."
The media landscape has recently been the scene of intense competition as radio stations jockey for market share and as talk-show hosts jostle for pre-eminence. Into this environment steps the seasoned journalist.
"There is a market of tough-minded, earnest and enquiring persons with serious religious and philosophical issues and this market has never been catered to, despite the existence of LOVE- Radio and Television," says Boyne. "This is not a programme for sentimental religious believers. It is not intended to bolster their faith, but to disturb and challenge them," added Boyne, who is the only journalist to have won a national journalism award (I981) from the Press Association for Distinguished Religion Writing. He has been a regular writer on religion since the I970s when he started with the now defunct Jamaica Daily News, moving on to become a regular religion writer for The Gleaner. He has also written on the subject for international magazines, including One World, the World Council of Churches' flagship magazine.
Boyne has won national awards for both print and television journalism and says he intends to bring the same degree of excellence to his sojourn into radio. Religious Hardtalk will feature commentaries on the most important literature being published on religion, debates on issues such as why would a God of love create Hell, what will happen to the millions who have never heard about Christ, the Sabbath, what happens to the soul at death as well as why does God allow evil and even arguments for and against God's very existence. "This will be serious journalism and analysis, not religious pablum," Boyne stresses.
