Petra to star in new TV show

[Lirpa Loof]

This season, get ready for the newest in TV reality shows: "Masters of God's Rock."

PAX-TV has announced that it is adding this new show, starring Christain rock pioneers Petra, to its fall lineup, which also includes a recently-announced sports program which will feature "real" professional wrestling.

The new program was initially pitched to the Trinity Broadcast Network. TBN reportedly turned the program down because the producers of the show wanted a contract that would guarantee a 1-hour spot on Praise-A-Thon broadcasts for Petra so they would not lose their time slot. Although the offer was made to feature only songs from the "Petra Praise" series of albums on these special broadcasts, TBN declined.

"We are very excited about this program," said Terry Farrell, director of programming at PAX. "The Christian popular music genre has grown so much in the past few years. We consider this show a new, exciting addition to our growing list of family-friendly game shows." PAX already has The New Family Feud, ($10,000) Pyramid, and Balderdash on their lineup.

The conversion to Christianity of Brian "Head" Welch, lead singer of mainstream rockers Korn, has stirred up a new interest in Christian rock among teenagers and young adults, and the name "Petra" has always meant "Rock" to everyone except the programmers of Christian radio, who seem to have decided en masse that Petra means "forget it." "We see this as a great way to get back in front of the kids who will like our music," said John Schlitt, Petra's lead vocalist. Others have debated whether anyone under the age of 40 even knows that PAX-TV exists.

The first season of the show will revolve around a "The Bachelor" or "American Idol"- style contest to choose a new keyboard player for Petra, which has been a guitar-and-drums-only outfit for over a year now. Auditions have been held around the country, using the famed "Jesus Loves You" Keyboard solo as the audition piece for the first round of tryouts. "If I hear the phrase 'Jesus Loves You' one more time," said Petra drummer Paul Simmons after the final open audition in Sierra City, Nevada, "I'm going to throw my drum pedal at someone." Similar threats were uttered under their breaths by other band members. The contestants have been pared down to the best 150, and over the next twenty weeks those 150 will be whittled down to only ten by call-in voting. On the final show Bob Hartman will give a single red rose to the contestant selected from the final ten by the band members.

Future seasons will revolve around such topics as the band's difficulties getting full payment from local concert promoters, whether Schlitt should release a solo CD or concentrate solely on Petra, or an intriguing concept where call-in voters are able to contribute clever Biblical plays on words which will be used by primary songwriter Bob Hartman to write one new song per week.

"Maybe one season they could play 'The Apprentice' to see which label they'll record on next," commented Mitch Pommell, lead singer of Christian rock band Fourth Knight.

[calicowriter]

Happy April Fools Day to you too.

[BriGuyPEI]

Yes, it seems to me I've seen the name Lirpa Loof once before. About one year ago, if I recall...

[johntheumfreak]

aww man you had me fooled..up till the rose part

[crossways]

All I can say that I'm glad calico posted. I read that early before my 5th grade music class came in and I was ready to type in PAX.com to find the listing time!

[johntheumfreak]

I was ready to type in PAX.com to find the listing time!

gosh lol

off-topic - i don't have pax and i don't really even know what it is except that it shows some low-budget christian stuff sometimes or something like that..

[sue d.]

Nice press release, Lirpa Loof! I'm impressed!

I get PAX... it's a legitimate network, with not only Christian programming, but syndicated network programming, like reruns of "HIghway to Heaven" and % , She Wrote"... stuff like that.

Family friendly is a good word to describe PAX.

[Jonathan]

Thats going to be an awesome show! Did anyone find out when its on? I'm glad I get PAX!

[LexingtonPethead]

I actually started to look for my calendar so I could watch for it this fall!!

[Susannah]

I watch PAX...well, only one show, "Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye", which actually happens to be the only show I ever watch. Anyways, that was really funny, especially considering how PAX has a glut of new reality shows. They are soooooo in the hole, so I guess they're trying to up their ratings or something.

Anyways, the very first time I ever watched PAX was on the day of the Petra concert that my family did, back in '98. My mom and brother were out carting the guys around and stuff, and the rest of us were stuck at home, waiting for my mom to come back and pick us up, and there was nothing to do, except watch tv. And at that time of day, the only things we could get were infomercials, soap operas, or..."The Love Boat", on PAX. So that was what we did, watched ancient reruns of "The Love Boat" on PAX. Thankfully, the don't even show that anymore.

[SkyCaptain]

Ah, yes. The West Covina "God Fixation" concert! I remember that.