Vic Eliason

Victor Carl "Vic" Eliason (May 14, 1936 – December 5, 2015) was an American evangelical clergyman who founded the VCY America Radio Network, a conservative Christian broadcasting ministry, based in Milwaukee, along with Milwaukee television station WVCY-TV.

Victor Carl Eliason was born on May 14, 1936 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, the son of lay preacher, Oscar C. Eliason, who served with the Swedish Baptist Church and the Assemblies of God, and Norma Olson (born 1911). Eliason attended Open Bible College, in Des Moines, Iowa. After serving as an associate pastor in Des Moines, Iowa, Eliason was ordained in a non-denominational church, in October 1957.

In 1959 Eliason and his wife, Freda (born February 13, 1935), moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1960, Eliason became interim director of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin chapter of Youth for Christ. In May 1961 the organization went on the air with Voice of Christian Youth, a 30-minute youth-oriented radio show over WBON-FM in Milwaukee. Soon after the ministry had expanded to a full broadcast day, resulting in 1970 in VCY purchasing WBON for $315,000 and renaming it WVCY-FM.

In 1973, Eliason led the Milwaukee Youth for Christ chapter out of the national organization, renaming it "Voice of Christian Youth." Now known as VCY America, it is a Christian broadcasting ministry based in Milwaukee. VCY currently oversees 15-20 stations mostly across the Upper Midwest, depending on the source, not including its Internet site or a 24-hour-a-day, seven days a week, television station in Milwaukee, which is WVCY-TV, launched in 1983, as well as several "translator" and "satellator" stations. VCY America also provides programming via satellite to stations around the country. The ministry is funded through listeners' and supporters' donations.

Eliason was a prominent on-air personality for the network, with duties including being one of the regular hosts for the network's morning public affairs program, VCY Today and the afternoon news program, Crosstalk. Eliason also provided the voiceovers for the network's overnight music program, Music 'Til Dawn, which features "mostly conservative, ministry-oriented inspirational music", where tunes are interspersed with verses from the Bible and commentary.

In 1978, Eliason established the Voice of Christian Youth school, a private Christian K-12 School at 3434 W. Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee. In the early 1990s, the Voice of Christian Youth School merged with Faith Christian Academy and the name of the school was formally changed to Badger State Baptist School, and was relocated to 1170 W. Windlake Ave, Milwaukee.

In 1983, Eliason started WVCY-TV on Channel 30 in Milwaukee. In September 1994, the WVCY-TV board rejected a purchase offer of $10 million from CBS as part of that network's attempt to find a new station in the market (CBS eventually affiliated with WDJT-TV).

In 1976 Eliason started Crosstalk, a radio talk show he hosted. Even as other hosts joined, Vic would still sit in on various days for Crosstalk until he died in 2015. Crosstalk, the network's nationally broadcast weekday afternoon public affairs program, airs live on over 125 stations and is rebroadcast weekday evenings on the VCY Radio Network; one of those broadcasts is also replayed at noon (CDT) on Saturday as Best of Crosstalk.