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Dobson founded Focus on the Family in 1977 and spent the next 25 years building it into the influential Christian conservative group it is today.
In February 2009, Dobson stepped down as chairman of the Colorado Springs-based group's board of directors, after relinquishing his longtime role as president in 2003. But he kept his role of host of the popular Focus radio show, which is reportedlyheard by 1.5 million Americans each day.
Then, this past November, Dobson said on the show that the Focus board had asked him to give up the radio program in a few months time. Late last month, he delivered his final Focus broadcast.
In little-noticed comments from the November show, Dobson seemed troubled by the board's decision to ask him to give up the program.
"[T]the board of directors voted privately on Wednesday -- before we got there -- to ask for my resignation, although their request was made with kindness and respect. We can only guess the reason for their decision because frankly I don't fully know," Dobson said. "But it apparently has to do with the desire for closure on my tenure and the beginning of another."
Pastor Ken Hutcherson, who leads the Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington, and describes himself as a longtime friend of Dobson, says he became suspicious when Dobson, 73, announced he would launch his own independent radio show this spring. While the new show is not associated with Focus on the Family, it will be called Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson, and center on the same issues Dobson brought to his Focus broadcast.
And Focus -- which has been through several rounds of painful layoffs -- agreed to donate $1 million to Dobson to start the new show.
"Dr. Dobson gets off the radio in February, and he's starting a new program in May. It just didn't make sense. Why get off if you don't want to get off?" Hutcherson asked in a phone interview with TPMmuckraker.
Hutcherson, a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, is a force in his own right. He is best known for his anti-gay activism and the New York Times has described him as "a rising national star in the world of black evangelical ministers."
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Source: Talking Points Memo
