Mother Angelica leaves her Ohio convent to found Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, with money raised by the sale of St. Peter's Fishing Lures.
July 1971
Mother Angelica teaches a local Bible class and begins
what would become an extensive public-speaking ministry.
July 1972 
First mini-books
published in response to requests for printed versions of her Bible
classes.
August 4, 1972
First Imprimatur granted for mini-books.
October 16, 1975
Nuns operate their own print shop to produce
mini-books.
March 1978
Mother Angelica receives inspiration for television
ministry after visiting a Chicago TV station. She saw a tiny television
station on top of a large, downtown building. When she saw the cameras and
video equipment and a few people operating out of a tiny studio, she
marveled at how many people were reached by this ministry. As she walked
into the studio she said, "Lord, I gotta have one of these!"
April 28, 1978
Mother Angelica's first attempt to tape an
episode was a disaster. The set was too stark and barren, the lights were
too bright, the cameras were in the wrong places, and the audio made
Mother Angelica sound like she had a high, squeaky voice.
May 3rd through August 1978
Mother Angelica produces her first
series "Our Hermitage" at a local television studio after a
close friend hand delivers a pilot to CBN. They requested 60 episodes.
November 1, 1978
Mother Angelica confronts the manager of a
local station where she had filmed 17 episodes of her second series
"In His Sandals" because the station planned to air a
blasphemous movie. When she said she would not make any more programs
there, he told her that her television work would come to an end without
their studio and crew. She replied that she only needed God and that she
would build her own studio and buy her own cameras. He told her she
couldn't do it, and she replied, "You just watch me!" She then
asked her construction crew to extend the monastery's new garage 10 feet
longer and 12 feet wider to accommodate a television studio.
January 1979
Mother Angelica appears on PTL.
April 1979
Mother Angelica has a crew of five working on
productions, including a production van that followed her on her speaking
engagements. When she learned that her tapes would only be aired once, she
realized she needed a network to maintain a Catholic presence on the
airwaves.
June 1979
Mother Angelica produces "Feed My Lambs."
September 1980
Mother Angelica orders a satellite dish and
applies for a Federal Communications Commission License to broadcast.
September 1980
Mother Angelica invites bishops to submit
programming.
January 1981
EWTN receives FCC license, the first granted to a monastery.
March 8, 1981 
Just before the first satellite dish arrived, Sr.
Regina had a vision in which she saw a black sky, a white satellite dish,
and a flame emerging from the center. She heard God say, "This is my
network, and it will glorify my Son." After the dish arrived a few
weeks later, a photograph taken while it was installed reproduced Sr.
Regina's vision: a black sky, the white dish, and a red flame emerging
from its center. Professional photographers could not account for the red
flame. Mother Angelica called it a miracle.
March 19, 1981
The Wall Street Journal prints a two-page sketch
of Mother Angelica.
Work begins on the production of additional series.
May 22, 1981
Silvio Cardinal Oddi, visiting from Rome, blesses
EWTN facilities.
June 26, 1981
Mother Angelica receives papers from Rome granting
her permission to carry out her television work after receiving verbal
notification on May 25, 1981.