Bob's Career Capsule
I worked in mainstream radio in my teens and early 20’s. After coming to Christ in ’72 I began working for Crawford Broadcasting in Nashville. Later re-locating back to Fort Myers, FL. I worked for WSOR in the early to mid 1980’s. My wife and I began feeling a burden for youth and young adults which led us to start a non-profit organization with the purpose of launching an all music Christian FM which came to pass in 1987. Now 28 years later, WAY Media is now operating in 30+ markets.

 

1. Tell us what's new at WAY FM, news, changes, expansion... etc?

We are excited about our digital strategy which is largely driven by our 2020 Vision which involves impacting 10 Million people throughout the world by 2020. A new more content rich wayfm.com is going live starting July 13. There will be a greater emphasis on unique content aimed to fulfill our Mission which is to influence this generation to love and follow Jesus. We also are thrilled with the response we are seeing with our new online channel called WAY NEW dedicated solely to new artists and new titles from familiar artists. On the FM side of things, WAY-FM will launch in Dallas soon. This will be our first top 10 market. Last but not least I sense real enthusiasm over our fairly new brand position….UPLIFTING.UPBEAT.REAL.

2. What is the best programming advice you've been given? The worst?

That’s a great question. I haven’t operated in the programming arena for a long time but I suppose the best advice would be to pay close attention to what your listeners are saying and desiring from your station.

3. Regarding your career, what are you most proud of?

I guess it would be to see station’s thriving today that were only a dream in my mind many years ago. I love flying into one of the WAY-FM cities today, jumping into the rental car and listening to how amazing it sounds. Often, I get nostalgic as I start to reflect back on the challenges and stories and how God intervened in the early days of birthing the station. Each station has a story…..many of those stories are pretty incredible including  the fact that when we started the first WAY-FM in Florida we only had 2 weeks of reserves to keep it on the air.

4. What is the ONE thing you must have everyday to do your job?

Try and be a good listener and learn from the amazing people God has brought our “WAY”.

5. Where will future Christian radio air talent come from?

That’s a question we wrestle with all the time. I am so thankful for the many years of working with Jim  Leightenheimer who heads the media program at Cedarville University in Ohio. We have been the beneficiary of getting so many incredible students from his program at Cedarville which are now working in many different areas and markets within WAY Media. 

6. Do you feel syndication is good or bad for Christian radio?

Good if it is used properly and doesn’t overly restrict local content from being fairly dominant on the air.

7. Generally speaking to the industry what are the biggest obstacles facing Christian radio?

I actually think Christian radio is in a much better position than mainstream radio going forward. As long as we keep striving to find the best communicators possible that know how to be real and can genuinely relate to our listeners, I think Christian radio has even better days ahead.

8. Who are your radio heroes and influences? and why?

WOW….there are many. I really miss Mark Rider. What he and Buddy Holiday did in Houston was amazing in the 80’s. I am thankful Mark spent a few years with WAY-FM. I love Eric Rhoads who spent 9 years on the WAY Media Board. Eric was always challenging us with future ideas and concepts. John Frost was our first real consultant and helped us in so many ways. I know I am biased but many of the folks with WAY-FM today are people I admire greatly. I am very thankful for the passion Wally brings to the mission every day. I’m also humbled to have such a fine programmer with this Ministry. Rob Wagman is new but he has brought so much to the table already. He had the benefit of building on the foundation that Jeff Connell worked so tirelessly on. Faron Dice knows how to make great hires.

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