1. Tell us about
your market and how it is unique?
Grand Rapids is an
amazing place for CCM radio. Including us, there
are
four full time
Christian FM music stations. (We have a sister
Inspo station,
there's another Inspo
across town, plus a good Christian AC.) On top of
that,
there are another half
dozen Christian stations with a variety of
programming
(Moody, Calvary,
etc.). I've been told that this market often
Soundscans more
CCM than top 10 radio
markets.
2. What is the most fulfilling aspect to you
personally about Christian radio?
Prior to 9/11, I viewed
Christian radio as just another radio format. After
that,
when hearing from
listeners about how a certain song or personality
helped them
get perspective, I was
sold that our formats can connect like no other.
3. How has God
used you in your role at WAYG?
I'm still learning how
He wants to use me. Being a newer member of the
team,
hopefully an outside
perspective has been useful among the team. I think
God has used
WAYG to help me grow as
much, if not more, as anything I have contributed
so far to WAYG.
4. What is the
criteria that determines if a song receives airplay
on your station?
Will our listeners love
this song? Those that seem to have a fair shake at
it
get noticed; and
sometimes those that go against our assumptions too.
We have to need the
song also. Our playlist at the moment has quite a
few
mid tempo songs, and
ballads. If another one comes along, we don't
really
need it now.
5. What kind of promotions work best for your
station?
Being new, I am still
learning that too. We recently were able to send
3000
CDs to GIs serving
overseas. That seemed to energize listeners. At
our two
packing parties, we had
way more help than we needed.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can
better serve Christian radio?
Overall, I think they
are doing great given the recent consolidation.
They often
come to radio with
unique promotion ideas that create memories for
listeners.
That used to be a
little more rare than it is, even during boom times.
7. In your
opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing
Christian radio today?
Getting into a comfort
zone: Christian radio formats have made a few
inroads thanks
to some successful
stations, and that rising tide lifted many boats.
Yet it's just the
begining of what we can
accomplish. Whether we will depends on how many of
us are hungry for it.
8. What do you
believe is the primary role of the Christian radio
air personality today?
To be more entertaining
and compelling than any mainstream or new technology
option,
while also providing a
loving and open Christian worldview on real life,
not religious life.
9. What (if any)
other Christian radio stations do you consider as
innovators today?
Our sister station,
WCSG/Grand Rapids, is a leader for their format IMHO
:-). WNAZ/Nashville,
WONU/Chicago, and
KXOJ/Tulsa are always favorites of mine.
10. Where do you
see Christian radio in 5 years?
For Christian AC,
continued growth that reaches into more major
markets.
For Christian CHR,
there's either going to be an explosion for the
format lead by
a couple of medium or
major market stations (that may not yet exist). Or,
the
continued status quo
that will relegate CHR as a fringe format that's not
a viable
tool to reach listeners
12-30.
For all of us, as more
of our music crosses over and we continue trying to
be
more "relevant," there
is a danger that we'll become indistinguishable from
our mainstream
counterparts. In five years, if we're presenting
our Christian worldview
from a religious or
politically right point of view, we'll limit
ourselves to only a fraction
of the most devout.
However, if we're trying so hard to entertain that
we forget to
include any Christian
worldview, there won't be much of a reason to choose
a Christian station
over a mainstream
station. Each format and each station needs to
find that
unique balance for what
they are called to do.
