1.
Tell us how God has led you into Christian radio?
I was in my 14th year
in radio happily working away in a thriving career at
KSON a country station in San Diego. The station was
No. 1 in the market and I hosted a weekly TV show—the
whole nine yards. One night, at the end of a Bible
study, I ran across the K-LOVE Radio newsletter.
There, on the cover was my life-long friend and
founder of K-LOVE Radio, Bob Anthony. I had not
personally talked to Bob in some time. I called him
and in the subsequent month or two, he started talking
to me about joining K-LOVE. Within three months I
found myself working here. God just grabbed me and
yanked me here. He (God) opened every door possible
and nothing in the move was difficult. From the first
minute of the interview, my wife, Ann, and I knew it
was the right thing to do.
2. What is the most
fulfilling aspect to you, personally, about Christian
radio?
Seeing people come to know
Jesus. It’s seeing God use Christian radio to reach
and touch people and affect their lives in such
positive way.
3. How has God used you in
your role at K-LOVE?
I can literally think back on
everything that I had to do or learn in mainstream
radio and I have used it here in my role at K-LOVE. I
think God got me involved in management in mainstream
radio and allowed me to learn all aspects of radio and
then he placed me in the position I am in now as vice
president of programming for K-LOVE Radio. He
challenges me daily and asks that I do my part in
developing my role. It’s an ongoing process.
4. What’s the criteria
that determines if a song receives airplay on your
stations?
The most important step is that
the programming department feels that it is a song
that our listeners would benefit from hearing. We are
blessed in that we have the resources to go to
literally thousands and thousands of our listeners and
ask them what they think of songs. So they tell us
what they want to hear. First, there is a culling
process for choosing those test songs. Our basic
knowledge of our listeners’ range of musical tastes
allows us, from past experience, to choose music for
testing. Of course, songs must also have a Christian
message to make the final cut.
5. What kind of promotions
work best for your station?
Promotions in which we offer
something the listeners won’t or can’t do for
themselves. Our most successful promotions are when we
are able to provide, through a third party, something
that is monetarily or time-wise out-of-reach for some
of our listeners. The typical K-LOVE listener would
not go out and spend extravagantly on herself. We have
contests in which we give listeners a day at the spa
or a day of babysitting while they go shopping. One of
our most popular promotions is giving a mission trip
through our partnership with Food for the Hungry. We
have had tremendous response to those kinds of
promotions.
6. How do you think
Christian record labels can better serve Christian
radio?
I think it is a symbiotic
relationship. They serve us and we, in turn, serve
them. How can they better serve us? I suppose by
understanding each other’s needs. We need to know what
they are trying to do and they need to know what we
are trying to do. What is our common ground. We have
had some high-level discussions and when we laid it
all out on the table we found that we had a lot of
common ground.
7. In your opinion what
are the biggest obstacles facing Christian radio
today?
Preconceived notions on the
listeners’ part, or they have no notion whatsoever. We
found one of the biggest obstacles for K-LOVE is that
many people don’t know we are out there. I don’t think
at this day and age it’s a matter of product.
Christian radio has really raised the bar tremendously
in the last five years. I think we can compete on an
air talent per air talent and song per song basis with
anybody. In fact, we should do better because of our
content. But people say, “I used to listen to
Christian radio and it was awful. Or we hear I just
didn’t even know you’re there.”
8. What do you believe is
the primary role of the Christian radio air
personality today?
They should be true to their
faith, to be a light and an example. To show people
that you can be a Christian and laugh and have a good
time. You can be serious when it’s called for and you
can have opinions and views. Just be who you are. To
me, the most powerful thing is when I see someone
living out his or her faith. That is more important
than any words he or she could say.
9. What (if any) Christian
music stations do you consider as innovators today?
I think a lot of them are
innovators now. In my travels around the country I
have encountered some really great Christian radio
stations. I think maybe people aren’t as afraid as
they were to take a chance on a certain style or sound
or discuss a certain topic or play a certain song. I
think a lot of radio stations are stepping out now. I
think the time has come. There are a lot of quality
people in Christian radio now. With that quality
thinking comes quality broadcasting.
10. Where do you see
Christian radio in five years?
I see it bigger and better than
it is today. With all the things going on in this
world I see a greater importance for some Christian
radio stations than ever as witnessed by the amount of
people who are going to see “The Passion Of the
Christ.”