1. Tell us about
your market and how it is unique?
JoyFM is nestled in the
St. John River valley in Fredericton, the Capital of
New Brunswick. We are home to two universities -
The University of New Brusnwick, and St. Thomas
University (GO TOMMIES!). We are a 50W station that
has a potential reach of approximately 110,000
people.
2. What is the
most fulfilling aspect to you personally about
Christian radio?
The most fulfilling
aspect of Christian Radio is definitely it's ability
to reach the community with the Gospel. Recent
statistics tell us that approximately 1/3 of
Christian Radio listeners are
non-churched/non-Christian. These people simply
listen because they like the music and/or appreciate
the Family Friendly programming. What an awesome
opportunity the Lord has given everyone involved in
Christian Radio. I mean, just think about it for a
minute. In a market of 100,000 and 5% market share
means that you are sharing the Gospel with as many
as 1700 un-saved people at any given moment! How
much more fulfilling can a job be than that!
3. Here is
your chance to testify on behalf of your
station...How has God used Joy FM?
God continues to use
JoyFM and it's staff every day in exciting ways. In
the church community we are quickly becoming a hub
of information and co-operation amongst the churches
in our area. It's really a neat experience to have
a Baptist Church call and say "We want to do an
event and host it at the Pentecostal Church and have
them involved, can you help?"
Another way God
continues to work through us in the community is in
reaching people for Christ. During our recent
Share-A-Thon, we received a donation and a letter
that really touched us. The writer told us of a low
point in their life and how they had been
contemplating suicide. They had been listening to
JoyFM a little but on one particular day they
decided it was time to end their life. They had a
small transistor radio with them but no reception.
The climbed over the railing of one of our bridges
and were about to jump when JoyFM came blasting loud
and clear! The letter went on to say that JoyFM and
Kendra Chandler - the announcer on at the time -
saved their life! They thank God for JoyFM! Praise
the Lord! This is just one example of how God has
used JoyFM to touch lives. We continue to get a lot
of feedback from the community about our programming
and have been told a number of stories about people
making first time decisions for Christ!
4. What is the
criteria that determines if a song receives airplay
on your station?
That's a complex
question. My formula (in general) is this. First I
listen to a short piece of the song 20-30 sec at the
start and then the chorus. If you've got my
attention musically, I give a harder listen for
production value and then go to the lyrics. If the
song is strong musically and lyrically, it gets
played. We set a pretty high bar here at JoyFM
musically, lyrically and in production quality. We
do however tend to bend some 'rules' when it comes
to Canadian Content and Local artists.
5. What kind
of promotions work best for your station?
We have a lot of fun
with on-air contesting - everything from regular
contests like The Prize Pyramid to short term
contest for special events and concerts. We have
also been very successful with our Summer Block
parties and concert events.
6. How do you
think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
I think we need
better contact with the record labels. More artist
interviews, more single releases (instead of having
me decide to play a couple of cuts when an album is
released), more concert tours etc. I also think
labels need to do more artist marketing and
promotion both through Christian Media and Secular
media. Christian Music continues to grow in Canada
and I think together we can continue to see that
growth and reach even more people with the Gospel
message!
7. In your
opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing
Christian radio today?
I think there are
two main obstacles facing Christian Music (in
particular radio) today. The first is
Stereotyping. Christian music still hasn't emerged
in society as fun, cool music that's safe. We're
still pigeonholed as 'Church Music', organ and piano
playing Amazing Grace (the old way not Todd Agnew)
with an opera soloist or congregational singing.
That may have been true in the 1800's but we've come
a long way! Christian music can go head to head
musically with any artist out there. We get our
edge because of our lyrics - you don't have to worry
about what an artist is wearing or suggesting. It's
family friendly.
The other obstacle is
in how the CRTC lumps any faith based programming
into one heap and calls it 'Religious
Broadcasting.' We need to move away from this broad
spectrum and begin to separate spiritual points of
view. I don't mean to suggest allowing 'hate
broadcasting' and disguising it as religious right,
instead we need to allow for differences to exist.
8. What do you
believe is the primary role of the Christian radio
air personality today?
The primary goal of
the on-air personality is education. Education
about the music and the message. We don't need to
preach but a little teaching goes a long way. If
we have 1/3 of our listeners that aren't involved
in a church, we are their church. We need to set
an example and be different than other jocks. We
need to sound similar but different. We can still
have fun and goof around, we still do news, sports
and weather, we still play contests but we can do
all that and still get the Christian message out
there.
9. Where do
you see Christian radio in 5 years?
I see Christian
Radio continuing to grow in Canada and even
becoming, dare I say it, mainstream! Mom's and
Dad's don't have to worry about what role models
their children are developing through radio. They
don't have to worry about what an artist says in
their lyrics or how they dress. As the moral
majority grows and starts to stand up for truth
and values, Christian Radio will continue to grow!
