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Don's
Career Capsule
First of all I want to express my thanks to the many people in the
industry that came to the aid of my family when our house burned in
January. Our children are big Christian music fans. Through my years
of radio and concert promotion they had a good collection of
autographed pictures, t-shirts and CD's. The industry responded and
replaced these things and more. Thank you. It encouraged them that
life would return to normal. Having your house burn presents an
overwhelming amount of work and we have been delinquent in sending
out thank you notes.
I began working in broadcasting in
1969 and came to know Jesus as my Savior in 1973. I immediately
wanted to use broadcasting to communicate this Good News to others.
However, the non-Christian broadcasters I worked for did not share
this zeal and I moved into Christian broadcasting in 1976. I was
sitting behind the control board and put WMHK on the air. Since
then I have been involved in putting six more full power stations on
the air. We now have five full power stations with Great Plains
Christian Radio and three construction permits as well as 38
translators. Our flagship station KJIL has been named station of the
year by GMA, NAB, Focus on the Family and the Kansas Association of
Broadcasters.
Along with my work in radio I began promoting Christian concerts. I
did this for fifteen years before the radio stations I worked for
incorporated this as part of the ministry. Basically, I have done
the promotion and my wife has lined up volunteers and did the
catering for thirty years. Artists probably remember my wife,
Polly's, cooking and hospitality more than they remember my
promotion. My wife Polly and I have six children and our first
grandchild was born this year. Three of our sons have a contemporary
Christian group called, Gabriel Peter,
http://www.gabrielpeter.com
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
I am at a point in my life when there is more behind
me in length of days than there is in front of me. Just a couple of
days ago I was reading in Psalm 71 and came across these two verses
of scripture. This will be my prayer for the rest of my life.
"O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare
Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God,
do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come."
I have another slogan that keeps me looking to the
Lord, "You have not done anything until you have finished well.
Help me Lord to accomplish this!"
2. Overall, how is Christian radio different today,
from 5 years ago?
People have more listening options from a greater
number of stations, internet, I-pods, etc. We need to keep up with
changing technology. We need to understand our changing society in
order to communicate to heart felt needs from a Biblical
perspective.
3. What do you think are the main characteristics of
a Christian radio GM?
Someone who is willing to serve the Lord, their staff
and the listeners.
4. What ways or methods do you think work best to
keep your staff motivated?
Each staff member needs to feel they have some
control to do their job and freedom to exercise their abilities. I
have a wonderful staff and I feel that the Holy Spirit can work
through them as well or better than He can work through me.
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian
radio?
I hear so many wonderful ideas from other
broadcasters. There is really a lot of ministry that takes place
through the various promotional activities of Christian
broadcasters. The promotion needs to be simple and easily understood
because listeners are probably not paying as much attention to the
details as we think they are. Number one is to keep something going
and keep the listeners involved. Number two is to have a variety of
activities because not everyone is interested in the same thing.
Number three is to have promotion
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