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Gary's
Career Capsule
Long, long ago - in a
galaxy far, far away... I worked as a design engineer and then as a
general contractor.
I applied for work at WLIX AM Radio, on Long Island,
and I gave my prior radio experience as, "I listen to the radio
EVERY day".
12 years later, the Lord arranged a
job for me at WLIX AM as an account executive. Gradually my client
base increased and spots were sold with one stipulation... the
clients would buy spots, but only if I voiced them. Seems the Lord
WILL give you the desires of your heart, :-) Before not very
long, I was the only account executive with a voice conflict code
color assigned for the carts.
When two of my largest clients didn't
renew - a week before Christmas - G.M. Lloyd Parker and P.D. Jerry
Williams decided to give me a shot as part of the on-air staff. In
1995, after 16 years as Christian Radio, the station was sold for
financial reasons, changed their call letters to WLUX and went to a
secular Pop Standard format. I played Sinatra for about a year with
them before health issues forced me to step down.
Pause "career" for 12 years, two
operations and time for God to set several things into motion.
I receive a phone call from my dear
friend and president of the Christian Television Network, NY, Pastor
Richard Anderson.
He had
the opportunity to obtain a relatively new low powered FM station
with the familiar call letters of WLIX.
By
the time that the station had it's official launch day of
Resurrection Sunday 2007, we had our main antennae and 4
translators, allowing WLIX to reach a potential 2.5 MILLION
listeners per day, as well as covering nearly 90% of all of Long
Island.
We're a commercial free station,
staffed completely by volunteers, looking more like a low powered
college station. However... we're reaching a LOT of people with a
REALLY clear signal. Our major programming rule is that we have to
glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, and do it with excellence.
At
this time; I am engineering two shows each day for other ministries
- Monday through Friday, hosting and producing the show "Around Town
with Gary DeVeau - a blend of local Long Island Christian artists
and classic Christian favorites, as well as producing and hosting
the afternoon drive-time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
I've
always believed that the "Business" IS a ministry. I felt that in
radio and as a general contractor. I've always remembered the
expression, "If ya can't take the fame, ya can't take the blame".
We have to trust that God is COMPLETELY in control of ALL things. I
do my best, pray that it's blessed and He takes care of the rest.
(Thank you, Keith Green, for that line) This also means trusting
that the people that are over me are controlled by God too.
2.
Overall, how is Christian radio different today, from 5 years ago?
Technology changes our
world exponentially every day. This has affected the way we enjoy
and share our music and other media expressions too. Our
competition to capture, captivate and HOLD an audience has never
been so intense. We have to be relevant and local while that
definition keeps widening each day.
3.
What do you think are the main characteristics of today’s Christian
radio PD?
Each day they seem younger and
younger than I. ;-)
They have to be extremely
creative and out of the box. Radio MUST embrace the immerging
technologies aggressively and creatively interface them to the
consumer. One simple idea would be to offer with their FM signal -
sort of a carrier wave that brings the meta-data about the songs
currently playing - then consumer clips and pastes the data
into a search engine to obtain EVERYTHING about the artists, bios,
band members, disc-ography and how to down-load ANY song. As
everything goes digital, this will be old hat. All that... and much
more - we need the ability to multi-task our "product".
4.
What criteria do you require for a song to be played on your
station?
If anyone was our PD, it would be
Pastor Richard Anderson - although, he is more like the GM or C.E.O....
well then again, he IS the senior pastor of their church, ALSO.
We're
more audience driven than we would like to admit. Each one of us are
gaining valuable information on what "product" the "purchaser" wants
- and then figuring out a creative method to supply that demand.
The best service we can do for our audience and for the survival of
the station is to REALLY listen to each one of our phone calls,
emails and IM's to really KNOW what Long Island wants and/or needs.
Many of us believe the primary reason Long Island 'lost' the old
WLIX 540 AM station, was because we used a format that was
generated, packaged and shipped-up from Nashville, Tennessee. YOU
SHOULD NOT, YOU COULD NOT AND YOU BASICALLY DID NOT DEVIATE FROM
"The Format"!!!!!
WLIX LP
FM is a BIT different than all that.
We are presently one
week shy of seven months old. For the first four months, Pastor
Anderson worked to make financing deals, worked to get media groups
interested in the station AND did the morning drive time, from 6am
to 10am, then produced two live shows and did production work until
3 - he then ran the afternoon drive time until 6pm - Monday
through Friday. He also produces the shows for about 30 hrs per
week of The Christian Television Network AND leads three worship
services. Many of us joined-up in the beginning, but with myself
personally, I didn't start working there with anything "tangible"
until late July - early August. Each individual air personality is
able to cut a wide path through the jungle of song choices within
out vast library of songs. Many of us also bring in our personal
cache, which is slowly being added to the main computers and the
back-up of our back-ups. If anyone of us needed help, the others
would come along side to encourage and teach. Each one of us will
"profit" if the station survives.
Basically
I would say that the music must bring glory to the Lord and if
it sounds "good" for its genre! We play ALMOST every genre and ANY
label, including indie non-labels.
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian radio?
Christian promotions. ;-)
The most we've done so far is CDs, books & concert
tickets.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
Remember question #1! Keep Christ and the Body of
Christ above their perceived "good business" choices. Seek
first the kingdom of God...and keep the bookstores and radio
stations in the forefront of this elliptical relationship.
7. In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing Christian
radio today?
Making radio too big to address the personal needs of
the listener. After saying that, I would say that the biggest
obstacle is proving to the listener that bigger is NOT better. That
local is better than satellite that "local personality" is better
than the latest "HAL 2001" digital music computer voice.
8. What do you believe is the primary role of the
Christian radio air personality?
I have to judge by our own hybrid station. We are
part worship leader and part pastor. We pray over our shows and
then assemble them, song by song. We choose what scripture to read
and when. Many times, I will pre-record a dramatic scripture or
other read, lay-in an appropriate music bed and then play it
different sets of songs. Most of us answer our own phones, when
we're able to, and this brings many opportunities to pray with our
audience - we actually encourage listeners to call for prayer.
9. What (if any) Christian radio stations do you
consider as innovators today?
My experience of any ONE station is quite limited,
but I would have to say the stations that capitalize on their web
presence with a site that is revised twice DAILY, offers something
the audience needs or wants (web tools, search engines - internal and
web, and and a massive links page... make YOUR site the first site
they would want to check-in with and the last one they close-out
before they turn their computer, laptop or internet-accessible cell
phone.)
10. Where do you see Christian radio in 5 years?
Lord willing.... still on Long Island... and
LARGER!!!
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