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Jim's
Career Capsule
I attended a
broadcast school in 1973, and then decided to attend the U. of
Northern Colorado, majoring in Communications. After college, I
worked radio jobs in Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Minnesota
before settling at WQFL in Rockford, IL for 13 years. In late 2001,
I made the move to KSBJ as Music Director.
1. How has KSBJ evolved over the last few years?
KSBJ has seen
tremendous growth over the past several years, and our full time
staff has grown to over 40. We’ve recently added a new full power
signal near College Station to the other three that, along with
several translators, help us cover a good portion of Southeast
Texas.
2. Has KSBJ made any changes due to economic situation, been
affected in any way?
Our bubble really
hasn’t burst in Houston, yet. A good measure will be our sharathon
in June. Being totally listener supported, and having a record
sharathon last year, we have to believe that people will still give
to what they perceive is changing lives.
3. How is Houston a unique Christian market?
Houston has a zillion
churches and most of the people espouse Christian values (or are at
least sympathetic toward them). And KSBJ is the only AC music
station in an area of over 5 million.
4. What criteria do you require for a song to be played on your
station?
Well, three things
mainly. The song has to have Velcro lyrics, that unmistakably share
Christian values and firmly connect with listeners. With very few
exceptions, the artist should be known as a Christian artist. And
the sound needs to be contemporary; something a soccer mom would
consider cool.
5. What kind of promotions work best for KSBJ?
The kind that involve
us AND listeners in some kind of community outreach.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
They do a pretty
decent job already, but one thing bugs me. Sometimes a song is
uploaded into PlayMPE and they give the “Available Date” instead of
the “Impact Date”. Giving the Available Date is superfluous since
we already know that any song that’s on PlayMPE is available. But
often I have to call and ask when the add date (or impact date) is.
Just give me the add date when you upload it! This would help me
plan my music meetings better. (And a big thanks to the labels that
already do this religiously)
7. In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing Christian
radio today?
Staying
relevant while staying Christian. Society always evolves and
Christians evolve along with it. While they view us as ministry,
they also view us as entertainment, along with TV, internet and a
myriad of music delivery devices. Our challenge is to stay in the
mix; to shine.
8. What do you believe is the primary role of the Christian radio
air personality?
Songs and
personalities connect with listeners in different ways. The role of
the personality is NOT to just be the glue between songs, but to be
an element that connects with the lifestyle of the listener. I know
he/she can’t hit a home run on every break, but the days of liner
jocks and daily lists are gone. Jocks need to remember to consider
their air shift as the most important hat they wear.
9. What (if any) Christian radio stations do you consider as
innovators today?
I could name several
great stations out there, but an “innovator” introduces new things,
or changes established things. There’s not enough of that going on
in Christian radio today. Problem is, our listeners are sometimes
resistant to change so we need to invent better ways of identifying
what they expect to change, and not just make change for its own
sake.
10. Where do you see Christian radio in 5 years?
I was asked
that five years ago, and I can only hope that our audience continues
to grow like it has. As an industry, we will still need to be
light, salt, comfort.
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