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Lloyd's
Career Capsule
Lloyd dove into Christian music radio
in 1972 while at Evangel University in Springfield, MO. In 1974,
while station manager of the campus radio station KECC, he became
the program director of a new commercial Christian station in town,
KLFJ. The next year he was hired at Springfield’s Top 40 station
KICK as news announcer.
He resigned 4 months later to return
home to Long Island, NY. There he joined a new gospel station WNYG,
becoming program director. 3 years later he was asked by Joe
Battaglia to become the program director of WLIX. Joe had just
become part-owner of this new Christian station on Long Island
serving 6.5 million people in the New York metro area.
Over the next 17 years, WLIX grew to
be one of the pioneer Christian music stations in the country. Lloyd
eventually became VP/GM and part owner before the station was sold
in 1995. Concurrently from 1988 to 1993, Lloyd was VP/GM of WLVX in
Hartford, CT.
In 1996 Lloyd joined EMF Broadcasting
(K-LOVE Radio Network) in Sacramento as General Manager. In 1999 he
added GM of Air 1 Radio Network to his title when it merged with
K-LOVE. In 2002 he founded Christian Music Planet magazine and
served as its Editor-In-Chief.
In 2005, Lloyd left EMF and moved to
Colorado Springs where he currently serves WAY-FM Media Group as
Chief Operating Officer.
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
I only have to read the emails we get from listeners to help me keep
focused on why we do what we do. We also have weekly devotions and
daily prayer times in the corporate office.
2. Overall, how is Christian radio different today, from 5 years
ago?
The music continues to get better. The overall numbers for Christian
radio has grown, so we are reaching more people. It seems more
stations are doing more research which is impacting the on-air
product in a positive way.
3. What do you think are the main characteristics of a Christian
radio GM?
Besides having a passion to touch people with the message of Christ,
I would say that a GM has to have a good handle on raising revenue.
Whether that is the ability to cultivate relationships with donors /
advertisers or to raise funds through major donors, revenue
generation is important. Besides knowing FCC regulations, they need
to have an understanding of what it takes to produce a good on-air
product. People management, understanding HR issues, marketing/PR,
keeping up with the culture and the Internet and being a good
communicator all help round out the skills needed.
4. What ways or methods do you think work best to keep your staff
motivated?
I am not a micro-manager and I like giving my GMs as much autonomy
as possible. I think giving a person control over their operations,
with accountability, motivates them to do a good job. The person can
take a lot of ownership that way. Holding routine meetings to review
progress on goals is important. Of course there are other things
like giving a staff member public recognition for a job well done
and having some fun activities together.
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian radio?
Ones that engage in a way that is unique and compelling even for
those listeners who have no desire to participate in the actual
promotion. There should be a “WOW” factor involved with a prize that
perhaps the listener can not get anywhere else.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
Considering the shifting paradigm that they are working under, I
think they are doing a good job of serving the needs of radio. I am
not in the day-to-day trenches working with the labels but
everything I hear is that they are cooperative and pro-active in
doing what they can to help us do our jobs better. I give them extra
credit just for working with Wally on Total Axxess!
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