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Lori's Career
Capsule
I started at the Christian Armory Bookstores as a part time cashier
when I was a senior in high school. 15 years later, I was
still there and had moved up to Marketing Director. When the company
was being sold to the Lifeway chain, my job was eliminated and I
came to 104.9 the River to be Promotions Director. After a
couple of years, I moved into the Financial Assistant’s position and
also became our graphics designer. I’ve currently been at the
station for 7 years.
1.
How did you arrive at your new position?
Last fall, our
promotions coordinator left and instead of hiring someone new,
several of us pitched in to help in the department. It really
rekindled my passion for promotions and when it was decided to
develop this new type of department, I couldn’t resist taking the
job.
2. How is your position different from a promotions director?
Similar?
My position is
the Promotions Director plus much more. The Listener
Impressions Department is all about giving the best impression of
the station and connecting with the listeners…whether that’s at a
remote or appearance, billboards, print advertising, station
vehicles, web site, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Anything that
gives an impression of our station, aside from on-air, goes through
me first and I have a very high level of standards that our product
has to measure up to.
3. What are your goals at WCVO?
My primary goal
is to shape this department into something spectacular and that will
set an industry standard. I want our department to be the glue
that holds everything together in house and be the tie that binds
the listener to our station out in the community. I have hired
a Listener Impressions Agent and her primary job will be spent out
of the office in the community visiting schools, churches,
businesses, soccer games…where ever our target is spending her time
with her family. Our department motto is…”You only have one
chance to make a first impression”
4. What criteria do you require for a promotion to air on your
station?
I’m not sure we
have criteria as we are a commercial radio station and need to serve
our clients to the best of our ability. What we do is shape
every promotion to somehow make it relevant to our target. For
instance, if a car dealership wants to do a promotion with us, we
may giveaway a 15-passenger van to a church that needs one as
opposed to giving one person a car. This way, we make an
impression on an entire church and not just one person.
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian radio?
I think any
promotion that speaks to your values as a station works whether
you’re in Christian radio or not. Here at the River, we’re
striving to make everything we do either Faith or Family based.
Again, I use the example of a car dealership that wants a 2-hour
remote. We want to make that remote relevant to our listeners,
so we make it a car seat safety check as well.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
If they could
provide a way for our listeners to get to know them deep down and
relate to their lives. I believe our listeners would love to
know the story behind the songs and in this day of technology, this
could be accomplished by video clips posted on radio station’s web
sites.
7. In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing Christian
radio today?
I think trying
to serve the secular clients that maybe don’t have the respect for
Christian radio and overcoming that persona of Christian radio
equals bad radio.
8. What do you believe is the primary role of the Christian radio
air personality?
I believe they
have a couple. One is to be real and genuine on the air and,
second, to get out and meet their listeners on a personal level.
Facebook and Twitter has really helped media personalities be
involved in listeners lives
9. What (if any) Christian radio stations do you consider as
innovators today?
In my new
position, I would love to visit some radio stations across the
country to get ideas and see how they are impacting their
communities. A couple that come to mind are Z-88 in Orlando
and KSBJ in Houston.
10. Where do you see Christian radio in 5 years?
In these days of
financial uncertainty and people being scared of losing jobs and
homes, I believe Christian radio can provide a hope that can’t be
found in material things. The message of Christian radio will
never die and if a station can withstand its own financial
uncertainty, then I see it rising above all the rest.
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