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Paul's
Career Capsule
Involved
in broadcasting while in high school and followed it up with
obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Radio TV/Film at the University of
Wisconsin at Oshkosh. First paid radio gig was with
WMKC-Oshkosh(home of the great ones, playing Adult Contemporary pop
music in 1978, followed by weekends at WHBY-Appleton 1979-1980
(news/talk), then to WEMI in 1981 and I have been here ever since.
Began as part-timer, eventually was music director, production
director, program director, operations director and more.
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
By
always trying to keep the main thing the main thing. Remember it’s
not about me. Being willing to take time to pray for the needs of
others is another way to keep the focus on ministry as it is the
needs of others, not ones self.
2. Overall, how is Christian radio different today, from 5 years
ago?
Better stations, better sound, better music. Having been involved
since 1981 it has gone from 2 stations in the market to 8 with a
“religious” format, listeners have more to chose from and we have to
do the best job at putting out great radio. Also see more focus on
what the listener wants via research.
3. What do you think are the main characteristics of today’s
Christian radio PD?
Today’s PD needs to be flexible and focused on following through on
the stations mission statement and looking for ways to meet that
mission. Need to listen to what other stations are doing in and out
of the market and see if things they are doing might also be
something our listeners would benefit from.
4. What criteria do you require for a song to be played on your
station?
For
me personally, the big question is: Is it a great song? There are
a lot of good songs, but is the song one that you find yourself
singing or wanting to hear again? Our music director is looking for
production quality that is equal to what is airing or better, solid
lyrics that may be vertically or horizontally focused, biblically
sound and is it a hit?
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian radio?
We’ve
found that partnerships with organizations in our communities work
best. For example, our recent Help for the Homeless campaign had us
partnering with homeless coalitions in a 6 county area and by
working with them, we were able to collect over $73,000 worth of
toiletries and cleaning supplies that benefited 33 different groups
working with those in need. We are always looking for something
that the listener would consider relevant and something that they
could easily be a part of. Focus is usually not on us, but others
and that seems to be best.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
Keep
in touch. As we have moved from an Insp format to AC, we have
noticed that there is not as much tracking being done by some
companies. If the record labels need something from us, we’d like
to know so that we can continue to work together as we have for over
30 years. Have radio music director’s help in the selection of
songs that the labels release. It used to be you could go 4 to 5
songs deep on a release, now it is only about 2. I would think
working the release a bit longer would benefit all.
7. In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing Christian
radio today?
Acceptance. I believe that we as an industry are putting out better
Christian radio today than ever before, yet the overall numbers of
people that are listening are not all that much better than they
were 10 or more years ago. Finding a way to make radio listeners
want to listen to our stations is a huge challenge and while we want
to give them what they want, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they
will tune in because we provide it. Another obstacle is us.
Sometimes we get in the way of God working through our stations and
rather than seeking Him, we sometimes ask others for direction. Not
that counsel isn’t good, but we need to seek the Master, first.
Another would be a lack of “great artists/bands.” Now, don’t get me
wrong, but if you were asked to name the top 5 artists/bands in our
format today, you could no doubt do that. What about 10 more?
Okay, you may get 5. There are many good ones, but they don’t have
that name recognition or discography depth that we have had in prior
years. I confirmed my thoughts as I chatted with a guitarist from
Mercy Me about this scenario (when they were in town less than 2
weeks ago) and he could name off 5 quickly as well as about 5 others
and then he stated that “there are about 500 others” that would fall
into the good category. We have a group of very recognizable
artists/band
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