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Steve's
Career Capsule
I
have been in radio for 10 years. I attended Western Academy
Broadcasting College in Saskatoon, Saskatoon. In the next two years
I would move 7 times to pursue every possible opportunity in
mainstream radio. In that time I worked overnights, swing, middays,
afternoon drive, mornings and spent time as a music director
too. After getting laid off when the CHR station I was working at
changed formats I made the move to Christian radio. First at CHRI
99.1 in Ottawa, Ontario (www.chri.ca),
and for the past 4, almost 5 years, at LIFE 100.3 (www.lifeonline.fm).
I started at LIFE as the afternoon drive guy and helped in the music
department. As time went on I accepted more responsibilities
including Assistant Program Director and am now the Program
Director.
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
I believe we can apply what Toby Mac said about music to radio
too. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, "I don't get it
when people say there are only so many things you can write about as
a Christian artist. That's crazy, we write about the same things as
everyone else but our perspective is different." I believe radio
is radio but our perspective about everything as Christian
broadcasters is different.
2. Overall, how is Christian radio different today, from 5 years
ago?
The Canadian Christian radio industry has come a long way in 5
years. Because the industry is still very young in Canada
(Christian radio in Canada was not allowed until the early 90's)
some stations continue to experience growth pains. Thankfully more
radio people are making the jump from mainstream radio to help make
it more professional.
3. What do you think are the main characteristics of today’s
Christian radio PD?
Our number one priority is to make sure we sound as good as or
better than every other radio stations in town. If our listeners
are used to hearing the "best" somewhere else we can't expect them
to flip to us just because we are the Christian radio station.
4. What criteria do you require for a song to be played on your
station?
All of the artists we play are professing Christians. Our core
artists during the day include Casting Crowns, Newsboys, Switchfoot,
and Chris Tomlin. At night we change our format to a ministry for
teenagers called The Slam (mix of Rock, Hip Hop, and Pop). It
features core artists like Relient K, Toby Mac, Switchfoot, Hawk
Nelson, KJ-52, and Thousand Foot Krutch.
When we pick new music we choose songs that sound like they fit
between those artists. We have also opened up our playlist to
artists like Daughtry, Jordin Sparks, and Miley Cyrus. They are all
publically professing Christians and we would be rather embarrassed
to say that every other radio station is playing the Christian
artists except for the Christian station.
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We are very specific when it comes to the nuts and bolts of a song.
We want the vocals to begin within the first 15 seconds of the song,
the chorus should hit at around :45. The length of the song should
be somewhere between 3:00 and 3:30. The most important thing is
that the song must build vocally and/or musically. If you listen to
Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, and Mercy Me, for example, the music
and vocals just explode buy the end of the song. The build of the
song is most important. Sometimes we will make exceptions on the
timing if the song does build.
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian radio?
They should be the same as mainstream radio. Christians like to win
trips, cars, and weekend getaways at the spa too. Our promotions
department works hard to find cool prizes for the station.
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