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Tom's
Career Capsule
First job in radio in ’74…WERC, Birmingham, Alabama…cleaning heads
on cart decks and driving the “Winner wagon”!
Longest job in radio…8 years, Kicks 106, also Birmingham.
First Christian station…actually it was a country station in Omaha,
WOW (Yes those were the calls). The format may have been country,
but the station was chock full of really cool Christian people from
the GM to the PD, engineering, news, receptionist. Great place.
First Christian formatted
station…this one…WHPZ / WHPD – Pulse FM.
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
FIRST:
Listen…to
listeners, to staff, to friends, to God. Not necessarily in that
order.
Second:
Pray…for/with listeners, for/with staff…and most importantly for all
of Christian radio in this area. Even those stations we call
“Competition”. I can’t describe how burdened I am to pray for
situations that can get competitive…too competitive sometimes. God
has huge plans for all of Christian radio in the little area we call
Michiana. Those plans can be seen every day. God is moving here.
It blows me away that he would even allow us to see and know that he
is at work. God is already in the business.
2. Overall, how is Christian radio different today, from 5 years
ago?
That
was about the time God slammed open a door at Pulse FM for me to get
into Christian radio. IMHO, the music’s better, the jocks are
better.
3. What do you think are the main characteristics of today’s
Christian radio PD?
I’m
still learning that from many who are far better.
4. What criteria do you require for a song to be played on your
station?
Lyrically, it must first have a “Vertical element”. It must point
to God. One of my favorite (Non-original) observations is that
music historians divide the collective works of J.S. Bach into
religious and secular categories. Bach himself never made that
distinction…everything he wrote, he wrote for God. That observation
adds an interesting angle when we try to define “What is Christian
music?”. Musically, I’m always looking for the song that makes
people turn their radio way UP, with eyes wide open, exclaiming
“WOW, What is THAT?!”
5. What kind of promotions work best for Christian radio?
Money.
(Kidding.)
About a year ago,
we did a contest where we paid people’s gas bills for a month.
Listeners nominated others via e-mail. They could only make one
nomination and they could not nominate themselves. Total outreach.
The contest was only supposed to last one month with one winner per
week. But about two weeks into the contest, a listener called “The
program director” to say that they had been blessed and wanted to
pay for someone else’s gas bill (Anonymously) and extend the contest
for a week. Then someone else called in and wanted to do the same
thing. Four weeks basically turned into six, but it was the coolest
“Contest” we’ve ever done. Everyone was talking about it.
6. How do you think Christian Record labels can better serve
Christian radio?
In all
honesty, all of the people I work with are doing a great job. Don’t
change a thing.
7. In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles facing Christian
radio today?
Reach &
relevancy. If only a small percentage of church attendees ever
listen to Christian music or walk into a Christian retailer, we’ve
got to be more relevant. But I’d like to see us go beyond reaching
the people who sit in pews.
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