John Connor “What If Christian Radio Helped Build Tours..”

What If Christian Radio Helped Build Tours Instead of Just Promoting Them?

UCB Radio says a stalled tour planning process revealed a bigger opportunity: helping connect artists, churches and ministry partners before the first venue is ever booked.

UCB Radio set out to help build a Canadian tour.

Instead, the journey uncovered a much bigger question.

What if Christian radio helped build tours instead of simply promoting them?

Over the past several months, UCB Radio has been working with artists, churches and ministry partners to explore new ways of bringing Christian music events to communities across Canada.

On paper, the idea seemed relatively straightforward.

Take artists whose music is already connecting with Christian radio listeners, bring together local churches, radio and ministry partners, and help build a sustainable tour.

“It turns out the distance between a good idea and a sustainable Canadian tour is about 4,000 kilometres,” joked UCB Radio National Promotions Director John Connor.

The challenge is familiar to many in Canadian Christian music.

Canada has passionate listeners. Churches are asking for quality Christian events. Canadian artists continue to gain significant attention internationally.

But connecting those pieces across a country the size of Canada remains difficult.

“We started this thinking primarily about concerts,” Connor said. “But the deeper we got into the conversations, the more we realized this wasn’t really a touring problem at all. It was a relationship problem.”

UCB has been actively exploring a future Canadian tour featuring Canadian artists Jordan St. Cyr and Jordan Janzen of The Color.

The planning process has included conversations with artists, management teams, churches and ministry partners as the group works to find a model that can be sustainable for everyone involved.

As plans developed, the proposed fall timeline was recently revisited, with conversations now shifting toward other possible dates.

For Connor, the pivot reinforced something UCB has been discovering throughout the planning process.

“The easy thing would be to say, ‘The dates didn’t work, let’s move on,'” he said. “But we’ve learned too much. We keep hearing versions of the same story from artists, managers, churches and people in radio. Everyone wants to see more happening in Canada. The question is how we make it sustainable.”

Traditionally, radio often becomes involved in a concert after a promoter has booked the artist, rented a venue and announced the event.

UCB is exploring what could happen if radio came to the table earlier.

“What happens if radio helps connect the artist with the right churches before the tour is routed?” Connor asked. “What if we know which churches have the venue, the production capacity, the volunteer base and the ability to reach a region? What if ministry partners are part of the conversation from the beginning instead of being added later?”

That last question has become increasingly important.

UCB’s recent touring work has included partnerships and conversations with organizations including World Vision Canada and Compassion, with different tours requiring different ministry relationships and models.

“Even changing one piece changes the conversation,” Connor said. “The artist matters. The churches matter. The ministry partner matters. The timing matters. They’re all bringing something important to the table, but getting everyone to the same table early enough is part of the challenge.”

World Vision Canada has been one of UCB’s key partners in exploring that kind of collaborative approach. Shawn Cavallo, who spent years touring with Canadian Christian band Manic Drive before joining World Vision Canada, has experienced Canada’s Christian music ecosystem from both sides of the stage.

“It’s slow and steady and it’s not always flashy, but we’re actually building something sustainable,” said Cavallo. “It takes normal people acting out of passion, wanting to be part of something bigger, and willing to go the extra mile for it. When those kinds of people team up, that’s when we create something bigger – connecting Canadian Christian audiences with Canadian Christian artists, and together impacting vulnerable children around the world.”

For Connor, that’s exactly the kind of collaboration UCB is hoping to encourage.

“The more we’ve talked with people like Shawn – someone who’s lived life as both an artist and now a ministry partner – the more convinced I’ve become that this isn’t just a touring problem. It’s a relationship problem,” Connor said. “Canada has incredible artists, incredible churches and incredible ministries. We just haven’t always built the bridges between them. If UCB can help build some of those bridges, then I think we’re doing more than promoting concerts – we’re helping strengthen the Christian music community in Canada.”

For UCB, that kind of thinking represents a shift away from viewing each concert as an isolated event.

The network began testing that idea during its recent national Christmas tour with Canadian band The Color.

Working alongside local churches and World Vision Canada, the tour moved through communities across Western and Eastern Canada.

The process involved considerably more than simply promoting concert dates on the radio.

UCB helped identify church partners, coordinate local promotion, connect regional relationships and work through many of the logistical realities that come with moving a Christian music tour across Canada.

“We learned a lot,” Connor said. “Some of it the hard way.”

But those lessons have now begun shaping a broader strategy.

UCB is currently building a national church intelligence project designed to better understand churches across its markets and beyond.

The initiative looks at much more than church size.

UCB is identifying churches with strong venue potential, production capabilities, parking, volunteer bases, communication strength and the ability to draw from a wider region.

“At first, we were building lists for a tour,” Connor said. “Then we realized this information could help artists, promoters, ministries and even our own teams better understand the Christian communities we’re serving.”

The project is part of a larger shift taking place at UCB as the Canadian network continues to grow.

With radio signals serving communities across the country and further expansion underway, Connor believes UCB has an opportunity to play a unique connecting role.

“We don’t want to become a concert promoter,” he said. “There are great promoters who know how to do that incredibly well. But radio has relationships that are often spread across artists, churches, listeners and ministries. Maybe part of our role is helping those people find each other.”

Conversations around future Canadian touring opportunities with St. Cyr, Janzen and others are continuing.

The calendar may change.

The larger vision has not.

“We thought we were trying to build a tour,” Connor said. “Instead, I think we discovered a challenge in Canadian Christian music that’s bigger than one tour.”

“And honestly, that probably makes us more interested in it.”

John lives in Ontario and is deeply invested in both his family and community. Contact John at john.connor@ucbmedia.ca