Meredith Sexton Interview 2-20-17

Meredith Sexton
Listener Engagement Coordinator and Morning News Reporter
Moody Radio
Chattanooga

Career Capsule: Listener Engagement Coordinator and Morning News Reporter at 88.9 Moody Radio Chattanooga, June 2015-Present

Meredith, tell us what’s new at Moody Radio, with you etc… ?

At 88.9 Moody Radio Chattanooga, we are excitedly looking forward to a year filled with some station traditions, like our annual Moody Radio Shoe Drive in support of Shoes for Orphan Souls, which consistently raises over 20,000 pairs of shoes for impoverished children; and the Moody Radio Food Drive that raises non-perishable food and frozen turkeys to supply the Chattanooga Community Kitchen. Plus, we’re anticipating some new events, like a comedy night with Ken Davis this summer!
Meanwhile, my sister-in-law and her husband are expecting their first child! We are so looking forward to welcoming this sweet child into the world.

What are the 3 main ingredients to make a promotion successful?

Passion: Sometimes the Holy Spirit guides us to fill needs that we were unaware of. Though there might not be a concrete plan, the Moody Radio team is dedicated to fervently following God’s will for the Tennessee Valley.
Community Support: We greatly value input from our listeners. If the community has a need or desire that is different from what we have planned or executed, we need to be willing to reshape our plans.
Consensus: I may start the engagement, but it’s everyone else at the station who makes it successful. If the team isn’t behind it, we need to reevaluate what is going on. The on-air staff, management, and others play a vital part in the execution of an engagement.

What is the best promotion advice you’ve been given? The worst?

The best advice I have been given was through the action of my college adviser. He never let a project go by without having 2 or 3 additional sets of eyes on it. To this day, I depend on others to set me right when I have made a mistake.
The worst advice was that I had to somehow do it all. I have found the exact opposite to be true. We are meant to be in community with one another, bouncing ideas off of each other, and working together.

Regarding your career, what are you most proud of?

Honestly, I’m most proud of our listeners. I am not meaning to be falsely humble or anything like that; it is simply the truth. I am originally from Indiana and I have never seen an outpouring of love and faithfulness like I have in Chattanooga. The listeners are what make the baby shower, shoe drive, Weekend to Remember, Gift Cards for Gatlinburg to support those affected by the tragic Gatlinburg wildfire, and so many other things a success. I couldn’t be more proud.

What is the one thing YOU must have to do your job every day?

A plan! I know it’s not necessarily something tangible, but I need to write down a game plan for the day. With a dozen or so engagements swirling around at any one time, plus my duties as an on-air morning news reporter, it is vital that I have a timeline of some sort in place; otherwise, things can fall through the cracks.

In your opinion what makes the ideal station promotion?

First, it’s something that fulfills our mission: pointing listeners to Jesus Christ, equipping them with Biblical content, and challenging them to become actively involved in what they hear in the Tennessee valley and around the world.
That means providing opportunities where listeners are both poured in to and have the opportunity to pour out.
Second, I think it draws attention to a spiritual or physical need: everything from laughter, to solid Bible teaching, to donating diapers and baby bottles in support of life.

How do you measure the success of a great promotion?

We measure it in lives touched. Daily, we are working to gather testimonies about how Moody Radio has changed lives. Often, we hear these stories through online contesting, where we ask listeners to share a story along with their submission. These vary from stories of marriages healed, to a couple deciding to follow through with pregnancy, to children hearing the Gospel for the first time.