Sarah Yeackley Interview

Sarah Yeackley
Community Engagement Manager
WBGL
Champaign

Career Capsule: My career started out in full-time church ministry as a college pastor, then worship pastor and women’s pastor.  I have also worked in the social service field at a pregnancy center, in foster care, and at a crisis center.  I got into radio all because my dear friend and mentor Pam Peoples, said to me, “Come work at WBGL!  It’s a great place to work!”  Pam was totally right, and it’s been over 3 years now of getting to share hope in Jesus with WBGL and working alongside dear friends in the process.

Sarah, tell us what’s new at WBGL & new with you etc… ?

Well, what’s new at WBGL is that we surpassed 1 million downloads of The Unfolding Podcast in the last several weeks.  We are pretty over the moon about that!

What’s new with me….maybe some new wrinkles? 😊

How has your job changed or shifted during the pandemic?

The biggest thing is that we really had to start to think outside the box.  For a year, we couldn’t have group gatherings, so we had to come up with other ways to engage our listeners….we definitely utilized digital engagement more effectively during quarantine.

I would also say that nothing is predictable anymore….I used to be able to guess at how many people would come to a concert or event….it now seems very random who decides to come and who doesn’t feel safe.

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

A product/event that people want,  money to fund the promotion, and people to do the work.

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

Probably to write things down.  I can’t think of the worst right now. 

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

A computer.  So many files are stored there and communication is done via email.  I need to have things in writing so that I don’t forget….so, I’d be pretty lost without a computer!

In your opinion what makes the ideal station promotion?

Something that doesn’t require a lot of money from the listener but offers up interaction…our listeners will go crazy over a free WBGL spatula! 😊

Regarding social networking and promotion, what have you had the most success with?

Facebook has been pretty helpful for us.

How do you measure the success of a great promotion?

It’s always nice to see good participation numbers, whether it is an on-air contest, but I would also say that even if you have a small turn out, if you hear positive feedback from listeners about how it was meaningful for them, then it is a success.