KUHF 88.7 HD2 better ratings than the christian rap on their old signal on KXBG 91.7

Night Hawk said:

Halten, let me please play Devi's Advocate here....
I hear people say, "If one can't make it as a legitimate rock and roll star, then
become a Christian Rock and Roll Star." Next, at Christian Rock Concerts, groupies
engage in drugs and sex. Mostly sex. Back stage. That's what I am told from those who
venture to those venues. I have listen to ministers say so down at the doughnut shop.
I'm NOT argumentative this or that, I hear peoples comments on the subject.

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Not really. I have frequently attended large Christian concerts by popular Christian rock artists for decades. The audience is usually well behaved, security has little to do. If anybody gets out of line, security is quick to usher them out of the arena. One key difference - you will not find clouds of cigarette smoke as you would in secular concerts, which makes it virtually impossible for anybody to get away with smoking weed. Usually these concert venues are churches, and smoking completely prohibited. Any bottles or flasks of booze would be quickly spotted, because there is more light in the audience. I have seen some kids drinking outside after the concert, security is pretty quick to round them up and escort them from the property. The emphasis near the end of the concert is usually on an altar call, prayers with counselors, a call to mission work, etc. Often times a brief thank you from the senior pastor of the church and invitation to the audience to come back on Sunday. Most Christians I know would quickly report any drug or alcohol abuse to security so the perpetrator could be apprehended and arrested immediately. Christian radio stations and churches simply do not take any chances with any association with drug or alcohol use, period. I don't know what sort of concerts were talked about in a donut shop, but I have been to most major Christian artists' concerts, often times as a promoter or volunteer with full backstage access. There are no "groupies" backstage. The only time I have ever heard of any relationship between a group member and an attendee was a member who left the Newsboys, met, fell in love, and married a girl in our church, and started a new band called Sozo. Again, because these concerts usually take place in churches, there is virtually no "backstage" for such goings on to occur. Any church I know of that hosts these concerts restricts access to places like Sunday School classrooms, pastors offices and studies, conference rooms and the like. That usually leaves the artists preparing for the stage to use the same hallways and bathrooms utilized by the staff before a sermon. These are large areas with a lot of people milling around, not conducive to private sexual encounters to say the least. One hapless band had to change and get ready in the large restroom usually reserved for people getting baptized on Sunday. That would not be a particularly comfortable (or romantic) setting for casual sex. The absolute WORST behavior I ever encountered at any Christian concert out of hundreds I have to was at Carpenter's Home Church, where females attending the concert conspired to take over a men's restroom by lining up outside and forcing their way in. I admit to being quite conservative when it comes to gender use of bathrooms, and was uncomfortable with females forcing their way into a male restroom. That, and having been shoved a couple of times at the same venue by impatient people. If sex or drugs had been going on - I would have seen it after going to the number of concerts I have been to.

Wouldn't the sort of behavior described have been at least somewhat likely at shows by early Christian rock acts like Stryper and -- before they went secular -- Creed? I'm not at all familiar with the current Christian rock scene, so I have no idea if bands of that type are still playing the arena circuit.

rbrucecarter5 said:

One key difference - you will not find clouds of cigarette smoke as you would in secular concerts, which makes it virtually impossible for anybody to get away with smoking weed. Usually these concert venues are churches, and smoking completely prohibited.

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Uh, it's been some time since you've been to a modern concert venue, Bruce. There's a little thing called the City ordinance that prohibits cigarette smoke within 25 feet of a building entrance, let alone inside the venue. I have those memories too, Bruce. Smoke hanging in the air, so thick it'd make your eyes water. Astrodome, The Summit, Hofheinz, The Coliseum, etc., etc., etc.

T'aint 1987 anymore, Bruce. You might be interested to know ol' Harris County DA Kim Ogg has now made it a "slap on the wrist" ticket for carrying less than 4 ounces of "weed" (I still know it as grass) in your personal possession at anytime. Even in the deeply red State of Texas, in the big liberal cities, times are a changin'.

CTListener said:

Wouldn't the sort of behavior described have been at least somewhat likely at shows by early Christian rock acts like Stryper and -- before they went secular -- Creed? I'm not at all familiar with the current Christian rock scene, so I have no idea if bands of that type are still playing the arena circuit.

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I've actually scaled my involvement with concerts way back - family responsibilities. A lot of my experience is in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Sexual misconduct - I just didn't and don't see it. It may happen, perhaps among artists that go "Christian" just for the money. Usually these concerts are in conjunction with a radio station, and they have a lot to lose if something goes amiss. Like the water park misadventure that NGEN had a few months back. I doubt either the water park, nor NGEN will attempt another Christian lock-in any time soon. As far as concerts go, about the only thing unusual I saw were things like Leslie Phillips playing with a bunch of little kids before her concert - kids of some of the concert attendees that were in a day care room. There was another artist - the lead singer of Sixpence None the Richer - that came out on the playground and swung my two year old daughter on a swing. I've been to prayer sessions, Amy Grant was well known for praying with volunteers before her concerts. I am also well known for turning in drug users and drug dealers - no nonsense. That stuff killed my high school girlfriend, so maybe my reputation preceeded me and people put up the drugs and alcohol around me. But I doubt it - those people didn't know me in advance. I suppose you could probably dredge up some misconduct by some Christian rock artist somewhere and try to generalize it to all of them, but that is hardly fair - nor useful. It only makes the person doing the gossip look small minded and petty. And I have no problem telling them that to their face.

Hmmm...never heard of the water park misadventure. Usually those lock ins are pretty uneventful. Care to give some brief details?

Thinking about the NGEN format, if you were the program director, what would you do differently? The format is not on the fast track to the top as it is. There is something amiss. If you haven't a suggestion or two, what is it that you feel is holding the format back?

b-turner said:

Hmmm...never heard of the water park misadventure. Usually those lock ins are pretty uneventful. Care to give some brief details?

Thinking about the NGEN format, if you were the program director, what would you do differently? The format is not on the fast track to the top as it is. There is something amiss. If you haven't a suggestion or two, what is it that you feel is holding the format back?

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I think faster rise / fall times on the songs. A song from six months ago should not be in current rotation - it is burned out. Also a larger playlist. I shouldn't be hearing the same songs in morning and evening commutes. Also follow the Orlando Hot 95.5 model and go all hip-hop. I don't think you can mix a rock and hip-hop format - secular or Christian. Fans of one genre are not necessarily fans of the other. I am not a hip-hop fan, Christian or otherwise. But I am not in their target demo either. Their current rock playlist is not that hard that it couldn't all go on KSBJ as it is evolving as a station.

Here is the link to the water park debacle: http://www.chron.com/news/article/Typhoon-Texas-youth-lock-in-shut-down-early-8039330.php I wasn't there - you do NOT want to see me in a bathing suit - but from what I hear from several people who attended was that outsiders were circumventing security, hopping the fence to get into the event that was supposed to be private. It wasn't just kids up to 18, there were men in their 20's - clearly drunk or on drugs - there to get hold of underage girls and just generally party hard bringing their alcohol and drugs into the waterpark with them. Every person I talked to said that the park staff was completely overwhelmed with way too many older aggressive males not following rules and assaulting underage girls. In retrospect, the fault was probably the park's for not having enough security on staff, and not patrolling their fences / having adequate fencing. That isn't necessarily Typhoon Texas' fault, they had just opened and clearly had no experience with this type of event. Lock-in means LOCKED DOWN for the safety of the kids! Other parks in Texas have the same problem - my last, as in LAST - visit to Six Flags Dallas some hoodlums jumped the fence and started a gang war in the park with guns and knives. It was chaos as people were being trampled running to get out of there. It doesn't even make the news because it happens so often, their fencing and security is lapse as well.