Why Full Time CCM Is Off The Table For Now

1. Let me plant a seed into your head Dan, if you play songs for the older folks, you'd fare better. Most of your support will come from them. (Local Radio Manager)
2. If you play a block of Christian Rock and Rap tunes Dan, it would be a train wreck. (Former Station Manager for Moody Radio South)
3. We want you to play us some Bill Gaither, Southern, Bluegrass, Country, Hymns and Instrumental tunes. (Many requestors) With some even donating songs, they want me to play.
4. Son your support will come from the older folks. The younger people are not likely to give. This community isn't big enough to have a full time CCM station. (Mother) However, I'm still trying to convince her she's wrong. If I do go full time CCM, she said I'll give in and support you.

I've been Praying hard for the content issue to be settled. Still want to go full time CCM. Hope God will ultimately allow it to happen.

Dan <><

I want to caution you about talking to Moody. They are in COMPLETE denial regarding the effectiveness of CCM music, and are actively hostile towards it. 20 years ago, I was on the phone with them begging them not to destroy the highly effective ministry of WCIE in Lakeland. The person I was talking to was clueless - he was absolutely convinced that young people would welcome Moody's hymn and teaching format - and listen in droves. That didn't happen, of course. Moody despised the ministry of WAY-FM, and actively pursued purchasing their Sarasota and Ft. Myers frequencies with the stated goal of silencing their Christian rock format. They were open about it!

With that said - the demographics of your area are what they are, and you may have to modify your format to accommodate them. But - you need to listen to radio EXPERTS - not people like your mother, who has never programmed a radio station and therefore doesn't have any credibility as a consultant. As far as young people supporting a station - I remind you that Hot-AC WCIE Lakeland had million dollar shareathons from the people of Lakeland - with some support from Tampa Bay and Orlando. That is in early 1990's dollars, too. But with only 50 kW off a short tower, their signal suffered badly in Tampa and Orlando. The majority of support was from Lakeland. So much for young people not supporting a station. Teenagers and young professionals are the most coveted demographic with advertisers, so this argument is a smoke screen - straw man argument made up by people who despise CCM. CCM is the highest rated format, and KSBJ Houston regularly shows up in the top five, WPOZ Orlando shows up number ONE frequently, KLTY Dallas also rates well. If you want further proof of the ability of young people and young professionals to support a ministry - go to the nearest mall and look at the kids going into expensive designer stores. And as far as older folks supporting radio - oldies has been discontinued in most markets, because advertisers think that 55+ audiences are set in their purchasing ways, they won't try new things based on advertisements. So secular radio only programs to 54 and less, and the most coveted demographic is 18 to 34 - precisely the demographic that supports CCM. And of course 55+ is set in their ways - they like hymn and teaching stations. So be it. That is Moody's bread and butter. And also the reason why Moody won't exist as a network in 20 years - their audience will die of old age.

I think I better give you some more heads-up on Moody. I strongly encourage you NOT to have any further contact with them, because - based on my experience with them - they are no longer a ministry. They are a business, and a corrupt one. The WCIE experience proves this beyond any doubt. The listeners of WCIE, in their last shareathon, sent them between 1.6 and 1.7 million dollars in one time and monthly support. This was in good faith - assuming that the station would continue its Hot-AC format. Moody came in a month or two after that sharathon - when most of the one-time gifts had already been sent in - and bought the station. A MINISTRY would have refunded the gifts and cancelled the pledges, because they had no intention of continuing the format the listeners had paid for. But they pocketed all of it. This was NOT a ministry coming into the area for the first time. They had a good signal in the Tampa Bay area, a powerful signal that blanketed the area. They sold it to a secular outfit, and if they object to CCM, you would think that giving up a signal to a secular outfit would be the LAST thing they would want to do! But, they made millions from the sale - a good BUSINESS decision. In the process, they totally screwed their aging demographic, most of which are retired on a fixed income, by putting their programming on a horrible signal all the way in Lakeland, and on a short stick. So the people that were reached by the powerful signal were now in medium or deep fringe reception areas. Many couldn't afford new radios to DX the weak signal, any many were not in physical condition / technical enough to install outdoor antennas. WCIE could not be upgraded, their rusting, aging tower needed replacing, and the only CP available was for a shorter stick and lower power. Not a help to the fringe listeners in Tampa Bay.

Well sir, the gloves are off. Dan is going to do some Rock and Rap tunes, from 9 P.M. till 3 A.M. daily on a new program I'm calling Amplify. My mother and a few others thought they were going to hijack the station and do for certain people only. Not happening. Just put my foot down. I'm going to make sure the Rock and Rap fan base have something positive and uplifting on the radio too. Her songs will get some time but the louder tunes will also have their place.

Dan <><

P.S. My entire music collection will be heard on Jesus Radio. This includes the louder and more upbeat tunes, as well. My mother may as well accept it. Slow songs won't reach the professional and 18-54 year old crowd. The faster and more upbeat stuff will. Hence the reason for Amplify.

B.T.W. Let the "Train Wreck" begin. I see this program having major success, once I get it on.

Personal Note; Those professionals and 18-54 types will have a Christian radio station, to listen to. Dan is making sure to that.

One would think so. My mother may not like the non-traditional songs but Dan is going give them a try too. It's 99.9% possible that the older populace will give, if I cater to something they want the youth to be influenced by. My goal is to reach out to the entire family base, with Jesus Radio. This includes those who have musical tastes that might not appeal to everyone.

Dan <><

WeNeverKnew said:

Actually, my question was directed at David Eduardo. I think his answer, if he has one, will be beneficial to all of us.

As for Moody? Bruce, it's been almost twenty years. You need to let it go.

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I know the truth of a ministry by its fruit. We in the Christian community are way too quick to sweep things under the rug and "not touch God's annointed". So phonies and con-artists continue to be in the ministry, and do great damage. Whenever an unbeliever brings up an objection to the faith - they are quick to bring up one of the phonies, especially if they are still out there "ministering" with impunity. We need some quality control! We are quick to condemn Islam for not weeding out its radical elements - what about the Christian church in weeding out its phonies?! So I don't mind calling phonies exactly what they are - lest they damage and limit the effectiveness of REAL Christian ministries. Here is a short list of people that need to shut up:

(1) Westboro Baptist and their disgusting protests at veteren's graves.
(2) Jimmy Swaggart. He has already made himself look like a fool. Now he is adding the trappings of a clown. By his own denomination's rules, he should be retired permanently.
(3) Oral Roberts. His son should have ushered him out of control of that ministry the moment he brought up that ridiculous "God will kill me if I don't raise 8 million". I think God took him home - fortunately
(4) Pat Robertson - the number of ridiculous statements coming out of his mouth is an embarrassment. His son needs to take action. His dad is senile.
(5) Creationism - I hoped this pseudo-science would die with its founder. I still have to fight this stuff everywhere I go. Creationism is the number one tool satan uses to keep intellectuals and scientist out of the church. Freakin' money changers - that is ALL they are!
(6) King James only-ists. They are very effective in making sure young people, who are crippled in their reading skills by common core, cannot read or understand the Bible.
(7) Last but not least: Anti-CCM preachers and stations. Another way of making sure no teenager or young professional comes to faith in Jesus Christ. But - they can listen to themselves on the radio, and not have to worry about music on the air that they don't personally like. I used to be more sympathetic to them, but I attended a seminar sponsored by the big traditional station in Houston - KHCB. Their seminar started on secular rock, and their cassette samples were horrible. They played a clip from "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult - and the speaker said the song was evil because it encouraged drug use because the song was saying "don't fear the reefer". I got up and told the idiot that the song was actually promoting suicide. And then walked out. I didn't stay for the part where he slammed Christian rock. The next day I heard the same idiot on KHCB slamming Christian rock. That station was off my presets - and hasn't been back on them for over 30 years. Ichabod.

That's just my short list of phonies, cretins, and morons who need to shut up. I could think of lots more, including Moody after that shameful WKES / WCIE affair. It happened - and those of us who know the truth are obligated NOT to let time cover up the truth. It happened, it is evidence of deep spiritual problems at Moody that God needs to deal with. That doesn't mean the rest of us can't take the role of Nathan the Prophet, who revealed David's sin to his face. NOBODY needed to tell Nathan to "just let it go". Sin needed to be dealt with.

WeNeverKnew said:

We hear you, Bruce. We hear you. Stay angry, brother.

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Righteous indignation. I remind you - Jesus whipped moneychangers right out the temple. Pretty angry in my book. Most of the time, I just don't walk in places that are full of heresy or false prophets or whatever. If I was in Baton Rouge, I would not pick Swaggart's church. There are preachers on television I don't watch. I don't walk in anything named "St. Cyril's" out of respect for Hypatia. I don't listen to KHCB or Moody. I listen to NGEN instead. I go to a church where God's word is preached faithfully. That's not anger, that's my attendance and donations selected where it will go to the Kingdom of God, not the bank account of a leader or church I suspect of being false. But I will not be silenced when I see heresy or sin.

WeNeverKnew said:

20 years that ignores changes in Moody leadership. Almost 20 years. Yet it seems you consider today's Moody leadership as somehow equally worthy of judgment for an action they had nothing to do with.

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Let's look narrowly at this issue - as it seems to be the crux of our disagreement. The person I talked to at Moody was 35 at the time, he could still be at Moody. That said - the change in personnel there has not seemed to temper their hostility to CCM. Rather than embrace creative new Christian music as a effective tool to reach young people - at least the person talking to Dan is still actively hostile towards the musical style. That is too bad, because it condemns the Moody radio network to increasing levels of irrelevancy as its audience ages and dies off. I find the Moody programming of today to be no more creative, no more relevant - and no more listenable than I did 20 years ago. It seems to be frozen in time - what might have worked in the 50's. Not a trace of the creative new music, or creative new teaching that is available today. Christ's message is timeless - but the presentation of that message to the lost changes with the times. Except, it seems, at Moody. If people get saved through their radio - great! But based on my experience, those numbers are probably small. Most of church growth comes from teens through young professionals - at least that is the demographic that populates the mega-churches in my area. And you can bet there are very few of them at the traditional services - most churches have swapped the prominence of the contemporary and traditional services long ago. Churches that advertise traditional only are stagnant or declining. And - it was MY audience of teenagers that were joining churches, picketing abortion clinics, witnessing door to door, campaigning for Christian-sympathetic candidates, volunteering at old folk's homes, etc. NOT the audience of the traditional programming on the station, who did nothing but send in checks to the station. You could hardly motivate them to pray, much less get out and do something effective for Christ.

Been playing around with my program schedule again.

See what you think.

I believe this one is a winner for me.

WPJB Music Jukebox (Playing the lighter styled CCM, with some traditional based tunes mixed in) (Daily from 3 A.M. till 9 P.M.) (The nice and mellow sounding tunes will be played, to pacify my mother and that crowd)
Amplify (Playing the Rock based tunes) (Sunday-Thursday from 9 P.M. till 3 A.M.) (For those who like to get their loud guitar and drum solo on)
Street Jamz (Playing the Rap, Reggae, Dance, Remix and R&B tunes) (Friday and Saturday from 9 P.M. till 3 A.M.) (For those who like to get their groove on)

Dan <><

P.S. Thanks to everyone, for their continued help, advice, Prayers and suggestions. I appreciate it.

Did another tweak with the programming again.

Now trying to get everything fixed, like it needs to be.

I believe doing the rock and rap tunes on one program called Amplify, will work better, than doing two separate programs for each style. (Daily from 9 P.M. till 3 A.M.)

What say you radio pros?

My intentions to do music for the professionals and 18-54 year old crowd is staying put.

No one is going to talk me out of this.

Mother, former Moody radio manager or anyone else included.

Dan <><

P.S. Since I now believe God wants Amplify, going to permanently keep it in place. Pray that the objectors will be few and far between. I want to do this program for the underserved professionals and 18-54 year old crowd, who are being left out on purpose by the other "Christian Radio Stations" we already have. I'm breaking free from the chatter and noise and taking a risk. Tired of playing it safe. Want to do things no one else is already doing. Hence Amplify and this new radio station.

Houston combines the Christian rock and Christian hip-hop on NGEN. They could be a considerable resource to you in forming your own playlist, because the material has been pre-screened by them. Orlando separates the Christian rock and Christian hip-hop on "Hot 95.9" and "The Rock". But they have multiple frequencies in Orlando. Again - you could probably form a playlist based on what they play - screening for content was my biggest headache in the early 90's - it took hours. It would have been so nice to have playlists from like-minded stations, since the format doesn't have any national charts. My personal feeling is that young people freely go back and forth between rock and hip-hop formats on secular stations, so a station that combines them should do well. Collaborations between rock and hip-hop artists are common in the secular world, and in the songs on NGEN, which blurs the lines.

As far as your timing - we discovered on praise and worship WAPN that our rock shows were not objectionable to their normal audience, because most of the normal praise and worship - and teaching listeners drifted away at night, probably to TV or other pursuits. We could get harder and harder as the night wore on. The Christian rock and metal shows after ours really stepped up the tempo! You can always adjust times once you sign on. We started at 8 PM, and out of 7000 calls in our call logs, only 3 were complaints from normal WAPN listeners.

I've even heard of this being done on secular radio in smaller markets. Abilene had a "beautiful music" station during the day that changed to album rock at night. In the days when I was living in Midland, struggling to get a couple of microvolts from Dallas stations - Abilene was comparatively easy, and even moved the signal strength meter on my tuner! I may have been getting 6 to 8 microvolts on it!

The building phase is fixing to happen, within the next few days. Working with one crew to help me install some electricity, panelling, insulation, bars for the windows, an iron door and some flooring. When I get that done, a second crew will come and help me set up and install the broadcasting equipment. Then a final person, myself and a contracted fence builder will install some fence around the building, to keep the intruders away. Hope to begin broadcasting before December 2016. The first crew is going to help me bring home that donated tower. Fixing to get my hands on it.

Dan <><

P.S. I'm going to do CCM, with the harder songs at night. Will carefully mix in some traditional based tunes, during the day. 9 P.M. till 3 A.M. is going to be for the Rock and Rap sounding tunes. No one is going to talk me out of this and I mean it. Going to use that slot to help Minister to the professionals and those who like those styles. I'm going to milk this 95 watt signal for what its worth. A real Christian radio station is coming soon, to Selma. This city doesn't even know what's fixing to hit them. I'm going to shock them, with something that we've needed for years now.

B.T.W. For those who want to see Amplify succeed, I'm with you.

Well sir and everyone reading, Dan is taking off the gloves again. Through adding more of the traditional based CD's, for a while. Unless someone sends me more Traditional styled tunes, I recently requested for or Mr. Alan McCall sends me his CD donations, Dan is going to lay low and find other areas of the library that need some attention. If anyone reading has any louder styled CD's, they want to get rid of and no longer need, let me know. Want to now work on getting more of the Amplify styled tunes added to the collection.

Dan <><

P.S. I'm taking Amplify very serious. Not backing down from doing it.

B.T.W. In closing, I believe I have enough traditional styled Gospel CD's, to keep that audience happy for the first year of broadcasting.

An Update: Just contacted a Gospel Hip-Hop label. They're fixing to send me some CD's, for Amplfy. Excited over this blessing. Hope to get more like it.

The software is on the way. It's being donated.

The music will be done like this: Amplify will lean rock, with at least 8 non rock tunes per hour. WPJB Music Jukebox will lean lighter CCM, with at least 8 non CCM tunes per hour.

I have so many CD's now, I can't even keep count. One could say that Dan has over 200 CD's in his mix now. More are being added, as I post this.

Plan on playing what I can from my music collection. Now if someone from my collection is practicing unbiblical acts, the label tells me no or the audience objects to a certain song, then I'll avoid playing those recordings on purpose.

Dan <><

P.S. Here's the styes I'll cater to on each program: Amplify will feature Christian Rock, Metal, Alternative, Dance, Mixes, Urban, Reggae and Rap. Jukebox will feature Lighter CCM, Southern, Bluegrass, Country, Hymns, Instrumentals and Worship.

The songs will be picked in accordance to appeal, likability and if it has a sound message. If those three goals aren't met, then the song(s) will be avoided. Hope I can play around 15 to 20 songs per hour, with the legal ID's and weather reports being done and recognizing those underwriters who are helping me stay on. Going to assort the music in accordance to the program they'll be heard on. The Amplify songs will have its own slot. The Jukebox songs will have its own slot. When me and the builder speak again, will learn more about the software and its name. He has it now. Plan on getting a second Apple Computer, for the studio, once I start building. The MPE question is answered in the P.S.

Dan <><

P.S. Thanks for telling me about Play MPE. Just contacted them, as of this update. Want to learn more about them. Hope they'll be able to assist this newcomer.

B.T.W. Thanks sir for all your help. I appreciate it.

Personal Note: I know how most newcomers do. They tend to play the newer songs, for a spell, to get themselves established. After the new wears off, then they'll carefully add the time tested, well loved and most popular of the older songs, to their playlist. WPJB-LP is going to be like that.

Prayer Request: As of this update, I still want everyone to Pray for the success of Amplify. Rock and Rap styled tunes will be heard on here. The objectors may as well accept it. Dan isn't backing down at all. Going to reach out to the professionals. I know six hours a day isn't a lot but little is much in the hands of God.

Make sure that I play the best loved and most popular tunes and give them the most attention. Mix in some of the less known and popular tunes for added flavor, so I don't sound repetitive and play the same songs, at the same time everyday. Section A will be for the popular songs. Section B will be for the less popular ones. Each program will have those two sections. Makes perfect sense to me.

Dan <><

Update: Just contacted that new person. Hope they can assist me too.

P.S. I'm still saying thanks for all your help. I appreciate it.

A couple of comments - from somebody that got very good ratings with Christian rock. Not every track on a CD is a radio worthy track. I lamented having to buy a whole CD just to get one song I could play on the air. We would drag in five heavy totes packed with CD's for our show. Storing at the station was not an option. I can tell you it was a chore, multiple trips to and from the car. And most of the CD's for just one or two songs. We surely would have loved the technology today with everything on a hard drive, one laptop with a massive hard drive - a broadcast quality external sound card - connect into the board and we would have been good. I don't regret the old days - we could have been stuck with even heavier albums that wear out, needles that wear records faster than home stereo systems, moving the platter backwards to hit the first note, etc. Workstation based sound systems were just coming into their own across the state at WCIE - replacing their special CD cases that were opened by the players with no human hands touching the CD.

I know next to nothing about Macs. My scientific and CAD software is not, and never will be, available in Mac versions. My daughter, however, has transitioned from acting to being a graphic artist - the Mac is perfect for her because that is where it shines. I am not sure if there is Mac based broadcast software, but I do know going Mac costs three to five times the equivalent computing power on PC. Little WAPN made their own automation system on the cheap with PC's, wiring up IR LED's in front of remote receivers on CD players - it worked reliably for them for years. Very little cost. The PC based AV launcer software at my old church was top of the line - AV clips launched the instant the mouse was clicked, changes to the lineup on the fly were exceptionally easy and intuitive - we used the free version of the program, the full version was only about $900. Pretty steep for a startup LPFM, but when you consider the tens of thousands equivalent programs cost at most stations - a bargain. There is absolutely no reason the program couldn't be used at a radio station for audio only, I can get you details if you want. As for PC, I just paid under a thousand for Intel core i7, 3T hard drive, 16G RAM. That large of a hard drive would hold thousands of songs, even with minimal compression so they would sound good on the air. I would certainly use an external or cloud based backup drive as insurance for the music library, and not network at all to avoid any hacking. It just happened to a station in town - country station broadcast a porn podcast, it took them hours to get rid of it! Of course your PC needs a broadcast quality sound card, although for an LPFM you could probably get by with a $130 soundblaster. I am processing my Christian oldies format with one, it sounds great and I've already tested with an optimod - the handles are there for the optimod to work on the songs. I doubt I could add a broadcast quality sound card to a Mac, or even a soundblaster. Their hardware is usually pretty well tied down - no hardware upgrade possible.

As for the music - I love your faith based approach. That was our approach. When the DJ at the local top-40 listened to US on his monitor - while doing his own show - and tried to hire our DJ's, you know we were killing them in the ratings. We are talking 99.9 (licensed to Palatka but Daytona / Jax) audience - at the time the top rated top-40 in our market. We crushed them in the ratings Saturday night - and NOT just when spring breakers were in town. When the local alternative station in Daytona contacted US - wanting to know what Christian alternative THEY could add to THEIR playlist - you know they were taking notice of our success and our music. I remember telling them that although "Flood" was a good song for their playlist - "Love Song For A Savior" might offend their audience. They came back and told me "let us be the judge of that" - and they added "Love Song for a Savior" to their playlist - and 99X Atlanta followed. Those were very secular alternative stations - taking recommendations from US. So Christian rock can have an influence well beyond just the Christian community. Some of our DJ's either ended up at Z-88 Orlando - which shows up number one in Orlando ratings some of the time. So - yes - Christian rock / Hot-AC CAN WORK - Daytona was not exactly the biggest market in the country. And more retirees than anything else in the demographics. But we did what the Lord wanted, and the ratings proved it out. When Z-88 came on the air, we were redundant, and stopped.

Nope - was he a DJ in the early days of KSBJ? I think one of the guys at WCIE across the state had come from KSBJ - but that was WCIE, not the station I was on.