Block Will Be My Official Format

[R.D.P.]

Before anyone else comes and talks me out of it, here's the reason behind it.

After I got the CP and started advertising, the SG crowd made their request known to me.

They wanted me to give them some time too.

I wasn't for the idea, at first.

Knew where I wanted to take this broadcast.

However things have changed.

The requests for SG are getting louder.

I'm getting donations, from that crowd, to help build WPJB-LP.

The choice wasn't easy.

It was a tough decision for me to make.

Now that the SG fan base is speaking and donating, I have no choice but to go block.

As of this posting, my SG blocks will be heard from: 4 A.M. till 6 A.M, 9 A.M. till Noon and from 7 P.M. till 10 P.M. Weekdays.

Dan <><

P.S. I apologize to everyone who wanted me to go all CCM. I wish I could but can't. My future audience is already talking to me. I must honor their wishes, if I want WPJB-LP to sign on and have success.

 

[Avid Listener]

I don't much want you to do one thing or another. I don't live within range of your transmitter.

I just wish you'd use the actual terms one time in your posts, then use the initials for the rest of them. I'm not sure what SG is in the context of Christian music.

 

[R.D.P.]

Southern Gospel.

Dan <><

 

[anotherguyTN]

Dan,
It appears like you're gradually giving SG more time. PLEASE don't let a small group of donors derail your plans for CCM. Make it clear that you plan to do CCM and that those donors need to be willing to go along with that. You don't need to let anyone get into a position to where they can dictate what you do by threatening to pull donations if you don't do SG.

 

[R.D.P.]

Those three slots, will be it, for Southern Gospel.

If that doesn't satisfy the fan base, I'm sorry.

CCM will have most of the air time.

I'll see to that.

Dan <><

P.S. My programming schedule is officially nailed in stone. Not making any new changes to it.

 

[Stevens]

I'm curious. If someone were to greet you after church tomorrow with a cashiers check in your name for $30,000 with one contingency - that you sign an agreement to program 8 hours of black gospel music daily for the first year your station is on the air, would you sign the agreement and take the money?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I'm not sure what SG is in the context of Christian music.

Southern Gospel. I'll show my age with some example musicians... I'm sure there is some more modern version of Southern Gospel but think:

Stampts Quartet and Stamps Baxter Music Company
Blackwood Brothers
Bill Gaither and his 'video homecoming' crowd.

(I remember the young, early Bill and Gloria Gaither composing and performing what was "new style Christian Music" in their early performing years and publishing years. I don't know the various strains and divisions of Christian Music today well enough to correctly classify them, but I think of early Gaither Music as opening the door, paving the way for CCM.

But as our friend Dan is learning, and Gaither apparently learned, The mass money audience with the down hom crowd in quartet music, Southern Gospel.

What is funny to me is the amount of energy and money Southern Baptists put into getting rid of paper-back Stamps-Baxter SONG books back in the 1950s and getting church folks to buy into HARD BACK hymnals and songs that followed the rules of basic classic music theory. Today, that group is in the forefront of bulldozing the hymn books out of the worship space and replacing them with big monster screens to display the music lyrics, and the music is a little bit different style that I learned when I took MUSIC THEORY I in a college I refer today as the Baptist Preacher Factory.

The times do change!

At the end of the day, I don't think *** I *** would do it, but if I were doing what Dan has set out to do, I would seriously consider approaching a local Southern Gospel Quartet and making a deal for them to name themselves after my LPFM station, I would provide them a trailer all painted up to carry their sound system and paraphernalia and send them out week after week to sing in the local churches that would invite them in. I think in about two years time, I would "own the town" in some ways. The ripe fruit, the easy-to-pick fruit for a stations with religious programming in rural America are people still living in 1950!

 

[R.D.P.]

I would refuse it. Not taking any donations, that has strings attached to it. Plain and simple.

Dan <><

 

[Avid Listener]

Southern Gospel. I'll show my age with some example musicians... I'm sure there is some more modern version of Southern Gospel but think:

Stampts Quartet and Stamps Baxter Music Company
Blackwood Brothers
Bill Gaither and his 'video homecoming' crowd.

(I remember the young, early Bill and Gloria Gaither composing and performing what was "new style Christian Music" in their early performing years and publishing years. I don't know the various strains and divisions of Christian Music today well enough to correctly classify them, but I think of early Gaither Music as opening the door, paving the way for CCM.

But as our friend Dan is learning, and Gaither apparently learned, The mass money audience with the down hom crowd in quartet music, Southern Gospel.

What is funny to me is the amount of energy and money Southern Baptists put into getting rid of paper-back Stamps-Baxter SONG books back in the 1950s and getting church folks to buy into HARD BACK hymnals and songs that followed the rules of basic classic music theory. Today, that group is in the forefront of bulldozing the hymn books out of the worship space and replacing them with big monster screens to display the music lyrics, and the music is a little bit different style that I learned when I took MUSIC THEORY I in a college I refer today as the Baptist Preacher Factory.

The times do change!

At the end of the day, I don't think *** I *** would do it, but if I were doing what Dan has set out to do, I would seriously consider approaching a local Southern Gospel Quartet and making a deal for them to name themselves after my LPFM station, I would provide them a trailer all painted up to carry their sound system and paraphernalia and send them out week after week to sing in the local churches that would invite them in. I think in about two years time, I would "own the town" in some ways. The ripe fruit, the easy-to-pick fruit for a stations with religious programming in rural America are people still living in 1950!

From what you've said, and based on what I heard when I looked up some songs by those artists on YouTube, what you're calling "Southern Gospel" sounds to this musicians ears like Christian Country Music rather than Contemporary Christian Music. Unfortunately, both of those have the same acronym.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

From what you've said, and based on what I heard when I looked up some songs by those artists on YouTube, what you're calling "Southern Gospel" sounds to this musicians ears like Christian Country Music rather than Contemporary Christian Music. Unfortunately, both of those have the same acronym.

I guess you had to live in the South back then to get the picture. (In northern cities, several quartets would show up on the same Saturday night at a venue and they would have what was called an "All Night Sing". Some pastors hated them because they knew those people would not be up on Sunday and would not be in their regular place at church.

I have it in my mind where I think you lived in a more northern clime at one time and you may be familiar with Rex Humbard and the Cathedral of Tomorrow over in Ohio. He had a 'house quartet' called the Cathedral Quartet as I remember, and they fit into the Southern Gospel sound quite well.

I don't know what Southern Gospel includes in their sound today, but looking back to the era I am describing, they were compatible with Country Music and when one of the quartets I mentioned would sing at the Grand Ol' Opry, they would "bring the house down' as the old saying goes. In that era the quartets were distinct from Country Music in that they typically had ONLY a piano, and it needed to sound a lot like Hovie Lister was playing the piano. No fiddles. No guitars. No banjos. No 'Electric Steel"... just a boistrous piano! Now once you start adding The Happy Goodman Family and some others to your definition of Southern Gospel, then yes, the line between Southern Gospel and Country Gospel begins to blur a bit.

You are familiar with this geography: When I moved here 15 years ago, there was a radio station in Cornelia, GA playing Gospel that would fit into the description of Southern Gospel, and there was a radio station in Elijay, GA playing Gospel that would fit into the description of Southern Gospel. And both stations back then had good advertising dollars from the promoters who put on the "All Night Sings" in those two close but separate communities. 75 miles apart. There would be some crossover, some commonality, but much of the Southern Gospel Music heard and promoted for concerts would be different artist, different sound. Right or wrong, I finally concluded that one community had a higher percentage of Pentecostal folks than the other.

 

[Stevens]

I would refuse it. Not taking any donations, that has strings attached to it. Plain and simple.

Dan <><

I'm sorry but I don't understand.

Consider your main points for adding Southern Gospel music taken from your original post in this thread:

"…the (Southern Gospel) crowd made their request known to me. They wanted me to give them some time too...

The requests for (Southern Gospel) are getting louder…

I'm getting donations, from that (Souther Gospel) crowd, to help build WPJB-LP…

Now that the (Southern Gospel) fan base is speaking and donating…"

What you've written says, at least to "anotherguy" and I, that those donations do have "strings attached" -- and that the contingency to those donations has led you to the choice to play eight hours of Southern Gospel music each weekday.

But fine…I'll play along. I'll drop the mention of a "contingency" and re-phrase my question.

"If someone were to greet you after church tomorrow with a cashiers check in your name for $30,000 'requesting' that you play 8 hours of Black Gospel music daily, would you decide that the Black Gospel 'fan base is speaking and donating,' and in response would you add a Black Gospel music block and take the money?"

 

[R.D.P.]

My new answer is: I would take the donation and make it happen, without exception.

Since some of the fan base is speaking with their wallets, I'm going to make sure Southern Gospel is heard.

Hence the reason why, for those three blocks.

Dan <><

P.S. This crowd has already proved, that doing Southern Gospel will be a hit. If the fan base is already donating, to help build WPJB-LP, then they'll help keep this music going. Make no mistake about it.

 

[Stevens]

My new answer is: I would take the donation and make it happen, without exception.

Since some of the fan base is speaking with their wallets, I'm going to make sure Southern Gospel is heard.

Hence the reason why, for those three blocks.

Dan <><

P.S. This crowd has already proved, that doing Southern Gospel will be a hit. If the fan base is already donating, to help build WPJB-LP, then they'll help keep this music going. Make no mistake about it.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate your candor. But I guess I still don't understand the change.

Dan, years ago you showed up on this website and others like it saying that the dream God had given you was to bring a full time CCM to Selma. You talked about obtaining a translator in Selma with the goal of providing it to one of the full-time CCM radio networks. The frequency wasn't available for you to make that happen. The networks told you they had no interest in an expansion into Selma.

You then settled into a period of time when you debated over a variety of talk and music Christian formats. Nothing happened. You eventually settled back into your first love...what you said was the dream that God had placed within you…to bring full-time CCM to Selma.

The LPFM filing window was set. You were faithful, you sacrificed and you took action to acquire the LPFM construction permit needed to make God's dream a reality. In turn, God was faithful. You were blessed with that permit. You were now at the place where you could make that God given dream a reality. And again, it appeared that from all that you had written online, clearly the dream, the vision, the passion was to bring full time CCM to Selma. That was your commitment. That was what God had blessed.

Yet when you first received a request to add Southern Gospel music, you acquiesced. Your dream was CCM. God had blessed your efforts. You didn't receive that construction permit to program anything less. But you appeared to stop being faithful, turned your back on all that had come before, and agreed to comply with something that wasn't the dream God had given you.

I can understand the fear of not being able to raise the funds to build out the construction permit. But when those requests for Southern Gospel were made, your simple reply should have been to remain faithful to that CCM dream and say, "I understand but I wasn't given this dream and I wasn’t blessed with this construction permit to program anything less than Contemporary Christian music, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Instead you acquiesced. You chose to turn away from God's dream and the blessing that He was faithful in providing. You've now admitted that you'd agree to the hypothetical and sacrifice another third of your broadcast day to a third genre of music…if the money were there, you'd take the money and "make it happen, without exception." And I don't understand why.

Your dream was for full-time CCM. Clearly, there are persons who do not see your vision, who are not able to comprehend the dream for full time CCM that God has placed on your heart, and are not willing to contribute financially to the build out of your LPFM without forcing you to turn away from that dream. But isn't that where exception SHOULD be made? Isn't that where you should have remained faithful and said "thanks but no thanks?"

So…the question becomes whether or not full time CCM WAS God's dream for you? Was it your own? If God was behind this, why didn’t you believe that He would see this through? Because this has never been about whether or not the Southern Gospel fans will contribute and make your LPFM “a hit.” This has never been about “their wallets.” This has never been about making sure their music “is heard.” 
What this HAS been about is making a full time CCM happen and nothing less. God gave you a dream. Shouldn't that have been where you needed to remain faithful…to “make it happen, without exception.” Wasn't to do anything less a serious mistake. No Dan, I don’t understand why you didn’t stand your ground and I don’t understand why you didn’t follow through on the dream God gave you, no matter the cost.

Bluntly, I suspect that you were being tested. And that you'll have to follow the path you've chosen. Sadly, I find this all to be a tragedy and grieve at the opportunity lost.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Does the last poster live in Selma? In full disclosure, I don't even live within a thousand miles of Alabama.

Dreams often face reality. If Dan had an extra $20k to build out his station he'd have more freedom to keep pure to the CCM goal he had envisioned. But the CCM supporters may not be as willing to support the venture as much as the Southern Gospel folks.

I'm willing to cut Dan a break.

 

[R.D.P.]

Yes I do. Recently had a talk with Brother Rob Moore of Moody South and WLBF Montgomery. Wanted to seek their help, concerning the content. They advised me, to ask my future audience what they wanted. Started doing that. After I began, discovered SG was testing very well. Hence the reason for putting some on.

Dan <><

 

[Stevens]

Does the last poster live in Selma? In full disclosure, I don't even live within a thousand miles of Alabama.

Dreams often face reality. If Dan had an extra $20k to build out his station he'd have more freedom to keep pure to the CCM goal he had envisioned. But the CCM supporters may not be as willing to support the venture as much as the Southern Gospel folks.

I'm willing to cut Dan a break.

I'd estimate that I'm close to 600 miles from Selma, but where we live doesn't matter. Dan has been more than willing to share his story with us. With that comes the opportunity for us to respond. Read back to a comment I made in another thread regarding Dan's saga and you'll see that I too have said that we need to cut him a break and that only those who experience life in Selma can really understand the pressures and traditions that have forced the choices he has made.

In the past, I've privately told Dan how impressed I've been with how he's handled much of this. For many of us, his saga strikes a chord. Many of us following this most closely share in the dream of being given the opportunity to launch a CCM in our home town. Many of us have been pulling for Dan in the pursuit of that dream. I believe that's why you've also seen several of us strongly question the decisions Dan has recently had to make.

Tough choices have to be made. To me, more and more it appeared to be a question of whether or not Dan was willing to trust God on issues of funding for his dream. But as I also asked earlier, was CCM God's dream or just Dan's? And what I didn't ask was whether perhaps God's dream all along was for a full-time Southern Gospel format on that Selma LPFM. Again, we don't live in Selma, but that doesn't make it wrong for us to ask strong questions in an attempt to understand the somewhat nebulous reasons that Dan has offered for those changes.

Years ago, I privately suggested to Dan that his role might NOT be to pursue obtaining a construction permit for a radio station…LPFM, translator, whatever. Yet in the time since, Dan continued to pursue an LPFM. As such, it seemed that he was following a clear calling from God to build out a CCM station for Selma. It seemed to many of us that God had begun a good work in Dan and that God would be faithful to see it through to completion.

But as Dan continued to try to reassure himself about his decisions, I questioned more and more whether CCM was ever God's intended goal. With each response he writes, I sensed that Dan's efforts to program CCM were never God's intent. At least to me, it increasingly appeared that Southern Gospel was the true calling. As Dan said, the Southern Gospel crowd made their request known. In the end, the opinion of whatever broadcaster he claimed as an influence really didn't matter. The important influence was that the Southern Gospel audience was backing their request with the financial support needed to build out an LPFM.

I once questioned Dan about how well the CCM genre is known in Selma. I suggested that CCM might not have the support needed for a full-time CCM format to succeed. I agree with you, joebtsflk1, that support for CCM may not be there. At this place in time, if I were Dan I think that in reality, a full-time Southern Gospel format may make the best sense. That clearly is where his support is coming from and that's good. I may not fully understand why the change in direction, but I think it's a fair question to ask. I suspect that we're not hearing the full story from Dan regarding his choices. But it's also fine if he's not willing or able to share that full story. Some things like family matters are better kept private.

Of all the comments I've read about Dan's saga, the brightest, best and most inspired suggestion came yesterday from Goat Rodeo Cowboy. The idea to tie the name of the radio station in with the name of a local Selma based Southern Gospel band -- and for WPJB-LP to back that band's concert outreach is an exceptional one. It's a win-win for both the musicians and the radio station. There's an owner of a Country, Bluegrass and Southern Gospel programmed group of four radio stations that lives near me. He ties his Bluegrass Southern Gospel band - the Radio Ramblers - into the promotion of his radio stations. He's extremely well known and well respected in our region. His band has even recently performed on the Grand Ol' Opry. To create something similar in Selma and to tie it into a full-time Southern Gospel programmed WPJB-LP would be a very wise choice for Dan to make.

Now the remaining question is will Dan be willing to put self and CCM aside in order to commit to making the change to full-time Southern Gospel? I sense that only by making that choice will Dan be able to set aside his seemingly endless need to reassure both himself and his readers regarding the presence of any Southern Gospel music at all on WPJB-LP.

 

[Stevens]

Recently had a talk with Brother Rob Moore of Moody South and WLBF Montgomery. Wanted to seek their help, concerning the content. They advised me, to ask my future audience what they wanted. Started doing that. After I began, discovered SG was testing very well. Hence the reason for putting some on.

Dan <><

Putting aside the realities of whether or not the type of "testing" you describe is accurate, take a moment to read my further reflection in my reply to "joebtsflk1."

Here's the Cliff Notes version: If Selma has spoken, it appears to be time to put away CCM altogether and go with a full-time Southern Gospel format.

 

[R.D.P.]

You're so right sir. My mother didn't think doing an all CCM format, would work anyway. She was one of the many who talked me out of it. I wasn't expecting it to happen. Wanted to advance this city and bring some new life to it. Apparently this community loves "Their Old Time Religion" too much to leave it alone. I'm not proud of that. I want to forget about the past events here and start anew. A full time CCM format, would've ushered that new beginning. However, it looks like things aren't going to progress. Better accept the truth Dan and move on. Unless the people here want real change, it's not happening.

There's a chance that CCM may still be heard. Fixing to meet with a local Church. They want to learn more about my vision for Selma. It's possible those people may want to hear it. If they do, then I'll play some.

CCM would perform very well. I know this for a fact. However since the SG fan base are the ones donating towards the building fund now, that's where I may take this radio station.

Dan <><

P.S. As of this post, CCM still has many spots on the schedule. Plan on leaving it, in place, till further notice.

 

[Stevens]

You're so right sir. My mother didn't think doing an all CCM format, would work anyway. She was one of the many who talked me out of it. I wasn't expecting it to happen. Wanted to advance this city and bring some new life to it. Apparently this community loves "Their Old Time Religion" too much to leave it alone. I'm not proud of that. I want to forget about the past events here and start anew. A full time CCM format, would've ushered that new beginning. However, it looks like things aren't going to progress. Better accept the truth Dan and move on. Unless the people here want real change, it's not happening.

There's a chance that CCM may still have a home here. Fixing to have a meeting with a local Church. They want to learn more about my vision for Selma. It's possible those people may want to hear some CCM, on here too. Not going to hold my breath of that but anything is possible.

CCM would perform very well. I know this for a fact. However since the SG fan base are the ones donating towards the build fund now, that's where I may take this radio station.

Wow…perhaps only now have you offered enough information for thick-headed me to begin to really understand your dream. You talk about past events. Almost mockingly, you talk about "old time religion." You say you're not "proud of that." "That" meaning what? Help me understand further. Am I right in thinking that you're talking about racial divisions…about the tragedy at the Pettus Bridge? Are you suggesting that those events need to be forgotten? Do you believe that a radio station can advance a city, put away history and start things "anew?"

Dan, I'm sorry. Those hopes are admirable. But you're talking about a radio station. Can it provide a catalyst for change in Selma? I don't know. Because sadly, there is still so much baggage from those events almost 50 years ago -- in Selma and across our nation. Baggage that carries over from generation to generation. Baggage that can only be tossed away, not by a radio station but by a powerful move of God Almighty. And part of that healing must come from NEVER forgetting that tragic day. What happened at that bridge must always be vividly remembered. If not, you're only setting yourself up to relive that tragedy. And there is a difference between never forgetting and simply holding onto the past with the goal of maintaining division.

So…are you suggesting that a diverse mix of multiple genres of Christian music…CCM, Southern Gospel, Black Gospel is what it will take to advance Selma? Is that your reasoning behind varying your music programming. I don't know. Maybe you can use that as an aid to healing. Maybe it would help for those on each side of the issue to hear a musical expression of the others faith. To understand that they share one common God, one common Faith.

But I suspect at best that a radio station can only be an aid, not the entire agent of change. The real catalyst first comes from leaving your denominational comfort zone and to engage your Brother and Sister in Christ in prayer-soaked Holy Spirit-inspired person-to-person face-to-face hand-in-hand contact. That's not something that playing CCM over a radio "appliance" can bring. That's something that starts with church talking with church -- pastor talking with pastor -- layperson with layperson.

I can see how WPJB-LP might help. Give airtime to the town hall type discussion. Offer "spiritual service messages" that work to break down barriers. Promote events that encourage healing and acknowledge that the beginning of the healing must start with the individual listener…"Lord send revival, and let it begin with me."

Is that what I'm finally hearing you say? If so, it's not about official formats or how to keep Christian Radio relevant. It's not about what music to play or about fundraising for an LPFM. It's about something far greater. Something that radio can be a part of, but only a part of. It doesn't start with an LPFM construction permit. It starts with an individual...you…finding someone else in Selma who God has blessed with the same vision to advance Selma and move it past a tragic past. And then finding the next person…and the next person…and the next. It's about people. Not a radio station. To suggest otherwise is like suggesting that you can drive a car without first buying an engine or tires and rims.

So…am I right? Is that the dream you've been trying to express over all these years?

 

[R.D.P.]

Yes.

That's what my goal was.

Want to move beyond the past and help revive this city.

Already using a Writing Ministry, to help bring real healing to this place.

The radio station was going to be another step in that process.

Dan <><