Christian Rocker WRGX to change formats if goal of 120k not met.

[xmusicmatt]

I noticed on WRGX (50kw Christian Rocker FM station Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin) if they dont raise 120k by the end of Feburary the owners will be replacing the Rock format with something else (the PSA on the WRGX webstream says Christian Country if the money is not raised)

http://www.wrgx.com/ has more info....


--Matt
<P ID="signature">______________
Program Director/Music Director
X Music Online
The X
Today's Best Music
http://www.xmusiconline.com/</P>

 

[radioboy]

> I noticed on WRGX (50kw Christian Rocker FM station Sturgeon
> Bay, Wisconsin) if they dont raise 120k by the end of
> Feburary the owners will be replacing the Rock format with
> something else (the PSA on the WRGX webstream says Christian
> Country if the money is not raised)
>
> http://www.wrgx.com/ has more info....
>
>
> --Matt
>

As much as I like the Christian Country style, it is a very difficult format to sell, and they will never raise 120k with it. Then again..who really knows?!!

That said, I've personally met a number of the artists in Christian Country, such as Lisa Daggs-Charette, Pete Whitebird and several others and they are class acts. They put on great shows and were very accessible to the fans.

A friend of mine has had a successful Christian Country program now for 10 years and is self-syndicated on about 16 stations. You can read more here:
http://www.dynamitechristiancountry.com

PS to Matt (Lenks): Great website you have for X Music Network. Best wishes to you!
<P ID="signature">______________
WJJD The Country Giant Revisited streams at
http://www.live365.com/stations/alanmccall</P>

 

[xmusicmatt]

> As much as I like the Christian Country style, it is a very
> difficult format to sell, and they will never raise 120k
> with it. Then again..who really knows?!!
>

Honestly I feel and while its my opinion, If they can't raise 120k with Christian Rock I dont think they will get that with a Christian Country, I dont know the demographics of their market but Wisconsin does not come off as "Christian Country territory" I looked at their "sister" station and its an Inspo borderline AC, They'd be better off going with a HOT CHR format if their having that big of a problem funding the "rock format" while I hate to see Rock go, if they cant do it $$$ wise then maybe CHR would be a better choice, dont see how thier going to score $$$$$$ with Christian Country.

>
> PS to Matt (Lenks): Great website you have for X Music
> Network. Best wishes to you!
>

Thank you for your kind words, with licensing and streaming fees for my net station, I am not getting rich with my Christian CHR/Rock Internet station, but it's a ministry and I am giving it all I can. I have a few "unsaved folks" that listen and if the music can be a blessing to them then ive done something right.

--Matt


--Matt<P ID="signature">______________
Program Director/Music Director
X Music Online
The X
Today's Best Music
http://www.xmusiconline.com/</P>

 

[ccmfan]

Another drastic change - WAAJ 89.7, Hardin, KY

> I noticed on WRGX (50kw Christian Rocker FM station Sturgeon
> Bay, Wisconsin) if they dont raise 120k by the end of
> Feburary the owners will be replacing the Rock format with
> something else (the PSA on the WRGX webstream says Christian
> Country if the money is not raised)
>
> http://www.wrgx.com/ has more info....
>
>
> --Matt
>

I hope they'll be able to meet their goal. I'll give them credit for being honest with their listeners, which is more than I can say for WAJJ 89.3 in McKenzie, TN. Nothing was ever said that they needed more money to survive, and to make things worse, they sold to a group that made the station into a platform for KJV only and anti-CCM preachers, and nothing was ever said about that the station was sold or that the format would be changed. If they had been honest with their listeners, perhaps the CHR format could have kept going.

I was going to send an e-mail to Heartland Ministries, the owners of the old WAJJ with a link to WRGX's letter, but I discovered this at their website http://www.thejfm.com . Apparently WAAJ 89.7 in Hardin, KY, which was WAJJ's sister station, is changing formats to Gospel bluegrass on March 1st. They also say that they're adding more CCM to another of their stations, WTRT 88.1 in Hardin, although it will still probably lean toward AC. They apparently partially learned their lesson in that they didn't sell out to someone who was so blatantly anti-CCM and are keeping CCM on another of their stations, however, they still didn't let the listeners of WAAJ know if there was a shortage of funds (which I assume is the reason behind this change as well) and that a format change might happen if enough funds weren't raised.

I'll admit that WAAJ is outside the area I normally live and work in, so I didn't hear any of their fundraiser, but I look at their website on regularly, and nothing was said there until now, when the format change was announced. I just hate to see another good CCM station go under, especially in the way that WAJJ and WAAJ have.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by ccmfan on 02/23/06 06:09 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[smashedcd]

> > As much as I like the Christian Country style, it is a
> very
> > difficult format to sell, and they will never raise 120k
> > with it. Then again..who really knows?!!
> >
>
> Honestly I feel and while its my opinion, If they can't
> raise 120k with Christian Rock I dont think they will get
> that with a Christian Country, I dont know the demographics
> of their market but Wisconsin does not come off as
> "Christian Country territory" I looked at their "sister"
> station and its an Inspo borderline AC, They'd be better off
> going with a HOT CHR format if their having that big of a
> problem funding the "rock format" while I hate to see Rock
> go, if they cant do it $$$ wise then maybe CHR would be a
> better choice, dont see how thier going to score $$$$$$ with
> Christian Country.
>
> >
> > PS to Matt (Lenks): Great website you have for X Music
> > Network. Best wishes to you!
> >
>
> Thank you for your kind words, with licensing and streaming
> fees for my net station, I am not getting rich with my
> Christian CHR/Rock Internet station, but it's a ministry and
> I am giving it all I can. I have a few "unsaved folks" that
> listen and if the music can be a blessing to them then ive
> done something right.
>
> --Matt
>
>
> --Matt
>
you guys want berlieve i am saying this ..i like christian country more than christian modern rock, which is what most christian rock stations are. i actually love country and wish the format would take off like ccm. but i dont see it bringing in 128k either! so if they do flip i expect another flip within 2 years to ccm or inspo.i love that dynamite christian country show btw <P ID="signature">______________
note to the NAB..satellite radio..its worth paying for!!</P>

 

[xmusicmatt]

Re: Another drastic change - WAAJ 89.7, Hardin, KY

> I hope they'll be able to meet their goal. I'll give them
> credit for being honest with their listeners

at least with WRGX they are saying "if we dont meet the goal, you dont owe a dime to us" not one of those "send us your money we'll pretend everything is ok and then swap out Hard drive's when we think your not paying attention" I think that shows some care at least for the listeners. Even though it will be sad to see the station go, I dont live in Wisconsin either but I still have a pashion for Christian CHR/Rock formated stations, I came to know the Lord thru one, so I guess my pashion is more than others.

>
> I was going to send an e-mail to Heartland Ministries, the
> owners of the old WAJJ with a link to WRGX's letter, but I
> discovered this at their website http://www.thejfm.com .
> Apparently WAAJ 89.7 in Hardin, KY, which was WAJJ's sister
> station, is changing formats to Gospel bluegrass on March
> 1st.

Sad to see that happen but being in KY maybe they will have more success with a bluegrass format, but like Christian Country, I dont beleive that fincinally your going to get enough listenership to break even. It's like oldies and Adult Standards formats, people and businesses are not supporting those demographics in mass appeal so the $$ isnt there which means the format doesnt last. Since this station appeared to be running Dobson and others that would not gear towards a younger audience bluegrass is probally a better choice.

One of the things I liked about WRGX (in the times I listened to it on line is they where all music, they did not try to cater to the "teens and young adults" while giving "older adults" their "preachers" A lot of these smaller own stations try to do that and I think ultimatly that's where they fail, you cant cater to the 12-45 crowd, you must focus your demographics... stations like RadioU, Shine.FM and even WayFM and others are doing this quite well.. It's still sad to see another Christian CHR/Rocker head to the pasture though, While Christian AC is taking off in numbers, Christian CHR/Rock has a long way to go to see the same success, I guess as someone who consdiers himself in the "industry" (Ive hosted a radio show on a small FM station (that does everything from sunday southern gospel to AC overnights to Preachin' to Christian Rock plus my net radio ministry) would love to see CHR have simular success, after all, I beleive that Christian CHR could be a great competition to Mainstream CHR if programmed well. There is a lot of hot music out there and it just needs programmers willing to step up and take the risk. To all those that are reading this doing Christian CHR, keep up the good work! It will be interesting to see what stations will dable in "new formats" once IBOC takes off, I suspect most of the AC stations will do "teaching" on their secondarly Digital channels though, but I'd love to see some stations try Christian Rock or true CHR on their secondary IBOC Channels when that techology does take off in masses.

Ofcourse these are all my feelings, be them right or not. (I dont profess to be a pro at this, im still learning myself..)

--Matt <P ID="signature">______________
Program Director/Music Director
X Music Online
The X
Today's Best Music
http://www.xmusiconline.com/</P>

 

[gregdymon]

Re: Another drastic change - WAAJ 89.7, Hardin, KY

> One of the things I liked about WRGX (in the times I
> listened to it on line is they where all music, they did not
> try to cater to the "teens and young adults" while giving
> "older adults" their "preachers" A lot of these smaller own
> stations try to do that and I think ultimatly that's where
> they fail, you cant cater to the 12-45 crowd, you must focus
> your demographics

The best way to do this is to put the Christian Hits on an FM station and then start buying out a bunch of low wattage AM stations. Put all teaching/preaching all the time on the AM stations. Run the little one minute vignettes on the FM statio and then tag it with "you can hear Dr. Charles Stanley every morning at 8:30 on AM 810, part of the Valley's Christian Talk network." That way, IF you have someone listening to your music that likes Stanley, or Youseff, then you can at least point them to your stations and be of a service to them so they'll come back to you with their favorite preacher is finished.

 

[rbrucecarter]

And what if you do send in - and it changes formats? I doubt seriously they will give a refund. Moody pocketed over a million dollars from CCM fans when they acquired WCIE in Lakeland. We donated money in good faith with the expectation CCM would continue. I wish we had sued Moody to get our money back!!! They sure never offered any refunds as they put their boring format on instead of what we paid for.

 

[skipspence]

Re: Another drastic change - WAAJ 89.7, Hardin, KY

> Hey Matt...Good thoughts and I pretty much agree about what has been said here on letting audiences know what is going on... Hate to see Darryl Gibson and the Heartland Crew spin the "J" out of rotation and putting some form of CCM on their very low wattage 88.1...Maybe enough of that signal can get to Murray State University, but it's very weak and can't get more wattage due to the Channel 6/WPSD presence in Paducah.. AFR has TWO fm's in the Paducah sector..Maybe someone could buy 89.3 from them (they got it when CBA went belly up with their Hot A/C)... Down the line and dayparted CHR would work well in the Paducah/Mayfield/Murray areas... CBA (Christian Businessmens Association of Paducah) just tried to keep it all local and it was a tough road to hoe... Heartland's "J" at 89.7 was not strong enough in Paducah (where as their WVHM Southern Gospel FM at 90.5 and their new 90.1 in Leddbetter cover it well)... If a major player like WAY (who originally fed programing to the "J"), could get AFR to sell off 89.3 (which would give AFR the monster C1-88.5 licensed to Cario, Illinois and tower between Wickliffe and West Paducah).... If it's true that Wither's Wicliffe FM is a new FM and Larry still has 95.9 in Wickliffe, then buying his FM and the same broadcaster buying 95.7 in Culvert City could cover the market well with two back to back class "A's"..... On the national scope of CHR and AC in the Christian radio markets...CHR is now the 'bomb' and is overall gaining greater support in finance and new starts than Christian AC...Christian AC stayed in a funk and with the expection of K-Love spicing up their music to a more AC/Hot AC mix, most AC's are losing audience and financial support from their listener base....Bro.John and his wife's numbers are falling and many scratching of heads seem to be in order at EMF on this... They keep buying up non-coms and commercial FM's in 100 to 250 markets or doing LMA's in top markets, but they do not offer local inserted programming to keep the audience involved and active with their signals.. Christian audiences are pro-active and really like it when you put two dayparts or more live from their local signal.... Press the flesh and share The Gospel in that way... It's the old case of the local Church leadership and Pastorships are more AC and the congregation is more CHR.... I saw this in our building of WAY-FM in Nashville in 1991-92... The elders and deaconhood seemed to be AC with WNAZ at Trevecca and the under 45's craved our totally local WAY-FM in that early Nashville start...Now WNAZ has gone CHR/Rock Based and WAY-FM went more Hot/AC-Adult CHR with the 12 to 25 target at night on "Total Axxess"....Since the new national PD has been at WAY, it's starting to sound like the original concept of straight ahead strong and tight CHR with the 12-25 show at night... That's the old CHR formatics...18 to 34/44 days and 12 to 24/29 nights.... Less deep voices and more natural energy types that can share and sound youthful but fun and mature....On the rock formats...Most have a great heart for what they wish to do, but seem to lack experience in marketing, fundraising and getting the word out beyond the Church going youth and young adults.... I enjoyed working at WAY-FM for eight years and starting up Radio-U for the Shumates, because we looked at two points to direct us....One: Be a spiritual vitamin to the believer, no matter his walk or condition at the time (up on the mount or down in the valley)...Don't play Church or replace it...Be a part of it and walk with the body as the STP in the spiritual tank that helps between Sunday and Wednesday and between Wednesday and Sunday....Two: Be a cold cup of water to the lost or wandering person in the social desert! They get the lingo and get the reality of walk from here to eternity and the format can plug them into the local church(es).... Nothing more, or nothing less....That's it.....

 

[gregdymon]

Re: Another drastic change - WAAJ 89.7, Hardin, KY

> I enjoyed working at
> WAY-FM for eight years and starting up Radio-U for the
> Shumates, because we looked at two points to direct
> us....One: Be a spiritual vitamin to the believer, no matter
> his walk or condition at the time (up on the mount or down
> in the valley)...Don't play Church or replace it...Be a part
> of it and walk with the body as the STP in the spiritual
> tank that helps between Sunday and Wednesday and between
> Wednesday and Sunday....Two: Be a cold cup of water to the
> lost or wandering person in the social desert! They get the
> lingo and get the reality of walk from here to eternity and
> the format can plug them into the local church(es)....
> Nothing more, or nothing less....That's it.....

I worked for a joke of an AC Christian station in Huntsville, AL (WNDA)just was WAY was making its debut and then moving out from Nashville. I LOVED the station in that it was much more daring than the typical Christian station at the time. I haven't yet listened to a stream of Radio-U. But, I tell you what... having cut my radio teeth in CHR and HOT/AC secular stations, even for a 40+ year old guy, I would LOVE to work at a Christian CHR station that kept those two goals before them! As a seminary graduate, who has LONGED to marry my broadcasting and my faith in a very real way, I would think I had come || this close to dying and going to heaven on earth!

 

[jegrant]

> Honestly I feel and while its my opinion, If they can't
> raise 120k with Christian Rock I dont think they will get
> that with a Christian Country, I dont know the demographics
> of their market but Wisconsin does not come off as
> "Christian Country territory" I looked at their "sister"
> station and its an Inspo borderline AC, They'd be better off
> going with a HOT CHR format if their having that big of a
> problem funding the "rock format" while I hate to see Rock
> go, if they cant do it $$$ wise then maybe CHR would be a
> better choice, dont see how thier going to score $$$$$$ with
> Christian Country.
> --Matt

I totally agree with this assessment. Also, I find it a little surprising on their part that they expect such a young-targeted station to draw a significant amount of money. IMO, for ministry purposes, why not let the Inspo/AC station help fund (subsidize) the CHR/Rock format? So that those who already "get" Christian radio can help the next generation "get it."

I also think your formatting suggestion is spot on; having listened to the station, I think it was too narrowly focused. It may also be financially unsustainable to do as much local programming as they were. I think if they want to stay with CHR/Rock, or if they come back to it, they should seriously consider something like RadioU; they could localize it as much as they like, but it would help trim costs.

My other gripe is that the station is just barely getting a handful of translators in other markets (in WI and MI) set up. Some of the areas were probably getting the only thing remotely close to Christian music for young people they've ever had. Plus (as others have pointed out) funds were raised for those translators with the expectation of getting Christian rock. Now they'll be getting country.