GaryTheThompson said:
Did I say that Christian radio's 'bar' and 'standard' should be to become 'positive and encouraging?' Nope.
Gee, it would be something, though, wouldn't it? Imagine...Christianity being presented as being human, absolutely normal, and positive and encouraging!
I think mostly the lack of quality localy in our industry comes down to one or both of two things: Lack of knowledge...or complacency.
Turf-protection.
Please add "turf-protection" to that list. Many of the incompetent have no idea what they would do for an income if they left radio, so they protect themselves now and plan to protect themselves until retirement. I think they know they and their stations suck, but unconquerable fear keeps them defending their indefensible positions on how radio should sound (their actions speaking louder than their words).
I met a recognizable name in the Christian radio industry a while back, and, during the course of our conversation about radio, obviously intimidated the heck out of him. When the conversation got deeper than the trite phrases he'd read in the trades and heard from his consultant (I believe they were in the very early stages of their relationship), he had nothing to offer. He got himself out of the discussion and was stand-offish the rest of the time we were together. I asked a co-worker of his if I might have offended him somehow and was told, "no, that's just how he gets."
Just a couple of months later, he was quoted in a trade interview -- something like "We need many more people coming in from 'mainstream' radio."
I kid you not. Mere months earlier, he had one right in front of him and appeared terrified. Little did he know, I respected him as being very knowledgable and accomplished in a format about which I knew little. If I had to take a guess (and it would be a somewhat educated one...I was there!), he saw me as a threat to his immediate job and his hoped-for career path. We haven't talked since, and attempts at email conversation have been met with curt replies.
Here's a story I imagine most here could tell: There's a signal within earshot of me...an old-style station with programs, hymns and whatever that stuff is, and some slight attempts at modernization with the addition of a small amount of select P&W. Only one member of the programming staff ever really belonged on the air in the first place, but all have nice houses in the suburbs and kids in college....they are knowingly allowing the station to drift toward sure death because they want or need to get out of it set for retirement.
Now, on one hand, I can understand that. Even maybe identify with it a little more as each day passes. But, on the other hand, I know that our primary personal role is that of "believer," and our primary professional role is "steward." Confidently engaging in the former provides the foundation from which you can faithfully and maybe even comfortably engage in the latter.
Take care of what you have been given. If you have the five talents, do what only one with five talents can do -- impact the market in the biggest way it can be impacted for the Kingdom, not the way that makes you the most comfortable or the most secure. If you have the two, take the next niche. If you have the one, you don't have to act foolishly out of fear as if you have no other choice; in today's environment, you can actually
team up with the one with the two or the five and have a joint plan for impact! Seek first His Kingdom, and all the stuff you need will be given to you.
Be a believer and then a steward. Act in the best interest of the station and the industry. Do
not try to protect "turf" you falsely believe belongs to you. It's not
yours.
Well, I'm sure that the people who matter in every K-Love market (the listeners) don't view them as a cancer.
It depends on what they know about it.
An acquaintance accepted a position in which he dealt with a Christian radio station and came to me to learn enough about the industry to get him going. Upon hearing what I told him about K-Love and confirming it with the station he was working with, he stopped paying his $40/month the next time the reminder came. He believed what he heard on the air during fundraising was the complete and total truth and that they really needed his money just to get by. Upon learning about EMF maintaining annual 25+% profit margins (er, "excess funding" or whatever) despite expenses growing at about 20% per year, aggressive expansion plans to the tune of thousands of translator apps and dozens of station acquisitions each year, and executives taking out salaries approaching a half million dollars, he was infuriated and thought that cutting them off was the only logical thing he could do.
If EMF simply presented
all the truth in very clear numbers with very simple descriptors (not the nebulous pie graphs they were using the last time I looked), what would happen? If they (and/or others) are confident in their mission and practices, why do they "need" to hide the actual numbers? If they're confident about their mission and practices, then they could put those numbers right out there boldly and
surely the listeners would be with them, too, wouldn't they?? :
I mean, what would be the problem with
everybody knowing EMF took in more than $50 million in the last reported fiscal year, ~$12.5 million over the $38 million in expenses that magically grew ~20% in a single year? That, in the last three years alone, EMF has been ~$34 million in the black?
Now, before we go, let me be clear that
I have no problem with any organization expanding however they're called to (or even just want to) expand nor any individual making whatever God and/or the market will provide. Where I have a big problem is with an organization clearly intentionally feeling a need to hide it. Is there something wrong with looking for complete disclosure, total honesty, and crystal-clear transparency from a Christian organization and finding fault with the organization if it will not provide that?
