How do you image Southern Gospel radio?

[jimmyfish]

Hello all,

I just bought a 5000 watt AM Station in a small market. The station is heritage and has been gospel for about 20 years. It is doing well and is rooted in the community doing the local high school sports. There are several preaching programs, both local and national (like Focus On The Family). It is a pretty good balance of programs and music. The music is kind of tricky to describe, it is mostly southern gospel (not what I would call twangy or country but almost like a contemp s/g if there is such a thing) and some inspirational/ac gospel.

So I want it to sound pro and all the things us radio guys like, big liner voice, jingles, slick production ect. I am a prod. guy myself and have imaged several formats, but this has got me. I mean you could go sort of a news/talk direction or like the soft ac. I am going to use both a male/female combo. The best jingles I have found that seem like they would work are oldies jingles (no guitar, lots of brass and the classic 7 voice sound). Southern gospel is based on a lot of accapella i.m.h.o. so it seems like a good fit. I want the imaging to be friendly and a little down home, but still pro, and big sounding, slick, but not too slick. Sounds complicated huh? Maybe I am over complicating it. I guess most of all I want to communicate, family safe, local and postive. Any feedback or ideas would be great. Thanks.

[MrJoey]

Hey...good work on buying a station!!  I bet your pretty excited!

[jimmyfish]

Yeah MrJoey I am, if I could get the deal done. Waiting for fianl FCC grant anytime. Now if I could figure out what to do with it lol. Goes to show anybody with decent credit can go in debt and get pretty much anything they want if they keep at it. This is the first station I worked at when I was 14 back in 1986. Funny thing is back then I went in to talk to the owner about buying it, I thought maybe a few thousand dollars lol. He was a good old guy (may he rest in piece) He laughed and said, "why don't you just come to work here". i started doing weekends and within about a month or 2 I was afternoon drive.

[Alan McCall]

Jimmy,

I can empathize with you somewhat. From 2002 to 2004 I was operations manager for
a station that had once been contemporary Christian mixed with programs, somewhat
like you describe.

Unfortunately, this particular owner believed that anything the station earned should go to his
pocket. There was 0 budget for imaging. Matter of fact, I had to bring in my own SG collection
to run the format!!

There was a singing legal ID that First Call, the singing group, had recorded, and I ended up using
it in rotation with a couple of others I found tucked away.

We also aired a program called Dynamite Christian Country that played some of the type music
you describe.

For this station, I ended up with a local voice guy doing liners, a singing legal ID and one jingle.
And got it to work, with audience and billing, until the same owner took it in a new direction..
ultimately silent.

I worked in Christian radio from 1983 to 2004..but there are no gigs here now. It's all brokered
or satellite.

[hammondo]

I wonder why you don't get the Gospel artists you play to do some imaging for you and mix it with the jingles? See if they'd write a short sung promo for the CITY where your stationi is.

(example; city of Blahoo)

Blahoo is a lessing to the Blackwoods.

My experience is that Gospel artisits are mostly not the big egoed blowhards that don't give a rip. Call Jimmy Blackwood or even Bill Gaither, both have cooperated with a project or 2 of mine.  Who knows??

Go down the list. How about LOCAL GOSPEL artists doing that?

Your welcome!

Blessings

[Preacherdude]

Hello all,

I just bought a 5000 watt AM Station in a small market. The station is heritage and has been gospel for about 20 years. It is doing well and is rooted in the community doing the local high school sports. There are several preaching programs, both local and national (like Focus On The Family). It is a pretty good balance of programs and music. The music is kind of tricky to describe, it is mostly southern gospel (not what I would call twangy or country but almost like a contemp s/g if there is such a thing) and some inspirational/ac gospel.

So I want it to sound pro and all the things us radio guys like, big liner voice, jingles, slick production ect. I am a prod. guy myself and have imaged several formats, but this has got me. I mean you could go sort of a news/talk direction or like the soft ac. I am going to use both a male/female combo. The best jingles I have found that seem like they would work are oldies jingles (no guitar, lots of brass and the classic 7 voice sound). Southern gospel is based on a lot of accapella i.m.h.o. so it seems like a good fit. I want the imaging to be friendly and a little down home, but still pro, and big sounding, slick, but not too slick. Sounds complicated huh? Maybe I am over complicating it. I guess most of all I want to communicate, family safe, local and postive. Any feedback or ideas would be great. Thanks.

Jimmy,

I had the opportunity to put together a SG format for a 50,000 watt AM in the early 90s.  We had a very successful run with good ratings, great personalities, and tremendous support from the owners.  The station had been simulcasting their FM for about 15 years or more, and they had let the AM equipment fall away.  They made the decision in early 90s to rebuild, add some nighttime power, and make a real go of it.  I was allowed to start the programming side from scratch.  In our run we had some of the best known voices in our market at one time or another.  For a pd it was a dream come true!  Build your own station with someone else's money, and make it a winner.  Now the money that we had to work with was not huge , but we did a lot of innovative and creative things to make it work.  Management changed later and finally they killed the format for automated talk, or as I like to say "dollar a holler!"  I have been out of radio for a few years, but would love to talk with you about how we made it work.  Maybe some of our stuff would work for you. 

My advice:  keep it real, and remember God's music (be it hymns, contemporary, praise, or gospel) deserves excellent presentation.  Too many sorry Christian stations out there.  Be professional!

[jimmyfish]

Allen, Hammondo, Preacher dude, Mr. Joey, You guys are all great! Thanks. They do have some national artist ids and 2 very bad sung jingles that sound like a local group in a very bad studio, they have about 7 or 8 liners with Paul Hile (sp?) that hosts the Gospel Greats, a very good shopw btw that they run on the weekends. I am planning on mixing the national ids in and a lot of real local listeners comments as I gather them from the many events I plan to be on hand for. I might do a comment line as well, but on location stuff with a good mic sounds better, but I want to build donuts aorund this stuff with a big voice guy to make it sound professinal. I do thank you for all the ideas and will put them to work.

[rbrucecarter5]

Hello all,

I just bought a 5000 watt AM Station in a small market. The station is heritage and has been gospel for about 20 years. It is doing well and is rooted in the community doing the local high school sports. There are several preaching programs, both local and national (like Focus On The Family). It is a pretty good balance of programs and music. The music is kind of tricky to describe, it is mostly southern gospel (not what I would call twangy or country but almost like a contemp s/g if there is such a thing) and some inspirational/ac gospel.

So I want it to sound pro and all the things us radio guys like, big liner voice, jingles, slick production ect. I am a prod. guy myself and have imaged several formats, but this has got me. I mean you could go sort of a news/talk direction or like the soft ac. I am going to use both a male/female combo. The best jingles I have found that seem like they would work are oldies jingles (no guitar, lots of brass and the classic 7 voice sound). Southern gospel is based on a lot of accapella i.m.h.o. so it seems like a good fit. I want the imaging to be friendly and a little down home, but still pro, and big sounding, slick, but not too slick. Sounds complicated huh? Maybe I am over complicating it. I guess most of all I want to communicate, family safe, local and postive. Any feedback or ideas would be great. Thanks.

I would image to an older demographic - 50's and 60's, based on the format.  You have an interesting dilemma, because the only time kids will ever tune in is during the football games - so I definitely wouldn't bill yourself as a station for teens or young marrieds.  You might get the parents of the kids during football games, but Southern gospel is mainly an old fogie format.

Personally, I'd flip it immediately because I have a heart for reaching young people.  Because it is AM, it is commercial so I would like to go for ratings among younger listeners with disposable income - that businesses desire.  Ratings = advertising revenue, but also ratings = potential salvations.  I absolutely hate what IBOC is doing to the AM band, but I would also convert the station to IBOC and hope it takes off - so the music will sound better.

[Matt Smith]

You have an interesting dilemma, because the only time kids will ever tune in is during the football games - so I definitely wouldn't bill yourself as a station for teens or young marrieds.

You don't do high school football for the kids...they're either at the game or out cruisin' on Friday nights and listening to the hippest station in town.  You air the games for two reasons...1) They're a BIG revenue producer, and 2) Mom, dad and granny don't want to fight the crowd or the elements, and they WILL listen to it.

As for targeting young-marrieds with Southern Gospel music, why not?  Every other Christian radio format is built with a demographic target in mind, and as such tells some Christians "...we don't care if you listen or not..." based on a particular age or sex statistic.  Southern Gospel never got into such "discriminatory practices", and thus has a wide-spectrum appeal.  A "family-based" demographic isn't something an advertising agency will readily understand, but every Christian knows what it is, and if a station's programming appeals to families it doesn't have to worry about aging demographics.  There is no better music to appeal to families than Southern Gospel, especially in areas where the music has a strong, traditional following.

Southern Gospel is not for everyone, but it IS something that all members of the Christian family can enjoy.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

[anotherguy]

As for targeting young-marrieds with Southern Gospel music, why not?  Every other Christian radio format is built with a demographic target in mind, and as such tells some Christians "...we don't care if you listen or not..." based on a particular age or sex statistic.  Southern Gospel never got into such "discriminatory practices", and thus has a wide-spectrum appeal.  A "family-based" demographic isn't something an advertising agency will readily understand, but every Christian knows what it is, and if a station's programming appeals to families it doesn't have to worry about aging demographics.  There is no better music to appeal to families than Southern Gospel, especially in areas where the music has a strong, traditional following.

Southern Gospel is not for everyone, but it IS something that all members of the Christian family can enjoy.

I'd think that if the format is going to be SG it would be best to gear the station toward middle aged and older listeners, and pick up what younger listeners might actually like SG in the process. But I wouldn't try to gear it toward younger listeners who for the most part won't be interested anyway. Most under 30 Christians I know either listen to some form of CCM, secular music, or a combination of both, not SG.

I'm not against a Christian station doing a full time SG format assuming that CCM is already being done in the area. However many SG stations have been very guilty of "discriminatory practices" when there is no CCM in an area and they won't give it a chance, either because of being afraid of offending listeners or sponsors, or because of being against it themselves. And some do come across with the attitude of "We don't care if you listen or not ", especially from the ones who are anti-CCM.

I'll admit that there are younger listeners who like SG, but most of them were brought up listening to it with their families and in church. Also, a large part of the younger SG listeners have either never heard CCM or have been brought up thinking that CCM is at least inferior to SG or worse, either by their family, in their church, or both. However I'd think that the number of younger Christians who have this type of attitude is getting smaller as CCM is more widely known in rural areas now, and churches that are anti-CCM are getting to be fewer.

However if your calling is to do SG and CCM is already being done, go for it.