Thanks for the Support

It’s been more than a week now since Sharathon 2009 “We Need each Other” ended. What a time we had. Once again God showed the way and reaffirmed His desire to keep Joy on the air. You, our audience stepped up and blew us away, again. I have been told that this was the first time ever that Joy reached it’s need.
I really want to reassure you that the pledges are used wisely. If you ever wonder what is done with the finances we receive here, whether by donation or advertising, you are more than welcome to stop by and find out. This is YOUR station, after all. The board of directors are here to help make decisions and plans, and the staff and volunteers here try their best to give you what is asked for and expected of us.
So many people helped plan and execute this years Sharathon, so I’m not going to name them all, but you know who you are. You should all have received a letter in the mail recently thanking you for your pledges, along with a new car window decal. If you would like more, drop in, we have lots.
There are so many events and concerts coming this way in the new year, you are going to want to stay in touch. Listen for them to be mentioned on air as well as on Facebook and our website calendar of events.
Speaking of the Website, check out the “Business Directory”. Some of our faithful advertisers are listed there and we would appreciate it if you would check them out, and where possible do business with them. This is often the only way they will ever know if their advertising budget is working with JOY FM listeners. You can find more information about these businesses by simply clicking on the ad and it takes you to their website with all of their information on products, location, etc. Give it a try and where possible support them and thank them for helping keep us on the air.
If you are a business yourself or know someone who owns their own business who might want to be a part of this page, tell them to contact me. It’s extremely inexpensive and hopefully productive for them.

Thanks again. Have a great spring and summer.
Don’t forget to continue praying for the direction and leadership of this ministry.

Peace
Doug

2 Days of Sharathon

As I mentioned in the last blog about Sharathons, it’s not the most favorite time for any of us. We certainly have fun those days with all the guests that drop by to help, talk, support, pray, etc., but it ultimately comes down to one thing…we need your help to continue.
In the past year, we have had great success reducing our operating costs and paying some very large debts in an effort to keep JOY on the air. This was largely due to those of you who stepped up and helped out in some difficult circumstances. We thank you very much, and believe that God will bless you for that. Above all that were the prayers which were and always will be foremost in the ongoing success of JOY FM.
This year, only a week away is Sharathon 2009 (April 22, 23) and while some stations across North America hold their Sharathon for as much as a week (and a few even more), we feel that 2 days is enough to accomplish our needs. Besides, who wants to listen to us all day right? We promise you this though. If you will allow us 2 days and not turn off the radio or go to another station, you will hear more than just people asking for support. You will hear testimonies, artist interviews, music, music and more music, and some of you will even be put on the air, if you dare to stop by. We will also be introducing some new programming for kids and youth that you will want to hear about. As well..concert announcements. There are more on the way, so please, please, stick with us for 2 days? Surely you can handle that, can’t you?
It’s interesting to see some of the stations who have in excess of $100,000 even $200,000 pledged for Sharathon. They have obviously done a better job at sharing the vision of Christian Radio Ministry than we have in our area, but I don’t want to seem jealous. We respect and admire the effort our audience gives to support us, and each year it’s great to see the people stop by or call with encouraging words. All we ask, is that IF you believe that what JOY FM offers has a spiritual benefit to the Central New Brunswick community (even beyond, with the WWW), please be prayerful for the success of Sharathon 2009. And should God move on you to help support it, even $10 / month, we promise you that it will go to even better things in the coming year.

If you have any comments, questions, ideas, complaints…my phone is always available and I would LOVE to talk about anything with you. Call me at 454-9600 between 8 and 3pm daily.

Blessings to you all

Doug, Angela, Nate, Jon, Natalie, Paul, Jessica, Larry and the Board of Directors of CIXN, 96.5 JOY FM

Shareathon likes and dislikes

I found this online today. It’s very interesting and unfortunately…true!

Stuff Christians Like: Avoiding Your Favorite Christian Radio Station During a Share-a-

Most Christian radio stations are “listener supported”. Well, if I don’t listen for the week of the share-a-thon, does that mean I don’t have to support them? If I drive to work in silence all week, am I exempt from their pledge drive? These are the questions that keep me awake at night.

If you’re like me, when the local Christian radio station is holding its annual share-a-thon, I will do anything to avoid the station for as long as it takes. I hang my head out the window like a dog, tongue flapping in the morning breeze. I listen to (gasp) secular music…but, come on, it’s usually Coldplay or John Mayer, so that counts. I might even listen to a sermon in my car (and get through the whole thing)—whatever it takes to avoid a few days of interrupted music. After all, share-a-thons are basically all the same. They usually go something like this:

“Your contributions keep us on the air. Here’s exactly how the music gets from us, at the station, to you, listening in your car: thousands of adorable (yet invisible) baby angels fly the songs into your radio through your radiator to bring you the upbeat, day-gladdening music of Heaven 87. The sweet infant cherub ghost babies are powered by the breath of Heaven, Christmas spirit and, of course, your financial blessings. Oh, and, by the way, we will not play another song until we reach our goal. We’re more patient than Job, so we can wait as long as it takes for you to fork over the cash. As. Long. As. It. Takes. Period.”

I think it’s a good idea to share. If you enjoy listening to Christian radio, maybe you should send them a check, although there are many other things that you can share. You can share-a-yawn, share-a-Jon, you can even share-a-song. But whatever you do, just don’t share-a-thong. There you have it. The first appearance of the word “thong” on SCL. I think I’m done. Fly, sweet baby song angels, fly!

What do you do when your Christian radio station has a share-a-thon?

Bebo Concert

The Bebo Norman / Phillip LaRue concert February 26th at Sunset Church was a success. What a good time we had with these guys. It was a good to see a good crowd, as it was certainly scarey early in the day. It looked like we were going to have a very small crowd, but it turned out good. Special thanks to the following for helping make it possible to have this concert and others coming up:

The Lighthouse Events for setting this whole tour up and bringing Bebo and Phil here. Sunset Church, The staff at Joy FM for your extra help and time, Everett Griffiths, Nicole O’Donnell and Jaime McMullin for tech help, Jason Munn and Dave Watt at Exit Realty Advantage, The Lighthouse Bookstore, The Olive Branch Resource Center, Brian DesRoche Allstate Insurance, Price Auto Sales, Classic Stoves, Daley’s Furnishings Country Wide, Storage City.

Don’t forget about Laura Storey and Stephanie Israelson coming to Burtts Corner Church of Christ, May 10th at 3PM. This is a FREE concert, so lets show our support and go enjoy a great time of worship.

Also…MercyMe will be in Augusta Maine, May 30th. Visit www.thelighthouseevents.com for details and ticket purchase information.

Blessings all

Doug

Scheduling and Spoken Word Programs

It’s been a while getting back on here, but with the Christmas fall out done, I find myself looking over more of the surveys. Again, thanks for sending them. It’s great to see what people think of us and what they want or don’t want. In the next few days and weeks, Jonathan will be blogging in here about music and schedules, etc, so I’m not goin to get into that today, but would like to discuss Spoken Word Programs. There were somewhere close to 40% of respondents who would like to see Spoken Word Programming (SPW from now on) changed. I take that as being removed, not different speakers or shows??
Many Christian Radio stations will tell you that this is a large part of their life’s blood. In a weird twist from what most of us would think, SWP is actually a necessary income for us. That’s right…they pay us to air their programs. I won’t go into the whys of that, but that is the way it works, and with finances within Christian radio difficult at best, SWP is pretty much a necessity. But it goes beyond finances. There are people in the listening audience of JOY FM, who listen only to these programs. There are others who have contacted us at various times and told us how much a specific program has helped them that day or week. We have to remember that although the message of salvation and renewal is in the music, there is no replacement for the Word of God, directly from the Bible, and I would never want to be responsible for removing that from our schedules. Thankfully our board of directors also feel the same way.
  To get back just a bit to the scheduling, there were a few responses that mentioned moving them to different times. I would like to clarify again though, the financial side of these programs. It’s a bit of a juggling act to get what we want, when we want, because they have their preferences and determine how much to pay us based on time slots. If we were to change the times for these, it would affect our bottom line (I hate that term) and for now at least we need to be aware of every dollar. If we were able to increase our monthly revenue enough elsewhere to compensate for the loss or movement of these programs, then we could consider it. For now we will have to continue on the present schedules.
  This was a great question and concern, and is duly noted and will be considered when the next round of contracts come up in the fall, when we can review our financial situation. These contracts are signed every year and we take finances into consideration when negotiating them. Won’t it be nice when finances aren’t a factor for much of anything anymore?????
Blessings to all
Doug

Well here we go. It’s the 5th of January ‘09 and it’s time to get this site going. As mentioned in the intro, this site will attempt to answer some questions, misconceptions, ask some questions, inform and do lots of other things…we hope. My first hope is to answer some of the questions and concerns that came from some of you in our recent and ongoing survey on the website. First, let me say a HUGE thanks to those of you who participated. We have had a tremendous response and there are still some coming in almost every day. The majority were very positive and then there were some that weren’t so much. And that is great because I could never expect to see us doing everything right. There are too many things to take into consideration and too many variations of people, likes and dislikes to ever think we can keep everyone happy. Much like the sound or temperature in a church, it just won’t happen.

I would also like to ask 1 thing from all of you. Several people were very critical with opinions about things when it was obvious they had very little knowledge about. I don’t want to be critical. I love the opportunity to explain some things, and will try to do that, but it would be nice if you asked about the facts before you criticize. You will feel better about yourself if you do. Just ask, and I will be happy to explain. If I can’t, I will find out for you. If I am wrong, I will appologize and ask forgiveness.

But it is great to have so much to say going into this. I hope that between myself and the other staff members, board members and volunteers, we may be able to help give some clarity to how a Christian radio station runs and is expected to run.

So…1 question at a time and we will hopefully get around to everyone. First of all, the request for a stronger signal so more can listen. This is a highly requested request. At the moment though, it can’t happen. Here is why. We all want more power to do a better job reaching outside the city and in some cases reaching within the city. Power for a radio station comes at a huge cost. Presently we have 27 watts. In order to reach areas like Durham, Nackawick, Harvey, F’ton Junction,etc., it would cost us in the area of $15,000 to $20,000. Unfortunately, JOY FM has a debt that goes back several years and that needs to be taken care of first. The amount of debt is slow getting paid off for reasons I will explain in the near future as we continue this blog, but needless to say, we need to be at “0″ debt before we can even consider buying more power. That is Biblical…being good stewards of our finances has to be first. And I know from a few of the surveys returned that a few of you still don’t feel that is being done. Stay tuned…you will see differently as I explain more as the days go on. Anyway…as I was saying, once we have no debt, we can revisit the request again. We will then need to evaluate the cost, the ability to pay for it and is there enough potential support outside the city to justify it. Believe me, we would love it as much as everyone, but we have to be good stewards with what we have first and then we will ask God for His direction in this situation. Is there a time line? All I can say is that we are hopeful of paying off all debt within the next 18 months.

Almost everyone here at JOY FM are new, including board members, and were not here when the debts were incured. Our #1 priority for the last 15 months has been to reduce daily operating costs, allowing us to pay down this debt. We are committed to this task 1st and foremost. We have not purchased anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary (not much even at that) and even then, a lot of that was traded for air time.

Well, that’s all for point #1. I will do another as time allows. Likely in another evening.

 Blessings to all.   Doug

Welcome to the brand new JOY FM blog site, where questions can be asked and answered and general information passed along. We are excited about this site where we feel it will be beneficial in helping us get to know our audience better and allow you to express yourselves and hopefully get to know us better as well. In the near future, I will be attempting to answer some questions and concerns that were raised from our online surveys. This was a huge success in terms of understanding more about you and your “wish list” for JOY FM and also a great opportunity to help everyone better understand how a Christian radio station operates and is expected to operate. So stay tunes, check us out and ask away. We will be also attempting to pass along information about upcoming events, concerts etc., so lets just have fun with this and see where it goes. Blessings all…Doug