Radio station explains role to Marion clergy
Staff writer
Ten people — pastors and their spouses or friends — attended a noon luncheon Thursday at McGillicuddy's restaurant in Marion, sponsored by KJRL 105.7 "Radio for Life," Regional Christian Radio, Herington.
Doug Wedekind, general manager of the station, and David Scott, director of underwriting, presented a brief program.
Comparing the station and its work to vitamins for an individual's health, Wedekind said, "We're there to be a supplement to the main course, the church. We're a supplement, not a substitute.
"We are a ministry-minded organization," he said. "We want to have a good, close working relationship with the churches."
Wedekind added that the station was seeking suggestions to make its ministry over the airwaves more effective.
Regional Christian Radio is part of, affiliated with, Great Plains Christian Radio, KJIL FM, in Meade. That 100,000-watt station is the flagship.
"Quality in Christian radio is our goal," Wedekind said.
KJIL in one recent year was named Station of the Year by Focus on the Family, and in another year was named Station of the Year by the Gospel Music Association, he said.
Great Plains Christian Radio now has three full-power radio stations and 22 translator stations. It can be heard in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
The Herington station, on the air now for nearly two years, has no translator stations, but has applied to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to erect seven of them: in the Clay Center, Junction City/Fort Riley, Manhattan, Emporia, McPherson, Nickerson, and Salina areas.
Wedekind said the non-profit organization learned a couple of years ago that a country station in Herington was for sale.
KJRL went on the air pursuing a dynamic Christian ministry in August 2001. Three weeks later, Sept. 11, 2001, happened, and no one and nothing has been the same since, he said.
"That had a big impact on everyone. It opened doors for ministry. We believe God brought us here for such a time as this."
The station serves military listeners stationed at Fort Riley. It has sponsored various Christian music concerts, some family-oriented, some youth-oriented, he said.
The station also sponsors clergy appreciation luncheons, contests, and other activities. "We're not just a radio station. We're something beyond that, trying to reach into the community and have an impact," Wedekind said.
Nor is the station strictly affiliated with any one denomination.
There are fewer and fewer locally-programmed stations broadcasting all the time, he said. Whether a station's format is country, rock, jazz, or something else, they're mostly programmed by satellites now.
Scott said, "We're not trying to replace the church, just to help it." The station is not sales-oriented, but ministry-oriented. There are no commercials.
It is financed by grant underwriting by businesses, churches, and individuals. Six 30-second spots for underwriters are aired during each hour, and the rest of the time is devoted to Christian music or messages.
"Thirty-five percent of the listening radio audience is totally unchurches," Scott said. "Some people have been hurt by the church, or are disillusioned, think it's not relevant."
But lyrics to some of the best Christian songs can reach hearts, he said. The target audience for the station is people between ages 25 and 55 who currently are not going to church.
"We are (heard) in cars, tractors, homes, bedrooms, even (some) liquor stores," Scott quipped. He asked Wedekind to explain that last phrase.
The general manager said that a while back, a woman in Council Grove called him and said that she had the radio at her place of business set on KJRL all the time.
He asked her what kind of business it was, and she quietly said it was a liquor store.
Wedekind said perhaps someone who needed to hear a message of hope received it while in the store.
The men emphasized the partnership aspect of the station's work with area churches.
They have lots of listeners in Marion County, they said. A total of 450 different individuals or families have responded by mail or telephone to various programs, promotions, services, etc., put on by the station.
And they feel that's just a small part of the total number of listeners the station has in this county.
The Meade station, KJIL, is the number-one listened-to station in all of Western Kansas, they said. Some listeners already are Christian, but not all — they are not merely "preaching to the choir."
The men said they were here Thursday not just to make a sales pitch but also to help and support the churches.
PSA's (public service announcements), such as for vacation Bible school, are free on KJRL, Wedekind said.
He also encouraged pastors to come to the station at Herington and record a series of five 2-minute devotions to be aired. He said this could add to their ministry and/or the attention given to it.
The concerts the station sponsors are not an attempt to make money. The goal is to break even and pay the artists while providing quality Christian entertainment.
The potential listening audience now for KJRL is 100,000 to 150,000 people. This audience could double in size when and if the translator stations come into being.
Scott and Wedekind asked those present Thursday to "put in a good word for us in those communities designated for a translator."
Wedekind said Christian stations that are commercial do not necessarily have bad motivations, but they do have to watch the bottom line, profits, closely.
The station applied in March for the FCC permits to build the translators. They expect to get approval by March 2004 at the latest.
"Then we have to fund them," Wedekind said.
Wedekind has been in Christian broadcasting for 17 years, he said, and Scott formerly farmed in the Minneola area. He sold a three-generations family farm when he felt called by God to get into this ministry area, Scott said.
