When you read my following comments, they are not meant as a rant, but of love and concern for good information for God’s people. I have a news background, dating back to 1978, when I worked weekends as a news producer at the Minnesota State News Network. I have been a news director, running a department of 6 reporters. I am an OLD GUY. I knew radio, when radio was radio!!! LOL! News reporting is very vital to God’s people. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s at WFRN Christian Radio in Elkhart,Indiana, Ed Moore, owner, Marv Boone, news director and I, Assistant to the GM in News, teamed together to have one of the best news staff in Christian radio. We had 6 reporters. At KKIM we had Hall of Famer Frank Haley, Bill Ruhl, Paul Holt, Mark Tross, Leonard Navarre and myself. We did long form news programming, one hour newscasts, live interviews from the State Capitol, Live reports from the Legislative session, live election coverage…..that is a thing of the past in Christian radio and tv, sadly. One year we had Pastor Glen Strock report live from Washington D.C. during National Day of Prayer! I will always be grateful to legislators Nora Espinoza and Janice Arnold Jones for all their help during the legislative sessions.
I am very thankful to the Lord for the reporting of the ABQ Journal. We subscribe to the Journal, they do a great job. We also subscribe to their online service. Albuquerque is a one newspaper town. Here at FGGAM we dig deep the best we can everyday. Radio suffers from the lack of IN DEPTH, DIG DEEP Christian news as does tv. Many Christian stations have eliminated their news departments. We had expanded news coverage at KKIM when I was there. KOB radio here in Albuquerque has really gone down hill as a news station, sorry to report.
The only local radio/tv Christian news we have in Albuquerque is with Hall of Famer Frank Haley on Son Broadcasting’s KDAZ Radio and KCHF TV.
I am very thankful for the investigative reporting done by our TV stations here in ABQ!!!
Be careful where you get your news. Be careful of the “nothing noise” Call on your God given discernment.
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out. Proverbs 18:15
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6
Some highlights from my golden days in radio………
When every air shift was live, no staging, no fake laughs, no editing, when the call ins were live, before delays…..or taping the calls for editing..all “goof ups” were live!! LOL! That was a great part of radio, the listeners would love it and were forgiving. That would make it pure radio.
Now most radio is staged or recorded.
When public service was our top goal, it was required by the FCC, to serve the public with a certain amount of PSA announcements per hour.
Live weather reports from KGCX Radio in Sidney, Montana in the late 70’s from our listeners in all the towns we reached. They would call in and I would put them on the air.
“Ask Your Neighbor” a live call in program on KGCX, people would call in and ask how to get stains out of the carpet…..what is your favorite recipe for chicken soup…….etc…….what is the best laundry detergent to use….
When the fire siren would sound in Sidney the radio stations phone would ring and tell us where the fire was and we would announce the location. It was to help alert the firefighters. It was sponsored by Sietz Insurance.
Live local basketball and football games.
When a wildfire broke out in Montana, we did live reports from the scene.
On KKIM Radio in Albuquerque live call ins on election night…one night a man called in around midnight and said he was an atheist, but really loved listening to us and our views on things. Most people do not realize that non-Christians do listen to christian radio….they are checking us out.
When Kyle Martin of ‘Time to Revive’ came to Santa Fe and did a Revival at the new City Center, I may have the wrong name on that facility, sorry.. Kyle held a news conference, we aired it live on KKIM Radio!!! Kyle was taking some heat for holding a Revival in the city and expressing Christian vales, we had news reporters show up and ask him direct questions and Kyle answered them all….you could have heard a pin drop……one of the best live radio broadcasts I have took part in. The reporters were polite, but direct and the same with Kyle, you see, we can have peace if Jesus is present in all we do.
Then the 8 to 10 Pastors that were present gave testimonies of what the Lord had done in their lives, all this is live my friends, no commercials……we went over an hour……..the one testimony that was given has always been on my mind, it was given by Pastor Glen Strock. Pastor Glen shared how God took his ugly life and turned it around, it resulted me having Glen on my tv show. I pray if the Lord wills that we bring tv back into our ministry. People talked about that news conference and Glen’s testimony for years after.
Please keep Pastor Glen in your prayers, he has brain cancer. I was blessed to talk to Glen yesterday, the man always inspires me with his Godly attitude! He is the same old Glen, very happy in our Lord!
Maybe one of my saddest memories was on KKIM, the night Susana Martinez was elected Governor of New Mexico and I interviewed her live on the phone that night and she promised me and our listeners she would stand for life and end abortion. That never happened. She failed to act.
Thank you for allowing me to go down memory lane with you……this is what happens when you get to be an old broadcaster…….Thank the Lord He keeps me active on radio with House of Hope!
By the way read this……..From RADIO INK this morning!
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This week with the launch of El Washington Post, the newspaper now has 18 podcasts on its website for readers to consume. We decided to do a little digging about how commiited newspapers are to the audio space and let you decide if it’s something you should worry about. 
