I fell in love with radio while I was in high school. The entertainment was delightful, and it cost absolutely nothing to listen to my favorite disc jockey or storyteller. I fell asleep many a weekend evening listening to Wolfman Jack spin the hits. What fun it was to listen, either in my room or in the car, and to be entertained for hours by people who seemed to love what they did for a living. I was envious of the DJs and their lightheartedness and secretly always wanted in on their seemingly endlessly fun days.
Fast forward to my first job in New Jersey, where I worked with a wonderful faith-filled young woman. I was about halfway through my career as a legal assistant, and one day out of the blue Martina asked if there was anything I felt I missed out on in life. Thinking about it I told her I had always wanted to be a DJ. As simply as that was said she replied, “I will pray about it.”
The next week in the local paper there was an advertisement for an opening at WSLT in downtown Ocean City for someone to work evenings. What a lovely answer to prayer. And that is how I came to be a DJ at a few of our local stations back in the mid ‘90s.
It was a dream come true for me, but because I worked my full-time day job the radio gig was part time. I had the opportunity to work at three of our local stations, and I was scheduled on the odd hours – once I even worked the midnight shift during a severe storm. It caught me off guard that night when someone called in and said they were listening even after most of the city had gone to bed. That is the power of radio – you may reach only one person, but you know that one person cares that you are there because they want the company of a friendly voice.
Now, checking in with radio some 30 years later you might not be surprised that radio has not faded into the sunset with the advance of technology – it has actually widened its scope by using the internet. English language stations can be heard all around the world.
I worked at secular stations that featured classical music and oldies, but current Christian radio is heard well beyond any of the airwaves that carried my voice. Christian radio reaches far-flung areas with the words of Jesus, using traditional airwaves along with the amazing power of the internet.
If you scan the stations on your automobile radio you will come across several Christian stations. Not all of these stations are locally run, because now many use translation towers that sound so clear that you might believe the DJ is just down the block.
Christian radio offers a wide variety of formats, including teaching, talk and music, or a combination. Because of my deafness I can no longer understand music lyrics, and so I listen mostly to sermons. My husband Neil, on the other hand, loves to listen to Christian music as he works on the computer or in his wood shop. He enjoys listening to various preachers as well. Neil tunes into several different stations depending upon the time of day, and he can quote to me the radio schedules by station, music and preaching times.
Locally there are quite a few choices of Christian radio that I listen to while in my car and, of course, on-line there is an endless supply from which to choose to suit my mood or taste of the day.
Personally, I enjoy listening to live DJs. The morning shows were my favorite on the drive in to work. The national Christian stations are still using entertaining professionals who make me laugh while enjoying their stories or sometimes weep in delight as they share the tale of another lost soul now claiming Jesus as their Lord.
K-LOVE is one of the national stations that has used translator towers to their advantage, and their growth has been phenomenal. They have more than 1,000 radio signals across the U.S. and are branching out overseas via the internet. Their website shares the story of one of their members sitting in a hut in Africa hearing K-LOVE being played nearby on the internet.
The power of the Gospel combined with the power of radio and the internet has changed the entire landscape for missionaries taking the Good News to other nations. If you have not recently listened to Christian radio I urge you to tune in and enjoy being blessed by the music and teaching as it glorifies and praises our God.
Editor’s note: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.
