2018 Station of the Year – MEDIUM MARKET Submissions

Below you will find a series of tabs which includes the MEDIUM MARKET station entries. Inside each tab you will find the information submitted by the station to be reviewed by you. Once you have reviewed the information, you will then score each station using the forms located at the bottom of each tabbed page. *Note: each station will have it’s own form. Please verify as you are filling out the scores that you are scoring the correct station.

There is also a comment section for each station. Please feel free to comment on particular strengths or weaknesses you see in the station. These will be passed on after the awards are announced, however, the person commenting will not be identified.

Audio Elements – 40 pts possible
1. 15 minute scoped aircheck from any locally-originating daypart(s)
2. 5 minutes of production / promotion / public service

Community Involvement / Kingdom Impact – 40 pts possible
The station should highlight original/locally oriented events, promotions and/or news coverage that display exceptional service to their community and responsiveness to the needs and problems facing their market and defined core audience. Also, the station may submit examples of how they are helping to make other Christian music stations better, such as mentorship programs. Stations may use analytics to support their submission.

Digital Media – 20 pts possible
The station should show what they have done through various digital platforms to move their station forward and increase their listenership. They should give examples of how they utilize other media across their digital platforms – including (but not limited to) website, social media, email and podcasts. Stations may use analytics to support their submission.

Station 1 - KJTH/The House FM

CALL LETTERS/Name	KJTH/The House FM
Market	Ponca City, OK
Market Category	Medium
Web Site	http://www.thehousefm.com
Supporting Pictures & Videos The station may include a link to a page with supporting pictures & videos. Please note:* they were not required to include this, so if this is blank, it shouldn’t take away from their score.*	http://www.thehousefm.com/kjth-station-of-the-year-2018/

AUDIO ELEMENTS

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT/KINGDOM IMPACT

KJTH-The House FM is celebrating 25 years as a mission-driven ministry with a strong dedication to our listeners in south central Kansas and Oklahoma. We are a listener-supported station, dedicated to serving Christ through the ministry of Christian radio and providing a positive alternative to secular music.

During our annual Pledge Drive in March 2018, we partnered with Children’s Cup to raise funds to feed children in poverty-stricken Honduras. Through this partnership and the generous support of our listeners, over 2,170 children will be fed for a month. We have also partnered with Children’s Cup to offer a listener and one of our on-air personalities a mission trip to Honduras in September 2018. This is an effort we make every year to ensure our Pledge Drive fundraising has a global impact.

While this is one of several examples of the world-wide impact The House FM has had, much of our work for Christ is done through local outreach efforts within the communities of our listening area.

Our largest annual outreach allowed hundreds of children and parents the chance to see what it is like to be a radio DJ during our 16th annual “Kid DJ Day.” In one day, we hosted 555 children at our studios giving each the opportunity to go on the air live with our DJ’s, sharing everything from silly jokes to what they enjoy doing. At the end of the day, they each took home an MP3 recording of their on-air appearance. This free event reaches children and families on a spiritual level, as they each receive an encouraging gospel message from nationally-recognized storm tracker Val Castor while they tour the radio station. He shared, “I would say, out of all the school visits or weather presentations I give, this one is the one I look forward to most out of the whole year, just for the encouragement it gives me personally.” Second to the on-air promotions, the most effective avenue to reach our communities and invite them to this outreach event was sending flyers home with children in most elementary schools within 50 miles of our event. This required collaboration with school boards, superintendents and teachers, but it proved to be a welcoming, attractive and effective initiative.

We love providing our listeners with very unique experiences, and each year the winner of our “Summer Match Game” gets a family invitation to enjoy a lake party with The House FM staff and their families.

We strive to coordinate experiences around events that give our listeners an opportunity to meet and spend time with some of their favorite artists. For Winter Jam 2018, we encouraged youth groups to enter to win a private pre-show experience that was hosted in a small downtown coffee shop in OKC with artists Cody Carnes, Dan Bremnes and Mallary Hope, who each performed acoustic music. At the close of the event, Mallary Hope led a powerful prayer with the youth attending, leaving them with a lasting memory and encouragement to trust God.

Throughout the year, we partner with local organizations to offer meaningful experiences for families, ranging from family passes to museums and adventure parks, to a VIP Christmas experience with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We also hosted the Christian movie “I Am Not Ashamed,” and invited the Ponca City High School’s Rachel Joy Scott Club; there we interviewed student members of the club about how they actively proclaim their Christianity amongst their peers. Students promoted the event in their school, attended and volunteered with staff at the movie showings. After each showing, local pastors were available to offer prayer and guidance. All of these family-centered events are offered free-of-charge to help the many families who have been hard-hit by the energy industry’s economic downturn in our area.

In partnership with the Salvation Army, our radio ministry held its 12th annual “Turkey for Tunes”, with locations in twelve cities in Kansas and Oklahoma. Listeners donated 286 turkeys to help feed families who otherwise may not have been able to afford a holiday meal.

Our promotions emphasize inclusivity, and we are aware that at certain times of the year when many families celebrate, others suffer. For example, we hold a Father’s Day Outreach to bless men behind bars in six prisons. Through this outreach, families call-in and give an on-air message of hope and encouragement to their fathers. Post cards were given to each prison so the men could send them to their families. The card lets the family know how to record their on-air greeting and also lets the inmate know what time to be listening on Father’s Day.

For the first time this year, we also promoted a “Shoes Joy” Christmas campaign that asked for listener support to raise $6,000 to purchase 120 pairs of shoes for the Wichita Children’s Home and the Marland Children’s Home. All the children who resided at these locations were given a new pair of shoes for Christmas! These examples of community outreach are the heart of our ministry, reaching listeners well beyond our radio signal.

We are constantly looking for new ways to impact our communities and learn through our peers, by attending CMB meetings and teleconferences. Being active on the CMB forums, we interact with others in the industry, sharing experience and encouragement. Our community efforts have been recognized consistently with the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, where The House FM is the only non-commercial station to win the OAB Community Service Award for 16 consecutive years.

DIGITAL MEDIA

The House FM always seeks creative ways to reach more people with the message of Jesus. We were the first Christian radio station to offer a smart phone app to our listeners, and it has now been downloaded more than 250,000 times. In 2017, we partnered with iHeartRadio and now The House FM can be heard by 100 million registered users on their mobile app.

As our listeners have embraced mobile devices for listening, we have optimized our websites and email messaging for mobile screens. Our bulk emails have over 31,000 subscribers and our text messages reach over 8,000 subscribers. Messages are formatted to ensure they are appealing and effective no matter how or where they reach our listeners. This is particularly helpful when listeners interact with online forms, for example, to submit prayer requests and community calendar events.

We incorporate listening with our giveaways at events, and frequently use a wrapped Amazon Echo Dot as a prize. When sent to listeners, we include instructions on how to enable our skills. The House FM actively promotes our skills on Amazon Echo, where the Alexa intro and instructions are recorded by our morning show host. Research indicates that smart-technology is one of the growing ways the station is heard in listeners’ homes.

At home or at work, streaming listeners “tuned in” for 1,399,422 hours from May 2017-April 2018 – an increase of 6% year-over-year. Through TheHouseFM.com, online listeners have access to a unique 7-day playlist and complete catalog of songs, allowing listeners to better identify their “right song at the right time” moments.

Our online listenership gets the most attention during our annual pledge drive, where we can map our ministry’s global reach and impact by the donations we receive. So far in 2018, we have had 2,020 pledges from 313 cities across 31 states and 10 countries. Specifically, nearly $52,000 has been pledged by supporters who indicated their primary source of listening was from online streaming, an additional $15,000 from mobile devices, and some who indicate their primary listening is from smart technology speakers such as the Alexa devices.

Regarding social media, we have three primary focuses: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These accounts are updated by our DJ’s and promotions department to continually share news and information with our listeners, and to let them enjoy concerts and events as we do.
Our most popular social media forum is our Facebook page, which has had an increase of over 14,000 likes in the past year and currently has a contest running to reach 65,000 total likes. We use Sprout Social to track our social media analytics. From May 1, 2017, to April 30, 2018, the House FM Facebook page generated 25.5 million unique impressions and more than 800,000 post engagements. We post an average of 150 times per month, and 74% of those posts include video or photos. We have increased our use of video by more than 25% on our Facebook posts from the same time period a year prior.

As Facebook has promoted the Facebook Live platform, we have used this trending tool to share live videos for everything from station announcements to experiences with fans at concerts and other events. Facebook is commonly used to increase entries into contests for event tickets and other promotions, but it is also used to gather input from listeners and to share our faith and encourage listeners through a “Verse of the Day.”

Facebook and YouTube are often used in combination when we have video to share with our listeners. For this year’s Pledge Drive, we adopted a slogan of “Belong” that was printed on all of our Pledge Drive shirts for staff and listeners. We created videos of our staff sharing personal testimonies of what “Belong” means to them in this ministry, and used the video to pull all of our Pledge Drive messaging together in a cohesive way. We also had some fun during Pledge Drive with spoofs of “The Price is Right,” and even shared a video of our mascot Homie refereeing a pillow fight between The Wake Up Morning Show and the Afternoon House Party hosts.

Through The House FM’s Instagram, we reach more than 3,300 followers. Between May 1, 2017 and April 30, 2018, we had 12,500 total engagements, which marks the second year in a row that we have increased our Instagram engagements more than 25% from the year prior. We also increased the number of Instagram posts by more than 50% from the year prior. Our most common and most engaged hashtag on Instagram is #verseoftheday.

The House FM interacts on Twitter, where we have more than 5,650 followers who received 645 tweets between May 1, 2017 and April 30, 2018 – an increase of 42% from the year prior. Over 368,000 unique impressions were generated, and there were over 7,300 engagements by our followers, such as comments or re-tweets.

A great example of how the heart of our ministry can be felt even in a digital context is through our Prayer Wall. Over 13,000 requests have been made on our wall with the “Let them know you prayed from them” link clicked over 170,000 times. Each staff member receives an e-mail notification when a prayer is posted and can spend time lifting up each request and indicating online that they have prayed for that listener. Offering our listeners many new and different ways to interact with our station helps them stay connected to our ministry, bringing their hearts and minds closer to Christ wherever they go.

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Station 2 - WCQR

CALL LETTERS/Name	WCQR
Market	Johnson City, TN
Market Category	Medium
Web Site	http://wcqr.org
Supporting Pictures & Videos The station may include a link to a page with supporting pictures & videos. Please note:* they were not required to include this, so if this is blank, it shouldn’t take away from their score.*	https://www.wcqr.org/wcqr-community-involvement/

AUDIO ELEMENTS

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT/KINGDOM IMPACT

Community Involvement

WCQR and our listeners are consistently active in our community, raising awareness as well as raising support. Highlights of the year include:

• Project Thanksgiving – WCQR partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank for the 9th consecutive year and raised over $157,000 on air, which provided 6,307 families (more than 25,000 individuals) in our region a full Thanksgiving meal – and a Bible! In addition, WCQR staff helped to pack, sort, and deliver Thanksgiving meals to hungry families with support from more than 600 volunteers.

• WCQR Super Kids – WCQR launched Super Kids in January 2018 to highlight kids doing great things in the community. Listeners nominated a Super Kid on the station’s website.

o Our first Super Kid was actually two – Sarah and Rachel are high school seniors began a clothes closet in the school where students in need could shop for anything from everyday wear to prom clothes. They have helped over 2,000 students. WCQR honored these students on local CBS affiliate morning show Daytime Tri-Cities and were presented a World Changer Award by Morning Show Co-Host Rhonda Lacey.

o Letters for Lucas – Lucas is a four-year-old battling cancer and was our WCQR Super Kid for March. We asked our listeners to send a note or card of encouragement before he returned to St. Jude’s Hospital for treatment. Our listeners responded by sending over 500 cards and gifts to Lucas to encourage him and his parents on this journey.

o Hurricane Harvey Hero: Our Super Kid for April Derek Onks, collected over 43,000 pounds of bottled water for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. The water was sent and distributed to an orphanage in Houston.

• Blessing Buckets for God’s Pit Crew – On August 29, WCQR joined the PAR family in raising money to assist ministry partner God’s Pit Crew in providing relief in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Listeners responded during the fundraiser and gave $24,825 to provide Blessing Buckets. Each 5-gallon bucket contained essential items such as bottled water, batteries and hygiene products, as well as a Bible and personal note of encouragement.

• WCQR’s Reach Out Tri-Cities/Night of Ministry – Christine Caine with the Passion Band entertained a crowd of more than 800 listeners at Higher Ground Baptist Church, many of which had collected gift cards for survivors of human trafficking. Over $1,000 in cards were collected. These cards were presented to the A21 Campaign and went directly in the hands of survivors in North Carolina.

• WCQR’s Reach Out Tri-Cities/Letters from Home – WCQR asked listeners to write a letter of encouragement or gratitude to our military. These letters were then shipped to A Million Thanks, a non-profit entity that sends letters to soldiers all over the world. Our goal was 1,000 letters. We collected over 2,000 letters for our men and women in the military.

• The 44 Cent Cure – listeners donated more than $45,000 during a one day on- air fundraiser and helped cure over 100,000 children of parasites in affiliation with World Concern.

• Community Focus – an ongoing weekly segment that highlights a local ministry in our area. Each ministry receives an on-air campaign that runs during the week as well as a 15-minute interview and space on our website. WCQR believes in focusing on the many local ministries in our area and the unity we have in serving Jesus Christ.

• WCQR Prayer Zone – each weekday morning during the school year, WCQR highlights a local school to remind listeners to pray for the students and staff that day. We want our schools covered in prayer!

Community Events

WCQR creates, sponsors and coordinates events for our listeners, donors, and volunteers. Some noteworthy events that promoted faith, family and fun from the past year:

• Faith, Family & Fan Night – WCQR welcomed 1,000 listeners to the ballpark for a fun night of games, inflatables, food, a meet and greet with the minor league Johnson City Cardinals baseball team, and a concert by Grayson Reed and Jason Gray.

• Night of Love & Laughter – WCQR hosted the annual Night of Love & Laughter with comedian Jonnie W. Over 700 WCQR listeners had a memorable night with a free photo booth and love notes read on stage. One winning couple took home flowers and chocolate truffles.

• Fun Fest Concert featuring Zach Williams, Tenth Avenue North, and Jeremy Camp – WCQR opened the show to over 6,000 and provided hand-held fans for relief from the heat as well as glow bracelets for the kids. Listeners had the opportunity to register to win a trip to Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge. The gospel was presented, and six concert-goers accepted Christ.

• Rockin’ Around the Speedway – WCQR invited listeners to Bristol Motor Speedway/Speedway in Lights where they could ride through a display of over one million Christmas lights in a chartered bus, with a stop afterward in a luxury suite for hot chocolate, coffee, desserts and a private concert by Rhett Walker.

• Secret Keeper Girl – WCQR welcomed over 600 girls age 7-12 and their moms to a special night just for them with Secret Keeper Girl at Celebration Church. This was an opportunity for the girls to learn more about their identity in Christ, and 11 young ladies accepted Jesus as their savior!

• WCQR welcomed Crowder, Mandisa, Danny Gokey, Jasmine Murray Tenth Avenue North, Brandon Heath, Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher and several other artists over the past year. WCQR opened these shows at churches, football fields, and convention centers to welcome listeners, provide station promotional items and present the gospel to more than 15,000 people.

• Down the River! Father’s Day promotion – Listeners wrote in to tell us why their dads needed a day of fun. One dad won a full day whitewater rafting trip for 2 down the Nolichucky River, including a picnic lunch and extra time to play, swim and surf the rapids.

DIGITAL MEDIA

WCQR is not only reaching more listeners in a variety of ways, but engaging listeners in more ways than ever. Our website had 264,570 overall page views and averaged 20,517 visitors each month. The site features an interactive Prayer Wall, where individuals can submit their prayer requests and pray for others as well. We received over 7,500 prayer requests in the last year. Our website is also a go-to for family friendly events in the region. Our Events Calendar allows listeners to post their own events that are happening at local businesses, churches and community centers.

We also feature a podcast to hear interviews, send e-mail blasts to promote or inform listeners of special events, and feature an online music panel where listeners have a voice in the music that is programmed on the station.

We have had tremendous success with our social media channels, communicating and engaging with our audience online as well as on the air. WCQR has documented high organic reach on Facebook and page likes and followers continue to grow.

==> Facebook Likes = 29,230
==> Facebook Followers = 28,305
==> Average Daily Users Reached = 10,400
==> Facebook Average Review = 4.9 out of 5
==> Total fan increase of 5.3% over same time period last year
==> Total impressions = 6,300,000
==> Facebook Statistics for May 1, 2016 – April 30, 2017:

• Reactions = 128,100
• Comments = 10,800
• Shares = 39,600
• Total Engagements = 178,400
• Facebook video views = 188,300

==> Twitter = 2,248 Followers
==> Instagram = 531 Followers

==> Online listenership = From May 1, 2017 – April 30, 2018, WCQR had a total of 696,907 ATH (Aggregate Tuning Hours)

Comments and Reviews from Digital Media:

Thank you all for your ministry. Me and my 3 tiny people listen every single morning! There’s nothing like seeing my 3 and 4-year-old sing every song!
– Amy Charpie

I’m a teacher and just wanted to thank Rhonda and Adam for the encouragement they throw our way! I appreciate everyone at WCQR for who you are and what you do. You are truly serving the Lord.
– Teresa Bowers

I wanted to say thanks for this station. I listen to it every night when I am work, and just hearing the songs uplifts my spirit. I was lost but got saved in June at a youth camp and have been listening to this station since. Really love this station a lot – wouldn’t know what to do without it on the air!
– Dustin Whitaker

Love this station. My mom had actually introduced me to the station probably a year or 2 ago. Though I never started tuning in until recently after my husband and I were married. Now we both never stop listening to this station. I’m very blessed to be able to listen through the day while I am at work. This station helps me through my days. My love in God and PRAISING his name has turned my life and my marriage into something most people don’t see or find in such a younger married couple. I have the app as well and use it at the gym or anywhere we go. To me this station is not just a radio but the witness to others who will hear the gospel in such a simple used everyday way of what we all seem to have access to and I can’t thank God enough for what this station does. Praise God in all and I pray this station is overly blessed by the outcome of what this ministry does for His name.
– Kennedy Wood

They play the right song at the right time. I’m glad you guys are local. There not a lot of local Christian stations anymore. You guys get me through my morning drive to work.
– Joey Holston

88.3 is my ROCK! I can’t say enough good things about them, and I can’t thank them enough. They are my sunshine on a rainy day, they make my bad days good and my good days great! The outpouring of love they show everyone is incredible. The love all of us in the community have for one another is incredible. It’s all just so, so good for my soul- and my child’s. It has helped me through some dark days. We love it. I really just love them tons.
– Erin Wilson

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Station 3 - WNWC/Life 102.5

CALL LETTERS/Name	WNWC/Life 102.5
Market	Madison, WI
Market Category	Medium
Web Site	http://www.life1025.com
Supporting Pictures & Videos The station may include a link to a page with supporting pictures & videos. Please note:* they were not required to include this, so if this is blank, it shouldn’t take away from their score.*	http://life1025.com/soty2018/

AUDIO ELEMENTS

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT/KINGDOM IMPACT

Why does Life 102.5 exist?

For people of faith, Madison can feel like “us vs. them.” Madison is a unique and vibrant community with people who are active and passionate with diverse views and opinions. Organizations like the Freedom from Religion Foundation call Madison home, so it is understandable why Christians here often feel like their values and beliefs are under attack.
At Life 102.5, we noticed that the natural response for people of faith was to isolate themselves from the community. However, we believe the best way to reach the people who call Madison home is to love and serve them regardless of their affiliations.

New Station Brand

Using data from our perceptual study with Mark Ramsey, we changed our entire brand to “A Heart for Madison. Your Life, Connected.” This reflects our passion to love and serve the city in which we live. It highlights the unity and connection that God desires of us…with Him and each other. Additionally, it supports our listener’s desire for connection and the feeling of “better me, better family” – a concept that everyone can agree on despite faith affiliation. If you make yourself better, you will be better for others.

30-Day Kindness Challenge

Our largest initiative this year was to spread intentional kindness through our community. Last fall, on her honeymoon, morning show host Candice Grey and her husband were caught up in the shooting at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. In the middle of the night, a stranger helped get them out without reward or expectation. This stranger’s act of kindness inspired Candice to be intentional in her own life. Candice’s passion resulted in an on-air and social media campaign inviting people to do kind acts every day. The 30-day kindness challenge invited listeners to participate. A website (www.432BeKind.com), email campaign and app help people to continue their kindness experience and videos from Candice and kindness suggestions are included to help people along the journey.
We have always encouraged acts of kindness like the Drive-Thru Difference and praying through PrayerWorks, but the kindness challenge expands the idea. We believe that being intentional in this will help others AND change us from the inside out. No matter where one stands on faith, kindness is something with which we can all agree.

Play-doh for the American Family Children’s Hospital

In February, we invited listeners to show love to kids and their families at the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison. The people at the hospital told us that Play-Doh is an important item as they use it for therapy and just for play. However, a can of Play-Doh can only be used once and then must be thrown away. The hospital goes through more than 2,000 cans of Play-Doh each year. We asked listeners to collect and donate Play-Doh. The response was overwhelming as community groups, teachers, police departments and random businesses all caught the vision. In the end, listeners donated just under 25,000 cans of playdoh! We supplied the Children’s hospital in Madison and 10 other hospitals and clinics Play-Doh for the kids they care for. The response on social media and news coverage of this event were amazing. Everyone in the city could get on board with helping sick children, even if they did not understand the faith component.

Other outreach and appreciation events

Josh Wilson at the Dane County Fair – In July, Life 102.5 hosted a Christian music stage at the Dane County Fair featuring artist Josh Wilson. The turnout was tremendous prompting as families and individuals of all faiths and lifestyles attend the Dane County Fair. We are glad to reach people where they are.

Christmas music in Madison – Life 102.5 plays all Christmas music from Thanksgiving to Christmas. In fact, our perceptual study of the market confirmed that Life 102.5 is the number one Christmas Music station in Madison and Southern Wisconsin. We invest heavily in a billboard campaign and Google/Facebook advertising to spread the word. Christmas music is a unifying force in a divided community.

Shoebox Gifts For Kids – During the Christmas season we work with local organizations to make Christmas a little brighter for local kids in need. Life 102.5 listeners donated over 1600 shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and other needed items in time for Christmas. This annual campaign has been an incredible way to show love to our city.

Michael W Smith and Amy Grant Christmas Concert – Over 6,000 people attended our concert with Michael W Smith, Amy Grant and the Madison Symphony Orchestra The concert had widespread appeal throughout the community. It was a unifying evening delivering a message of hope at a time when hearts are traditionally open to matters of faith.

Caring for Madison – For Earth Day this year, we organized Life 102.5 listeners to volunteer at a local park. For a few hours that morning we made new friends as we picked up trash, mulched flower beds and trimmed trees. It was a simple but clear way to demonstrate our love for community and creation.

Mentoring Students – Life 102.5 is owned by the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, MN. We are passionate about raising up the next generation of communicators and broadcasters. This year, we created an opportunity for a student to be in the on air lineup. We provided air check sessions and guidance from our Program Director. We believe this real-life experience will equip this student for a career in broadcasting upon graduation.

Results
In addition to the increased numbers of emails and stories of changed lives this year, we watched as the number of listeners (according to Nielson), increased from 55,100 (Fall 2016), to 88,200 (Fall 2017). Listener support this year was also the highest in our 59-year history! Life 102.5 is reaching more people every day and we are excited about the impact we have been able to make in our community.

DIGITAL MEDIA

In the last year, Life 102.5 initiated a number of programs and improvements to stay current with emerging technologies and ever-changing platforms. In order to provide more access to listeners and potential listeners we made advancements in various areas.

Video actually did not kill the radio star!
We are passionate about Storytelling and radio is a great medium to tell stories. We also recognized that video is a powerful tool especially on social media and the web. Last May, we repurposed an audio studio into a video production suite. We invested in cameras, lights and software and hired a new Creative Services Director to help us tell stories using short and long form videos.

We now use video to tell listener stories of changed lives and to improve engagement between listeners and our on-air hosts. Using Audiograms” (video w/subtitles) on social media and our website, listeners are able to experience and engage our morning show in a brand new way. Using videos to promote events and community outreach on our website, social media and emails has significantly increased our effectiveness and reach.

We now do a much better job recapping listener engagement experiences and promoting the station to potential listeners. Our redesigned station display includes video monitors and sound to reach current and new listeners at concerts, events and public appearances.

Video has quickly become a valuable and important component in engaging listeners and promoting the station and its initiatives.

Gently down the Streaming
As technology advances and more and more people are finding new and different ways to connect, Life 102.5 has worked to take advantage of the new opportunities.

Over 9500 people have downloaded our mobile app since its launch. That number continues to increase monthly. In addition to listening to HD quality audio, mobile app users can access song information, record and send messages directly to the studio, listen to podcasts and watch videos.

In January 2018, we launched an Alexa skill allowing listeners to enable Life 102.5 on their Amazon devices. As with the app, people can stream the station and ask for information about the songs they are hearing.

In the past year, we rolled out a new streaming player on our website offering an improved listening experience. Along with a reliable, industry standard audio stream, listeners can access recently played songs including lyrics, videos, stories and options to purchase songs. Listeners are invited to share their own stories related to specific songs and other listeners can and do interact with these stories.

As a result, streaming averaged 59,573 tuning hours each month from May 2017 through April 2018 (a 20% increase over the same time last year.)
We’re a social bunch! – Facebook continues to be the most predominant social media platform for engagement. In the past year, we incorporating Facebook live during events and fundraisers, allowing users to interact with Life 102.5 hosts in real time. We use Facebook to engage people who miss or are not able to listen to popular features like the morning show’s “Nearly Impossible Question.”

Audiograms, topical questions, original content, pictures and videos of listeners at station events have all contributed to increase Facebook engagement by 125% this past year!

We didn’t invent the internet… just our website
Actually, we reinvented it. Last June, we rolled out a completely redesigned and repurposed website to provide improved mobile experience and navigation (in response to changing device sizes and speeds). The new website provides a better and more robust experience for web visitors. “Usability” was a priority with a goal to make sure visitors could find not only what they came for, but also discover relevant and helpful original content.

In addition to the enhanced streaming experience, we improved navigation around the site removing outdated features like slideshows and updated the site to current web design standards. We incorporated the use of video and podcasts and we increased the ability for visitors to interact with articles and other content.

A redesigned “Family Fun Guide,” resulted in almost 10,000 visits in the past year alone. Content from our sister station, Faith radio, is curated daily to provide articles and podcasts about life and faith issues that are important to our listeners.

We streamlined the online donation page to improve and simplify giving which resulted in significantly greater online revenue this past year compared to the year before.

Kindness changes things
432BeKind, AKA “The Kindness Challenge” is a major initiative launched this year on Life 102.5. Inspired by kindness shown to morning show host Candice Grey and her husband during the shootings in last Vegas last September, listeners were asked to join Candice in a 30 day Kindness Challenge. We supported the Kindness Challenge with a 30-day email series offering suggestions for daily acts of kindness plus inspirational messages. We also created a 432BeKind app to engage participants and create a kindness community in Madison. We also launched www.432bekind.com to provide access to the kindness challenge to people unfamiliar with the radio station. Billboards inviting people to join 432BeKind were placed throughout Madison.

Using the Google machine
Life 102.5 uses Google AdWords each month to reach out to people in our area and the surrounding area who search for Christian music and artists. During Christmas, when the station is playing all Christmas music, we double our AdWords efforts to capture people looking for Christmas music online.

You‘ve got mail
Email continues to be an important part of our strategy to connect with listeners and potential listeners. With an opt-in list of approximately 10,000 active addresses, we are able to promote station events, features, contests and concerts through timely and targeted email campaigns.

Thanks to these and other initiatives, Life 102.5 enjoyed some of our highest ever on-air and online listening levels. Additionally, we are experiencing our best fiscal year ever! It’s been an incredible year of impact and ministry!

Oops! We could not locate your form.