Radio Still Changes Lives…Including Mine

I know where I was on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the fall of 1987 when God used radio to break into my life. In the year prior to that trip from South Jersey to my freshman year of college, I had lost the two most important things on earth to me, my Dad and golf. Pretty tragic for a teenager.

Golf was my passion in those high school years, it was a chase to play competitive golf for as long as I could make it last. Some success on a junior tour hinted that the dream was alive through college at least. But the partial scholarship potential at an ACC university was retracted, and my ‘career’ was ended by repetitive back injuries. A different and much worse pain was the loss of my Dad, a Godly man, my hero, and best friend. I watched helplessly as he suffered and lost a four-year battle with kidney failure and other health challenges from diabetes. Golf and Dad – gone – and my life spiraling. As I drove to my second-choice school I was very angry with God, He seemed distant and cruel. My plans had crumbled so quickly I hadn’t had time to adjust. I was now planning one semester at the backup school, and a transfer once I figured out what was next. I was headed toward abandoning the faith, not sure what I would do with this Jesus who had not shown up when I needed Him in either of my crucial situations.

Back in that car, a huge radio fan since age six, I was doing what I often did, hitting that scan button searching for great radio in an amazing song or a magical DJ and listener moment. As I crossed the Susquehannah River crackling through the dial, 90.3 FM. And my life’s path was altered.

Though I knew a few Christian artists existed, with no FM CCM radio in the Philadelphia market, I had no idea the format of Christian music radio existed. The next 20 minutes are burned in my brain. An introduction to a new artist named Charlie Peacock into a killer sweeper. “Wait? Was that a Christian song and sweeper with great production?” Next, it’s a female voice I would come to know as Margaret Becker and then weather on a solid bed into a cool jingle and music by a guy called Steve Taylor. “This station is tight and did that DJ just nail the post playing a song about Jesus?” And then a smash hit by some guy named Steven Curtis Chapman. “A killer-sounding hit music station that is Christian?” I was stunned.

Words fail me when I try to explain how I felt. I sensed God tapping me on the shoulder to say, “I see you, Jim. I know you’re grieving and angry and don’t see how I’m working, but if you turn around – if you come back to Me, this is what I have for you.” I smile when I think about that 18 year-old. He had no idea what was ahead, he would’ve never believed it. I was on the run and God chased me down. He got in the car with me through our friends at the mighty, Ninety-Point-Three, WJTL.

I’m convinced radio has always been one of God’s favorite tools, and I’d call it magical, but that’s not quite special enough. The right song at the right time on the radio can change your day. That NJ kid and you know that even more incredible, what we get to do, the right song and the right time with the Gospel in it… that changes lives. It did back then, it still does now. Plus, when we add in the talent, fun, connections, thoughtful messaging and more on our stations in between those songs, it’s just so powerful how God can move. I’m certain that He has used you and your station to change a life, even this week.

We know things are changing under our feet so quickly right now. The shifts are massive, and we’ve got to be honest with ourselves that what’s ahead might look dramatically different. But on this National Radio Day 2025, let us pledge that we won’t be stopped in our missions to spread Hope and the Gospel. I believe God still works through the radio today and will for years to come. And in the chapters ahead, we ‘the people with radio in our blood’ will find new ways. In future eras, those ‘who make radio go’ will adjust and serve and love the audience the way no other platforms can. We must still curate, innovate, and create great and God moments. If you could tell me exactly how that will look, I would give you all my ‘sizeable’ junior golf winnings. While we don’t have a clear picture – I believe in us, I believe in the people of radio. Mandy, Troy, Steve, and I are working hard and praying for our team to get to be part of God’s plan on the road ahead. And if you’re committed to the Gospel, championing artists who love God, and pointing people to Jesus, I’m praying for that for you too.

Jim Houser is the Chief Radio Officer at K-LOVE and Air1, you can reach him at jhouser@kloveair1.com. Somewhere in his attic he still has cassettes of WJTL, WCIE, KCLB and KYMS from the 80s that he got his college friends to record while home on their Christmas and Spring breaks. A no longer scratch,12.8 handicap now, Jim plays golf just for fun a few times a month in Nashville, TN. Grateful for 35-years and counting in radio and music, Jim and his beautiful wife Sarah are putting just the right amount of pressure on their three kids in their 20s to get married and get them some grandkids.