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Tell us about your station:
The Journey became a brand new radio station on December 26, 2014. Since 1981 “Victory FM” was a well-executed and equipped talk-and-teaching format. The new format, called “The Journey,” was designed to encourage listeners with stories of life, words of hope, and great Christian music. GM Barry Armstrong said, “For a long time I was aware of the potential embodied in this great network of stations. I never dreamed that I would be the one recruited to lead the network into a fresh format with a mostly new team.” It took almost a year to get a full team in place, and now halfway through the second year for the Journey, there are many signs of amazing growth and momentum.
With recent upgrades, The Journey network covers a population of nearly 4 million in Virginia and northeast North Carolina. On air, “Kenny & Leigh” are a fresh new morning show. Kenny Robinson has many years of experience as morning anchor in Virginia, Florida and Maine. Leigh is a fresh new voice to radio. (We discovered Leigh by using a send-us-your-video, open audition process). PD Mike Weston, Amanda Carroll and Brant & Sherri round out the weekday on-air lineup. In addition, The Journey has created some specialized programming, like the “Fresh Music Café” on Saturdays, featuring the newest, freshest music on the radio and hosted by the station’s longtime engineer, Chris Wygal. Between the songs, the goal at The Journey is to create a genuine friendships on and off the air, to prove our calling through service, to welcome people at every stage of their “journey,” and strive to be genuine and transparent in our walk (OK, journey…) with the listeners.
Your station’s most successful promotion:
There are a 3 initiatives we are excited about under the heading of promotions. Two are station-specific but all three are on-going. One is our version of the Drive-Through Difference. We very quickly began to hear great stories from those who have been both the givers and the recipients of the Drive-Through Difference blessing.
The Journey Coffee Connection has help us build a lot of relationships and brought positive feedback. Every Friday right after the morning show, Kenny & Leigh from our Morning Journey bring a winning business fresh coffee and muffins from a local coffee shop. Kenny & Leigh love the opportunities to meet new listeners face to face and share some yummy goodies with them. Finally, The Journey has partnered with a South Carolina organization called “Operation Thank You.” This organization collects and delivers hand-written cards with notes of encouragement and support to our troops serving overseas, as well as to first responders. The Journey has been privileged to offer listeners the opportunity to handwrite these “Thank You” cards and then get them back to OTU for distribution them to those who serve around the world. We launched Operation Thank You last Christmas season and later decided to do this all year long. We have a huge new promotion brewing, but we don’t want to let that cat out of the bag just yet. (Ah… the tease!)
Resources your station uses:
The Journey has been using SongScore software for our online music research for about 6 months now and we are very pleased with the results. Our “Journey Music Crew” helps us get a good bi-weekly snapshot of the songs that our listeners tell us are their favorites. Also, we are thrilled to be a part of the KSBJ Mentoring program with Jon Hull and his team. Jon brings years of wisdom and experience to the table for us, not only in programming-specific areas, but also in the areas of marketing, fundraising, talent coaching and more. The KSBJ Mentoring program is a great resource to The Journey.
One bit of wisdom to share with others:
I think team building can be crucial in the success of the radio station. One of the tools that KSBJ introduced us to is the Core Values Index (CVI). We have spent significant time and focus with the entire team taking the survey. We found the results meaningful both individually and as an entire team. We found going through the CVI carefully, we can better understand and appreciate each individual and the individual’s place as part of the greater force that is the Journey team. We highly recommend the CVI for other radio teams.
Share an impactful listener story:
During our Spring Fund-raiser (We call it a Partner Invitation) JT called with the largest single gift received to date. He told us a story of incredible forgiveness after his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a vehicle accident. The other driver was at fault. JT was asked to attend the trial of the offending driver to give a “victim statement.” On route to the courthouse, JT felt the Lord saying to him, “Pay his fine.” In a tearful and hushed courtroom, JT offered his families’ forgiveness, hugged the other driver, and told the judge he wanted to pay the fine. This was the beginning of personal revival in two families. After we shared the story on-air, a lady came to the station with a check, and told us through tear fill eyes that the forgiveness story she heard on the radio prompted her to forgive the drunk driver that killed her teenage daughter 16 years ago. We began calling the day Forgiveness Friday, and heard from many others determined to put forgiveness into action.
Tell us why you’re a member of CMB:
Immeasurable value! The opportunity to be a part of Momentum as well as CMB summits continues to impact everything we do. For example, we sent our morning co-host Leigh, who also heads up our social media strategy, led our team in the formation of future social media strategy. Many of the ideas we are implementing came directly out of the CMB Summit which took place in Nashville in April.
98.5 KTIS strives to point people in the Twin Cities to Jesus on the air, online, and on the street. Through remarkable service projects, 98.5 KTIS listeners are the hands and feet of Jesus to multiply the KTIS impact in our community. The first Friday of each month was 98.5 KTIS Drive-thru Difference Day, as listeners shared God’s love by paying for the order of the person behind them in the drive-thru. Moms overcame health, financial, and family difficulties through 98.5 KTIS’ Heart of a Mom initiative; meeting needs for a kitchen update, fulfilling a missed honeymoon with a cruise to Alaska, securing a reliable vehicle, and more. 98.5 KTIS’ Christmas Blessing resulted in remarkable stories of goodwill in the community, meeting needs by blessing people battling cancer, overcoming miscarriage, and recovering from financial devastation. Collecting thousands of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes filled with toys for kids around the world, the 98.5 KTIS Shoebox Showdown shared the hope of Jesus from the Twin Cities to children around the world. Listeners continued that generosity by working together to collect over 11,000 pencils for boys and girls in the Dominican Republic. 98.5 KTIS listeners ‘Shared the Warmth’ as a local business paid listener heating bills during the cold winter months, and listeners used those funds to bless their favorite Twin Cities nonprofits. 98.5 KTIS’ Ministry of the Month connected listener passions and talents to local ministries, highlighting the good being done in our community by these organizations on-air and online.
Through intentional, community focused service initiatives, Spirit 92.9 partners with listeners and businesses to help make their community better, together. The station’s first “Community Spirit” project in 2022 focused on showing God’s love to children entering foster care in the area after the ministry learned that there were more children than ever before in the system. During a weeklong collection drive, Spirit 92.9 listeners and business partners generously helped provide a new pair of pajamas and a stuffed animal for over 1,100 kids. Hoping to lead by example through serving, the Spirit 92.9 team helped prepare over 800 free meals for individuals and families in need for Easter, prepared and served a meal at the local homeless shelter, and helped clean up trash at an abandoned property near their studios. Hundreds of women in the community were served and uplifted in January at the station’s first Ladies’ Night Out-an opportunity to worship, laugh, receive support and prayer. In the fall, listeners and business partners joined together to help three local organizations provide free homemade, holiday meals to those in need. This ‘More Than A Meal’ on-air and online fundraiser helped feed over 3,000 in Central Minnesota. At the end of the year, Spirit 92.9’s “Share The Joy” promotion offered listeners the opportunity to nominate someone to receive a financial blessing. Single mothers, elderly homeowners, and the family of a father badly injured and hospitalized out of state were among the 12 people granted a $500-$1000 gift.
From entertaining the airwaves on KFRC-FM in San Francisco, to dancing away the late 90s on WKTU-FM in New York City, to encouraging and uplifting Atlanta on WFSH-The Fish every afternoon, Beth Bacall’s three decades on the air have had a lot to say. In 2003, she embraced CMB and the CCM sphere when she started working at Star 99.1 FM in NY/NJ. Since 2005, she has served on the Momentum Leadership Team while also offering mentorship to CMB’s Women in Radio community. Beth is a champion for others, taking a sincere stance of integrity and leading by example with her on air work, community engagement, and show prep. As a top talent coach, she equips multidisciplinary broadcasters and artists to embrace their authentic self, grow awareness, share stories effectively, and create meaningful Christ-centered content with all audiences. Beth specializes in moments that matter and is a driving force behind The Fish Christmas Wish Program and Fish Acts of Love. Working on all aspects of creating promotional, reward-based content, including research and execution, Beth is a dot connector that the Lord uses to bring joy and experiences into the lives of others. Even after these promotional seasons, she’s always looking for the next opportunity to be a blessing.
For over four decades, Rick Dunham has been at the forefront of marketing and fundraising for Christian nonprofits. In 2002, he founded Dunham+Company, which has become a global leader in providing multi-channel strategies across some of the world’s most influential sectors. Through radio and television, local churches and overseas missions, medical relief and philanthropic initiatives, Dunham+Company is multiplying the reach of the Gospel. The company currently serves nearly 100 clients in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand – whose collective effort is reaching nearly every corner of the globe. Rick is the author of Secure: Discovering True Financial Freedom and If God Will Provide, Why Do We Have to Ask for Money? He serves as a member of the board of The Giving Institute and is a former chair of the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the most widely respected annual report on giving in the U.S. He has been published and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post and more. From devotionals to blogs, webinars to books, Rick’s personal faith in Jesus and his Biblical training are the driving conviction of his communication.
Over the decades, Jacobs Media has become known for advising broadcasters on strategic planning and digital transformation, championing forward thinking of the in-car audio experience, developing its innovative Techsurveys, and driving research initiatives with some of the most influential companies in media. In partnership with Radio Ink, the Jacobs duo created the DASH Conferences in 2013-15, bringing together leadership from both automotive and radio broadcasting industries. Working with CMB, Jacobs Media launched the first of its annual tech surveys for Christian music radio in 2014. Working in collaboration with the NAB’s Connected Car Committee, they developed the original “Best Practices” report in 2017. Fred Jacobs, a 2018 Radio Hall of Fame inductee, is credited with the creation of the Classic Rock radio format in the mid-80’s. Paul Jacobs specializes in revenue generation for Jacobs Media’s clients including heading up jācapps – the industry’s first, and now largest, mobile application development company with more than 1,300 apps worldwide. In 2022, Fred and Paul were recipients of the National Radio Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. They were the first duo to receive the award as well as the first consultants.
Jim Leightenheimer has passionately pursued the mission of teaching, mentoring, and preparing college students to serve Christ in radio since 1982. A 30-year radio veteran, Jim implemented and developed a student radio station that started as an AM carrier current, transitioned to a low power FM, and is currently streaming as Resound Radio. Under his leadership, student radio has served to jump-start the careers of many current leaders in Christian radio stations and networks across the United States. His students, both past and present, credit Jim for being the catalyst in building their love for radio. Throughout his career, Jim has enlisted graduates and other professionals to serve as mentors to his student radio staff. He has introduced scores of students to CMB by bringing them to Momentum and, more recently, CMB University. Jim currently serves on the board of directors at WCVO (104.9 The River) in Columbus and continues to be a resource not only for his current students, but for those who are living out his legacy in radio.
Joe Paulo has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hope Media Group since 2018. With an extensive background in media and leadership, he began at KSBJ (now Hope Media Group) as Vice-President of Operations in 2017 after serving at Educational Media Foundation (K-LOVE/Air1) as the Director of Donor Stewardship and Communications. Prior to that, he led a division of Columbia International University as Director of Broadcasting until 2014, overseeing the growth of successful radio stations in Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC. Joe has also provided volunteer leadership at the board of directors and advisory levels for other nonprofits such as Youth Commission International, CMB, and Crime Stoppers of Houston. In addition to speaking on leadership, fundraising and media, Joe and Kelly, his wife, have spoken at marriage and parenting events to share their passion for marriage, parenting and adoption.