As of today, I said good-bye to a Christian radio station I had been listening to (off and on) for two years--KCBI, 90.9 FM on the Dallas-Fort Worth radio dial.
Why did I say good-bye?
Well, I'm glad you asked. :)
My odyssey with Christian radio began approximately 6 years ago, shortly after I became a Christian. I was under the impression that Christian radio was good and holy, and that any believer should be listening to other believers on the radio for encouragement and support in his/her beliefs, so I tuned in to a station that played some fairly energetic music (and featured charismatic preaching) called KVTT (91.7 FM on the Dallas-Fort Worth radio dial). Now, as anyone with any semblance of common sense knows, Christian radio is probably one of the last places any believer should go for encouragement--or anything else, for that matter--but I was young, stupid, and new to the precepts of a faith that I had shunned for most of my adolescent and adult life.
KVTT is, to put it bluntly, one of the weirdest radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It did, and still does, feature quality Christian praise music from churches around the world, but as I'm sure most listeners are well aware, it also hosts a variety of shows from "faith" preachers, conservative Christian evangelicals, and a man who not only declares that we are about to lose a third of the human race (based on the second half of Revelation 9) but who also (if you do some digging) subscribes to a movement called Oneness Pentecostalism, which has some very strange ideas about the Trinity. (In short, he's a nut.)
I stopped listening to this station after two or three years, shortly after I stopped watching TBN (please, if you watch TBN . . . you and I need to have a conversation about the magic of creating an on-air personality :)). The next logical choice was its major competitor, KCBI--a station I had discovered some months before I switched (and found to be quite heavily focused on the Bible, which I figured was a good thing).
As any radio listener from Dallas-Fort Worth can attest, KCBI approaches the Bible and Christianity from a decidedly Southern Baptist stance, while KVTT approaches . . . well, let's just say KVTT has a rather un-Southern Baptist view of things and leave it at that. :)
Over the past several months, as I've gotten tired of conservative Christianity's nonsensical behavior, I have also gotten tired of the platitudes, pontifications, and well-intentioned "warnings" from the ministers featured on KCBI (one of whom I described in an earlier post--and who has once again demonstrated his ignorance of what God's point really is in his radio shows this week). I got tired of Beth Moore's constant attempt to be a Christian version of Oprah Winfrey. I got tired of the bland-ness of the music the station was playing. And I got tired of one of the morning DJ's playing amateur evangelist and saying ridiculous things like "You know what, you can talk to God too" after every song (jeez, just DJ already, will you?).
After fuming over "that idiot"'s sermonizing on the air for the umpteenth time this morning, I decided that if I wanted to leave my apartment complex without killing someone, I'd better switch to another station as soon as possible. So I switched to a station I've listened to off-and-on for a year (and have enjoyed)--89.7 FM, the Christian Rock Station, as they call themselves. These guys do what a normal radio DJ crew does, play songs, play commercials and PSA's, and keep their p.o.v.'s off the air as much as possible. It's the first Christian station I've listened to that actually acts like a Christian radio station (instead of a Christian preacher's tape repository).
They play mostly heavy metal music (which is an added plus)--and even though some of it is shockingly bad (a lot of Christian heavy metal musicians are still getting their feet wet in the music genre, apparently), it still beats the nonsense I had been listening to courtesy of KCBI. Also, its DJ's seem to be much more willing to talk about the real, day-to-day stuff that happens in their lives (including sex, arguments between husband and wife on the way to work, and problems at the office), as opposed to offering up a G-rated version of things that make their lives colorful.
So I have to ask myself . . . why can't Christians be content to run a kick-ass music station with quality DJ's?
And for that matter . . . why can't Christian DJ's be content to be themselves--even if it means swearing, talking about sex, or even having a beer or two?
Maybe that will have to be on my agenda of things to support and promote, huh? :)
Why did I say good-bye?
Well, I'm glad you asked. :)
My odyssey with Christian radio began approximately 6 years ago, shortly after I became a Christian. I was under the impression that Christian radio was good and holy, and that any believer should be listening to other believers on the radio for encouragement and support in his/her beliefs, so I tuned in to a station that played some fairly energetic music (and featured charismatic preaching) called KVTT (91.7 FM on the Dallas-Fort Worth radio dial). Now, as anyone with any semblance of common sense knows, Christian radio is probably one of the last places any believer should go for encouragement--or anything else, for that matter--but I was young, stupid, and new to the precepts of a faith that I had shunned for most of my adolescent and adult life.
KVTT is, to put it bluntly, one of the weirdest radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It did, and still does, feature quality Christian praise music from churches around the world, but as I'm sure most listeners are well aware, it also hosts a variety of shows from "faith" preachers, conservative Christian evangelicals, and a man who not only declares that we are about to lose a third of the human race (based on the second half of Revelation 9) but who also (if you do some digging) subscribes to a movement called Oneness Pentecostalism, which has some very strange ideas about the Trinity. (In short, he's a nut.)
I stopped listening to this station after two or three years, shortly after I stopped watching TBN (please, if you watch TBN . . . you and I need to have a conversation about the magic of creating an on-air personality :)). The next logical choice was its major competitor, KCBI--a station I had discovered some months before I switched (and found to be quite heavily focused on the Bible, which I figured was a good thing).
As any radio listener from Dallas-Fort Worth can attest, KCBI approaches the Bible and Christianity from a decidedly Southern Baptist stance, while KVTT approaches . . . well, let's just say KVTT has a rather un-Southern Baptist view of things and leave it at that. :)
Over the past several months, as I've gotten tired of conservative Christianity's nonsensical behavior, I have also gotten tired of the platitudes, pontifications, and well-intentioned "warnings" from the ministers featured on KCBI (one of whom I described in an earlier post--and who has once again demonstrated his ignorance of what God's point really is in his radio shows this week). I got tired of Beth Moore's constant attempt to be a Christian version of Oprah Winfrey. I got tired of the bland-ness of the music the station was playing. And I got tired of one of the morning DJ's playing amateur evangelist and saying ridiculous things like "You know what, you can talk to God too" after every song (jeez, just DJ already, will you?).
After fuming over "that idiot"'s sermonizing on the air for the umpteenth time this morning, I decided that if I wanted to leave my apartment complex without killing someone, I'd better switch to another station as soon as possible. So I switched to a station I've listened to off-and-on for a year (and have enjoyed)--89.7 FM, the Christian Rock Station, as they call themselves. These guys do what a normal radio DJ crew does, play songs, play commercials and PSA's, and keep their p.o.v.'s off the air as much as possible. It's the first Christian station I've listened to that actually acts like a Christian radio station (instead of a Christian preacher's tape repository).
They play mostly heavy metal music (which is an added plus)--and even though some of it is shockingly bad (a lot of Christian heavy metal musicians are still getting their feet wet in the music genre, apparently), it still beats the nonsense I had been listening to courtesy of KCBI. Also, its DJ's seem to be much more willing to talk about the real, day-to-day stuff that happens in their lives (including sex, arguments between husband and wife on the way to work, and problems at the office), as opposed to offering up a G-rated version of things that make their lives colorful.
So I have to ask myself . . . why can't Christians be content to run a kick-ass music station with quality DJ's?
And for that matter . . . why can't Christian DJ's be content to be themselves--even if it means swearing, talking about sex, or even having a beer or two?
Maybe that will have to be on my agenda of things to support and promote, huh? :)
posted by Brian Bly at 12:46 PM
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