SOME BACKGROUND INFO

Old Time Christian Radio signed on the air on June 22, 2004, broadcasting Old Time Christian and Southern Gospel music. The following are some questions and answers concerning our first year (and before).

Q. What were some of the things involved in the planning of OTCR and then implementing those plans?

A. I guess OTCR really had its start several years ago. Back in the mid to late 90s I began buying a tape every now and then from our local Christian bookstore. I looked primarily for older Southern Gospel quartet style music. It seemed that kind of music was hard to find on the radio.

Later, around 2002, I began to focus on the Web as a source for good music. I decided that, in order to find the kind of music that I was looking for, I would probably need to buy old LPs. I located a record dealer, Vinyl Rehab in Tennessee, and purchased a few LPs. They arrived in great condition, and I was hooked. I would later join ebay, and have won several auctions over the past couple of years. I've also dealt with some other record dealers, including Irl Grundy in South Dakota, to add to the library.

Time and space don't allow me to go into all of the steps involved in getting the station going from the beginning. It took a lot of planning and research just to know what to do from one step to the next, but it all came together in the Spring of 2004. We signed on the air, and got our first listener in the first day or two. What a thrill it was to realize that someone was actually listening to the station!

Q. You talk about buying old LPs. What is involved in preparing those for play on the station, and what percentage of the station's music comes from LPs?

A. Preparing LPs is a multi-stage process. It involves recording the records from my turntable into the PC. Then, I usually run a software program that takes out much of the noise and clicks that happen to LPs over the years. Next comes the process of breaking the LP into individual songs. I have a software program that does that also, but it doesn't always break at the right place. That's where "manual tweaking" comes in. Next I "chop" the silence off the start and end of each song, and normalize the volume. The final steps include "tagging" the song with the artist name, song title, and album from which the song was taken, and then converting the song to mp3 format for Live365. It's laborious, but a labor of love to see the final product. Many of these songs have probably never been reissued in digital form.

I would estimate around 60% of the music on OTCR comes from LPs. 25% comes from tapes, with the remaining 15% coming from CDs.

Q. Do you feel that the station is filling a need after one year on the air?

A. I believe that it is. If you look around at terrestrial radio and even the wide variety of stations on Live365, I don't believe that any of them are doing exactly what we are. I made the decision that our station was not going to be limited to a strict format of one type of Christian music, but that we were going to feature two primary formats - old fashioned Southern Gospel and Sacred/Hymns. I think this idea gives the station a variety that few if any other stations have. That's not to be boastful or proud, nor to knock any other station. I just think it's something that the Lord has blessed us to do.

Q. What would like to see changed or different in the second year?

A. Sometimes it's hard to be patient. I've read information from fellow broadcasters that you shouldn't even begin to be discouraged or look at numbers until after the first year. That can be difficult. If you think what you're doing is right and you're happy about it, naturally you want others to share in it. When listenership is down, it's easy to be discouraged. I'm thankful for every listener that we have, but of course I'd like to see us gain more listeners in the year ahead. I hope that some of Live365's streaming audio problems are or can be worked out. And I'd like to try some other things from a broadcaster standpoint. Most of all, I want to be a blessing to those who listen.

Q. Finally, any words of thanks or dedication to anyone?

A. Of course, I thank the Lord for the opportunity He has given to do this. I grew up wanting to be a radio announcer. I did a high school term paper on radio. I played records as a child and pretended to be "on the air". Live365 and Internet radio opened a door that otherwise would have no doubt remained closed.

I also wish to thank my wife and son for putting up with my hours in the den, working on preparing LPs and playlists and putting up with my frustration when things didn't go well.

There are some folks that I won't mention by name who have contributed music to the station. Some have come from artists submitting their work, while others have come in the form of LPs that folks either gave to the station or sold at a good price. You know who you are, and I thank you. And I also thank Live365 for providing the network to allow these stations to operate.

Please email me with any comments or questions at otcr1@earthlink.net