Making a Difference in the Public Square

A member of our congregation wrote an email to a local radio station manager concerning the "spots" they were running advertising a promotional contest for their station. He wrote

Dear Mr. Cooke

I have K-Lite FM playing on our office radio and have been since November 1997 when I moved my business to Burlington from Toronto. I like it because you play music that appeals to a wide variety of my staff.

This morning, I was listening and it really struck me that when you are promoting your in house contests and you air voice clips from past winners, it seemed that all but one prefaced their joy with the words “oh my God….!” I, as any Christian would be, am deeply offended by this blatant use of the Lord's name. You promote yourself as a family friendly station, but you certainly are not Christian friendly when you use this kind of language.

Is there anything you can do with regards to changing this?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

After some prodding he got this response...

While I completely respect your position as a member of the "Christian Faith", we have an equal number of listeners out there that are not, hence, there is little thought/awareness on the part of most staff and the general public when it comes to using the "Oh My God" phrase. It's not "Top of mind" so to speak.

I cannot account for why people use this phrase when exited about winning,or conversely, when something tragic happens like our soldiers dying in Afghanistan, I hear it used often. I only know that it is a common phrase used in moments of excitement or grief. Something we as Radio operators are not "to manage".

The true usefulness of your note comes to me/us in the form of "awareness", which is what you are doing. Frankly, in my 28 years of managing Radio Operations, I have never run into any concerns regarding this.

However, I am taking inventory of it and will share the same with our production staff. Perhaps in the future, where possible, they can edit the "contest winners" promotional spots to avoid using the phrase.

To that end, I will endeavor to do so as best we can in the future. I have copied this note to our Production Managers and Creative Director to keep them in the loop.

We value you as a Loyal listener with a long track record. Additionally, as a "family friendly" radio station/operation, your concerns have been duly noted. We would never do anything to our listeners that could potentially/deliberately disrupt their day. However, we must both recognize the fact that we live in a huge multi-cultural environment these days, filled with a vast variety of beliefs. Hence, it's difficult to appease everyone. Some folks are offended, while many others aren't.

But, we try! Your comments are appreciated.

Many thanks for your feedback, I trust that you find my response acceptable.

Have a great day!

Best Regards,


Which in turn prompted this reply

I also understand that you do cater to a wide audience, however Christian listeners are typically a “quiet” bunch and tend not to be as vocal as they should be. Therefore, their tendency is to simply turn the station off and move to another one.

I’d appreciate it if consideration can be given to my request, especially given the size of the Reformed Christian community out there that is constantly searching for quality broadcasting.

Which in turn produced this new policy!

Good day

In any event, I'd like you to know that we took the initiative to re-do the promotional announcement as per your request and eliminated the reference to "Oh my God".

Further, we are going to do our best to keep this in mind when preparing future station promos.

Consider it done and thanks for taking the time to drop us a line!

We need to keep you as a loyal listener and trust that we have satisfied your concern.

Best regards,

This simply proves that taking up your pen, or sending an email can have a significant impact in the public square. K-Lite FM claims to be family friendly and has shown that they can also hear and respond positively to the Christian community. Thank you, Mr. Tom Cooke!

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