Radio, Disasters and Prayer

Hello, its been a long time since I have been able to post on this blog. My work schedule has me very busy and tired. I have hoped to use this blog to discuss radio and faith. I have made internet a huge part of this because it allows a huge amount of radio for basically no cost. In the last months our hearts have been moved to pray for folks in Boston, Moore and West. Internet radio can be a blessing because it can get you close to the action and prayerful quickly.

When I heard about the bombing at the marathon my heart just sank. I found WBZ a 24 news station out of Boston on www.vtuner.com The day after the bombing the station went with “wall to wall” with coverage. This term means they went 24 hour in their coverage of the problems that ensued. Quickly we began to hear of whole communities on lock down. We also heard up to the minute reports of the capture of the suspects. With that data a person could be praying for the suspects, the victims, the community members and the police.

I have visited the tiny town of West, in central Texas. Its a great place to stop and get food. It is situated north of Waco, Texas. It does not have a real radio station. This year a plant that produces fertilizer blew up and destroyed many homes with the blast of a bomb. KWTX out of nearby Waco, Texas swung into action. They also went wall to wall for several days. They tried to coordinate

needs and offerings to this tiny community. The community was overwhelmed with rescue workers and gifts right after the blast. This station can be found on www.iheartradio.com Radio is a great tool in disasters of this kind. Praying was something a person far from the disaster could do. The stories alone made a person of prayer seek God for this small town many times.

Later we all heard of the massive tornadoes that struck Moore, OK. This huge town lost two schools and many homes were simply cleaned off their foundations. Once again the streets became clogged with folks who wanted to help and other folks who had lost everything. KYOK 1000am was on the ground in a heartbeat. You can also find them on www.iheartradio.com They also became a huge part of getting donors to the needs. They also did a good job of redirecting overflow giving to other effected communities nearby. The praying was easy. Needs, problems and complaints came out on the radio.

The bible tells us to be constant in prayer. This does not mean driving down the street with our eyes shut and hands raised. This does mean that we are in a place where we can speak to God as we hear needs around us. This may be at work, with friends or even listening to the radio. Also in all the above cases we were told how to give and who to give to in each situation.

What is the take away dear readers? When you hear about a big disaster in a far away place, you can prayerfully listen in though this gift of radio. Using local radio gets us close to the needs. When you hear the stories let your heart approach the throne of grace in intercession.

Some closing ideas. This was not available several years ago. If a big disaster happened you had to wait for blurbs on the national news. With internet radio you can have the same radio a local care provider is using. Yes the information is interesting, but add prayer to that and you can be doing your part in the recovery. Also to be constant in prayer you need to constantly maintain your relationship with the Lord. This may require a daily time with the Lord. As you do this you will be surprised how easy it is to fall into prayer as you hear needs.

Just a few technical notes.

Internet radio providers are getting plentiful. If you are new to this hobby. Try www.iheartradio.com. Www.vtunter.com, or Google Tune in Radio. I just found www.sky.fm with 40 plus free stations. Google internet radio and have fun. You can also just go to radio station' website and hit the “listen” button. Also internet radio has escaped from your computer speakers. Good free radio is available on Roku players and smart tvs. A roku is a box that streams audio and video to your tv. Smart tvs are beginning to come out that have apps for radio or music services. If you have the net, both are just a simple upgrade away. Your cell phone can also get many internet radio stations. Watch the data or be near a router when you do this. This is the new radio listening. No longer are we attached to radios with bad reception or no reception. Just Google and listen. I do not endorse any of the above websites for consideration. Oh did I mention Christian Radio. Preaching and all kinds of music are available to the listener who is willing to search. Try Googling Hip Hop Christian music.

Gospel Music from India

This week I found a small set of internet radio stations called the verve network. You can find this network at http://radioverve.com/ When you go to this website you will be presented with a set of a dozen or so stations you can listen to. They offer everything from Rock, electronic to many local flavors of music. The information I could find about this site said it was on hiatus. The information also claimed the site was set up with open software and only featured unsigned musicians from India. I found the station with vutner.com and the gospel station has everything from hard rock, gospel to praise music. Most is in English and some sounds downright like Southern Gospel. Lots of it features a vocal lead and what is probably an electronic organ. Some of the music sounds very Indian and is in one of their many languages.

This station raises a great question for a Christian internet music fan. How much Christian music is being produced in India? Especially if this is a sample of the unsigned artist, I was impressed by the variety and quality of the music. I used this discovery as a chance to pray for Indian Christians and their music. I would also like to know the status of Christian music in India. This has caused me to want to research the whole issue of Christian music in the worlds largest English speaking democracy. I know that some parts of the country are comfortable with this expression and some parts of the country do not like the Christian faith.

If you read this and have something to contribute I will be happy to write some more on this topic. I have found other Indian outlets but this is the most interesting so far. The best information I found on the station seemed to be at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioVeRVe

New Radio toys for Christ

I hope my handful of readers had a good Christmas and will have a great new year. This Christmas I got a Roku HD unit for my Christmas gift. This box allow streaming on most any TV. The TV in question can have a HDMI connection. This cord usually runs from a video item like a Blue-Ray player or a better cable box to your modern flat screen TV or monitor. Some computers have an HDMI out too. This allows the Roku HD to put out in 720p resolution. Most of what it streams is well below that. It can hook to an older screen with the old red, white and yellow cords that carry left and right audio and video. (I did not check that option out.) Once hooked up to power and TV, the box will automatically fire up. (No power switch.) The Roku is about the size of a thick sandwich and can sit by your TV. This box may (and I say may) be the future of TV. You do have to have a good high speed internet connection for this wireless device to work. This box displays various “channels” on your TV. Most people will use it to stream Netflix movies to their TVs. It will show films in 720p witch is an upgrade from a WII at 480p. (Best Netflix machine is probably a Sony Playstation 3 at 1080p) It also is easy to listen to the Pandora web based music service on this box too. With that program you just enter a person, band or type of music you like and it does the rest. Its very easy to use, but just music.

“Scott, Scott stop, what does this have to do with radio or faith?” Lots, As I stated the little box is streaming box. Several channel apps have been developed for radio. The Tune In radio app and Shoutcast (grand daddy of internet radio apps) work great on this little box. You pull up the Tune In channel, punch in call letters like my favorite KSBJ, and it will give you that station and its HD2 NGEN. Other search options are available to find Christians stations.

This device also can pull TV stations if the station has been made an available stream on Roku. For people of faith this is really cool. I found all the TBN TV stations and several more stations on offer. If you like those stations and do not want to pay a satellite bill to get them, this box is perfect for internet users. Air One has its own little channel that makes tuning to their fine Christian rock radio station a breeze. You just punch the channel and play. The artist is displayed while it plays. Many large churches and even some smaller ministries have also used the Roku to stream services live and put up clips. I found my own church sermon streaming on Viemo video channel.

I also found seprate channels for the BBC TV and audio, Fox audio and video clips. Like any internet item it can be used for porn and other media you may not want exposure to. You can control who adds channels with a pass code.

If you go out and buy one of these boxes you will find a very limited channel offering on their website (which you will need to set up an account on.) The fun of this thing is finding “private” channels. The Roku must be based on open source programming. Anyone can get the developers pack put up a channel and stream something. The developer is then responsible for promoting the channel and publishing a simple code so it can be activated from the Roku website. Some of the best Roku channels are private. You can find list and sites on the internet with a simple search. Start with picking channels off the Roku site. Those are “public” channels. Then look for “Private” channels and put in some codes.

This box for a one time fifty dollar payment is a must for internet radio fans. There are some services that want you to subscribe. You simply can choose not to load them. I did find a Christian network as a pay channel. The Roku people wil require a credit card number to hold, in case you charge a channel or buy a game. (Yep games too.) You can get the several versions of a Roku box. Most sites say this verson or an older LT box is fine. The better ones come with some neat upgrades including 1080p. Next time we will look at Windows 8. At first look it is making internet radio easier.

A Christian station in Seattle Washington and Listening to the World to inform your faith

I have been busy with work. The great thing about my job is I can listen to terrestrial radio all night in the car. On a great radio e mail newsletter called RadioInfo.com, I noticed that they mentioned Spirit 105.3 KCMS in Seattle, Washington. The station just got a new programming person Matt Stockman, who was working in Christian radio consulting in Spain, Sweden and Nigeria. Sounds like missions to me. The newsletter is available to anyone who wants it and wants to keep up with the business of radio.

So I tuned in KCMS though the net. They seem to have a great play list and good on air personalities. Their internet signal must be fairly high quality. They are owned by Christa Broadcasting which is a part of Christa ministries. You can find them at www.spirit1053.com If you knock around a little you can also find a internet Christian rock station, a praise station, and a ministry station owned by them too. Personally I just like finding stations that are reaching major markets and Seattle/ Tacoma is a big place. I will be praying for this group of stations as they reach the North West. If you live in their town check out their concert and festival listings.

Now on to another positive thing about radio on the net. English is a great language. The British and the US to some extent have spread it far and wide. With internet radio you can listen to radio that originates in many places in the world that speak English with wonderful accents. You may ask the question why do I want to listen to music and news from Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Britain (really good radio), Ghana, India, Australia, New Zealnd and the Philippines. There are more counties, that is just the ones I know I have listened to. The best way to find out about cultures is to listen to them talk to their own. This can be amazing stuff. As a Christian, I know many of the places I just named need constant prayer. A great way to be aware of what they are doing is to listen in with near perfect sound. I have heard Christian stations in most of these countries. The news from a place can be an eye opener. As a Christian called to minister to the world around us, this is a great way to listen to it. A great starter for a person wishing to expand their horizons is http://www.citifmonline.com/ This is citi fm's website. From their you can listen to this secular station and read news about this African Nation. One of my favorite non US Christian stations is Life FM out of New Zealand. http://www.lifefm.co.nz Their website looks like any Christian radio station out of the US. Their music is pretty upbeat. They also offer a worship stream if you wish. I urge you to listen to the main stream to get the flavor of the place. Another station that I have found is Two Oceans VibeRadio in Johannesburg, South Africa. They are an internet only stations aimed at a local market but available to the world. A few years ago, South Africa decided not to have a bloody revolution by getting rid of rules controlling the lives of the majority of their citizens. This has caused some problems and situations. This station probably a product of the present reality of this fine country at the tip of the world. There url is www.2oceansviberadio.com Another South African secular station is http://www.highveld.co.za Highveld radio. She is a terrestrial that has been around a long time. I just bumped into a fine DAB+ (Australian digital radio) Christian station called Inspire. You can find it at www.inspiredigitalradio.com

How to be a child of God Video by David Howell 

This is a video of an actual illustrated book that is being shared in prisons and rehabs. It really tells how to get saved, and grow in Christ. The artwork is compelling and the narration is beautiful. One could share it with unsaved friends or coworkers. It is about 20 minutes long and you should have a good internet connection as it is a video.

 What to do on churchless Sundays, a discovery and an update.

At this time I am excited to see that 368 people have viewed the page. Today I want to give an update about me, a good radio thing for people away from church on Sunday and a neat accidental discovery I made.

Things are looking up for me and the family as a church has finally expressed an interest in me being their pastor. This blog started when I between churches. This has been a time of relying on the Lord and learning. Your prayers are requested at this time for my career as a pastor to restart. I hope to keep up the blog as radio and faith are really my only two interest.

That post leads me to my next subject. While not pastoring I have been a security guard at a local Wal Mart. I drive a car around the parking lot and I am allowed to listen to the radio. On the occasion of working on a Sunday I decided not to let that totally take me out of worship. At 8AM I tuned in Joel Osteen, of Lakewood on KKDA, 99.1FM “Sunny” in Houston. I think it can be accessed on vtuner.com At 9:30 I tuned in Second Baptist with Ed Young and at 11 I tuned in First Baptist with Greg Matte. These where on KHCB, 105.7 FM, Houston, it can also be accessed through vtuner.com I am not a big fan of Osteen, but he has the largest church in town and is very positive. Ed is a prince of preachers in the US and was speaking on family. Greg Matte always has a good message and is ministering to thousands of young families with dynamic messages. This did not replace church. People are a huge part of church, but I was fed by God's word and in the last two I got to sing with the people as these are full service recordings for folks like me and shut ins. Thank God for old fashioned radio in Houston, Texas.

Next a simple discovery. I was playing with vtuner.com and found Hindi Christian Music at the top of the India listing. The music has a wonderful Hindi influenced sound. Some English is thrown in. The voice station ids are randomly thrown in and a little annoying, but I will trust the developer. Their website can be accessed at www.hindichristianmusic.com It did not do to well when I went to it. It refused my email and only some parts are functional. Who knows, Satan, time, or problems may be happening. It plays very well on a UM Player from vtuner.com and ok from their site. Great music. You may be tempted to swing, sway and worship our God who wants all to be saved.

Please write me and tell me if this stuff is informative or helpful. God Bless

scotttalbert1963@gmail.com.

The land of blessing and Big Questions in Houston

I live in Houston. For years this has been a one contemporary Christian music town. Over thirty years ago KSBJ was born out of the prayers of believers who began to seek outlets for Christian music. Commercial stations had been tried and failed. Christian music does not have a great track record of commercial stations. An exceptions may be KLTY in Dallas. The Christian community in Houston has been blessed with this outlet for many years. (www.ksbj.org) With the advent of online and HD radio, KSBJ proudly introduced NGEN to the public last year. This station plays youth oriented music and plays a lot of music KSBJ does not chose to play. NGEN (www.ngenradio.com) came out about a year ago online and as an HD2 Station last year. Because KSBJ has acquired a new terrestrial (real analog fm station) and some translators (low power fm stations) NGEN is now an HD-2, internet, smart phone and translator station. She is gaining a regular audience spread out around the Houston area.

This story has a real interesting twist now. The guys at EMF (Educational Media Foundation), the owners of the national network KLOVE (www.klove.com) have brought their rock oriented AIR1(www.air1.org) to town on a terrestrial frequency. EMF is huge in the Christian music world. If your town does not have a locally run station, you probably have a klove outlet near by. If that has done well then a AIR1 may also be near by. These stations also do huge internet broadcasting and rank well in listened to hours.

The elephant in the room may be “Is Houston big enough for these two music ministries?” Houston all ready supports KHCB(www.khcb.org) a teaching station that is one of the oldest Christian stations in town. A couple of commercial teaching outlets, and an AFR station, and a few others. Like many Texas towns they are donor money rich and Houston is a huge town.

Now some of my ideas and my ideas alone.

KSBJ is a fine Christians station. She actively ministers in the community she has chosen to call home. She is well know and well respected. She has been about the number 4 station in our markets for years. She has tried to have a presence in this town and on the street for 30 years. She has a huge reach from the Louisiana border to Victoria, this is most the upper Texas Gulf Coast. She has been an internet broadcaster for a long time and has a great signal strength in town and through a newly acquired sister frequency. She does have a tightly controlled play list that makes her attractive to females and older listeners. She will not lose this audience any time soon. She and NGEN do have an absolute stranglehold on concerts in the area. You can try to promote a Christian concert, but she just has the best machinery to do this. I have to think this has built up some folks who are not happy about this. Buddy Holiday wanted a good premium powered station to minister to the town, they have it and will have it as long as God blesses it. To over simplify her sound is to say she is the light rock station of the Christian music world of Houston.

Air1's parent EMF has some positives too. Experience and lots of cash. They have bought a rim shot (Close by station) outlet that can be heard over most of Houston. They play a harder format than KSBJ or their parent KLOVE. Sadly, my experience of KLOVE in Austin and Midland is that they can not be too involved in the community. They headquarters in California. They do a local events calendar and sometimes concert promotions. I would be stunned to see them do much in Houston. Will they stay? Are they testing the water? I just bet we will see a few bumper stickers and that will be that. It does not cost a lot to run a station with a satellite and transmitter and no studios. Their format is comparable to a straight CHR station with rock and very little rap. They do produce good dj driven rock radio. It is very good with djs around the clock.

NGEN is great stuff if you are young and young at heart. She plays rap and some pretty hard rock. She plays little the big sister plays. KSBJ has bent over backward to promote NGEN. NGEN started as an HD2, internet and low power fm station. She has gained some more translator and is being heard by a larger terrestrial audience. (Lets face it, you have not heard of too many single station internet broadcasting giants, but this is changing.) She is gaining folks who listen to her. She is the most youth oriented of the bunch. Think of her as a little sister among a big sister and a new kid in town. She will and can win the youth vote. She has djs most of the time, except on the overnight.

So, is their a pink elephant in the room? Not really, if all concerned just stick to their game. The town can support three stations of varying formats. If one of the three gets greedy, things may change. The scriptures are good here too. In Mark 9:38-41the disciples saw another person ministering in Christ name. They really wanted to stop the competition. Jesus said if they where honoring His name and working with power, leave them alone. In Acts the Jewish church wishes Paul well as he ministered to whole different bunch. Both had a place in God's plan. First Corinthians 3:5-9 is good here too. Let each minister and build up the body. Its all about God, not radio stations. Houston is just a blessed place for Christian Music, just pray for the ministries that are doing it now.