Chapter 12: Christian Roller Boogie????
Stan who was Theresa's boss continued to work to get the station noticed more. He was also trying to get Theresa out of her shell more. He knew that she was smart and capable of doing more than she was doing. He started insisting that she have a few hours a day out of the control room where she could concentrate on other things such as music and programming. She was given a desk . During the time when she finished her on air time, after she left the control room she read the trade magazines and looked at programs she wanted to have on the radio station. People would call and ask about certain programs and want to hear them on the station. She would write and request a demo and then turn it over to the sales manager.
With Theresa doing a gospel program on Friday nights, there were artist that got request during the regular music time. One group in particular took the airwaves by storm; Rev. F C Barnes and Janice Brown. They had the most requested songs. They were up there on the charts with some of the Southern Gospel favorites. They were from Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Someone called them and told them about the station. Theresa talked to them and got a short interview with them. She also was able to interview the man that held a gospel sing each Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend. Theresa got mentioned in one of the trade magazines her remarks about a song "We've Got the Power." It was a powerful song and Theresa knew that it would be a hit with the listeners.
Theresa was very active in her church as well. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday School. Her desire was to work with the young people, so none of them had to experience what she did. This was shaping up to be a fun year. The station had a talk show that they decided to do live from a hotel breakfast bar. They would do this every Friday morning and Stan set it up. Theresa decided she wanted to come along and learn the technical end. So she came and learned to set up the mixer, mics... they used a phone line and she learned to get that plugged into the mixer. She was responsible for the sound. It was an exciting time.
One day Theresa got a call from a local skating rink who asked if the station would be interested in doing a Christian skate night. At first Theresa didn't know what to think. There were some great contemporary Christian artists that had music a person could skate to. Theresa skated, so she knew that it could work, but would the churches come? She began to send letters out to various churches. The first one had over three hundred people there. Theresa did the DJ work for it. It was a variety of some of the more upbeat Southern Gospel, CCM and black gospel. It was fun. It ran like the regular skating session; couples skates, trio skates, limbo and other things. The skating rink wanted to have another one the next month. Theresa wasn't getting paid for this nor the station making any money, but Stan agreed to do it because the station needed the community exposure. This went on for a while and finally one day someone came to the station saying that they were going to open a new skating rink and wanted to buy advertising and wanted to know how much they would charge. Stan hadn't thought about it that much, but they came to a price that they both could live with and promotional announcements. Then the next thing was they were willing to pay Theresa to do the church nights. This was exciting. There were problems at first. Some churches didn't want any contemporary Christian music, just Southern Gospel and others wanted only CCM. In order to appeal to the most people there had to be a mix of music. This is when record albums were still the big thing. So on the nights when Theresa had to do the "church nights', she would carry a huge backpack of albums to the rink. This was fun, sometimes she would skate a little and play games with them.
Some of the preachers on the air didn't like that they had a church night and would get on the air and preach about it. They would also give Theresa a hard time because they thought a woman's place was at home with her husband. Theresa ignored them for the most part, she wasn't married and she wanted to be but she wasn't. She had to work. While doing the "Christian Skate night" she went somewhere else to see how they were done. She and Nate had gotten back on friendly terms and he took her several places to see how Christian Skate night was done in other places. There was more ministry to it. Theresa was still very timid and couldn't do theirs that way, but she really wanted to.
With Theresa doing a gospel program on Friday nights, there were artist that got request during the regular music time. One group in particular took the airwaves by storm; Rev. F C Barnes and Janice Brown. They had the most requested songs. They were up there on the charts with some of the Southern Gospel favorites. They were from Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Someone called them and told them about the station. Theresa talked to them and got a short interview with them. She also was able to interview the man that held a gospel sing each Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend. Theresa got mentioned in one of the trade magazines her remarks about a song "We've Got the Power." It was a powerful song and Theresa knew that it would be a hit with the listeners.
Theresa was very active in her church as well. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday School. Her desire was to work with the young people, so none of them had to experience what she did. This was shaping up to be a fun year. The station had a talk show that they decided to do live from a hotel breakfast bar. They would do this every Friday morning and Stan set it up. Theresa decided she wanted to come along and learn the technical end. So she came and learned to set up the mixer, mics... they used a phone line and she learned to get that plugged into the mixer. She was responsible for the sound. It was an exciting time.
One day Theresa got a call from a local skating rink who asked if the station would be interested in doing a Christian skate night. At first Theresa didn't know what to think. There were some great contemporary Christian artists that had music a person could skate to. Theresa skated, so she knew that it could work, but would the churches come? She began to send letters out to various churches. The first one had over three hundred people there. Theresa did the DJ work for it. It was a variety of some of the more upbeat Southern Gospel, CCM and black gospel. It was fun. It ran like the regular skating session; couples skates, trio skates, limbo and other things. The skating rink wanted to have another one the next month. Theresa wasn't getting paid for this nor the station making any money, but Stan agreed to do it because the station needed the community exposure. This went on for a while and finally one day someone came to the station saying that they were going to open a new skating rink and wanted to buy advertising and wanted to know how much they would charge. Stan hadn't thought about it that much, but they came to a price that they both could live with and promotional announcements. Then the next thing was they were willing to pay Theresa to do the church nights. This was exciting. There were problems at first. Some churches didn't want any contemporary Christian music, just Southern Gospel and others wanted only CCM. In order to appeal to the most people there had to be a mix of music. This is when record albums were still the big thing. So on the nights when Theresa had to do the "church nights', she would carry a huge backpack of albums to the rink. This was fun, sometimes she would skate a little and play games with them.
Some of the preachers on the air didn't like that they had a church night and would get on the air and preach about it. They would also give Theresa a hard time because they thought a woman's place was at home with her husband. Theresa ignored them for the most part, she wasn't married and she wanted to be but she wasn't. She had to work. While doing the "Christian Skate night" she went somewhere else to see how they were done. She and Nate had gotten back on friendly terms and he took her several places to see how Christian Skate night was done in other places. There was more ministry to it. Theresa was still very timid and couldn't do theirs that way, but she really wanted to.
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