by Dan Jones<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last week, I promised that I would reveal some of the things I have learned about being a radio announcer at Kinship Christian Radio.<\/span><\/p>\n The first is that there is a lot more involved than simply talking and pushing buttons. Granted, that’s kind of the essence of how it works, but there is a concept involved called, “backtiming.”<\/span><\/p>\n Backtiming is very important.<\/span><\/p>\n If you, the listening audience, were to experience ten seconds of absolute silence from 7:54:50 to 7:55:00 on Saturday morning right before SRN News came on, you would notice. I would notice. In the world of radio, absolute silence is the enemy and is known as “dead air.”<\/span><\/p>\n Now, while the Bible clearly tells us to “be still and know that I am God,” dead air does not work at all on the radio. Generally speaking, a listener experiencing dead air immediately comes to the conclusion that something has gone horribly wrong either with their own personal radio, or with the radio station itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And it doesn’t take ten seconds of dead air to stick out like a bleeding nose. Most people start to wonder what’s going on after one second<\/em> of dead air.<\/span><\/p>\n One second.<\/span><\/p>\n So, here’s the deal:<\/span><\/p>\n SRN News comes from somewhere outside of Kinship Christian Radio via satellite, which links up with it at precisely<\/em> five minutes before the hour. That means SRN News is absolutely going to come \u00a0over Kinship Christian Radio (if everything is operating as it should) at precisely five minutes before the hour whether I am in the middle of a sentence or the song I started playing nine\u00a0minutes before the hour lasts three minutes and fifty seconds. If I make that last mistake, you get ten seconds of dead air. And, no the highly-advanced electronics that control all of this will not automatically play ten seconds of crickets chirping to cover up my mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n That means that, sometime around fifteen minutes before the hour, I better have a precise notion of how long the songs I have cued will be playing so the last song ends just before SRN News starts –and that requires math<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, of all the many gifts our good and gracious God gave Dan Jones, the ability to do precise math under pressure is not one of them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You know that feeling you get when you see flashing lights in the rearview mirror? That’s what I experienced when (on my very first day) I played “Lift Your Head Weary Sinner” (3:43) followed by “Revelation Song” (4:59) six minutes and forty seconds\u00a0before the news was going to come on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Doug Johnson showed me, that meant that the news would come on exactly two minutes and two seconds after Revelation Song began –which would have meant cutting Kari Jobe off in the middle of the song or having two things playing at once.<\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately, the sophisticated electronic music library at KJLY (hereinafter known as “The Big Giant Head”) is able to find songs which are exactly two minutes and two seconds long, which Doug showed me how to put into the play list and resulted in a seamless transition while you, the listener had no idea I was sitting behind all those buttons on the control board furiously adding and subtracting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The part that still amazes me is that, as sophisticated as The Big Giant Head is, it does not calculate the backtiming for you as you load songs into it. And, one cannot even use a calculator because a minute is sixty seconds, not 100 seconds. That means if you punch 3.43 plus 4.59 into a calculator, it comes up with 8.02 which is forty seconds shy of being correct. And that means the only way to correctly figure backtiming is with a paper and pencil while remembering that there are sixty seconds in a minute.<\/span><\/p>\n This is why it is going to take some practice before I can be trusted behind the big panel with all the buttons and volume controls.<\/span><\/p>\n On that panel, the very first button on the left side is a shiny red button labeled “MIC.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It’s a very simple button. It turns on the announcer’s microphone. <\/span><\/p>\n Right below it is a yellow button that turns off the announcer’s microphone.<\/span><\/p>\n Simple, right? On. Off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Obviously. But, for some reason, I could not remember to turn the microphone off when I was done talking and the song began to play.<\/span><\/p>\n This resulted in Allen Jones gesturing wildly and pointing at the button, all while trying to make no sound at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While I’m very sure that the shiny red button is not anywhere near the thorn in the flesh Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 12:7, it certainly did an excellent job of keeping me from becoming conceited. Hence, “The Shiny Red Button of Humility” reminds me not only of my propensity for error, but of the exceedingly great honor that it is to share the love of Jesus Christ and His gospel of peace over the airwaves.<\/span><\/p>\n I’m sure I will figure it out\u00a0eventually, but in the meantime, be sure to express your appreciation for those who make it seem effortless –and for the staff, volunteers, and listeners like you who make it all happen.<\/span><\/p>\n God bless ’em, every one.<\/span><\/p>\n Today’s Praise<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder<\/em><\/strong><\/span> –partial lyrics from “Revelation Song” by Kari Jobe<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dan Jones Last week, I promised that I would reveal some of the things I have learned about being a radio announcer at Kinship Christian Radio. 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\nAt the mention of Your name<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nJesus, Your name is power, breath and living water<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nSuch a marvelous mystery<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n