I finally had a platform for owning my own radio station.
But what music was I going to play?
I had pretty much already established that I wanted to play Christian rock/Christian contemporary music, but which bands should I select?
The purpose of the station is to glorify God, so naturally it would follow that I would play bands and music that glorify God.
Unfortunately, deciding upon my band/music criteria was not as simple as I had originally thought it would be.
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Some bands started out playing great music, but their message seemed to shift somewhere along the way, seemingly compromising their original purpose and values.
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Some bands were the opposite – I didn’t particularly care for their older music, but they seemed to mature over the years and eventually began producing strong content.
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Some bands’ music was hit or miss – some songs having a great message and some leaving me wondering what the songwriter was even talking about.
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Some bands had music I loved, but I disagreed with their members’ political stances (or more specifically, the [unfriendly] manner in which they expressed their political views).
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Some bands produced excellent music with a strong message for Christ, but had parts of their lifestyles that were less than Christlike.
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Even more disturbing, some bands created wonderful Christian music but appeared to have some very un-Christian connections (some have even been accused of being involved with the Illuminati).
In short, I discovered that if my standard for bands was perfection, I wouldn’t have any music to play on my station – not to mention that I myself would be disqualified as well! (I can’t honestly say that my behavior is Christlike 100% of the time – we all make mistakes!)
It can also be dangerous to trust one person’s opinion of someone else without verification (or to believe everything we read on, say, Wikipedia). For example, if someone lied about me, I would hope that the people being lied to would at least give me the benefit of the doubt and give me a chance to prove my integrity; I’d like to provide others the same courtesy as well.
Nevertheless, I still needed to have some kind of band/music criteria – I couldn’t play just anything and everything!
I decided to focus more stongly on the songs themselves than the bands playing them (though I still critique the bands as well). Does the song glorify God (or serve a good purpose)? If so, it is cleared to play on my station, even if the artist performing it is less than perfect (like everyone else in the world).
To repeat, I do still take the character of the bands into account – for example, I wouldn’t play a cover of “Amazing Grace” if a satanic band played it, regardless of the fact that the song itself is Christian!
When I have listened to Christian radio stations in the past, I have sometimes been surprised and/or disappointed by some of the music selections. I realize that some of my listeners may have the same reaction to some of my songs as well, and I hope that this post can explain some of my reasoning behind the songs that I air.
To be clear, my playlist is a work in progress. There are many songs that I still wish to add. There are other songs that I currently air that I may decide don’t fit the purpose of the station, despite being songs that may resonate with me for one reason or another. There may even be bands that I eventually decide not to air.
What I can tell you is that I will continue to seek the Lord’s guidance concerning my band and music selections. In the future, I look forward to occasionally posting my personal thoughts on various bands and songs.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments about my music, don’t hesitate to contact me!
And if you want to be notified when I post new content, subscribe here.
Signing off until next week –
Rocking for Jesus with you!
Amanda Renée
Credits:
Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash