No discussion of Christian music is complete for me without talking about radio. Back where I come from, the radio station you played was a statement. I could go into a store or business, and when I heard Christian radio, I already felt more at home.
In the Atlanta-metro area we had ‘The Joy FM’ (93.3) or ‘The Fish’ (104.7) I think it’s pretty impressive I can still remember the numbers. After my Aunt introduced me to Christian music, I came to an inconvenient realization. Buying new albums was expensive. That’s when I found a use for this old radio my Dad kept in the garage.
There were days I spent hours listening to both radio stations. I found that when ‘The Joy FM’ was playing ads, ‘The Fish’ wasn’t. These were pretty conservative stations. I felt a sort of kinship with the hosts, in fact, I even thought it would be really fun to be a radio DJ. Think about it; you get paid to sit around and play music all day. How cool is that? Of course, I later came to realize that radio was dying, and that streaming was taking over. I still think this is sad.
There are entire songs I have memorized only because they played so often. It was so awesome to hear a song that I already owned.
‘Glorious Day’ by Casting Crowns played at least every hour. For some reason, whenever I walked into a store that played Christian radio, nine times out of ten, it was ‘Glorious Day’ that was playing.
‘City on Our Knees’ by TobyMac was overplayed. My Aunt and I both loved TobyMac, but agreed this song was played way too often.
‘I Still Believe’ by Jeremy Camp was a huge mainstay. When the movie came out I was really taken back, because I knew every word of the song thanks to radio, but never knew the story behind the song. It’s humbling to realize just how much pain and sorrow it took to write a song like that.
‘In the Morning’ by Josh Wilson was another song that played pretty regularly. I remember this one specifically because one time I ended up getting sick and this song started playing when I was at the apex of my misery. It came just when I needed to hear it.
‘We Won’t Be Shaken’ from Building 429 was a powerful song. I sang this song for two years before I got “Listen To The Sound” for my birthday. I had a great memory about this song because I remember I had this one really bad day, and I was feeling powerless; this song came on exactly when I needed it.
If I tuned in on the right times, I could hear these awesome interviews right from the studio. You would be listening and Jeremy Camp or TobyMac would give you this awesome ‘hey guys! Have a great day and listen to (The Joy or The Fish). It always made me feel good. I have this distinct memory of Christmas Eve, hearing Amy Grant airing a live interview as she talked about her inspiration for the song, “Grown Up Christmas Wish”. I really didn’t like that song, always thought it was too sappy. After hearing Amy pour her heart out for all the poor and broken, the song played, and I remember being touched by the song for the first time. Another great time I listened to Brandon Heath talk about how particular he was with Christmas, I laughed at how religious (see what I did there?) he was with observing the season.
Sadly, ‘The Fish’ just shut down, and I felt a pang of nostalgic sadness. I haven’t listened to Christian radio in a few years. Frankly I thought that streaming would have already killed both of these stations. (‘The Joy’ still lives!) I miss sitting in the car with my Aunt or grandmother and listening to these songs, and singing along. I guess with the death of radio, I feel like I’m also waving goodbye to a younger me.
