As The World Turns (Upside Down)

You're tooling along, working diligently, dotting all the I's and crossing the T's.
You're completing each task with passion, and folks near and far are aware of your excellence.
You've accepted the rewards of your labor, and been recognized as one of the best of the best.
When all of a sudden, your world turns upside down.
And you're left wondering, what just happened?

How in the world is this possible?
Our station is an award winner!
I haven't just been punching a clock, I've been giving it everything I have.
And suddenly it's all evaporating faster than I can process?
Who's responsible for this?

When friends get hurt, lose their jobs, and are faced with uncertainty, it's normal to want to jump to their defense.
It's not unusual to want to find a place to lay the "blame".
But blame is a funny thing.
It wants to find a place to land, but there is no welcome zone.
And most often, the person to blame isn't the one with the fingers first pointed in his direction.

When a radio station changes hands, there are multiple reasons and causes.
But the #1 reason, usually, is money.
Plain and simple.

And the person paying the money most often receives the accusations.
But is it really their fault?
Did they accost and hold up the owners, and force them to "hand over the goods"?
No, the owners decided to sell, and let it be known their station was on the market.
And any group, nationality or genre could now be the potential owner.

As a strong believer and advocate for the Contemporary Christian format, I want to see the format represented in every market in the US.
I'm pulling for local stations to succeed, to thrive, to grow and to make a powerful impact in their community.
I believe that we need strong local stations and local ownership now more than ever before.
But when an owner decides to sell, for whatever their reasons may be, I'm not going to blame the purchaser.
I'm going to applaud them for continuing their mission, and keeping the CCM format alive in that market.

Sometimes the blame, or at the very least, the dire need for explanation & clarification, rests a little closer to home.
Not with the passionate employees and team members….absolutely not. They are the victims.
But rather with the leaders of the ownership group who have decided to liquidate their successful station.
And use the proceeds of the sale to accomplish something else.
Which they are legally allowed to do. Because they owned it. But is it right?

In the world of non-commercial Christian radio, the operational costs of the station are covered by donations from listeners.
Usually 10 to 20 percent of the listeners of a station will be regular supporters of the ministry.
And their donations are used for a wide variety of necessary expenses.
Salaries, utilities, supplies, marketing, equipment, maintenance, etc.
And the staff of the station, including GM, PD, MD, DJ's and support personnel, are very often supporters as well.

So…..how many of those station supporters, the ones really paying the bills, were consulted before the station was sold?
I suspect that number hovers somewhere around 0%.
And in my opinion, that is wrong.

So don't be so quick to jump and blame the purchaser.
They're just staying true to their mission.
Look instead to the seller.
That's who's decided to flip the globe.

And do what you can to assist the former employees.
Encourage them, employ them, walk beside them.
Do what you can in your position of influence.
Their shoes could be on your feet in the future.