Overview
WVOE broadcasts year round, but the bulk of our activity comes during the school year. Since we are very small school and a small department of about thirty people, we use a mixture of live shows and automation. Live shows occur primarily from 6-12PM each night and the rest of the time, the station is loosely voice-tracked on a Dalet automation system. Many of the freshmen students start out voice tracking as a stress-free way to get started. We also engage our EMC 2016 Announcing class to get involved each spring. It’s a pretty easy process really. The first couple of weeks, students sit in and “shadow” with an established experienced show. This is really just a fancy way of saying students get to hang out and learn how the studio operates. They begin to get some first-hand experience with turning on microphones, using CD players, etc. After a few weeks, they take a brief exam, hosted by the exec staff. If they pass, then you will be cleared to get your own show.
Target
WVOE programs Christian rock music to a target audience of 18-24 year olds. We primarily focus on students at Northwestern College. We intend to be the voice of the Northwestern Campus.
Playing off our “Power of the Toaster” slogan, we often refer to our music as toaster slices or what’s your slice.
Format Clock
WVOE utilizes several different clocks in place for several different purposes. The main reason for all of the varying clocks is to diversify the experience for the listener. Song categories are scheduled at different times between each day part to prevent the same songs from airing at the same time every couple of hours. Save for during shows, at least 15 songs are played each hour. Because WVOE is geared toward a college audience, most of the shows are scheduled at times conducive to normal college students listening habits. This “reverse clock” puts our core programming at later times of the day and night. Talk breaks during a typical hour occur before Power category songs and at stop sets, typically at the 20 and 50 minute mark during each hour.
Power A:
The 5-11 top songs played at the rate of 3-4 an hour. The same song is not played at the same time of day on consecutive days.
Power B:
The next 10-20 most popular songs after the power songs, played at the rate of 2 per hour. Can subdivide into yellow (up tempo) and blue (slow tempo)
sub-groups.
Power C:
These are newest songs 15-20 and are played at the rate of 2 per hour.
Recurrent:
These are the strongest songs on the playlist. They are the top five hits from the last three years. The list is limited to 30-100 songs. They should played at the rate of 4 per hour. The whole list plays about once in around 35 hours.
Power Gold:
The next 200-400 songs are declared the classics. These 3-10 year old songs “never dies” and are played at the rate of 2-3 per hour and replayed every 1-3 days. Auditorium testing works best to develop this list.
Music
WVOE recognizes that music is a very powerful and pliable art. It follows then, that such a tool in the hands of Christians must be used with great care so that worthy objectives may be achieved. Therefore, WVOE exercises caution in both the choice and use of music.
Music Policy
The latest WVOE music policy is based upon a model developed by students and the faculty advisor called the Three L’s. The Three L’s are: Lyrics, Lifestyle, and Likability.
Likeability – Technical Excellence / Form
WVOE maintains that the playlist contains songs “created” with excellent production and performance values. Excellent production includes, but is not limited to:
- Talented utilization of instruments/vocals
- Skillful mixing of different musical elements
- Adherence to the unwritten rules of a song’s genre
- Creativity/originality/improvisation
Individual Judgment – WVOE will judge the technical form of the song on a case-by-case basis without comparing it to other songs on the same album or by the same artist. This question answers “Does the song ‘sound’ good?”
Lyrics – Content / Story
As Christians, our primary criteria for judging any song for possible airplay is Philippians 4:8, which states, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent of praiseworthy – think about such things.” According to this guideline, WVOE will strive to play songs whose messages contribute to a deeper understanding of or appreciation for the gospel message and/or positively encourage the spirits of those listening. The variety of music played should focus on one or more of the following areas: evangelism, apologetics, encouragement, teaching, systematic theology, redemptive stories, truth, and reminding believers of what they know is truth.
Lifestyle – Intent / Effect
Because artists do not always reveal the primary motivations behind their work, it is difficult and occasionally dangerous to presume upon their intent. However, certain factors may be taken into consideration when attempting to discern authorial intent:
- The lyrics of the song itself
- Artist interviews/biographies
- Information contained within the album booklet
- The content of other songs on the same album
- Art contained on and within the same case
News
News is an important part of the programming of WVOE. We use a really cool news program called BURLI to organize our news. News programs shall attempt to keep the audience informed about current events. Deejays will prepare news for the bottom of each hour. World, national, regional, local, and campus news are presented
Sports
All Northwestern College sports may be used as part of the programming of WVOE. Home and away games will be broadcast whenever possible. Intramurals are not played or conducted at the level that college sports are. Events which cannot be aired should be covered by a sports reporter. All in-season college sports need to be summed up or highlighted in Sports Weekly spots.
Original Programming
WVOE strives to create original short-form programming instead of using existing short form programs. Some of the programs developed include:
Missionary Moments – A 60 second dramatization of how God is revealing himself in a moment of a missionary’s life.
Great Quotes from Dead Guys - Quick quotes from the saints of old who left us their writing and their unshakable hope in Christ. Quotes featured are from folks like Charles Spurgeon, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, William Wilberforce, John Wesley, Martin Luther and others.
And Now a Word from our Sponsor - This is our fun way of reading bible verses on the air
Far Too Easily Pleased File - Playing off the famous quote from C.S. Lewis this features silly crime stories illustrating that the world is far too easily pleased and so is WVOE for airing such trivia.
Student Radio Programs
The following is a list of the many radio programs that are scheduled weekly on WVOE. The descriptions are created by the hosts of each program and are used for different promotional material throughout the year.
