The 6th anniversary of the founding of enLighten lies just ahead … so it seemed to me to be an opportune time to share some things about its beginnings – perhaps being the basis for a chapter in the book that numerous folks have been asking me to write for some time now.
Yes, this “all Southern Gospel, all the time” channel on XM Satellite Radio … now Sirius XM . . . had its humble beginnings when, in an attempt to satisfy the hundreds of XM satellite subscribers who were requesting a channel devoted to the genre, it was included as an Internet-only channel when the XM Radio OnLine adjunct service was launched on November 15th, 2004. (I did not learn until much later that, from Day One in September 2001, Southern Gospel was one of the five most requested musical genres that XM Radio was not offering.)
The beginning . . .
Location – XM Radio headquarters, Washington, D. C.: One day in October 2004, my associate Dan Dixon was called in – because he was producing a weekly Gospel music hour named Stained Glass for the America country music channel – and instructed by XM programming management to “put something together that we can put on the new OnLine service and call Southern Gospel.” Meanwhile, I had heard rumblings of plans to add a channel for the genre. I headed to the executive’s office to suggest, if it were true, that Paul Heil be hired as a consultant. I did not know Paul, but I did know there was no one more qualified to advise on structuring a Southern Gospel radio station – that he was a true professional … and was just “up the road” in Lancaster, Pennsylvania! I was quickly told that no one would be hired, that Dan would be “putting the format together, perhaps you can help him.” As I returned to my desk, Dan, who already had a very full plate of duties, including a nightly four-hour live request show, approached me, asking for my assistance.
The Lord immediately spoke to me, saying “Marlin, this is My music. It calls for more care and attention than the Company is proposing, you need to get involved.” With that burden on my heart, we set out to do what was required. Fortunately, I had more flexibility in my schedule and somewhat fewer demands on my time than Dan did, so I was able to step in.
With not much more than a month’s notice, there was much to do, such as acquire a whole library of music. After quickly determining that Singing News was the prime publication for Southern Gospel, the first thing we did was to get our hands on several recent issues of it … to get a picture of who and what was important in the genre. Mind you, this had to be accomplished by two guys that did not have an extensive background in Southern Gospel. Our love and knowledge of Southern Gospel was provided and colored by having watched any number of Gaither Homecoming videos, plus I had listened to the Gospel Greats from time to time over the years when I had access to a station that carried it.
The next chore … acquire a library of music. Through Dan’s Stained Glass program, he already had a connection with Rhonda Thompson, at the time with Daywind Records. So we reached out to her, as well as Jim Stover at Crossroads and two or three others who each sent us a box of CD’s. That hundred or so CD’s is what provided the bulk of the library we had for the channel’s launch.
It also happened that the Gaither Homecoming Tour was coming to the Patriot Center arena in northern Virginia, just across the river from XM headquarters in the Nation’s Capital, in late October 2004. We made arrangements to go backstage to visit with a few of the artists, where we collected a few short interviews and our first artist ID’s. And, where Beckie and Sonja Isaacs created that impromptu enLighten jingle that you still hear on the channel today. The voices are the two girls, Mama Lily and Gene McDonald of the Florida Boys, who just happened to be in the room and Ben Isaacs wasn’t.
The early days . . .
I must confess … our musical sound wasn’t all that good in those early days, as was pointed out by a few critics and bloggers. The desire was there, but we were dealing with a “lack of” situation … lack of time, lack of knowledge and lack of recordings.
While being created as an OnLine channel rather a satellite channel, which is what the subscribers were asking for, did not satisfy many, enLighten did begin to pick up a following – thanks to being promoted on several of XM’s satellite channels. I was somewhat amazed at this, as there were at least three or four other Southern Gospel stations available on the Internet at the time.
However, there was a difference about enLighten. It’s a philosophy that is retained to this day – for which we’ve been criticized more than once, but the Holy Spirit has told me again and again is the right concept. Even though we regularly prioritize and categorize the 8,000 or so musical selections now in our active library to achieve the mix of selections that plays on the air, what we play is not limited to what “makes the charts” or has been recorded by a “big name.” We judge based on the sound of the individual selection … musical excellence, and an arrangement and message that likely can impact one or more persons who may be listening positively.
If you’ve found any of this interesting, I invite you to check back next week at this time … when I’ll pick up with more of the enLighten story.
Marlin
