experiences
Event 1:
Walk FM had a full house for the Gaithers concert on September 15! We were able to surprise and delight an older couple with tickets that night. They declined a photo but were very appreciative!
Donor gift bags for our Donor Dinner at Bob Evans on September 23! We had a great evening just getting to spend some time with a few of our donors and show them how much we appreciate them!
Walk FM has been able to send out many Thank You cards this month to major donors who have given before our Fall Fundraiser! We’re so blessed with the best listeners and donors!
6 experiences
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2 event surprise & delights
2
1 social card
experiences
WCQR partnered with Disabled American Veterans local chapters to encourage listeners to write thank you letters to our local disabled veterans. WE COLLECTED 1,116 LETTERS!!
Amanda visited the local news station, WJHL for their DayTime Tri-Cities show to talk about the launch of WCQR’s ministry project. WCQR is partnering with the local DAV (Disabled American Veterans) local chapters to show acts of kindness to our local disabled veterans. Local families, schools, churches, businesses and more are encouraged to write letters, cards, notes and do coloring pages that will stay in our local community and be given to our local veterans. Pictured L-R, Kyle Clark, commander of Washington Co./Johnson City DAV chapter, Amanda Hollifield, WCQR Listener Engagement Director and Chris McIntosh, WJHL DayTime Tri-Cities co-host.
31 DAV letters from Candace Clay, Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s sponsor, at Eastside High School. They dropped them off at the Wise, Virginia DAV local chapter.
Albert Hawks with DAV Elizabethton #17 stopped by the WCQR station to pick up letters, cards and notes for our local veterans.
Kyle Clark with DAV Johnson City/ Washington County #9
Dropped off letters and cards for veterans at the DAV Kingsport chapter. Chuck Walsh and John Mort
experiences
Event 1: Amanda, our Afternoon Show Co-host, was invited to Mrs. Anne Trask’s class at Boones Creek Elementary to talk about her career in radio at WCQR. Amanda encouraged the 6th, 7th and 8th graders to enjoy being kids, find what gives them joy and what they are passionate about.
From Mrs. Trask: “Thank you so much for coming today to talk to these middle school students. I firmly believe we never know the effect we will have on others, and I felt like you were planting little seeds of information that will probably help them sometime in their future!”
On Sunday, September 8th, our Afternoon Show Co-host and Listener Engagement Director, Amanda, attended the annual Second Harvest Food Bank’s “The Farmer and The Chef” fundraiser event on behalf of WCQR. The event pairs local chefs with local farmers to provide a unique culinary experience. This year the event also included local flower farmers to provide beautiful table centerpieces and decorations. Second Harvest and WCQR have partnered for Project Thanksgiving, an on-air fundraiser, to provide traditional Thanksgiving meals for our local community.
Amanda and her husband, Brooks, enjoy a delicious meal at the event.
Event 2: Rhonda spoke to approximately 300 women at First Baptist Church in Elizabethton for their women’s ministry event, “Falling in Love with Jesus.” Great group of ladies from the church, and there were MANY who attended who are regular listeners of WCQR. She took our PAR devotional booklets for all the ladies along with a few WCQR t-shirts for door prizes.
Memorable moments from Rhonda:
“My favorites were Abigail and her mom Karen. Abigail had just called the station earlier in the week about a phone topic and we were impressed with her answer. She came up and introduced herself and said “I’m Abigail and I called the other day and you never asked me how old I was. I’m 12 and I’m homeschooled, and I listen to you and Adam every morning.”
My other favorite moment was with Ashley and Jacqueline. Ashley’s 4 year-old Kaisley listens every day on her way to preschool and tells her mom that I am her best friend. Ashley told me that Adam was talking during a break and her daughter looked over at her and said, “Mama, when is he going to stop talking so I can hear Rhonda?”
experiences
We rarely see people post on their own pages about our station, AND tag us in it, so this is a lovely surprise, and so sweet.
This is a Facebook comment on one of our prayer posts:
This is a kind comment on one of our facebook posts:
This is a comment from our App ad post on social:
Messages between Amanda and a bus driver. Christian and Amanda then did a shoutout on their afternoon show.
We celebrated Adam’s 40th birthday on Facebook and Instagram, and here are a few of the 216 comments of well-wishes he received:
This is a message to Amanda from Cassandra, a friend and listener: “Hi Amanda! We are at the beach in VA. I’m getting ready to go for a run with WCQR by my side via the app.”
experiences
We celebrated Tori’s birthday on Facebook and Instagram, and here are some sweet comments:
Got a thank you package from comedians Bean & Bailey!
Event 3: Tidal Wave Auto Spa in Johnson City selected 88.3 WCQR to be their charity for their annual Charity Day . On Friday, September 20th, 50% of the proceeds from this location went to 88.3! Our Underwriter, Josh, represented us well with a small booth, and made great connections with the business.
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2 gifs birthdays
4 + social posts experiences
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4 messages events
8 + letters to vets
experiences
Event 1:
We had an amazing time at the We Are Messengers concert at Parkway Church on the Mountain, in Roanoke. Nathan Tasker, the opener for the concert, prepared a full house for a night of worship and praise! We also got to meet some of our Giveaway winners, and their families, at the concert. We had an awesome time and it was great to see a packed house – there wasn’t an empty seat
From our newest Spirit FM member, Mike, “This concert was also my first event as a member of the team! It was awesome to be able to meet so many loyal listeners. Many people thanked us for being there, and it made me realize the opportunity we have to encourage others! I also had a really good conversation with a gentleman who had a really good story. He grew up in a rough situation with drugs and an unstable parent situation, but thanks to his grandma’s faithfulness, and the love from his now wife, he turned his life around. Now he uses basketball as an avenue to teach young people about God by posting verses and encouragement on his social media.”
experiences
Event 2: The Spirit Team had a wonderful time at the Bull & Bones in Christiansburg, where we met with several of our donors to enjoy food and fellowship. During dinner, the topic of “we NEED more events in our area” came up, and we discovered a couple of potential venues for us to hold more events for our NRV listening family!
A listening friend in Bristol has been keeping us updated as we pray for his mother who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. He sent us a message today: “Thanks for being a true spirit fm family. I’m glad I found you all. I’m listening to you in Bristol. Grace responded: “Thank you for letting us know. We will continue praying! Of course we’d be happy to play Phil Wickham’s “Battle Belongs.” Listen in this morning around 10:20-10:25 to hear it play. Blessings, Grace”
We received this very encouraging text message from a listener:
We just received this email from a listener and donor in response to our "Experience Report" that was sent out through email: “I am happy to fund as much as I can. Your station has been a life saver for me over the past years. You have seen me thru an awful divorce and the passing of my mom most recently. She was an amazing woman and a devoted Christian. She is sadly missed but we know that she is in heaven with our precious Lord, and we will see her again. Thank your team for all that you do. I listen to this station at home, in my car, and at work. I can’t image a day without Spirit FM. Jess is awesome! Prayers for you to be on the air for many more years. God Bless.”
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2 experiences events
1 email
3 messages
Event 1: Joy FM had another Cracker Barrel event, and this time in Hickory, NC. We had a good turnout and everyone had a great time!
experiences
The Parrish family enjoying a meal at the Cracker Barrel
Our many bl essings!
This is a note from our sweet friends who came to the Cracker Barrel meal. They had already given but said, “God told me to give you this.” They are true servants of God and tremendous blessings to us!
experiences
Event 2: The Joy FM family had two events in one week! Our first event was in Lynchburg, Virginia, with Ernie Haase and Signature Sound. The spirit was wonderful and exciting! Everyone appeared to have fun and we gave away a lot of t-shirts.
This beautiful lady was so tickled to be a recipient of the free tickets that she met us just as we pulled in the parking lot. She was so excited!
John Long with the wonderful Mike Cook!
Ernie Haase and Signature Sound — They sang their hearts out and the Holy Spirit was in the building!
Event 3: The second event was at Benton Heights Presbyterian Church where they hosted the Triumphant Quartet. It was an awesome event with some sweet people.
We had a packed out church!
Wendy and her husband, Alan
All of these ladies are sisters and love Joy FM!
experiences
Our sweet friend, Helen, came by Joy FM with goodie baskets for us. At right, John Long thanks Helen. Below, right, Wendy Bundy with Helen. The two have become prayer partners with similar things going on in their lives.
Above: Wendy Bundy, left, and Brendan Beavers, right, are shown in front. From the left, Candi Payne and Melody Vaughn, with Helen, are in the back.
From Wendy: “I called a donor to see how he was doing and to see what his work thought about the surprise package that I had sent them. He said that they were so delighted and surprised that we would go through that effort of letting them know that they were appreciated. They listen to Joy FM everyday as they work. I also discovered that because of our Cracker Barrel Breakfast, two donors are meeting up about once a week to eat and chat!”
From Melody: Candi and I were able to interview one of our top artists, Ernie Haase. We play a song of his that is titled, “Keep On Keeping On,” that a sweet listener of ours loves so much. She is legally blind, and loves this song so much that we asked Ernie to record her a personal message. We let her know when to listen to Joy FM so she could hear it, and told her we had a big surprise for her. We also sent her the break to have and keep to listen to when she wanted. After it aired, she called and left Candi and I a message:
“Melody...thank you and Candi so much for sharing Ernie Haas with me and for sending me the attachment. I will archive the message and listen to it whenever I want to Please tell Ernie Haase how much I appreciate this as it really encourages me right now. Much love, Janet and Seeing Eye Dog, Puppet.”
From Wendy: “I just had a beautiful donor on the phone who was telling me how JOY FM got her through her kidney disease and her ultimate transplant (her sister was a perfect match!). She stated that the songs were full of Scripture that encouraged her as she went through dialysis and the recovery from the transplant.”
We received this from a sweet donor today in regard to a personal card that was sent out just to remind them how special they are and that they are prayed for and appreciated.
experiences
June Bug is one of our biggest fans and she added her name to the back of her “Goodness of God” shirts! She is such a blessing to the Joy FM family!
Email to Wendy from a donor who attended a Cracker Barrel breakfast: “Hi Wendy, What a joy it was to get to meet all of the crew from Joy FM. Now I can put a face with the voices I hear. I want to thank each one of you for traveling to Hickory, NC, for a wonderful breakfast at Cracker Barrell, and for our nice gift bags and awesome tee shirt. Thank you ALL for your kindness and hard work, and for the caring hearts each of you have. What a blessing. I love your bubbly spirit — just watching you made me smile so big. I am the one that told you the story about my mom loving the song by the Bishops, “Touching Me, Touching You.” Not sure if that’s the name but that’s the words that stand out to me, because we cared for our mom for 8 years after a major stroke, so when we could, we would take her for car rides and we’d always listened to Joy FM. When that song would come on she would reach over and touch us with her sweet little hand. We would touch her back and it always brought a smile to her face, and to ours as well. Such a fond memory. So if at all possible I would love to hear that song in her remembrance on her birthday, January 22nd. God bless each of you for all you do. We appreciate having a great southern gospel radio station to listen to — music is soothing for the soul for sure. Blessings and prayers for all of you there at Joy FM.”
Email to Wendy from a new friend from across the sea!: “Hi from Northern Ireland! My aunt is a big fan of Joy FM and mentioned to me one day about it. As of today I tuned into Joy FM North Carolina online and can truly say my soul felt blessed listening to it. I am now another fan and will be telling my friends about this great radio station. Recently I took on the role of cleaner at my church. While I clean I find it a great opportunity to pray for people. I also will be listening to Joy FM and will be singing along to the lovely music. May God Bless You and thank you for encouraging, uplifting and speaking to so many souls across the globe. Yours in Christ”
1 experiences phone calls messages gift & visit 2 cards 3 events
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experiences
Event 1:
We had a Single Parent Saturday event where we teamed up with Sullivan’s Auto to be the hands and feet of Jesus for 100 single parents. They received free oil changes and car detailing. In many instances, additional work that was desperately needed was done on the vehicles at no charge! Batteries, tires and brakes were replaced and in one instance, a power steering pump was replaced!
While cars were getting worked on, we had cotton candy, bounce houses, games, pizza and many more things for the kids and parents to enjoy! We also had a private prayer area for the parents.
experiences
Huge WPER fans decided to have a homeschool field trip to visit us at our Ashland Pop Up!
POP-UP POP-UP
Pop-Up 1: For our final pop-up we stayed in Fredericksburg! We were right outside of two businesses that support WPER: Wild Birds Unlimited and Sweet Reasons!
Pop-Up 2: After a summer of Hometown
Pop-Ups, we invited the WPER family to our home they helped build! We gave tours of the station & had a “pop-up” at the end!
Message from a listener who came to our Open House with her sons:
“My boys and I came by the studio pop-up. My boys were thrilled to see where it all happens and meet the people they hear on the radio. Our family is going through a difficult time right now and this trip to your studio brightened our day. Everyone was so kind to our family. Thank you for all that you do. Many families get through their days only because of the hope that this radio station reminds us of that we have in Jesus.”
experiences
Pop-Up 2 (continued):
We also invited our listeners into the studio for show & tell and photo ops!
Luke has been at every WPER Night this summer! He loves WPER & he gave Eric his autograph for this final ballgame!
experiences
A listener congratulating us on 25 years!
“Congratulations to you all!!! Your whole team is such a blessing. Thank you all for everything that you do!! I listen practically 24/7 and have converted my husband!! I thank you all for being obedient to God’s calling and playing what He deems right, and at the right time for someone!! May you be there for many, many more years to come!! Praying for the Fall Fundraiser and that the Word will hit someone new and bring them into the flock! Have a great day celebrating and again - Thank all of you for your wonderful works!”
As we’re trying to create and deliver experiences to others, sometimes we are the ones that get the experience. A listener waived Eric over at a traffic light to give him this letter with his donation.
We were able to bless some of our major donors, The McGee’s, with tickets to see Zach Williams!
This friend stopped by our Open House. After years of trauma and suffering, her husband lost his battle with PTSD. She gave us this card with her gift.
9 experiences
2 cards
2 surprise & delight messages
2
3 events
3,897station app downloads
1,849 20,349 51,862 26,052 7,762 last month
2,475 Walk FM engagement
36,502 WCQR engagement 1,163 1,623 263
55,329 Joy FM engagement
9,920 Spirit FM engagement 544 243 last month: 2,875 last month: 5,048
5,789 WPER engagement
61 app downloads
5,332 podcast downloads
740
2,174
1,006
845
173
394 overall total: 78,516