Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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June 10, 2006

Does XM's enLighten "rule?"

enLighten has been on XM's satelite feed for several weeks now, so it's probably a good time to examine their performance. I believe the results are mixed at this point.

A thread on the message boards at Sogospelnews.com about quality in modern Southern Gospel vs. quality from years gone by prompted one poster to say XM Radio's enLighten channel "rules." It was a tongue-in-cheek comment accompanied by a smiley. The poster said he made this conclusion because enLighten has been playing a song recorded by his group. It's actually a good quality recording, and I think it's great that enLighten is playing it.

Unfortunately, enLighten also plays a lot of poor quality recordings. Their request policy is likely the reason for this. They've said on the air that they'll play any requested song within four days or so if it's already in their library, and they'll also add songs to their library based on requests. It's essentially an anything goes approach to programming...just ask, and it will be played.

A station that honors any and all requests doesn't exactly "rule" in my book. This is wide open for abuse by artists (including their associates, family, fan clubs, radio promoters, record labels) who request their own songs. It generates more air play for artists who take advantage of the station's generous request policy, and it turns off potential new fans of Southern Gospel when they hear a low quality recording.

This policy may serve the greater good of keeping enLighten on the satelite feed. They need some way to demonstrate to the powers that be at XM that they have a lot of people listening. Promising to honor all requests whenever possible helps accomplish that. I think a more limited request policy would be preferable, though. "We will play songs in our library when requested" is fine if the library only contains good quality recordings and poor quality recordings aren't added.

On a positive note, I have to say that enLighten has shown creativity by airing specials, having days where a specific artist is recognized at the top of each hour, etc. That's good stuff, and I hope they expand this type of programming. I've heard some rumblings of future programming they have planned that sounds exciting as well. Don't think for a minute that I'm writing them off.

I had just hoped enLighten would be the standard by which other Southern Gospel radio would be measured. Honoring requests for inferior quality music prevents them from raising that standard. enLighten has the potential to reach more listeners than any other SG station in the USA. In fact, they may already be doing that.

So why isn't their playlist limited to the best quality recordings? Until that happens, they won't "rule."
posted by David Bruce Murray @ 1:26:00 PM


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