Sunday was a long, full day. We went to a 10:00 AM church service in Franklin. Courtney Johnson of DMA had invited us to this church plant. We heard a wonderful sermon 
on the times of waiting on God, when He calls you out of something but has not yet revealed your next destination, venture, job, or activity. The music at this church was outstanding. 
Courtney was the bass player for the band. We surmise that many churches in the Nashville area, even smaller ones, have great musicians because there are so many that come to the area in pursuit of a music career.
After church, we returned to the hotel for a nap in anticipation of a long night and early morning. We awoke early and decided to ride to Nashville, where we spent about three hours touring the downtown area by foot, listening to some music, and sightseeing. It was a beautiful day. We returned to our hotel, put on a fresh change of clothes, and headed south to Spring Hill, arriving shortly after 7:00 PM. After praying with the Call Center Manager, Terri Henry, we took some hopeline chats until about 8:45. Tim Altman, the CEO, then escorted us to the studio to watch a portion of DM Live. The show airs from 9:00 PM to midnight Central Time. Portions of the show are replayed for West Coast audiences.
Ike Wingate, the ministry’s Director of Radio Programming, joins Dawson in the studio each week. Ike is surrounded by complex computer screens that help him orchestrate the broadcast. Among other things, these screens show pending calls, hope coach activity, Dawson’s facebook page, a spare internet browser window, and a Word document that he creates as the show unfolds. Dawson takes nonverbal cues from him while focusing primarily on a list of potential upcoming calls. Ike also banters with Dawson to either fill time or vary the show.
The production crew can insert captivating pre-recorded calls when needed. Dawson records most of them during the week when teens who were unable to talk with him on Sunday may receive a return call. In the control room window, behind which sit Jeremy Gover and several call screeners, the large, red numbers of a digital clock count down the time remaining to the next commercial break, much like a basketball shot clock. During commercial breaks, Dawson and Ike were gracious to share insights and tricks of the trade. Fascinated, Debbie and I absorbed what we could.
Calls are screened with an eye toward variety and compelling radio content.
All callers are sent to the hopeline for further help whether Dawson speaks to them or not. In reality, Dawson fields a minute percentage of calls, a strong indicator of the level of need in listener-land as well as a large audience. The goal of the radio group is to provide content that will attract and retain listeners. A successful show drawing a large audience each week drives traffic to hope coaches where real ministry happens. Thanks to generous and compassionate donors, it has been a sustainable model designed to rescue a generation of hurting teens and young adults.
After over an hour in the studio, we watched the action in the control room and captured some camera shots.
Shown here is Jeremy working the soundboard and some call screeners working the phones. We eventually went back to the call center to resume our work for the evening, joining several others taking calls and chats. Just after 3:30 AM, after we each completed a lengthy and intense chat session, Debbie and I left for our home away from home. There is a feeling of satisfaction when you sense that you gave a youth in crisis some temporary relief and some additional resources for trying days ahead. David Dees explains it well in the following video.
You can listen to live or achived DM Live shows on online by clicking here.
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