Our On-Air History
On January 10, 2012, the Men of AIM Christian Movie Update first aired on 88.5 FM WBNH radio, a primary Moody affiliate. The station manager, Jim Huber, had interviewed me on several occasions for different films in the previous couple years, and wanted to provide more regular airtime.
The intent was never to be a movie review effort, as there were several far more experienced and resourced groups doing that – including but not limited to MovieGuide, Plugged In, and Dove, the three groups we include in our Theater listings.
Instead, we’d share broader news about films that were several weeks out – so groups could actually have time to plan a trip to the theater. We’d also talk about other aspects of the film business – why is the weekend so important? Do all ticket purchases really count the same?
In 2016, the spots expanded to Peoria’s Christian Talk Radio 1020AM WPEO, and in 2020 the internet station WGAP – With God All Things Are Possible.
The focus through these first 9 years remained on the Peoria area, where we started and all our radio partners were located. At the time, our whole movie ministry was in Peoria, as the second CMC in Southern Indiana came in mid 2014, and the next five – across central Illinois – in the first half of 2017.
Today, we are a much different ministry, so it is time to revisit our Radio ministry as well. Peoria, while still our largest individual market for both social media and email subscriptions, is no longer a dominant portion of the overall reach.
The Christian Movie Central Radio Update
Starting in March 2021, our 60-second radio spots are being made available to radio stations nationwide. To start this is still largely a manual process, as I will be forwarding the spots, which run for a week starting each Tuesday.
For the launch, we’re anticipating this being a program that we will not charge anyone to run, but neither will we pay for the air time.
We are hoping to see this as a way to reach new audience members in our 100+ cities or regions with a local Christian Movie Central, or perhaps even in other areas to build interest!
Spots are available to all radio stations – terrestrial, satellite, or internet, and do not have to necessarily be a Christian station.
Further, stations are not committed to have to run every spot, every week, but we would request they air at least 75% of them.
When a new station signs up, they will receive an “Introduction” episode which shares the basics of what we do through a Christian Movie Central, and then be added to a forwarding email address for future episodes.