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CHRI's 2020 Pivot

We haven’t had a chance to talk about this a lot because it snuck up on us. Taking the time to truly reflect on the year, we hadn’t realized just how much has happened and it’s a reminder of how blessed we are. This past spring, within days, we as a station, along with every other organization in the world, had to rethink a lot of our operations.

When the Coronavirus first became a threat, we were about to put on one of the biggest concerts in our history. For King and Country were topping all the Christian radio charts and unlike concerts with long standing “stars”, this was part hubris and all risk. A big show with an audience of several thousand in one of the largest venues in the region, it was the first show in a nationwide tour that would hit major Canadian cities. In the last days leading up to the event, word of the contagious character of the virus was starting to spread and CHRI received more than a few emails and phone calls confirming the date was going ahead and condemning us for putting people at risk. If you didn’t know, the For King and Country concert was a massive success. One of the biggest best Christian music nights in Canada’s history. The next day, concert venues were shut down by governments. The remainder of the tour cancelled and their months of dreaming, rehearsing, production and staging were stopped, sending the whole entourage back to Nashville. But, the band left our listeners with hope, inspiration and a new understanding of just how big and professional the Christian Contemporary Music industry had become. The next few days we began to pivot.

Being media, we are deemed an essential service. This didn’t mean there was no adaptation to the direction of society during this time. In fact, we’ve never had to adapt more. Immediately, we started to pivot in our operations so that we could keep doing what we do, but also making sure our team was safe and healthy.

One of the first things we did was postpone our annual Anniversary fundraiser. We knew that these funds were vital for the station to operate, but we had to read the room. At that moment, being there for our listeners during a time of heightened emotions, lay offs, and stress, was our ultimate priority. This is why CHRI is here, to remind you of hope when it feels like your world may be crumbling.

We then built fiber optics into our infrastructure. Increased internet reliability and capacity would allow employees to have total remote access to their office computers. We updated our 10-year-old phone system so that calls to employees could be automatically forwarded to our cell phones. The station was completely operational without staff having to leave their homes – including recording of on-air hosts when required. Our team came in to the studio when it was essential but did so in shifts with physical distancing, hand washing, and all the protocols we were advised to follow. We maintained our presence 24/7 on air and through social media, and even added a texting platform so we could communicate more personally with listeners who were certainly feeling lonely during isolation.

With visitors discouraged from dropping in to have station tours and pick up prizes, we pivoted to redirect our Fun Team. They formally spent most of their time doing hands on events, but continued to personally touch our audience by hand delivering prizes and merch to surprised and thrilled listeners. We also put the Fun Team to work managing our new online shopping platform that offers CHRI branded products to our audience.

Over the past year, video production capability has been escalated with an eye to a future where people will need to communicate without being present. This endeavour was validated once the pandemic hit with businesses struggling to maintain an online presence. We began renting the warehouse in our building for production. Once staff fully returned to the office, we went from Zoom meetings to utilizing the warehouse for socially distant team meetings.

We have been inundated with new technology, a rethinking of promotions and events, and been reminded of how important it is to have a Christian station in the capital. Our team is very forward thinking, always taking steps to be better, and they work hard for it. That certainly didn’t change in 2020. Although this year we didn’t achieve in the full capacity we planned and imagined, we knew in the least we just had to be there. That was our focus, to show up, to not let our quality and presence slip in a time when it’s needed most.

Thanks to our faithful listeners and supporters for carrying us through these “unprecedented” times. 2020 was certainly one for the books, for all of us. Everything we’re learning tells us that the future looks bright for CHRI.

By Bill Stevens
General Manager

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