Sights and sounds

About 25 years ago I met a young man whose professional gifts and personal commitment in the field of Christian journalism have had a consistently transforming impact on this enterprise called WORLD News Group. Nick Eicher has worn almost every hat our organization owns—most recently as Executive Producer of WORLD Radio. With the new year, Nick also has been named by our CEO Kevin Martin as Chief Content Officer for WORLD, which includes WORLD Magazine, WORLD Radio, and WORLD Digital. Because Nick, editor in chief Marvin Olasky and I have worked together for so long and will keep working together, I wanted to ask Nick to explain how some of these parts are meant to work together.

Why are WORLD Magazine, WORLD Radio, and WORLD Digital a good fit? Because all are predicated on strong journalism from a Christian worldview. I’ve argued for years that the best journalism is done in magazines. A magazine reporter has to pay attention to so many details. Has to set the scene. Has to get a sense of place. Has to do such a thorough job of reporting. With some additional effort, that same journalism can be turned into compelling radio.

What can WORLD Radio do that WORLD Magazine can’t? If the magazine is a place where members go for deeper understanding, then WORLD Radio is where they go to stay connected. Where a magazine requires all of your faculties, with radio you can be doing other things and stay connected with WORLD’s storytelling. WORLD Radio is a great companion for a commute to work, for walking the dog, or doing the dishes. Radio rides along with you where you are.

Aren’t there already enough folks out there doing news on radio? There aren’t really many people doing news. Radio relies heavily on commentary and personality and talk. We need all those, and we have a terrific weekly interview program we call “Listening In.” But for our daily program “The World and Everything in It”—just as in WORLD’s paper-and-ink magazine—our goal is to provide more and more original news reporting. That’s when we’re at our absolute best. And that’s where print, radio, and digital all complement each other. When we do some original reporting for one of those outlets, we’re in a strong position to use it for all of them at minimal additional cost.

‘We’re focusing on keeping the needs of our members, our readers, our listeners in mind, trying to provide them with as much content on as many different channels as we possibly can.’ —Nick Eicher

How would you compare World Radio to NPR? I love what NPR does, with a huge asterisk! NPR is very good at doing original reporting. But it’s all shaped by the philosophical commitments its creators have made, the presuppositions that they have they tend not to admit to. I admire them in a way, because it is very much worldview-oriented reporting. Our model at WORLD is biblical worldview reporting because that’s the true nature of reality the way God has defined it. So that’s the difference. They do a nice job—within the boundaries they’ve adopted for themselves.

Can we expect to hear some of the same voices on both venues—in print and on the radio? Yeah, the names that you know—Susan Olasky, Mindy Belz, Jill Nelson. Jill has been a television broadcaster, so she knows how to do it. You hear J.C. Derrick, a dynamic young reporter, Jamie Dean, and Megan Basham, who does a tremendous job at reviewing movies. Warren Smith, who hosts “Listening In.” All those names are recognizable to you, and we’re working with them, and more. That’s part of our strategic advantage.

We’ve never had a “chief content officer” before. It’s a new position, so what does that mean? Briefly, my job is to make membership real to our members. That means refining and expanding our journalism to create a valuable, compelling package of benefits that helps our members articulate a biblical view of the world. It means serving current members with great content that keeps them coming back, and that also attracts new people to join us.

But doesn’t it take millions of dollars to establish a national radio presence? No, it doesn’t. I won’t kid you, it does take a lot of dollars to do what we do, but not as if we were investing heavily in technology. Instead of building a big technical enterprise, we’re focusing on keeping the needs of our members, our readers, our listeners in mind, trying to provide them with as much content on as many different channels as we possibly can. Our daily news content is available on your computer, on your website, through digital apps, or even through the sound system of your car. Of course, if there’s someone out there with a million dollars to invest in something this exciting, I’d love to talk with that person just as soon as we can!

Email jbelz@wng.org