Guidelines.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Context is always essential: Dear Christian Radio is a growing industry leader that aims to do even more for the Christian media industry and the world. We provide leadership and direction to other Christian media organizations through the Dear Christian Radio website and blog. Our readers want relevant content that impacts them now.

CATEGORIES

The DCR blog covers topics on leadership, compliance, culture, engineering, fundraising, programming, promotions, social media, underwriting, and more. We do this in an open and candid way. Therefore, it’s not enough to simply tell them, you have to show them, as well. If you’re up to the task, click the blue button below.

SUBMISSION TYPES

Essays – Your unique take on Christian radio or a relevant news item with significant context for the reader.

Features – DCR features have a strong voice, factual support, and thoughtful analysis. There are four main blog categories: #ENCW, Features, Leadership, and Series. This is our bread and butter.

First Person – There are no punches pulled and no organization to hide behind–this is you and your thoughts out in the open and in the raw. These are honest first-person accounts as lived by you.

Think Pieces:  These open commentaries allow the writer to explore issues that require deeper thought.  This includes shifts in cultural norms, listener trends (real or projected) or opinions on the industry’s future.

DO’S & DON’TS

Do:

• Submit your piece though the Submit Now form. Documents in Word are preferred.
• Include all relevant information about you and your article along with your submission.
• Provide a brief summary of your submission and tell us why your story will be the right fit for DCR.
• Tour our site, read a few of our blogs at www.dearchristianradio.com/theblog and learn our style before you send us a piece. Doing so will help you determine if your perspective is a good fit for our readers.

Don’t:

• Contact people on our team other than John Long ([email protected]). He’s a nice guy…if you have a question about a submission, send it to him.
• Attach your submission as a PDF or Pages document. Word is strongly preferred; however, you can attach text in our online submission form.
• Make your pitch to us by attaching documents, PDFs, or other files. Boil your pitch down to one or two short paragraphs.
• Send us anything that has been previously published.

WORD COUNT

500 words is minimum, 1,500 words is optimal, 2,500 words is the maximum.

TONE

Expert / Professional / Personal / Candid

STYLE

AP Style preferred; MLA accepted.  Please write with a business savvy that enriches the radio industry.

Introduction – First, every DCR blog begins with “Dear Christian Radio,”. Second, this opening portion of your submission is critical for establishing the tone of your piece. You should use a hook in your opening sentence to entice the reader to continue on. Whatever you choose to say should coincides with the overall theme of your piece. Be sure to provide enough detail that the reader quickly begins to understand your main idea. Finally, avoid passive statements in the introduction and throughout your submission.

Body – Here you will both develop and support your ideas. Three or more paragraphs with support or examples for each is best. Be sure to elaborate on statements you introduced earlier. Case studies, personal experiences, anecdotes, and cited third party research improve the body of your piece–helping to establish you as an expert in your area of expertise.

Conclusion – The conclusion should tie the introduction and body of your piece together. Your conclusion should also be in paragraph form. The conclusion is where you bring together all of the elements you previously mentioned in the other sections. This should not simply restate everything you have already said, but rather, wrap up your ideas in one nice clean package.

Summary – Almost all DCR blogs conclude with a summary of the main points fleshed out in the body. Three points (1, 2, 3) is the standard, but up to five is acceptable. Limit each summary point to a single, concise sentence as much as possible. This provides a cleaner look online and makes for a cleaner read.

 HELPFUL TIPS

• Well sourced blogs of 1000 + words generate the highest SEO results. While DCR’s word count is more a guideline than a rule, blogs that contain approximately 2,500 words are ideal.
• Improve your submission by avoiding direct or rhetorical questions aimed at the reader. Instead make statements of fact that establish you as an expert on the subject matter.

Examples:

No – Did you know that non-profit fundraising has gotten harder?

Yes – A growing number of non-profit fundraisers face an unclear future as organizations wrestle with a new technological paradigm.

• Cite sources that support your position. Provide links to cited sources whenever possible.

Examples:

No – Fundraising is down 25 percent for non-profits.

Yes – According to research conducted by Top NonProfits, charitable giving is forecast to decline in 2016.

• Provide personal case studies that support your expertise and opinions.
• Each paragraph (approx. 4-5) should contain a minimum of 3-4 sentences, per thought.
• Conclude your submission with three—one sentence—summary points.

Examples:

Dear Christian Radio…

1. Embrace conflict. Let it knit you together as a team, never allow it to tear you apart.
2. Practice candor. A lot of conflict is due to a lack of clear communication.
3. Be mindful of self. There is no “I” in team; be willing to listen, adapt, and press in as needed when conflict arises.

The #ENCW Way

We do hard things. These 10 ways of being are the #ENCW Way…