Our arsenal:

1. Life-Net E-mail, a free subscription service;
2. Club LIFENET   http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/lifenet    where you can swap information and ideas directly with other concerned people;
3. Life-Net Radio, which is casting our info-net more widely, loosely tying together a network of associate broadcasters that pulls gaps shut between media and audience;
4. www.lifenetradio.org   The Life-Net News & Radio Web site.

Life-Net News first appeared in May, 1997, a humble two-pager. By October it grew to four. Later it became a weekly one-pager, delivering its information in a flash.

In December of that year, the host of the WTMR show All God's Children invited me to broadcast there, and in January I carefully sought the Lord's will about launching a show of our own. God said yes; Life-Net Radio first aired February 2, 1998; and by May 1999 we'd started making headlines ourselves: the Maple Shade Progress (front page), KYW Newsradio 1060, WB 17 News At Ten, Channel 10 News At 11, Channel 3 Eyewitness News (Larry Kane), and most recently a column in the Camden Courier-Post, "Radio Show Won't Let Us Ignore Poor".

So it goes: Two minutes out of each show are eaten by introductory material, leaving 13 usable minutes per week. $40 divided by 13 yields $3.08 per minute. Segment lengths are flexible; people seem to like 5 minutes ($15) and 10 minutes ($30) best. We allocate 10 minutes a week to others, leaving a planned net loss of $10, the cost of our own 3 minutes. Life-Net Radio thus nets neither profit nor proceeds. (I don't get paid; we spend nearly nil.)

Life-Net Radio exemplifies diversity in a format that fits any attention span.

With conventional media outlets, you don't have nearly as much control. If you submit a 30-second PSA, they're likely to cut it to 20 or 10, and you don't even know when your announcement will air. If you're a guest on an interview show, you may not get all your talking points in, or you may say something you didn't want to say and have no chance to correct it.

Life-Net Radio saves you these problems. Since you cover your own airtime cost, we give you any level of control you want, whether you prefer to closely direct the entire production process or to simply sit back and be interviewed or just invite us to record an event. Your time doesn't get cut, because you and I fix the amount jointly. You know when your segment will air, because you and I decide the air date together. If you mess up, we do as many re-takes as we need to get it the way you want it. (Segments are recorded, not live, so have no fear!)

1. Topics must tie into poverty. They need not consist of that topic only; in fact, for subject matter you can choose almost anything that interests you, because the tentacles of poverty reach so far and deep that we want to take aim along every angle, from astrophysics to zipper installation;
2. A segment must be done reasonably well; it must not stink. (With our help, you'll have no trouble here);
3. If you make an appointment to record a segment or deliver a tape, do keep in mind that the show will go on with or without us! Therefore, if you miss an appointment, you shall set a make-up date in time for broadcast. Better yet, let's get the raw material into the LNR studio at least a week or two before the airdate so we have more time for backup options;
4. Any airdate I tell you is tentative until we receive your share-money. Upon receiving it, I'll lock your date in. (If you honestly cannot afford the reimbursement, we have a sponsorship grant that'll pay it for you.)
   The reimbursement must arrive in our hands by the airdate, else there's a late charge of $1 (one dollar) a day--if we air the episode;
5. We don't want to alienate the audience, and the audience doesn't like to listen to long commercials or appeals, so please keep the plugs from taking more than 10% to 20% of your airtime. Within the allowed plug time, do your best to promote!

As to format, imagine freely: People have sung here. Students have acted in radio skits. We've done interview segments, monologues, a game show. We've put on musical experiments, turned events into montages, ...

One important ingredient we've relied on is background sound. Sometimes we use environment sounds, like ocean waves or traffic; mostly we use music. Whatever the sound selected, it greatly improves our work by suppressing interference from other radio stations, supporting what we're saying, and adding excitement. You may do without this ingredient if you wish, but we won't recommend that.

About musical style: LNR teems with musical variety; if there's a style of music we haven't used, then it's time we did!

If You Live Within Our Broadcast Signal's Reach

We can meet at WTMR to record. Or you can come to our studio in Maple Shade, where the audio quality is a little better and there is no rush. Or, if you'll reimburse my bus fare, I'll come out to your location. Easy!

It's best to schedule the recording (or delivery of your own tape) at least a week before air. That way you have time to make up if you miss.

If You Live Out of Our Signal's Reach

Even though you can't hear us on your AM radio, you still can hear your episode, because upon your request we will compress the show's audio file down small enough to fit on a floppy disk and e-mail it to you. And we'll post it on our Web site where you can send your friends, family, or associates or superiors.

How then do we do the show, you and I? You can phone your part into our studio. Or you can e-mail your writing for me to read into the mike; if you like, we can even collaborate on a script via e-mail. Yet another option is for you to make your own tape and mail it; then I put your recording together with the other pieces of the episode.