THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO
LENGTH: Long : 159 lines
EVEN WITH 32,000 men at his side, Gideon, son of Joash, was on the short end of great odds when he was chosen to free Israel from the Midianites.
The Lord thought Gideon had it too easy.
The people with you are more than I need to deliver Midian into their hands, He said. Now make a proclamation for all the people to hear, that anyone who is scared or frightened is to leave Mount Galud at once and go back home.
Gideon delivered the messge, and 10,000 remained. Still too many, said the Lord. That night, 300 men - each carrying only a trumpet and an earthen jar with a torch inside - surrounded the camp of their oppressors.
For forty years the land was at peace.
Fritz Stegemann points to the Book of Judges when he talks about the mission of WODC-FM.
The analogy is accurate.
Gideon needed only 300 men to carry out God's will.
WODC, powered by 300 watts and operated by an all-volunteer staff of believers, is barely a blip among the dynamos that dominate Hampton Roads radio. Stegemann, pastor of Open Door Chapel and president of WODC, likes the odds.
``We have the lowest power in Tidewater, but have the potential of 500,000 listeners,'' he said. ``Some stations with 50,000 watts can only reach a third of that.''
``If we were stuck out in Driver,'' said station manager Anne Verebely, ``we wouldn't reach anybody. We feel blessed to be based in Virginia Beach.''
Its broadcast range aside, WODC, which calls itself ``The Lighthouse,'' would still fall under Blink and You Might Miss It.
The station, at 88.5, is tucked into the cramped low end of the FM band. Its offices are adjacent to the nondenominational Open Door Chapel, a cavernous, converted moviehouse on a high-volume stretch of Virginia Beach Boulevard. Ritzy specialty shops and a sprawling insurance office flank the church. A car dealer commands acres of real estate across the street. Pembroke and Lynnhaven malls are within a 10-minute drive.
Gold letters, the stick-on kind sold in hardware stores, spell out WODC on the storefront studio's door. A bay window overlooks the gravel parking lot. An old gray Buick in front has plates reading R U SAVD.
A tour doesn't take long: The studio's to the left, then the production room and reception area/kitchen. Interviews are done on a couch in the hallway. Snapshots of station personnel share wall space with paintings of lighthouses and autographed photos of Bryan Duncan, Twila Paris, the Newsboys and Ray Boltz - artists heard on the station.
The low-key operation and close, worn-in quarters fit. In a fancy suite, the camaraderie, the mission, might get lost.
But a bulletin board outside the production room best illustrates what's going on at WODC. On it are tacked some 60 names and broadcasting permits, the volunteers who keep the station on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Filipino couple. The Navy man. An interior decorator. Students. A woman who is legally blind. Deejays with professional experience and others with none.
John Vinson, a retired postal employee from Michigan, knew Hampton Roads from his days in the Navy. His son, a student at Regent University, encouraged him to move here.
``He called and said, `Mom, Dad, get out of the snow and ice,' '' said Vinson, who calls himself the trash man because he does a little of everything at the station, from training deejays to setting up booths at concerts to talk about WODC.
``I wanted to do radio since high school. I've been interested in it all my life,'' he said. ``Forty-some years later, God sent me over. I had to come 800 miles to get in radio.''
Verebely, herself a volunteer, makes time for everyone.
``It's the reason we're all here,'' she said. ``We know what it's like not to have a Christian music station. We know how important it is.''
Music has been the emphasis at WODC since the station signed on in February 1989. It still is - 85 percent of the time.
James Dobson's syndicated ``Focus on the Family'' is broadcast daily, and Stegemann hosts a Bible study program, ``Keep the Faith.'' His goal, he said, is ``to get through the whole Bible before I die.''
WODC takes prayer requests, runs a community events calendar and announces upcoming concerts.
Given the number of artists working in different genres today, Verebely can put together a playlist to rival that of any secular station - a mix that embraces inspirational, contemporary, country and Southern gospel.
``We also throw a little jazz in there,'' she said. ``Christian music is of the spirit. It doesn't matter if it's big band or beat. If a person's spirit is right, his music will represent what God has him doing.''
And what God has her doing. Even with her other commitments to the station and her family, Verebely puts in four hours on the air three days a week.
``When I was growing up I used to listen to those AM stations in the middle of the night,'' she said. ``I've always been a radio buff. It's just one of those things: Delight in him and he will give you the desires of your heart. This is my ministry.''
Because the Arbitrons don't take into account low-wattage, nonprofit stations like WODC, Verebely has no way of knowing how many people are listening. But she knows they are out there.
Listeners bring in tomatoes and homemade cookies. A bakery regularly sends bags of bagels and dinner rolls and loaves of fresh bread. Last month, a man donated a five-disc CD player.
Listeners also keep WODC, which is a separate ministry from the Open Door Chapel, debt-free. Operating costs last year were roughly $34,500, Stegemann said.
``We're not out to stuff doctrine down people's throats,'' he said. ``We just want to share the word of God.''
Just then, the deejay on duty queued up ``Try Again,'' a track from the new album by Dave Boyer. Stegemann calls the big-band crooner ``the Frank Sinatra of gospel music.'' The song is one of his favorites.
``See?'' Stegemann said, breaking into a grin. ``That's what we're trying to get people to do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Candice Majkut, who is legally blind, jokes with a fellow disc
jockey at Christian radio station WODC, which calls itself the
Lighthouse.
Anne Verebely is the station manager of Virginia Beach-based WODC.
B/W Photo
John Vinson, a retired postal employee from Michigan, broadcasts
from WODC.
ON THE AIR
Other area Christian radio stations:
WYFI-FM 99.7
Format: News, children's programming and music (Delores Forehand,
George Beverly Shea)
WKGM-AM 940
Format: Local and syndicated talk programming
WOJY-AM 1490
Format: Music (Paul Overstreet, Barbara Fairchild), news, sports
and commentary
WPCE-AM 1400
Format: Music (Shirley Caesar, The Mighty Clouds of Joy) and church
programs
WPMH-AM 1010
Format: Nationally syndicated ministerial and call-in programs
WTJZ-AM 1270
Format: Music (James Cleveland, The Winans), and local and
syndicated ministry programs
GIVE A LISTEN
To hear samples from the playlist at WODC, call Infoline at 640-5555
and dial category 9623 (WODC).
by CNB