2 JAN 08: THE RIVER RUNS DRY

Before you panic at that title -- no, there was NOT a New Year's Day coup, where Florida seized Lake Lanier and claimed all the water for itself....

By "The River," we mean the Columbus radio station with that nickname. In recent days, it has ceased to exist -- as Davis Broadcasting has removed the classic rock from WIOL-FM 95.7. It's either that, or what many people who have lived here for years already know: get off the rocks in the river, before you get hurt.

I wondered if something had changed with The River Sunday evening, when I couldn't tune in the station to hear Alabama play in the Independence Bowl. Then someone told me Monday morning the station now was broadcasting from Auburn - and of course, that explained everything.

(The Independence Bowl game wasn't on WEAM-AM, either. "The Zone" aired the New Mexico Bowl, then doesn't broadcast the game with Alabama?! Davis Broadcasting must be calming down about Nick Saban, too.)

The station formerly known as The River now calls itself "Mix 95.7" - and it promises to play the best songs from "the eighties, the nineties and today." You know you're getting old when radio stations which used to promote "the sixties, seventies and the eighties" have moved most of those decades to the oldies station.

(Davis Broadcasting also has unplugged all the web sites for the old format. So type in "The River rocks," and Google might give you a choice of places for kayaking.)

I finally was able to hear Mix 95.7 a bit Tuesday. The station also promises to play "a lot of music, with little talk." Translation: it's like a computerized jukebox....

The man who told me about the new Mix 95.7 offered a couple of interesting insights. He says the station sounds like it's competing against WGSY-FM "Sunny 100." That sort of radio format has been running unopposed in Columbus for a long time. But shouldn't this new sound have started while Sunny 100 played all that Christmas music?

But if Mix 95.7 wants to compete with Sunny 100, it has a big problem. By broadcasting from Lee County, large parts of Columbus may not be able to hear the signal. I found Monday that from downtown Columbus, I could hear an FM station in Dothan better than Mix 95.7. Maybe the fog drifted in from the south....

The man also wondered if Mix 95.7 might cause confusion in Lee County, where there's already a station called "Mix 96.7" with similar music. Maybe the staffs need to meet in a parking lot and - well, you know - Mix-it-up.

Speaking of Columbus radio: I tried to tune in WRCG-AM Tuesday night to see if it was broadcasting the Sugar Bowl. I couldn't hear the station at all -- but I was able to pick up a station on that part of the dial from Pell City, Alabama. Did someone shoot New Year's fireworks too close to the radio antenna?

E-MAIL UPDATE: Our year-end events have put us a bit behind on your messages. A couple have reached us about one of Tuesday's award winners....

Richard,

What are you thoughts on Cascade Hills Church?

Do you feel as though Bill was honest in his interview with you?

Have you kept up with the Ledger-Enquirer's comment blog following the news article? It is approaching 90 pages with almost 1000 comments.

What do you think will happen with Bill Purvis and Cascade Hills Church?

Is it true that you were the first person notified of the things going on at Cascade Hills many months ago?

What are your policies about sharing email and contact information with Bill Purvis or any other organization or individual?

How did you like the music when you visited the church?

Do you think Bill would talk to you again?

Do you know if it is true that since your interview with Bill, he has armed security that escorts him from his car to the stage and back at each service?

Did you threaten him or something? I wonder if he is afraid of the media? I wonder if he is afraid of the truth?

Guess who was playing the bass guitar this past weekend in place of Roy, the guy Gary Cellar kicked out of the band... Emily Cellar, Gary's wife. I think that is funny. She looked kinda funny holding that big bass guitar, but she didn't do to bad. Nothing like Roy, but she kept a bass line going and for the most part hit the right notes, something that can't necessarily be said for the singers at Cascade Hills :-).

Just Curious

Yeow -- this e-mail is more detailed than those Cascade Hills online membership applications.

Perhaps I'll answer J.C.'s first question by answering all the others. As far as I could tell, Pastor Bill Purvis seemed honest when we chatted in October [7 Oct 07]. He could well have changed his mind after we talked, about taking the e-mail rumor-spreaders to court. After all, the Bible says God doesn't change - but it doesn't say a thing about His ministers.

I didn't know about the Ledger-Enquirer's comments section on the 1 Dec 07 front-page article until Tuesday. The most recent comments seem to be dominated by critics of Cascade Hills Church. But I've noticed people tend to leave negative comments at the newspaper's web site about almost any story it posts. Perhaps the moderator only intervenes for Kaffie Sledge columns.

A few recent comments have talked about a Yahoo group for Cascade Hills critics called "Take Back Our Church." Which leads me to ask - if they don't like the church, why don't they find another one? They only have about 300 others in Columbus from which to choose....

Asking "what will happen" with Cascade Hills Church and Pastor Bill Purvis is quite an open-ended question. It's not like a U.S. Senator is coming after them, the way Charles Grassley is probing Creflo Dollar and Eddie Long in metro Atlanta. There are mega-churches, and then there are ultra-mega-churches.

I have no way of knowing if this blog was first to be notified of "things going on at Cascade Hills." I don't tend to take e-mailers to district court, and ask for their "cc lists."

If someone asked this blog about the contact information of e-mailers, I would ask the e-mailers if they objected to my passing it on. It would be their choice, and I would honor their decision. No one from Cascade Hills Church has made any such request - unless it was in one of those "e-vite" messages they send me about sports leagues.

The music at Cascade Hills Church was pop-contemporary, and I have no problem with that. But I know more conservative ministers can't stand that sort of "worship music." They practically say Satan the devil personally invented the drum....

Would Bill Purvis talk with me again? I don't see why not - since we chatted a second time, a few weeks after the October interview. At that time, the Pastor told me he actually read what I wrote. And he was pleased that I had positive things to say. Of course, Purvis has mentioned in sermons he tries to compliment people more than criticize them.

Since I haven't been to Cascade Hills Church since early November, I have no idea what sort of security detail Pastor Bill Purvis has. But would he need a security guard to escort him to his car? I remember the telecast a few years ago, when he drove on stage -- admittedly in a $100,000 Porsche. [True!]

No, I have NOT threatened Pastor Bill Purvis. For one thing, all the offering checks I left in the buckets cleared the bank -- and I wrote absolutely nothing on the "memo" lines. I mean, just because my checks have Bible verses on them....

But all the negative e-mails and web site comments may have Pastor Bill Purvis a bit insecure -- assuming he actually reads such things. Somewhere I recall Purvis saying he does NOT read negative comments. Other TV preachers have the same approach -- which must be nice, because their Savior didn't always have that privilege.

By the way, Cascade Hills Church has its own blog these days -- and its rules specifically say negative comments are NOT allowed. So congratulations to minister Kathryn Bryant, on her trip next week to the People's Choice Awards. And no, she is NOT nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a TV comedy.

Another e-mail wanted to alert us to something, about the 1 December 07 Ledger-Enquirer article on the Cascade Hills court case:

Hi Richard.

I have had several phone calls from people asking if the article regarding Cascade Hills has been removed. The article itself has been archived because it is over 30 days old, but the comment pages are still available for another 30 days. They can be accessed at http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=911&nav=messages&webtag=kr-ledgerenqtm&tid=6486. Please pass this along so people will know how to access it.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

I can't tell from the e-mail address who sent this message -- so I hope Ledger-Enquirer religion writer Alison Kennedy isn't in hiding somewhere.

We'll hold a couple of other e-mails until later in the week, and briefly check other discoveries from the start of 2008:

+ United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley President Scott Ferguson told WLTZ the campaign is on schedule to meet its financial goal by 12 February. Hmmmm - since that's Abraham Lincoln's birthday, will the last $5,000 be delivered in pennies?

(Scott Ferguson added he's visited every agency funded by the local United Way. He admits he doesn't like staying behind a desk all day - and as we all know, that's why someone invented secretaries years ago.)

+ A Phenix City woman accused a Circle K station on U.S. 280 of selling gasoline with water mixed in, which ruined her car engine. Someone may have passed along bad information about hybrid fuels....

+ Georgia humiliated Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl 41-10. I hereby take back my suggestion last summer that the Atlanta Falcons draft Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan - and suggest instead that they try to talk Georgia's Matthew Stafford into leaving school two years early.

(The Sugar Bowl telecast showed me something I hadn't seen before -- the Georgia Bulldog "Uga" being iced down along the sidelines. Did he pull a hamstring during the season, that no sportscaster reported?)

+ Instant Message to Thom Brennaman of Fox Sports: The fight song is NOT called, "Glory Glory Hallelujah." It's "Glory Glory for Old Georgia." I think the last time "hallelujah" was inserted was when Coach Ray Goff was fired.

This blog had more than 43,000 visitors in 2007 -- up 53% from 2006! To advertise to them, offer a story tip or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

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