How can I find out what's playing on the radio?
We keep a record of what’s playing (and recently played) on our website. Click on the Recently Played link here to find out what’s just played.
Can I buy the music you play?
Sometimes yes, and sometimes no! Once you’ve seen what’s recently played, you can browse our Vision Christian Store to see if we have a copy of the album you like. Sometimes, though, we’ll have trawled through our extensive library for a song, and those albums might be historical or promo-only copies, so they won’t be available in our Store. We encourage you to search for the music on iTunes, a reputable Christian retailer or try Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud or other music streaming apps.
Where can I listen again to Vision audio?
To listen to content played on Vision Christian Radio, click the Listen link to be directed to Vision’s website, or download our free app to your mobile device or tablet. You can also subscribe to podcast feeds using your favourite podcast app. Click here for more details.
Why don't you play more hymns?
Vision is committed to reaching a broad audience – which means that our music style needs to appeal to a wide range of tastes that vary wildly. We love the old hymns for their rich lyrics and often catchy melodies and you’ll sometimes hear some contemporary versions of them in our general playlist. Hymns are frequently played as part of the Worship Hour (weeknights) and some more traditional versions on Sundays in programs like Great Hymns of the Faith and The Gaither Home Coming Radio Show (Southern Gospel style).
For the current times for these shows, click the Radio Guides link here.
Why do you play so much modern music for young people?
Choosing music everyone likes would be impossible, so we don’t try. Most of our music aims to cater to a 30-50-year-old audience. We research using music ‘testing’ to help us decide whether what we’re playing reflects our listeners’ preferences. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about people outside this age group, but experience shows that if we were to try to appeal to everyone, we would, in fact, reach fewer people!
So, while we’re pretty confident that we’re getting the balance right, we can always do better. Please feel free to request a song by clicking the link.
Why do I hear some Christian artists and not others?
We aim to provide Australians with trusted Christian Media that helps them look to God daily. For this reason, we carefully and prayerfully listen to and select only artists with a strong biblical faith and music in keeping with our values and orthodox Christian theological approach. This is a constant work in progress, but we greatly appreciate your support in helping us achieve a faithful, God-glorifying sound. We always welcome feedback.
Who chooses the music you play?
We have a music team who listen to new music all the time, from Australia and from overseas, to find new tracks which we think our listeners will enjoy. The team has extensive contacts within Australia’s Christian music industry, and with our sister networks in North America, Europe and New Zealand, so we’re able to present the very best in new music alongside some tried and true favourites.
Once the music is selected, we use a computer system to place that music in a schedule that ensures it fits in with whatever’s going on at the time on the air – without repeating songs too often or having too many similar songs together. (It sounds easy, but in reality, programming the computer is a highly skilled operation).
How can I find more information about something I heard on the radio?
Good question!
Finding out more information depends on what you heard. The song we just played is easy to find by clicking the recently played link or you can click on our program guide. Drilling down into deeper content is a bit trickier and will depend on whether we generated the content ourselves or it was supplied by one of our many ministry partners.
You might find what you’re after using the search function on our website, or failing that contact us with your query and we’ll endeavour to help you. Tip: If you can note the approximate date and time you heard the content, that will greatly
help us in locating it for you.
Can I get a recording of an interview I heard on Vision to play to my Bible study group?
Our recorded interviews are available on our website or app. Simply check the program guide to find the interview and click the listen again link.
How do you choose your announcers?
There are two very important things we look for in our on-air team.
The first is a heart for God – if we just talk about knowing God without actually knowing Him, then frankly we’d be a bunch of liars. We encourage all our team to walk the talk by placing their full faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour and strive to live God’s way each day.
The second is skill and experience in the art of communicating – especially on radio. We have been blessed with a passionate and gifted team of diverse individuals who are good at their craft and genuine in their pursuit of God. They have a diverse range of life experiences as well as media, business, church life, politics and teaching. Some are single, and others are married. Some are parents, and some are students. While they may not be perfect, like the rest of us, we’d like to think of our on-air team as friends you can trust to help you look to God daily and share the Gospel of Jesus.
How do I become a presenter?
Radio presenting is a skilled art. You need to have the technical knowledge required to run a complex sound desk and computer playout system, and the ability to be entertaining, challenging and inspiring in what you say while running the technical systems simultaneously. Our presentation team has more years of experience behind them than they’ll admit to, but most of them come from a long background in commercial radio. If you’d like to become a presenter, it’s a good idea to get an academic qualification in media, broadcasting or journalism. Getting some experience under your belt is also a good idea – perhaps as a volunteer at your local community station. You can also check out our Join Our Team page.
Can I do work experience with Vision?
There are limited opportunities for school students to gain valuable radio and wider ministry experience. Normally our interns will spend a day in each department to get an overview of network life and what each ministry department achieves. You could find yourself writing a radio ad or voicing a small spot for us by the end of the week. The best way to inquire about work experience is to contact us through this link.
How many people work on a radio show?
Vision is a very lean organisation, so most of our presenters also act as producers as well. We don’t have specific producers who work for a particular program, although the entire media content department works as a team to ensure presenters have what they need.
Where does your news come from?
We have our own team of highly experienced journalists who have previously worked for companies such as the ABC, the BBC, and commercial TV and radio. They compile, write and read our news bulletins from stories they have sourced from our network of contacts and our programs like Neil Johnson’s 20Twenty program, which specialises in covering news and current affairs with a biblical Christian worldview.
We have an arrangement with several major news providers to use their content, which we do very selectively. This includes Macquarie National News (Fairfax), which provides us with access to news stories from their newsrooms around the country and internationally, linking us in with reporters from the BBC and CBS and Macquarie’s overseas staff. We also have a similar arrangement with Voice of America, which gives a different perspective. We also draw on United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) outlets worldwide when news happens in their neck of the woods.
Why do you have advertising?
We run a limited amount of advertising to ensure a better listening experience for our listeners and ensure ads align with our core values and beliefs. While the bulk of the funds we need to operate comes from our many faithful supporters, which means we have far less advertising than commercial stations, the funds from advertisements help us cover the cost of staying on air. It also provides a great opportunity for those wanting to get a message to our audience, in particular, other ministries.
If you’d like to support us with a donation, click the Donate link here.
If you’d like more information about advertising on Vision, click the Advertise with Us link here.
Why do you have Visionathon appeals twice a year?
Some radio stations bombard you with advertising – but our station carries much less advertising than most. Others are government-funded, but we don’t receive any such funding. It’s Vision’s wonderful listeners who help us stay on air — people like you who love what we do so much they’re prepared to open their hearts … and wallets. Twice a year, we have a fundraiser to ensure we can stay on air and keep growing to reach beyond the hundreds of communities our broadcasts already cover. Giving money is a very personal, so we are immensely thankful for the many people who are committed to seeing lives transformed across Australia through the truth and hope of God’s Word.
How does your signal get to my radio?
It’s an incredibly long journey from our microphones to your radio. The signal leaves the Vision studio and travels down a line to Sydney, where it is bounced up to a satellite orbiting the earth more than 40,000km above our heads. From there it bounces back to satellite receivers at our transmitters, where it’s turned into an AM or FM signal and transmitted to your radio. Many people who aren’t within range of our transmitters listen to Vision using our FREE mobile app, online at our website, direct from satellite or through Smart Speakers. We now have 104.3 FM, a high-frequency station in Hobart and DAB+ Radio (Digital Audio Broadcasting) in Brisbane that offers superior sound quality. You can see all the ways to listen here.
Why does Vision's radio signal sometimes disappear?
All sorts of things can cause a break in transmission. Most frequently, it’s because of a problem with your local transmitter. For instance, we’ve had storms blow our satellite receiver dishes over or knock out the power supply to the transmitter. Sometimes, very heavy rain can interrupt the downlink signal from the satellite and even possums have been known to interfere with a broadcast. If you have satellite TV at home, you’ll know that sometimes you’ll lose your TV signal and get an error message blaming ‘rain fade’. Well, that rain fade knocks out our signal just as effectively! Our network operations team works hard to keep our hundreds of transmitters on the air. If your station goes off air, please report a station off air here, and we’ll try to fix it as quickly as we can. Alternatively you can free call us on 1800 007 770.
How do I make a complaint?
We hope you don’t have any reasons to complain! But if there is something you feel we’re doing wrong or that you’re concerned about, we want to know about it. Please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling our feedback line on 1800 316 316 or clicking this contact form link.
If it is a more serious matter, you do need to tell us in writing so we can assess your concern and respond. You can write to us at Locked Bag 3, Springwood, Qld, 4127, Australia.
At all times, we seek to abide by Biblical principles and we are also bound by the Narrowcasting Codes of Practice as registered with the Australian Media and Communications Authority. The codes outline various standards including procedures for dealing with complaints. For a copy of the codes, click here.
How do I get publicity for my local church event?
Because we cover such a wide area of the country, we don’t run a ‘daily diary’ section on the radio. A church bazaar in Dubbo, NSW, for example, isn’t going to be of much interest to a listener in Bunbury, WA.
What's the difference between Vision and other Christian community broadcasters?
Community stations are generally limited to serving one city or town, and are awarded their licence by the authorities based on proving that there is a need and sufficient support for the station to exist. Although some may work closely together, they are all individual, independent organisations. They have their own autonomous board or committee, hold individual negotiations with broadcasting authorities, represent only local interests, and set their own programming mix as appropriate to the local listening audience. Formats vary depending on the station’s target audience and their desired ministry outcomes.
On the other hand, Vision holds Open Narrowcast licences, with each broadcast site essentially being a repeater of the program beamed by satellite from our studios in Brisbane. Vision is also a listener-supported network. Local individuals and/or churches request for Vision to come to local communities, and listeners and supporters enable the broadcast to continue via their financial donations and prayers.
Are you associated with Vision Australia or World Vision?
We admire the work of both these organisations, but there is no connection.
How do I get a Vision transmitter in my area?
The cost of establishing a new transmission site depends on the output power and unique site requirements.
Low power licences (ideal in a small country town, for example) typically cost less than $10,000 to establish. This includes the satellite receiving and FM retransmission equipment, the cost of the licence itself, basic local marketing, and program supply via satellite for the first year.
High-power licences and transmission sites are more expensive (but they do have much greater reach).
If you’d like to bring Vision’s radio ministry to your community – or elsewhere, click the Fund a Station link here.