Radio presenters become friends rather than mere personalities in the lives of their listeners and our programs offer the opportunity to minister to them in personal ways.
A counselling role can take two forms. There is off-line (mail correspondence) counselling or on-line (through phone-in programs). Obviously, local circumstances will dictate what can be done.
FEBC's Manila station, DZAS, provides counselling through its Heartline program which comes on air at 10:00pm each night. Each night the scene is set for a specific theme and listeners are invited to respond. A trained counsellor takes the phone calls in the studio after the callers have been previously screened off-air. Some callers are diverted to off-air counsellors while selected ones are put through to the on-air counsellor.
Experience around the world shows that such programs, especially at night, are relevant and have great impact. The busyness of the day no longer crowds out underlying fears and problems and with the closing in of the night comes the darkness of their problems and feelings, loneliness and despair.
Letter counselling is also effective. For international broadcasts it is the only option at present, but this could change with on-air studios in target areas being linked to international stations via satellite. Letter counselling is not so program-intensive but, in order to be of maximum effect, follow-up staff need to work closely with program producers and presenters to ensure that programming relates closely to the people who write and what they write about. A golden rule of effective letter counselling is that the primary questions of the letter-writer be responded to -- whatever they are. Some questions may seem totally irrelevant to the ministry of the Gospel, but many first-time writers are often checking out the Christian station. If they receive a sympathetic and friendly response it will open the way for more contact.
In Myanmar, letter counsellors are divided into three categories. The first is the befriender whose objective is straightforward: befriend the writer and win his confidence. After several exchanges of correspondence a tract may be inserted in the letter - but without comment. If this generates some kind of response then the writer will subsequently be referred to the second level of counsellor. Deeper spiritual questions are turned over to the third counsellor. These letters require a much deeper level of understanding, experience, and spiritual insight. This approach has proved to be most effective and has been the means of hundreds of listeners coming to faith each year. Listeners are also encouraged to personally visit the offices for face-to-face encounter - a regular occurrence.
One great attraction of radio stations is the anonymity for listeners who have problems which are taboo in their own culture or which cannot easily be asked of friends or family. Many writers from India seek advice for sexual problems and difficult relational problems. Where else could they get it? The station must honour this level of privacy. That is why localised follow-up of listeners may not always be wise.
Letters can be answered on-air for different reasons. The listener's question could be representative of many others who would also like to ask the same question. Another reason is that sending a reply by letter may endanger the listener (for contact with a Christian station) or it may have little chance of arriving. There is also an eavesdropping effect. Listeners like to hear about other peoples' real life problems - and the advice being given. In many instances, presenters can ask other listeners to send in their advice or experience. Research has shown that this participatory effect of listener-involved programming is very effective. The short-wave program Mailbag in Manila has probably been one of the most popular in FEBC's Overseas English service.