WNZR got to talk with Derral Eves, the Executive Producer of “The Chosen”!
Derral tells us about his backstory and how the very popular show came to be. He also shares some information regarding a new project called “The Chosen Adventures”! It will be an animated series that would come out on Amazon this month, on October 17th!
To learn more about The Chosen Adventures, click HERE!
The 56th Annual GMA Dove Awards Broadcast was shared by Trinity Broadcast Network on Friday, 10/10/25. The night was full of exciting performances including a few surprise guests.
Brandon Lake took home 5 awards including Song of the Year with “Hard Fought Hallelujah”.
Click HERE to read the Dove Awards Press Release from the Gospel Music Association.
To see the full list of winners, click HERE.
The Dove Awards broadcast will re-air Friday, October 17th, 2025, At 7:30pm and 10:00pm ET on TBN, the TBN+ app, and TBN YouTube.
Here is a highlight of the 2025 Winners. Congratulations to all nominees!
SONG OF THE YEAR –
Hard Fought Hallelujah by Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll
Writers: Brandon Lake, Jelly Roll, Steven Furtick, Chris Brown and Benjamin William Hastings
ARTIST OF THE YEAR – Forrest Frank
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR – Leanna Crawford
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR (ARTIST) – Brandon Lake
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR (NON-ARTIST) – Mitch Wong
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR – Jeff Pardo
POP/CONTEMPORARY SONG OF THE YEAR –
Your Way’s Better by Forrest Frank
Writers: Forrest Frank and Pera
GOSPEL WORSHIP RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR –
Come Jesus Come by CeCe Winans and Shirley Caesar
Writers: Hank Bentley, Bryan Fowler, Stephen McWhirter and Tara McWhirter
WORSHIP RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR –
I Know A Name by Elevation Worship, Chris Brown and Brandon Lake
Writers: Brandon Lake, Steven Furtick, Jacob Sooter and Hank Bentley
INSPIRATIONAL RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR –
The Jesus Way by Phil Wickham
Writers: Phil Wickham and Jonathan Smith
BLUEGRASS/COUNTRY/ROOTS SONG OF THE YEAR –
Hard Fought Hallelujah by Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll
Writers: Brandon Lake, Jelly Roll, Steven Furtick, Chris Brown and Benjamin William Hastings
CHRISTMAS RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR –
Joy To The World by CeCe Winans
Writers: Traditional
POP/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR –
CHILD OF GOD by Forrest Frank
Producers: Forrest Frank, Pera, Noah Conrad, JVKE, Jackson Foote, Johnny Simpson, Zac Lawson and Splash Of Soda
WORSHIP ALBUM OF THE YEAR –
When Wind Meets Fire by Elevation Worship
Producers: Steven Furtick, Chris Brown, Josh Holiday and Chandler Moore
ROCK/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR –
Trustfall by Stephen Stanley
Producers: Stephen Stanley, Tedd T. and Jake Halm
CHRISTMAS/SPECIAL EVENT ALBUM OF THE YEAR –
Hallelujah! It’s Christmas! By Phil Wickham
Producers: Jonathan Smith, Josh Auer, Jerad Atherton, Tyler Halford, Ben Lounsbury and Aaron Robertson
RECORDED MUSIC PACKAGING OF THE YEAR –
Heaven On My Mind by TobyMac
Art Directors: Nathan Blaine, Aaron Stearns and Trent Nicholson
Graphic Artists: Nathan Blaine and Aaron Stearns
Photographer – Robby Klein
SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR (CONCEPT) –
Can’t Stop Me by TobyMac
Director: Eric Welch
Producer: Scott McDaniel
SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR (PERFORMANCE) –
Hard Fought Hallelujah by Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll
Directors: Brandon Lake and Jacob Boyles
Producers: Jacob Boyles, Rachel Mulcahy, Sadie Schwanberg and Caleb Cook
LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR –
A Drummer Boy Christmas (LIVE) by for KING & COUNTRY
Directors: Joel Smallbone and Kadin Tooley
Producers: Joshua Walsh, Stephen Preston and Luke Smallbone
FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR –
The King of Kings
Director: Jang Seong-ho
Producers: Jang Seong-ho and Kim Woo-hyung
TELEVISION SERIES OF THE YEAR –
The Chosen
Director: Dallas Jenkins
Producers: Dallas Jenkins, Chad Gundersen and Chris Juen
DeeDee Berger, Assistant Administrator with Kno Ho Co Ashland Community Action Commission came to WNZR to talk about a special event planned for this week. They are hosting a Breast Cancer Awareness Event at the Ramser Center located at 700 Perimeter Drive on the Knox County Fairgrounds.
This Thursday 10/16/25, from 6pm – 9pm, they will provide valuable information to women, host a professional panel to answer questions, have free giveaways and a silent auction. You are invited!
Click HERE to hear our conversation with DeeDee Berger.
Click HERE to find out more about Kno Ho Co Ashland.
WNZR got to sit down with Dr. Carson Castleman, as he give us the October installment of our MVNU Presidential Update!
This month, Dr. Castleman shares about enrollment, MVNU’s fall revival, and the upcoming Tragedy into Triumph event that is coming to our campus in November! He also gives us an up to date look on what is happening with MVNU Baseball’s On-Deck Campaign.
Go listen to the full conversation below!
Lisa Lloyd, Senior Program director for the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon talks about her role with Kiwanis and how she was the president in previous years, and she’s been an official member since 2011.
Click HERE for the full conversation!
She talks about the history of Kiwanis and its programs that it is a part of. They kicked off their annual Coats for Kids collection on October 1, the collection started in 1987, and their goal for this year is ~500 coats.
Lisa talks about the collection points you can go to around Knox County. There are 39 different locations at every public school in the county, Park National Bank, CES Credit Union, The People’s Bank, Knox Public Health locations, and so many more. They’re looking for gently used coats, they will clean them before handing them out.
They’re looking for all size of coats for ages all the way up to 18. The coats are distributed by Interchurch and Salvation Army.
The deadline for donating is October 31st, after which they will be taken to clean so they can be handed out. She shouts out Knox Community Hospital and their own coat drive that they run.
Click HERE to find out more!
Our very own Eric Brown got to sit down with chart-topping Christian artist Mark Schultz!
He shares with us about his journey to being an artist, his song writing process, and how he hopes people feel after listening to his songs. Mark also goes in depth on one of his songs and shares a story he heard recently from a fan.
Mark will be right here on MVNU’s campus for Starting Point’s “Evening with Mark Schultz” tomorrow! It is a night of music and conversation that you won’t want to miss.
To secure tickets click HERE!
To learn more about Starting Point click HERE!
One of WNZR’s Founding Fathers, Bill Bridges who was a part of the original Mount Vernon Nazarene College Staff in 1968, stopped by to celebrate the 39th anniversary of WNZR!
Click HERE to hear the entire conversation with Bill and Station Manager, Marcy Rinehart!
Bill helped found the Speech and Communications Department. Bill says that Founders Hall wasn’t ready, so they met in October in various places throughout Mount Vernon.
Bill said that the dream of having a radio station started around 1978. He said that they interviewed Dr. Henry Smith (who was one of Marcy’s professors) and he joined the staff.
Bill said he taught a radio class before they even had a radio station. He says WMVO in Mount Vernon gave them an old sound board, so they were able to have radio classes. They would broadcast to those in the breezeway between Founders and Faculty Halls.
Bill says that he and Dr. Smith started researching what it would take to start a “real” radio station. Bill stayed until 1980 and passed the department to Dr. Smith while he returned to the ministry.
Bill says the staff at WNZR is living out his dream. He talks about what he thinks that God has done to make his dream come true. He says the current ministry of WNZR is more than just a radio station. It is a Lifeline. WNZR does more than just play good Christian music and read the news, but what kind of impact it has on the community.
Bill gives some wisdom to WNZR staff members, “Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to try. Don’t be afraid of failing. You never truly succeed unless you really try and take chances. He says trust God and trust your fellow workers.”
Click HERE to check out WNZR’s awesome website and learn more about our ministry!
This week we are featuring Orange Barrel’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest!
Lily Davis plays Merriman and Grimsby in the production and she got to talk with us. She tells us all about the show, her characters, and her acting past!
The show opens up on October 3rd at the Mount Vernon Developmental Center and you won’t want to miss it!
For more information click HERE!
WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart recently spoke with Katie Ellis, the Executive Director for United Way of Knox County.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation!
Katie is excited to kick off their 2025 Campaign and she shares some exciting details about the goal. Katie shares the mission of the United Way of Knox County and what the United Way means to her.
Katie shares some of their major partners for the 2025 campaign and the power of those partnerships. She likes how agencies can come together for a goal instead of feeling like they’re competing. Their goal for 2025 is $1.11 million to help cover all their internal programs and over 50% of the money will be redistributed to other agencies.
She talks about how they decided on their $1.11 million goal; they looked at the scope of how much they could get and how much they needed to distribute to agencies before deciding their goal. She hopes they can hit the $650,000 from the community goal by the end of the year. Their major contributors are you, the community, and local businesses who will match their employee giving. Their fundraising year doesn’t end until March 2026.
Katie breaks down the three pillars of a community: education, healthy living and financial stability; she talks a bit about those and what they are doing to help achieve that.
She talks about the agencies and programs the campaign will help support. The campaign goes to support internal agencies and programs they host, and she highlights some of the agency’s part of the united way. The grant application period to become an agency or program of the united way opens Wednesday October 1st and is open until the 31st, interviews happen in November, and she talks a bit how you can do that. The process is largely for vetting agencies and ensuring agencies are meeting community needs and she talks a bit more about that.
Click HERE to find out more about the United Way of Knox County!
WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart recently had a sit down with Jennifer Furay, the Executive Director for Starting point Pregnancy and Family Resource Center for a fantastic talk.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation!
Starting point has been around for 36 years, they offer family counseling, pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STI/STD testing and treatment, they have abortion pill reversals, and they have a mobile unit starting soon. Jennifer has been the Executive Director for two years and she talks about their location on Woodlake trail.
The mobile unit was announced this summer, and she talks about what they’re going to be doing when they are ready to go themselves. Its been 15 years in the making and they’re very excited for spreading their goal of making a community where abortion is unthinkable. The most important focus for their new patients is to get an ultrasound, visualization of seeing their child brings the human element back into the picture. The mobile vehicle is nearing completion; Jennifer hopes to start on the road soon.
Jennifer talks about their fundraising events and volunteer efforts and she talks about how their volunteers are what keep them going, she sees them as partners in the fight for life.
She talks about their MVNU volunteers and their efforts as part of Cougs for KSP and she’s excited for the volunteers they have. She highlights some of the volunteers from MVNU and some of the events they have around campus. She wants the message to be heard that the students are important. She shares how you can pray for them, you can pray for them to have the energy to continue the mission and help them to do all they can.
Don’t forget this Saturday will be a jam packed day starting with Starting Point’s Bubble Run, followed by an Evening with Mark Schultz!
Click HERE to learn more about the Bubble Run!
Click HERE to learn more about “An Evening with Mark Schultz!
Click HERE to learn more about Starting Point Pregnancy and Family Resource Center!
Rise and Shine 