Praise The Rock Radio

Praise The Rock Radio was founded in 2008 by DJ Jimmy Allen after receiving a command from the Lord in the middle of the night in the music studio he helped build in the previous years before.

"It was our "band room", recalls Jimmy. "I was in the middle of a recording project. It was the middle of the night and I was sleeping in my Lazy Boy chair when suddenly, someone, or something, kicked the side of my chair!".  "I stood up and heard a very firm, majestic voice say, "you're going to start a radio station called "Praise The Rock Radio".  I quickly stood to my feet, dumbfounded, looking around in the dark; "are you talking to me Lord?  I don't know anything about starting any radio station!  I wouldn't even know where to begin!  But only silence followed.  Other than the sound of computer and mixing board fans, and the occasional dog barking in the distance, it was strangely quiet" recalls Allen.  "There was no light in the room other than the dim LED's of the mixing board, computer, and studio speakers, yet there was a brilliant light that filled the room that seemed to cut through everything."

After a long trek in the wilderness after a very difficult and painful divorce and the years of brokenness and homelessness that followed, "the only thing kept me going was my faith in God, the goal of recording all my music God has given me over the years, and the hope that someday it could be used to bless others, and maybe even make my children proud of me someday.  That was my "mission from God".  But it turned out, God had another mission for me along the way."

"I stood looking around in the dark, waiting for an answer that never came. "Well if I'm hearing you right, and this is what you want me to do, then just show me what to do and lead me to it", I said in the dark, and sat back down and went back to sleep."

The next day, Allen stumbled upon a web site called justin.tv.  There were people streaming live videos, movies, music, games, and more. Feeling a bit adventurous, he created a site called "Praise The Rock Radio.  His first listener was named Ashley who was a Christian from Oklahoma.  They chatted for hours about God and the experience Allen had that led him to start the site.   Ashley stayed tuned in for the next few weeks, and ended up becoming a long time listener of the station and an important member of the prayer group and other groups that followed via facebook, and her and her husband and family have even been out west a few times and visited.

Many other long time listeners and supporters came along in the beginning, and over the years, and became essential, significant, and un-replaceable friends and partners of the station.

"In the beginning", recalls Allen, "when it was only Ashley and I and a few unknown listeners that would pop in from time to time, there was one listener from Canada named "Snowy" that came on and we got to know through the chat window.  Turned out Snowy was a DJ on the "Wolf Radio Network", and invited me to come DJ with them.  "Thank you for asking", I said, but I'm so busy trying to figure out how to make this radio station I've been called to make, I just don't have the time."  She understood and left the offer open.   About a week goes by, and Snowy returns with the same offer.  I re-affirmed my appreciation, and let her know I would do it if I wasn't so overwhelmed trying to figure out how to make PTR.  Again, she understood and left the offer open.  A few more weeks went by, and I was still as lost as ever when Snowy (DJ Snowy by title) returned with the same offer. By then, I was thinking about the story of the man in the flood and the 4 wheel drive, boat, and helicopter that came to rescue him and he refused each time proclaiming his faith that he had prayed that Jesus would save him, but he ended up drowning and asking when he got to Heaven why He let him drown!  Jesus replied, "I sent you a 4 wheel drive, a boat, and helicopter!  What more did you want?  So I accepted the offer, and quickly found out what I was missing. They had me set up and streaming live in one day, and I served on their station for the next seven months; during which time I met others who became an essential part of PTR's evolution.  

New domains were added along the way also like praisetherockradio.net and praisetherockradio.org, for which we had help from an actual professional web designer, and DJ Terry who helped build the second phase, DJ Chrissie who  helped build the third phase (and became a technical admin and co-DJ) and Momma Wolf who got our very first domain and station page going after a conversation we had one day during one of my shows; DJ Snowy and I had pretty much been running the station for several months, and I was telling her about PTR and how I had been working on it before I started working at their station.  She said, "why didn't you tell me about it before, I would have helped you!"  I said, "well I did but I didn't think you were real interested."  "sorry", she said. "Things get a little hectic at times and I don't always catch everything".  "Boy did I find that out later for myself!", said DJ Jimmy. Also, Kory who hailed from the Wolf Radio crowd as well sustained us with his talents and server for the first few years.

The next 6 years would be the most formative years that would see the most rapid growth, and develop the core group of partners and supporters that would become the "PTR Family".  Many gave of their time and resources to the project, which by then had reached most of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There was also a sub culture that had developed on Yoville (now Yoworld) that had become a huge part of the PTR experience.  The "PTRock Club" was a favorite hang-out for some of the listeners and friends, and besides being a fun place to hang-out, chat, listen to music together, and have virtual dance parties, it also became a great outreach and place to share the gospel.

By then, DJ Jimmy was broadcasting six days a week starting with "Friday Love Songs & Oldies" which was a mix of love songs & oldies, from the 60's to the 90's and beyond both ways;  "Saturday Night Youth Night", which was a mix of Christian rock & Contemporary;  "Sunday Inspiration", which was a mix of Contemporary Christian and praise and worship,  "Monday Mix", which was a mix of Contemporary Christian,  and "Wednesday Variety", which was a mix of classic rock and variety and broadcast on "Outcast Radio" which was founded by a former "Wolf Radio Network DJ.  There was also another DJ from Wolf Radio "DJ Terry", who did a show on PTR on Tuesdays for a time, and DJ CDub who did a late night Contemporary Christian show on PTR after "Love Songs & Oldies".

DJ Jimmy also did a "Independent Artist" show on Thursdays, followed by "Jazz Night".

As PTR continued to grow and venture into new unknown territory, many new listeners and supporters came and went over the years, but many become the heart and soul of the station, without whom PTR would have been nothing but a vision, and without who's help and support, that vision would have never become a reality.

Some of these friends and supporters include Linda S., Belinda W., Beverly S.,  Debbie S., Agustina N., Melania C., Gizzy C., Lisa S., Theresa S., Ria M., and of course DJ Chrissie who cared for the station's servers for many years, and Kory who's knowledge and servers got the technical ball rolling.  Despite the bad experience we had with our last server company Nuweb Solutions (formerly known as Dribb.com) we've been very blessed with awesome people like Kory.  Kory's design of the Praise The Rock Radio logo is still with us today.  There has been so many awesome people and connections made along the way.  Racman Christian Radio who broadcast our "Love Songs & Oldies" shows, as well as Winbuddy's Radio, and all the help from the Admins of the facebook Groups over the years,  Linda S., Beverly S., Gizzy C., Marylyn P.,  Adren B., Kimberly A.,  and all who have contributed their time and efforts to the ministry, like Amanda V. who became the voice of PTR, Snowy S., Shawn R., Chris Adams, and CDub who all lent their talents to the cause. 

Moreover, many multi-talented musicians like "Rex Carroll" from "Whitecross" and "King James", and "John Elefante" from "Mastedon" and formerly "Kansas", Lenny Leblanc from Hosanna Music, The Brady's, and so many great "Independent Artists" like Chris Adams, The Kafka Oliver Project (who won our Independent Artist contest) and so many more, have graciously shared their music with us over the years, which been one of the greatest blessings of all blessings, as well as just having the opportunity to get to know so many awesome people, and develop so many great friendships, and to see so many lives changed and hearts set on fire for Jesus, it's all been a blessing from God! 

We've also lost a few incredible friends along the way that were a huge part of the PTR family like Tami Koehler, and Gayla Scott, who are in Heaven now, and a few that just disappeared from facebook and the groups.  Our prayers are always with them, and all our friends and family who have been with us since the beginning of this project over 14 years ago, and those who jumped on the PTR train along the way and stayed on, like Shirley E.,  Bonita H., Teresa P., Marylyn P., Dana H., Linda B., Sis P., and all those that were mentioned previously, and all wo have tuned in over the years, some of whom were faithful followers of the shows for many years like Belinda W., Melania C., and Agustina N., Gizzy C., Beverly S., and more.  

Thank you all very much, and may God shine upon you and yours today and always,  and bless you 100 fold!  

Much love and gratitude,  

Praise the Rock!