Cephas Hour on BlackLight Radio Celebrates First Anniversary

Cephas Hour (http://cephashour.com/), the only weekly radio show devoted to Christian rock and pop from the 1980s with occasional nods to the 1970s and 1990s as well airing on a non-religious station, will celebrate its first anniversary this Sunday May 26, 2013 with a "best of the best" playlist featuring bands and artists such as Crumbächer, the 77s, Daniel Amos, Altar Boys, Steve Taylor and more. The show is heard exclusively on BlackLight Radio.

Cephas Hour airs every Sunday on BlackLight Radio at 11 AM Eastern with a repeat broadcast at 11 PM Eastern. BlackLight Radio has been broadcasting online at http://blacklightradio.com/ since 2005, featuring an all-80s music format since 2000. The station is also available on the TuneIn app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Jerry Wilson, who has hosted Cephas Hour since its inception, brings a unique set of qualifications to his duties. As a music journalist covering the Christian music industry during the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s, Wilson interviewed many of the artists whose music he plays on the show and even introduced more than a few of them when serving as an emcee for shows in the San Francisco Bay Area. More recently Wilson wrote the book First and Forgotten (http://firstandforgotten.com/) chronicling, in their own words, the lives of these same artists both back then and in the present day.

"The show is fulfillment of both a dream and a promise," Wilson states. "This is the music I wish I could have heard on the radio when it was new. Even more important is that these artists, individually and collectively, created a catalog of work that is brilliant on all fronts — musically, lyrically and spiritually. Cephas Hour is a celebration of this brilliance, bringing it back for both people who remember it from back in the day and new fans discovering this amazing music for the first time. It is my way of, at least in part, repaying the immeasurable debt I and so many others owe these artists for the sacrifices they made delivering to us this incomparable gift."

Cephas Hour purposely airs solely on BlackLight Radio. Station owner Gene Savage comments, "Cephas Hour is exactly where it needs to be, and I say that because a local Christian 'oldies' program can have a hard time either getting airtime on a local station and/or getting a big enough audience to justify time and expense. By streaming over the Internet, fans old and new of classic Christian contemporary can gather and form a new community not bound by geographic lines, but instead by musical tastes. Additionally, Cephas Hour is in the right place at the right time because it is on a mass-appeal, 'secular' formatted station. This provides both a larger potential audience and an audience more likely to need to hear the message behind the music. While more and more Christians are discovering the show, this is not 'preaching to the choir.' The lost getting up (or still up) on a Sunday morning, or tuning in before heading to bed Sunday evening, hear the message of a loving, saving God without being beaten to death with church-speak. Cephas Hour on BlackLight Radio gets the gospel, through these thirty-plus year old recordings, into corners of the world no contemporary Christian station has ever dreamed of reaching. It truly is taking the good news of Jesus Christ around the world, and BlackLight Radio could not be happier about being the vessel for that kind of ministry."

Wilson adds, "There is a great deal of talk today, especially in politically conservative circles, about an urgent need to 'change the culture' by infusing what are generally considered conservative values into popular culture – music, television, film and the like. The music on Cephas Hour puts this talk into action, usually not on a direct political level but always on one that is much deeper. Culture change begins when hearts and minds change. Hearts and minds most often change when information is provided in a palatable format. Great music with honest, open lyrics is such a format. This is where Cephas Hour comes into the picture. If we are honest about what we believe, we will support others proclaiming these beliefs. The show itself is not that important. It is the artists, and their work, that deserve full support from those saying they want to change things. The Prince of Peace trumps politics every time. Every time."

Mike Stand, of Altar Boys and currently Altar Billies fame, marks the show's anniversary by stating, "The honeymoon's over. Congratulations on your one year anniversary. May you have many more years, and many more after that, and after that… who knows? Maybe, some more years as well?"

About Cephas Hour

Cephas Hour is the only weekly radio show playing classic Christian alternative rock and pop primarily from the 1980s with some material from the 1970s and 1990s. Hosted by veteran Christian music journalist Jerry Wilson, Cephas Hour features artists that both created and defined a genre presently occupied by bands such as Switchfoot and Relient K. For more information, visit http://cephashour.com/.

About BlackLight Radio

BlackLight Radio is a streaming music station based in Oklahoma. On the air since 2005, BlackLight features an all-80s music format that delights new fans of the decade as well as those who grew up with the music. BlackLight also hosts Cephas Hour at 11 AM and 11 PM Eastern time every Sunday. For more information visit http://blacklightradio.com/.