Blogs by Author: Cecil Van Houten

Welcome to the New Normal

11.05.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[3]

It's mostly the tab and the ctrl keys that do it - make me wince a little that is.  I'll have to get used to it for awhile, but all in all, I have no complaints. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Tuesday I was back at Strong Memorial ...

The Wheat and the Chaff...Do Performance Rights Matter

10.26.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[3]

So last week the Senate Finance Committee voted to approve the Performance Rights Act which, if it ultimately becomes law, will impose performance royalties on broadcast radio.  You may have heard the debate as it's been getting ...

A Progress Update

10.18.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[6]

Someone came up to me during the Sharathon Friday and asked how I was feeling.  As we talked it dawned on me that it had been three months to the day that everything happened.  Three months.  In some ways it seems like ...

Fa La La La La...Here We Go Again

09.30.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[28]

To quote Vince Guaraldi and the Peanuts gang, "Christmastime is Here"...well, almost.  I put an article up last week about Christmas music and had over two dozen email responses so I thought it might be good to carry the topic over to a blog ...

The Value of What You Do

09.18.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[2]

I was working on scheduling music for the network this morning - a task that takes hours each week to accomplish - and when I was finished I thought to myself, "Good, that's done for another week."  I looked down at the screen ...

Have You Noticed?

09.08.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[4]

Have you noticed how many trees, mostly maples it seems, are starting to turn color already?  Connie and I were driving around the southern tier over the long weekend and were surprised at how many leaves shone in bright shades of orange and ...

The Most Interesting Month of My Life - Part II

08.18.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[23]

The columnist Robert Novak died yesterday of brain cancer at the age of 78.  Last night I was watching the rebroadcast of an interview Brian Lamb did with him on C-SPAN a couple of years ago and only then realized that the cancer that killed ...

The Most Interesting Month of My Life - Part I

08.14.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[20]

One month ago today I went to my doctor for an appointment I had scheduled several months earlier.  I hadn't been feeling well for awhile before that day - very fatigued, little appetite, stressed out - so my goal that day was to ask my doctor ...

Christian Music, Phil Stacey, Christy Nockels

07.02.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[5]

A few random notes and a couple of upcoming things...a listener posed a question on the last blogpost about Family Life Today and Money Matters, specifically, why are they no longer heard on FLN.  Money Matters was dropped by it's producer and ...

Odds 'n Ends

06.18.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[1]

One program announcement and two cool things I came across this week - thought you might be interested.  One is a new record from a great, underrated artist by the name of Mike Farris.  Not familiar with him?  I'm not surprised if ...

Your Thoughts on Christian Music Today

06.17.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[16]

First, thanks for all the great comments on the post from a couple of weeks ago on "What's Missing in Christian Music Today?". As usual, it's taken me longer to follow up than I would prefer but... Some interesting insights from the posters and ...

Staying With the Tour

06.11.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[0]

I appreciate the comments on the Monday blog post but bear in mind, this particular blog is not a referendum about FLN and its music.  I'm talking about the Christian music industry, not the portion of the spectrum that FLN plays.  We can ...

What's Missing In Christian Music Today?

05.18.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[12]

So what's your beef with Christian music?  What are you wanting to hear that you're not hearing?  I don't mean on Family Life Network.  We have a chosen music format, which is basically a mix of adult contemporary and inspirational ...

Christmas Music Follow-up

01.05.09 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[1]

Happy New Year to all and thanks for your input on the Christmas music blog.  I received, along with the blog comments, about 50 emails from listeners who had comments on FLN's  Christmas programming.  Thanks to everyone who ...

This Year's Model - What's Your Take On The New Christmas Music?

12.22.08 | Cecil Van Houten | Comments[12]

Family Life is well into its Christmas programming for 2008.  We've added a number of songs from Christmas albums that released this year including BarlowGirl, Travis Cottrell, Casting Crowns, Sixpence None The Richer, Faith Hill, Mandisa and ...