Six months before he arrived in Knoxville to begin his internship, Chandler Cruttenden was sliding 500 feet down an Oklahoma highway after a motorcycle crash that could have ended his life.
Today, he’s learning “everything that keeps Joy Radio on air.”
That road from asphalt to radio is not one he takes lightly.
Chandler purchased his first bike in June, “a 2003 Honda CBR600RR,” and three months later made what he calls “a terrible mistake” while riding home through the Arbuckle Mountains in southern Oklahoma.
He tried to pass a line of cars. He misjudged the distance. The front tire locked. The bike went down.
“Sliding down the road between cars, my thoughts were no longer panicked and instead were clear and calculated,” he recalls. At one point, he could see the truck in front of him. “The space between my face and the rear tires was closing fast.”
He slid 500 feet.
Traffic. Speed. Hard pavement. Oncoming vehicles.
That’s not the kind of story that usually ends well.
When he finally stopped, he was injured but conscious. A few days later, after nearly fainting in the shower, he went for scans. “Amazingly all the x-rays and CT scans were clear!”
No major internal damage. No collision with other vehicles. No life-altering injuries. Just aches and pains that would pass with time.
“So many variables determine the outcome of uncontrollable situations, and I believe my accident happened in the best possible way it could’ve,” he says. “I truly believe God’s Word that He has a plan for my life.”
In the months that followed, his outlook shifted. “I received this internship only after I stopped fixating on the careers I initially desired and instead became open to any opportunity that God might present.”
Six months after sliding across pavement, he stepped into a Christian radio station committed to Biblical truth, Christian talk, and faith-based programming that reaches listeners across Knoxville and East Tennessee.
Chandler officially joined the team on February ninth in an internship capacity to broaden his skills in radio. He wants to learn it all.
Production. Copy writing. Traffic. Sales. But what really energizes him is the technical backbone most listeners never think about.
“I am most excited to gain skills in RF engineering, such as hardware setup and maintenance, IT, networking, and everything that keeps Joy Radio on air!” Chandler says.
That work isn’t always seen and heard, but it is essential. Bible teaching, Christian talk radio, and daily encouragement only reach homes, offices, and car speakers if the signal holds steady.
“My initial exposure to radio was assisting a friend in setting up a station for Family First Radio,” Chandler explains, adding that it was an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.
“When I recently began looking into the job market again I thought back to that project and how well it aligned with the kind of work I find most engaging,” Chandler says. “With my related background in media and computers I considered that I should pursue a radio career path.”
Along the way, his view of Christian broadcasting deepened.
“I didn’t always see broadcast radio as the effective outreach tool that it truly is,” he admits. Now he sees its reach clearly. “When paired with a message founded in Biblical truth it becomes a powerful tool bringing hope to the world.”
For anyone who turns on Christian radio during a hard season, that hope is not abstract. It’s personal.
Chandler holds tightly to Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Also important to him are Eph. 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them,” and and Prov. 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
These verses are pertinent to Chandler’s change of perspective. “They show how we try to make our own plans but God created us for a purpose He has already prepared for us,” he says.
A motorcycle crash. A surrendered plan. An open door.
Sometimes the road that almost takes you out is the one that leads you straight to your calling.
Listen to Tonya Stoutt-Brown's interview with Troy Miller, President and CEO of NRB. Behind the…
Breaking the Cycle Recidivism. It’s not a word that comes up in daily conversation,…
by Catelyn Luckey with Tonya Stoutt-Brown If you ask my family what I think…