Moody Radio honors Dan Craig at NRB 2024 for decades of radio ministry service
Moody Radio recently presented an honorary award to longtime radio veteran and staff member, Dan Craig.
The Ministry Impact Award was presented to Craig by vice president of Moody Radio, Wes Ward, at the National Religious Broadcasters’ annual conference in Nashville. Craig was honored by radio peers and broadcast colleagues for his many years of Christian radio ministry work.
“Dan is an integral member of our Moody Radio leadership team and family,” said Ward. “He brings a unique blend of strategic thinking, decades-long experience and deep knowledge of the radio landscape that has been invaluable to planning and growing.” He added, “We are thankful for Dan’s many years of dedicated service with Moody to share the gospel message across the airwaves.”
Originally from San Diego, Craig put his faith in Christ in 1963—a decision that would set the trajectory for his more than 45-year career with positions that included On-Air Personality, News Director, Operations Manager, General Manager as well as Manager of Programming.
Since 1977, Craig has worked in radio stations across the county spanning California, Colorado, Ohio and Chicago. His station experience also grew to be multi-faceted throughout the years, with formats ranging from country music, jazz, and adult contemporary, to news talk, contemporary Christian, and Christian teaching/talk.
In the late 90s, he began his radio career serving as general manager at WFRD Columbus (Salem Communications), a role that he would grow in for the next 14 years
Having grown up as a “PK” (i.e. preacher’s kid) and knowing how challenging the ministry could be on a pastor and his family, he made sure that the radio teams he served were consistently looking for ways to encourage pastors. In 2000, his team in Columbus, Ohio, began an annual Pastors Appreciation Breakfast. There were 67 pastors in attendance the first year, and they gave away a trip for two to Israel. By 2008, there were more than 700 attendees. Alongside a morning of worship through music and encouragement, there was a challenge from a guest speaker and gifts of encouragement.
“Nearly every year we would hear from a pastor or two that they came to the breakfast so tired and discouraged, they were planning to leave the ministry,” Craig recalls. “But after the event, they left feeling that God was with them and they were ready to press on. We also learned of several, strong friendships between pastors that began at these events.”
After this flourishing season in Columbus, Craig stayed in the Salem family, but transitioned to his role as general manager of KFAX & KDOW San Francisco. During his time there, he led a team in 2010 to achieve financial goals for the first time since 2000. Then in May of 2011, Craig transitioned to the Moody Radio team and began his role as manager of programming, where he has faithfully served for the past 13 years.
“I have never felt worthy to hold this position,” said Craig, “however, I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord orchestrated my coming and guided my steps every day. It has been a thrill to watch Him work through our team and, using divine appointments, He spoke to hundreds of thousands of listeners each day.”
Church ministry is also an area that Craig has passionately pursued throughout his career. He served as director of Youth, Church Activities and Church Publicity while in San Diego, and as a deacon and couples ministry leader in different churches he has attended. Craig has been married to his wife, Vickie, for 40 years, and together they have two adult daughters and five grandchildren.
Little known fact: along with his multi-decade station experience and ministry work, Craig also created a board game called Denarii: The Ultimate Bible Game (Accent Publications) to help families invest quality time together getting to know facts from the Bible.
With the breadth of work and years served, this summer will also mark Craig’s retirement from radio ministry. His more than 45 years of combined radio ministry experience has been an instrumental gift, and the team at Moody Radio has already begun the process of searching for his replacement.
Moody Radio is a Christian radio network that helps listeners take the next step in their journey with Jesus Christ by creating and delivering practical and life-changing content. Moody Radio proclaims the Word to all cultures and generations by addressing today's issues from a biblical worldview. For more information about Moody Radio and how to locate a station and its program schedule, please visit www.moodyradio.org.