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10 Questions with ... Ty McFarland
July 31, 2023
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1. How in the world did you even get into radio?
In between my sophomore and junior years in high school, I went up into a church sound booth and with a mic and a fancy dual cassette deck, I made a little demo tape that I mailed to the incoming manager of KTSY, Mike Agee. The station was due to sign on in a few months, and it was right there at my high school, and it sounded like fun, and Mike needed help typing up the 3x5 index cards that we were going to use for "music rotation" (whatever that was). So, I was hired! I had worked long hours previously on a farm, I'd worked as a janitor, I'd folded boxes in a baking factory, I'd pushed around pallets of books at a printing company, etc., so the idea of being paid to talk and listen to music, in an air-conditioned building was … too good to pass up. We trained to be student DJ's. I came in earlier and earlier for training each day, and a cute girl that I liked started staying later and later each day. And today, that girl and I have been married for 28 years and she is known as Mrs. McFarland.
2. What's one thing you wish you had known about radio when you first started?
That Christian radio is just loving people with the love of Jesus. Through the radio. The rest is details.
3. How has God pulled you out of your comfort zone?
Multiple times, he's brought me to the end of myself.
I know for a fact that I can't do anything without living my life in Christ. I shared with some friends recently that we have blackberry vines in the Pacific Northwest. Newbies like me love them. We love the idea of fresh blackberries and berry smoothies and blackberry cobblers, etc., when we move in, but then we quickly learn. Blackberry vines will eat your house and ivy and trees and bushes and lawn. And probably your pets too. You can't kill them by politely pruning them. You have to aggressively kill them by cutting them completely off from their source of life. As long as they are connected to their source of life, the vine, they are unstoppable. It's John 15.
4. Some great advice you recently received is…
"Be bold. Lead well." - Jason Sharp at CMB Momentum 2023.
5. Tell us about someone who you really respect and why?
TJ Malievsky - when a leader's walk and their talk match up, and they lead by following Christ, I have much respect!
6. What's one thing you try to do when life gets hard?
Read my Bible. Pray. Go for a walk. Eat dark chocolate. Go look at water and mountains. Socialize. I know. That's not one thing.
7. What's something about you that would surprise most people?
I was born in Houston, Texas, and as a child I lived briefly in Bellingham, Washington, central California, Boise, Idaho and the Washington, DC area. Later on in my life, I worked at stations in Houston, central California, Washington DC, Boise, Idaho, and today I often travel just up the road, to my station in Bellingham, Washington. What is going on here? Am I trying to retrace my steps? Did I lose my keys? Do I just not know enough places? Is it programmed into the genes in my family? Is God laughing at me because he knows I didn't even grow up in Seattle, so now I really don't know what's next? What is going on?!
8. What's your go to song when the windows are down and you're driving on the highway?
The stats are a few years old at this point, (since I'm on a shared Spotify account now), but according to the Music app on my phone, scientifically, it is/was some combination of:
Miracle - Tauren Wells
Oceans - Rend Collective version
Shuckin' The Corn - Sleepy Man Banjo Boys
Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah) - Andy Grammar
I Smile - Kirk Franklin
9. In three words describe your ideal vacation.
Long, flexible, and paid-for.
10. Tell us one thing that you bought recently that WASN'T on your grocery list.
The problem I usually have with that, is that when I do it, it's usually at Costco and I haven't had a sample first. I just get adventurous and end up with a Costco-sized amount. Shelled pistachios worked out well for me. Mochi candy and seaweed flakes did not.
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