On today’s Artist Newsday, we listened to Russ Lee and Emerson Day talk about their Christmas traditions and how God has blessed them during this season! We also talked about a fun New Years Eve special happening next Wednesday the 31st!
Russ Lee shares details on what Christmas is like for his family and the fun things they do including his favorite Christmas movies!
Emerson Day shares what’s on her Christmas list this year along with family traditions and the potential of releasing a Christmas EP in the future!
Chris Tomlin tries to be Santa for his three daughters! He shares what Christmas is like for him and yes… he listens to Christmas music before Christmas.
Matthew West shares what he loves about getting to write music for Jesus! He also talks about what he loves about Christmas!
Tune in during The Morning Thing with Traven Griffith for the best songs of 2025! He will count down the top 30 songs in Christian music to celebrate the New Year! Go to wnzr.fm for more information!
Our lyrics for this week’s song poetry was:
Did you know that your baby boy
has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered
will soon deliver you
“Mary Did You Know?” by Mark Lowry! Congratulations to Denise of Mount Vernon for guessing the sone and artist correctly and taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
THERE WILL BE NO AFTERNOON DRIVE 12/24 OR 12/25!!! Tune in this Friday for the NZ Top 10 with Daniel!
On today’s Artist News Day, we talked about Seph Schlueter bringing his Counting My BlessingsTour back this spring, Leanna Crawford coming to Ohio four different times with The Sisterhood Tour, and… Forrest Frank sold out 90% of his upcoming tour in just one week!
Seph Schlueter is coming out of 2025 with many achievements, including a Gold certification certification on his song “Counting My Blessings”, which also sat at #1 for a couple of weeks on The NZ Top 10! Seph’s song “Running Back To You”, which also appeared on The NZ Top 10, earned Billboard’s Christian AC title, among reaching many other accomplishments!
Seph will be back in Ohio this spring with his Counting My Blessings Tour, alongside his friends, Allison Eide and Charles Weems!
You can catch Seph in Massilon, Ohio, on Thursday, February 26! Tickets will go live on Friday, December 19. Stay up-to-date on our webiste, wnzr.fm/concerts to get tickets for yourself!
More information about Seph’s tour can be found here!
Leanna Crawford is headlining on The Sisterhood Tour, alongside her friends, Riley Clemmons and Madison Watkins!
Leanna will be coming to four different cities in Ohio on this tour: Massilon, Van Wert, Circleville, and Holland! Tickets are live now, and you have many options to choose from!
Leanna’s Massilon, Ohio concert will be on Friday, February 27, at Rivertree Christian Church (Jackson Campus), Massilon, Ohio 44646.
Ticket information for Massilon, Ohio’s concert can be found here!
Remember when we talked about Forrest Frank announcing his Summer 2026 The Jesus Generation Tour? Well, after just one week, Forrest’s entire tour is 95% sold out! This includes Cincinnati, Ohio’s show, being completely sold out!
There are some re-sale tickets available for Cincinnati’s show, but with much higher prices than originally. If you’re interested, the re-sale tickets can be found here!
We had a stumper for this week’s Song Poetry! Here were this week’s lyrics:
If you told me all about your sorrows I’d tell you about a cure If you told me you can’t fight the battle There’s a _____ _____ who won the war
These lyrics are a stumperagain for this week!
This Song Poetry will be worth three $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica next week, so tune in then and give us a call if you think you know the song title and artist for these lyrics!
Congratulations to Janelle from Mount Vernon for calling in and correctly guessing the artist and song title, taking home two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Tune in on Wednesday for a game of Who Am I? and Who Knew? Wednesday!
So many of your favorite WNZR artists are planning to hit the road again in 2026! We have a couple more concerts, from Ben Fuller, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Forrest Frank to put on your radar!
Forrest Frank is back this summer! He’ll be coming to Cincinnatti, Ohio on “The Jesus Generation Tour,” with a grand lineup of Tori Kelly, Cory Asbury, The Figs, and more special guests! He’ll by stopping by at the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnatti, Ohio on Monday, July 27.
Last time Forrest went on tour, some locations sold out in minutes. If you want to catch Forrest in Ohio, make sure you keep track of when tickets go live.
Steven Curtis Chapman is continuing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his record “[Speechless],” with special guest La Vie Quartet! This record featured several loved songs like “Be Still and Know,” “Fingerprints of God,” “Speechless,” and “Dive”.
He’ll be in Akron, Ohio on Tuesday, March 3, at the Goodyear Theater, in Akron, Ohio! You can get tickets at our concerts page on our website, wnzr.fm.
Coming off his Walk Through Fire Tour, Ben Fuller is bringing worship, raw honesty, and testimony on his Black Sheep Tour, with special guest Band Reeves. He’s inviting all the prodigals and the ones who feel like outsiders. Let the love of God show you that you are loved and never too far gone!
You can catch Ben at Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster, Ohio, on Sunday, April 19!
Pray for Danny Gokey this week as he had an accident playing basketball! He is left with a black eye, but his Christmas tour is still on! Listen to Danny Gokey tell you about what happened here:
We had some Christmas lyrics for Song Poetry today! Here were today’s lyrics:
If you told me all about your sorrows I’d tell you about a cure If you told me you can’t fight the battle There’s a ______ ______ who won the war
These lyrics were a stumper! If you know what song these lyrics are from, and the artist who sings the song, check back in next Tuesday! These lyrics will be worth two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica next week!
Tune in on Wednesday for some Who KnewWednesday facts and a chance to win a gift from WNZR’s Christmas Gift Exchange!
We had a lot to talk about on this week’s Artist News Day! We checked out what some of your artists are up to: Tasha Layton, Phil Wickham, and for King & Country!
If you’ve seen their movie Unsung Hero, which talks about the Smallbone family’s upcoming and moving to America from Australia, you’ll be excited to see the next part of that story in for King & Country’s new documentary, No Turning Back!
This new film peeks further behind the curtain of the story of Unsung Hero and dives into the journey of how Joel and Luke Smallbone became for King & Country. As well-known as they are today, it is interesting to see the how hard the grind was at the birth of the band, and all of the road blocks they got to overcome. More information about tis film can be found here!
To watch this documentary, you can find the information here!
Phil Wickham is back with more worship songs on his new EP Psalm 8 (Hallé). This 3-song EP will be songs that you will hear on Angel Studio’s musical movie DAVID.
That’s right, one of your favorite WNZR artists will be heard voicing David himself on this upcoming movie, coming out December 19 in theatres, just before Christmas!
To learn more about this new release and about the upcoming movie DAVID, click here!
Have you ever wanted to see Tasha Layton as a stop-motion character? Well look no further than Tasha’s new Christmas All Year Long music video, where it’s entirely stop-motion!
We got to hear this song on The Afternoon Drive today! If you want to hear it and watch the incredibly made stop-motion music video along with it, go here:
All of this talk about our artists creating and being a part of incredible movies, documentaries, and films is getting us excited for the next big film from MercyMe! It’s the sequel to their movie I Can Only Imagine, titled I Can Only Imagine 2!
This story revolves around Bart and the band MercyMe’s big success after their song I Can Only Imagine hit #1, and sent them off on their musical career. Bart also now faces the responsibility of being a father, and he gets to learn how to raise his son who also has a diabetes medical condition. We’ll also get to see another artist, Tim Timmons, who became a big role model and mentor to Bart along this next step in his journey with Christ and in music! To learn more about this movie, click here!
You can watch the trailer for I Can Only Imagine 2 here:
Today, we got to have a conversation with Dr. Bob Tocheff, who talks about MVNU’s Advent Service happening on Wednesday, December 3, at 7:15PM!
This event is free and open to the public! It’s happening in the R.R. Hodges Chapel on the campus of MVNU. If you want to know more about who will be featured and what you can expect some of the repertoire to be, you can listen to the conversation we had with Dr. Bob on our SoundCloud!
We have some Christmas lyrics for Song Poetry this week! Here were this week’s lyrics:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Yule-tide carols being sung by a choir Folks dressed up like Eskimos
These lyrics are from none other than Nat King Cole’s song The Christmas Song!
Congratulations to Tom from Howard for calling in and correctly guessing the song title and artist, taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Tune in on Wednesday for some fun facts on Who Knew Wednesday and a game of Who Am I?.
As the month of December rolls around, WNZR is getting ready to enter the Holly Jolly ’25! Our artists are also celebrating by releasing brand new music!
Centricity Music is stepping up their A-Game with their artists and Christmas music! Katy Nichole released her first Christmas EP titled The Hope Of Christmas. One of the songs featured on this 5-song EP is Our King Has Come, featuring Matt Maher, which we get to hear on WNZR! Katy wanted listeners to know through these songs that whether you are celebrating with family or grieving the loss of a loved one, you are never alone!
Katy is one of three headlining artists going to WinterJam 2026! You can find tickets to see her live in one of three locations in Ohio on our concert page here!
Jason Gray also has a really cool Christmas song on WNZR, with retro artist Point Of Grace! They’re song is called Comfort and Joy, which we got to hear during the Afternoon Drive today!
Jason and Point Of Grace are taking this song and many more live with them on their Comfort and Joy Tour! They will be in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, December 14 at 7PM! Ticket information for this concert can be found here!
More info about Centricity, their artists and their Christmas music can be found here!
If you’re someone who watches football on Thanksgiving Day with your family, you will be watching CeCe Winans perform the National Anthem at the Lions vs Packers game on FOX at 1PM EST!
This especially hits home for CeCe, as she is from Detroit! She is expressing much excitement as she remembers Detroit Lions games being played all the time at her home.
More information about the game on Thanksgiving Day can be found here!
CeCe will also be coming to Ohio with her More Than This Tour in the Spring of 2026! She’ll be stopping by at The Naz Church in Grove City, Ohio on Thursday, April 30 at 7PM! You can find ticket information on our concert page here!
This week’s lyrics are a stumper from last week, so that means these lyrics are worth two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Here were this week’s lyrics:
Cloud by day, fire by night Guide my way, oh, move me right Break the chains, set me free Make a way like I ain’t ever seen
These lyrics were from Jordans by Blessing Offor! Congratulations to Brylan from Mount Vernon for calling in and correctly guessing the song title and artist, taking home two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Tune in tomorrow during The Afternoon Drive with Joe Rinehart as he goes over some fun Thanksgiving “Who Knew’s” for Who Knew Wednesday!
Buckle in! We have a lot to talk about on Artist News Day! Here is all we talked about on The Afternoon Drive today!
Brandon Lake continues to add more awards to his repertoire! The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) declared Brandon won 2 awards on November 10th.
Brandon was awarded Christian Music Songwriter of the Year and Christian Music Song of the Year, which was Praise, a song that rose to #1 for31 weeks, co-written by Brandon Lake and Pat Barrett. With these 2 new additions, Brandon Lake now holds around fifteen ASCAP awards!
We’re not the only ones starting to get into the Christmas spirit! Blessing Offor is joining the party with a new EP titled To All A Good Night!
This EP includes some new Christmas originals, like To All A Good Night and God With Us. He also is throwing in his special twists on *NSYNC’s Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Otis Redding’s Merry Christmas, Baby.
Here’s the full list of songs on Blessing’s EP:
1. To All A Good Night (Blessing Offor & Nathan Wallace)
Do you ever wonder how much work goes into the writing of a song? Well, for some artists, it’s a lot more than you think!
We’ve discovered Jon Reddick, an artist with hits like God Turn It Around, I Believe It, and his recent #1 hit No Fear, paints his own album covers! That’s right, the one you see above you, and every album you see from Jon, are hand painted by Jon himself!
After knowing this, you can’t unsee it! More info about Jon’s heart behind his paintings can be found here!
If you love Gospel music and football, you have a special treat awaiting for you! CeCe Winans will be performing the National Anthem at the Detroit Lion vs the Green Bay Packers game on Thursday, November 27th, which is the day of Thanksgiving!
This game will be the Detroit Lions’ 86th Annual Thanksgiving Day Classic! You can watch CeCe perform at this huge event on FOX at 1PM EST!
Did you know TobyMac had a conversation on Focus On The Family?
Toby talks in this conversation about losing his son, trusting that help is on the way, and holding on to hope in all circumstances.
You can watch and listen to the entire conversation on their YouTube channel:
Here were this week’s Song Poetry lyrics:
Cloud by day, fire by night Guide my way, oh, move me right Break the chains, set me free Make a way like I ain’t never seen
This week’s lyrics were a stumper! See if you can figure out the artist and song title from these lyrics, and check back in next Tuesday for a chance to win two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Tune in on Wednesday with Joe Rinehart and Gabriella Stanley for Who Knew Wednesday and a game of Who Am I?.
We are so excited to see Rend Collective stop by the campus of Mount Vernon Nazarene University on their Folk! Fall Tour this Friday, November 14th! During Artist News Day, we got to listen to our conversation with them! You can listen to this conversation on our SoundCloud here:
Cincinnati is one of eight cities that Ben Fuller is bringing his Walk Through Fire Tour on! He’s bringing special guest Christian Hohn along with him!
Ben shared on Instagram, “This fall, [Christian Hohn] and I are expectant for miracles and healing and help from the ONLY ONE who can. It’s all in JESUS name! Come on and bring your broken heart and a bad day, I dare you.” It will be a powerful night of worship and prayer where Ben is passionately sharing the Gospel to every heart in these venues!
You can catch Ben Fuller with Christian Hohn in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday, November 22 at Landmark Church!
We have a three week stumper for this week’s Song Poetry! Here were the lyrics:
The truth of its nature It’s always give and never take It flows with that freedom Surrendering itself away
These lyrics came from the song Love‘s Got A Way from Andrew Ripp!
Congratulations to Cody from Mount Vernon for calling in and figuring out this three week stumper! He’s taking home three $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Tune in on Wednesday for Who Knew Wednesday and a game of Who Am I?, where you’ll learn some fun facts and try to guess a mystery famous person for a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Today on Artist Newsday and Gametime Tuesday we talked about Rend Collectives tour and our giveaway along with the Winter Jam 2026 tour lineup!
Saturday, January 24th – in Columbus. Saturday, February 21st – in Cincinnati. Friday. March 27th – in Cleveland (Specific venues and times coming soon). The Winter Jam 2026 Tour Lineup: Chris Tomlin, Matthew West, Katy Nichole, Emerson Day, Hulvey, Disciple, and Newsong. At the Pre-Jam Party: Jeremy Rosado, Heath Brothers, and Cliff Preston. Plus speaker: Zane Black.
Go to www.jamtour.com for information on tickets, Jam Nation – the fan experience and the Winter Jam app!
Don’t miss our NEW Contest – Ring for Rend Collective. Listen to The Morning Thing and The Afternoon Drive this week! Listen for the short clip of the song Hallelujah Anyway and be Caller #3. You can win a pair of General Admission Tickets to The Rend Collective Folk! Fall Tour at MVNU on 11/14!Tickets are valued at $26 each! Congratulations to Alana of Mount Vernon for being caller #3 and taking home a pair of tickets to Rend collective!
Watch the animation for “Gobble Gobble” by Matthew West! It was released yesterday and is so much fun!
Here were this week’s lyrics for Song Poetry!
The truth of its nature It’s always give and never take It flows with that freedom Surrendering itself away Carves canyons through stone Tells the rivers to run home
This week’s Song Poetry was a stumper! If you think you know the song title and artist of these lyrics, tune in next week for a chance to win THREE $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
We dug into the weeds a little bit on this week’s Artist News Day. We talked about Jamie MacDonald’s first upcoming studio album, as well as the details regarding MercyMe’s second debut to the silver screen, I Can Only Imagine 2.
Jamie MacDonald, recently signed onto Capitol CMG, announced her first ever album that will be coming out early next year! This self-titled album is scheduled to release on January 23rd, 2026 and will feature well-known favorites heard on WNZR like Desperate and Left It In The River.
You can expect this album to be full of honesty, faith, and healing as we see the story it tells. Jamie is telling listeners, “For over a decade, I’ve held onto God’s promise that I would one day write songs that would first heal me, and then bring healing to others. That time is now.”
You can find her taking some of the songs on her new record while she’s on the road this fall and upcoming spring! She’ll be coming to Ohio with:
Benjamin William Hastings on his At The Heart Of It Tour in Pickerington, Ohio on Friday, November 14th
Chris Tomlin on his Christmas With Chris Tomlin tour in Grove City, Ohio on Friday, December 19th
Phil Wickham on his Song Of The Saints Tour in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, April 17th
If you want to see Jamie live at any of these events, you can get tickets by going to the Concerts page on our website here!
We talked about MercyMe’s sequel to their box office hit, I Can Only Imagine last week, and earlier last week we got to take a look at their movie as they released the first trailer to I Can Only Imagine 2.
In this trailer, we see some of the struggles Bart goes through as he becomes a father. We also get a look at Bart’s new mentor, Tim Timmons, some struggles that he deals with, and how God uses him to help Bart as he learns how to be a good dad to his son Sam.
All of that and more is seen on their new trailer!
Here were this week’s lyrics for Song Poetry!
The truth of its nature It’s always give and never take It flows with that freedom Surrendering itself away Carves canyons through stone Tells the rivers to run home
This week’s Song Poetry was a stumper! If you think you know the song title and artist of these lyrics, tune in next week for a chance to win two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica!
Driving Notes 