Winner: Jesus Freak Hideout
Why: Jesus Freak Hideout offers updated news in a streamlined fashion. You can easily get a bigger picture of the latest Christian music news all on one place without needlessly surfing through multiple pages. The site features real reporting (instead of simply copying and pasting press releases) and features a picture for almost every story. Add that together with a customized RSS widget and that is what puts Jesus Freak Hideout over the top to win the award for Best Christian Music News Site. Link: jesusfreakhideout.com

For the full list of ACM Award winners, visit http://the5000.typepad.com/access_christian_music/2008/05/the-2008-acm-aw.html.

And just as ACM announced their awards, they also posted a feature interview with JFH creator John DiBiase. Here is a portion of the interview. For the full interview, visit http://the5000.typepad.com/access_christian_music/2008/05/interview-with.html

Interview with John DiBiase from Jesus Freak Hideout

Here at Access Christian Music we like to give our readers behind the scenes access to the Christian music industry from time to time and that is exactly why we tracked down John DiBiase, the founder of Christian music mega-site Jesus Freak Hideout (and recent recipient of the 2008 ACM Best Christian Music News Site award), and asked him a few questions on your behalf. Since John loves to have a good time it's really no wonder he jumped at the chance to do an interview with us...

ACM: So, John, Jesus Freak Hideout has been running for quite awhile now! Can you tell us how you came up with the idea for the site and name in the first place?
JD: Sure thing -- when I became a Christian as a young teenager in the early 90's, Christian music was a huge part of my faith growing process. It meant a lot to me and I quickly became very passionate about it. I wanted to know everything I could about my new favorite bands - from Idle Cure (the first ever Christian band I listened to) and Petra to Audio Adrenaline, DC Talk, Dakoda Motor Co, PFR, etc. The web was young in the mid-90's and Christian music was just starting to find a presence on the Internet. CCM Magazine had started their website to coincide with their printed mag, and there was maybe one or two other sites out there that featured interviews with bands and album reviews. So in August, 1996, hours before my family and I went to a Jars Of Clay concert, I just created a webpage and called it "Jesus Freak Hideout," never really having any idea what it is it could or would become. I basically just wanted a one-stop source for all things Christian music. And I hope we still hold to that almost 12 years later.

For the full interview, visit http://the5000.typepad.com/access_christian_music/2008/05/interview-with.html

 

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