Two recent articles, one from my favorite publication, The Economist, and the other, a reference to a recent Pew Research Center report, got me thinking. Both talked about the recent growth in Christianity, mostly among the young. In the radio business, we’ve seen the rise of religious broadcasters, most notably Educational Media Foundation, better known as EMF, as they’ve purchased numerous sticks around the country and put Christian radio formats on the air.
Local operations abound as well. Where I live, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Christian Family Radio operates non-commercial frequencies in Bowling Green, Glasgow, and Owensboro, with a contemporary Christian format.
I’m not a religious person; in fact, the term I use to describe myself is “gastronomically Jewish.” On our recent vacation in the UK, I had a wonderful tongue sandwich at Selfridge’s and delicacies like herring in cream sauce, borscht (the purple stuff in a bottle), lox (smoked salmon), and even kishke are on the list.
However, I never developed a taste for gefilte fish, a step too far, but I remember my grandfather enjoying it with horseradish, again purple stuff in a bottle. My girlfriend, though, is a devout Christian and sings in her church choir. She occasionally turns on a Christian station in her car.
While I can’t offer updated stats, if there is one part of radio that’s doing well these days, it appears to be the various Christian formats. During my Cumulus time, I ran format trends using Nielsen’s National Regional Database, so the last one was from Fall 2019, just ahead of the COVID pandemic.
Christian music formats (those stations that told Nielsen they were running Contemporary Christian, Christian Adult Contemporary, or Contemporary Inspirational but not Gospel, Southern Gospel, or any Spanish language version) were either holding their own during a time of decreasing radio audiences or even increasing. From Fall 2012 to Fall 2019, the number of stations in those formats increased by 53% from 946 to 1,447. For Persons 25-54, Monday-Friday 6 AM-7 PM, the formats were pulling a combined 0.5 rating (occasionally a 0.6) and cumes exceeded ten million nationally.
Why mention this today? While I don’t have the updated ratings data, my guess is that the formats are holding or even improving based on the survey data. Pew’s study suggests that the decline of Christianity in the US has slowed and may have leveled off. Their most recent Religious Landscape Study, run during 2023 and 2024, said that 62% of American adults classified themselves as Christian, which, while well down from the previous studies in 2007 and 2014, was in line with their annual National Public Opinion Reference Survey, which bottomed out at 60% and most recently put the estimate at 63%.
The reason for this change may be COVID-19. The Economist cited data from Google searches in 14 countries showing searches for “Christianity” and “The Bible” went way up during and after COVID. The article (paywalled), suggested young men are becoming more religious and may be outpacing women at this point. COVID-19 and the lockdowns added to feelings of loneliness and depression, with religion being an answer for some.
Let’s bring the discussion back to U.S. radio. Whether you call it an increase or a stabilization, this is a positive trend for Christian formats. Certainly, not all of those who have found God will suddenly donate TSL to a Christian formatted station, but no doubt, some will.
While it’s easy for music listeners to switch to Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music if all you want to hear is songs, Christian radio offers a spoken message with the tunes, something wall-to-wall music streamers can’t do. Podcasts generally cannot play music, so that leaves Christian music radio in an enviable position, whether commercial or non-commercial.
Something I’ve wondered about in the past is why the major group owners haven’t flipped any of their stations to a contemporary Christian format. When I ran the aforementioned analyses at Cumulus, I was asked why I included Christian and Hispanic formats when we didn’t have any major stations running those formats. My response was that we needed to see the totality of radio listening.
iHeart’s website lists exactly one station running “Christian/Gospel”, KRDU-AM in Fresno. Audacy doesn’t list any stations with a Christian format, and Cumulus listed 5 Gospel stations in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Florence, Baton Rouge, and Tallahassee, but I doubt any of those run Christian contemporary music.
Is this an opportunity, or is the format just not viable commercially, especially if you’re up against a national juggernaut like EMF? Salem had the “Fish” format but sold off those stations to EMF at the end of 2024.
Commercial or non-commercial, local or national, the research says God is doing better these days, and that suggests that contemporary Christian radio ratings could be heavenly.
Let’s meet again next week.
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