Making Airwaves
Forty years ago, Ardmore, Tennessee's Christian radio station would have been typical. Purchased by a neighborhood pastor, it aired church services during blocks of time the congregation could afford and Southern gospel music the rest of the week. As Christian Radio author Bob Lochte recalls, the few advertisements it garnered were from area businesses like the local Goodyear Tires outlet.
Locally owned and operated, such stations provided a modest service to their communities. But rarely, if ever, did they draw in large numbers of people or make a significant profit. Most struggled simply to remain on-air.
There were exceptions, of course. Some of the stalwarts of Christian broadcasting enjoyed tremendous success throughout the years. Aimee Semple McPherson's Los Angeles station rode the colorful evangelist's popularity in the early 1920s. Charles Fuller's Old-Fashioned Revival Hour began broadcasting in 1937 and was syndicated to as many as 650 radio stations before the Bible teacher's death in 1968. And Moody Radio in Chicago has broadcast professionally produced gospel programming since its founding in 1926 right up to the present day.
These trailblazers helped make radio an established part of evangelicals' media outreach, complementing books, magazines, tracts, and, eventually, TV and internet. But they were unusual. Before the 1970s and 1980s, most listeners to Christian radio tuned in to stations and programming of widely varying quality and reach.
Those days are long gone. Today, popular Christian programs, such as Focus on the Family and Insight for Living, draw audiences of up to 1.5 million every show. The Barna Group estimates that 46 percent of Americans tune in to Christian broadcasting. While other radio formats ...
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Jill
I agree with Suzanne. My favorite radio station in the DFW market is little listener-supported KVRK (89.7 Power FM). No annoying commercials for auto insurance or what's on the tube tonight, etc. Everytime I hear the expression "safe and fun for the whole family" I turn the dial away from KLTY. I prefer music that is more on the cutting edge than "plain vanilla" anyway. Give me Decemberadio's "Dangerous" and you can have Point of Grace or Steven Curtis Chapman!
Mark
It is refreshing to hear about Christian radio stations that aren't afraid to work for a living. I get tired of all things Christian attaching themselves to the 'donation' wagon. If a product is good (Christian or otherwise,) it is worth finding business sponsors to cover the cost. Why is there a need to lean on poor listeners to pay for Christian radio? Besides NPR, what other radio format takes donations? Why do Christians always seem to have their hands out for cash? To Christian non-coms I say get jobs and support yourselves! As I recall, Jesus' trade was carpentry not 'listener-supported' anything.
Suzanne
I tink it's funny the way Frank Wright of the NRB was defending Salem. If this is the same Frank Wright that I'm thinking of, out of Dallas, he's is, or was, the head of KLTY, one of the largest stations on the Salem network!! My other comment is, if the other Salem stations are anything like KLTY, they're filled with commercials for tv shows no christian station should be endorsing, plus you never hear them say they are a christian station...just "safe and fun for the whole family". Are they ashamed to admit they're christian? I'll just stick with my listener supported stations, thank you.