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There are two very different populations in the Christian music listening world. The first is represented by "Becky," the late 30s/early 40s "soccer mom" whom Christian AC radio targets.

Let's call the second "Bucky." He's much younger than Becky, but he also listens to music much of the day. Sometimes Becky and Bucky listen to the same music, maybe even for the same reasons. But there's a key difference between the two: Becky's music is delivered to her across the airwaves and through the speakers of her minivan. Bucky's music is downloaded and delivered through the white earbuds of his iPod.

The contrast between these two listeners, and the music they represent, is on the minds of many program directors at Christian radio these days. While Christian radio works from a finite playlist of a couple of hundred songs, the iPod and mp3 universes invite listeners to create their own personal playlists from among millions of songs.

Bucky has even set up his own virtual online radio station, where a "music engine" records the artists and songs he likes and then streams songs that match his profile, some he's never heard of. It is no wonder that Bucky complains that Christian radio plays the same songs over and over. He might even use the word that a prominent Christian artist recently used to describe Christian radio: "boring."

Just as media, formats, and options in music have exploded over the past few years, Christian radio has changed the way it operates.

For some stations, decisions about which songs to play used to be made based on the gut feeling of a music director, but are now based on opinion data from advanced research services. Many in the industry applaud this evolution, and believe that a tight focus on a target audience and a clear understanding of her opinions are responsible for Christian radio's sustained growth. Others note a negative consequence and believe that Christian radio is spiraling toward sameness even as the iPod world becomes a playground of variety.

There is a certain logic to this trend toward similitude. Labels are aware that testing well has become a prerequisite for airplay in many markets. Naturally, labels encourage songwriting that sounds like the songs that currently test well, and choose singles accordingly. The consequence is that the variety in the pool of available singles shrinks. Test audiences wind up giving favorable ratings to songs that sound like every other song out there, because the songs they're testing are all so similar (even if their tastes have actually moved on).

The songs that test well get played, the cycle repeats itself over and over, and Christian radio becomes homogenous. Add to that the trend for stations to cut playlists and increase rotation, and it's not only the same types of songs that are played repeatedly, it's literally the same songs.

In the face of a world of iPods and technology, is radio doomed to obsolescence?

Defenders of Christian radio point to ratings success and fall back on the very research that is criticized, saying that these numbers, and their anecdotal evidence in the form of encouraging calls and letters, suggest they are delivering exactly what their audience wants, not just in the form of entertainment but also in the form of ministry.

KSBJ's Tim McDermott is enthusiastic when he tells the stories of the people being reached by his station. "We're doing more than just playing songs. We're encouraging people, we're doing missions, changing lives. We're very involved in local ministry, and we recently highlighted worldwide ministry projects."

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