I think most of that stuff has since moved to late night Christian TV, larger audience potential.
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- Thread starter kfbkfb
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I think most of that stuff has since moved to late night Christian TV, larger audience potential.
I would say most made the move to TV that could do so. The number of stations selling time to ministries (or ministries on paper) dropped significantly when non-commercial Christian FMs proliferated. All the major ministry time buyers became 'a share of donations' from the coverage area the station reaches. Stations either went music or just sold what they could to whoever would buy no matter the program content.
Funny thing, none of those ministries would tell me the percentage that was my share. I do know a contract for a 30 minute daily program airing weekdays at a good time slot would have been around $700 a month back then. With the 'share' we might get $100 to $150 a month. For some ministries you have to reach a minimum threshold to get a dime ($100 for most to $300 a month for Focus On The Family). Essentially, within several months your billing dropped to about 15-20% of what it had been as what had been paid ministries went to the 'share' concept. That left you with small ministries and the ones you really didn't want on the air being your primary source of income. Literally to make the 'share' work, you had to reach millions and millions of people (ie: several markets), barely.
Funny thing, none of those ministries would tell me the percentage that was my share. I do know a contract for a 30 minute daily program airing weekdays at a good time slot would have been around $700 a month back then. With the 'share' we might get $100 to $150 a month. For some ministries you have to reach a minimum threshold to get a dime ($100 for most to $300 a month for Focus On The Family). Essentially, within several months your billing dropped to about 15-20% of what it had been as what had been paid ministries went to the 'share' concept. That left you with small ministries and the ones you really didn't want on the air being your primary source of income. Literally to make the 'share' work, you had to reach millions and millions of people (ie: several markets), barely.
You mean that the ministry has to get a certain amount of money from local listeners, and if it's above a certain threshold, the station gets paid?
If that's how it works, it seems the radio ministries have local Christian radio over a barrel.
You have that right! The trick is we didn't have to carry their program. In fact, it might be why Contemporary Christian music got so popular so quickly. Stations said forget the share thing, we'll play music and try to sell spots.
In our case we pulled most off the air and sold as many smaller and local ministries as we could. In unsold times we played radio friendly versions of the dramatized and orchestrated Bible trying to get Christian owned businesses to buy a couple of segments a week. Eventually we sold most time to various ethnic segments in the city that offered programming in their native tongue, something that was most of the Saturday programming even back when we sold ministries.
And if you are wondering, the pickings were slim enough we took almost anybody that could pay. We had to in order to pay the bills. Not a fun position to be in.
In our case we pulled most off the air and sold as many smaller and local ministries as we could. In unsold times we played radio friendly versions of the dramatized and orchestrated Bible trying to get Christian owned businesses to buy a couple of segments a week. Eventually we sold most time to various ethnic segments in the city that offered programming in their native tongue, something that was most of the Saturday programming even back when we sold ministries.
And if you are wondering, the pickings were slim enough we took almost anybody that could pay. We had to in order to pay the bills. Not a fun position to be in.
Usually it's the other way around.
When a Christian ministry wants to start a radio outreach, they will fund the creation of the program themselves, but to justify it being on station WXXX, the listeners have to cover the cost of airtime.
If the listeners don't cover the cost of the airtime, the program goes away. (They track where the donations come from, and what station is responsible for those listeners/donations.)
Like most things in churches, if the faithful don't support something, it goes away.
Some smaller struggling stations will air "per inquiry" programs...but most successful religious stations (Salem, etc.) will not, as it devalues the product.
Has Christian radio always been funded this way, or did it change somewhere along the line? Was it the same system back in the 1970's and 80's, for example?
There were always stations that treated their facility similar to a "function hall". Want to use it for your event/program? Here's the price.
And they fill out the schedule and sell to as many as they can fit onto the schedule, at the going rate. (Many times these stations are a bit schizophrenic, as they can be a hodgepodge of differing opinions and theology.) Many times the owners of such stations don't have any religious affiliation at all. There was a phrase used "as long as the check clears"!
There are also ministries that own/run an entire station. (Some Catholic groups, K-Love, etc.) Some function as part of the Church, some ask for donations, but they are not in this game of "filling up the schedule" with *anyone* who wants to pay...they can have a consistent message, much like the Catholic stations and K-Love, Transworld Radio, Moody, familyradio, HCJB, etc. They are more interested in propagating the message than in selling "inventory" on their schedule.
Was it always this way?
I think there was an Evangelical boom in the late 70's and 80's that had no end to the number of people wanting to buy airtime...and it was a time that AM was viable. Also, radio was the only way these ministries could reach people. (Now there are podcats and streaming, etc.)
We have gone into a more secular society, AM is on the decline, etc...which has led to more innovative business models and revenue streams.
So, you are hearing more health programs, more web sales, more local spots being sold, etc.
The bottom of the barrel is the "per inquiry" programs.
But, as with all things, it's one big math problem and in the end it has to pay for itself...or else it's just a big hole every month.
Which fits the definition of dolar a holler. In the case of stations like XERF and KAAY, which we're discussing in a different thread,the station management will let anyone on who flashes enough money in their faces. A perfect example is WMQM in Memphis, who carries Alex Jones. How does that qualify as Christian programming?
I disagree the 'per inquiry' or share is the bottom of the barrel. If Focus On The Family during the James Dobson days was bottom of the barrel, you are correct. This was the case with the slickly produced 'top 40' ministries with good followings that went to this formula because of the many non-commercial Christian stations that could only accept ministries on this basis. A current example is KHCB in Houston and all their stations. Why pay on the commercial stations when you're out nothing on those emerging Christian radio networks running non-comms.
Your description of the various types of Christian stations is spot on. The one I worked was a format, not a ministry. We carried Focus on the Family because you pretty much had to in order to get the others.
What seems to be successful now is the talk show style ministry program. Some have commercial breaks while others fill with their own offers.
You're right, the listeners have to support the program and that level of support was many times not as big a number of dollars as one might think. A number that floated around at one time was as few as 1 in 2,000 listeners would support a radio ministry...never saw that in print anywhere but quite a few told me that figure. I took it that the ministry that offered a gift for a minimum donation got many multiples of donations.
One of the major ministries at the time called me to get the daily 30 minute program on the station I was working for. The guy said I could expect a share check of $2,000 to $3,000 a month. I said I had a deal for him as my rate was $1,795 a month and I would sign a contract for $1,795. When he said no, I asked for a written guarantee my share would be a minimum of $2,000 a month. He said he couldn't do that. You'd know the name of that still popular and respected ministry.
Your description of the various types of Christian stations is spot on. The one I worked was a format, not a ministry. We carried Focus on the Family because you pretty much had to in order to get the others.
What seems to be successful now is the talk show style ministry program. Some have commercial breaks while others fill with their own offers.
You're right, the listeners have to support the program and that level of support was many times not as big a number of dollars as one might think. A number that floated around at one time was as few as 1 in 2,000 listeners would support a radio ministry...never saw that in print anywhere but quite a few told me that figure. I took it that the ministry that offered a gift for a minimum donation got many multiples of donations.
One of the major ministries at the time called me to get the daily 30 minute program on the station I was working for. The guy said I could expect a share check of $2,000 to $3,000 a month. I said I had a deal for him as my rate was $1,795 a month and I would sign a contract for $1,795. When he said no, I asked for a written guarantee my share would be a minimum of $2,000 a month. He said he couldn't do that. You'd know the name of that still popular and respected ministry.
No, it's not FOTF that was "bottom of the Barrel"...it's the station that is airing it on a PI basis that is at the bottom of the barrel.
Apparently the station does not have enough value to command a rate for the time.
When you start airing PI programming, you are devaluing your station and have admitted that you cannot command the price.
Focus on the Family was almost a "must carry" for any Christian station that was serious about the evangelical ministry label. Thus saith Dr. Spock became Thus saith Dr. Dobson, which his "don't spare the rod" approach. Other posters are correct, many of the religious broadcasters have a consistent theology with only minor differences. Other stations carry the outliers (influential as Herbert W. and Garner Ted Armstrong were, they challenged everyone's else's theology and felt they uniquely had the truth). Brother Stair might be another example. The local Church of Christ who buys a slot on a Snday morning in your town is there because they want you to know that if you aren't attending a COC, you're wrong.
You're way off. Focus on the Family did not pay anybody for airtime. All they did was a share basis with a minimum of $300 per month or you didn't get a check. They were on 5 stations in Houston at the time and nobody was paid for the airtime but all were on the 'share'. We're talking stations that had been in the format for years and years with a couple of them showing up in the ratings. The station I was Sales Manager of had only been in the format a few years, so, in that respect, we were the bottom of the barrel for Houston, getting those choice ministries only if they had a lousy time on another station. I knew all the folks that were my competitors. We didn't like FOTF not paying but we had to carry them because the audience wanted the program. We just worked together to make sure the program played a couple of hours away from the other stations. I ran Focus at 2:30 pm figuring I'd hit the 'soccer mom' picking up the kids from school.
They absolutely did!
For awhile they had an "outreach to the black community"...and even found some "seed-dollars" to purchase airtime and maybe get a footing on some "black-formatted" stations. (Most of which did not last, as the seed money disappeared and they never turned into stations with contributions to pay for the cost of airtime.)
However, they adhered to the same principal that most of the established ministries did, the contributions had to cover the cost of airtime.
Now, if contributions ran light a few months, you may have been forced to carry for free "Adventures in Odyssey", "Weekend Magazine" and DJD Family Commentary, or an additional airing as a bonus.
But, FOTF DEFINITELY paid for the airtime...and the airtime price was negotiated and program placement was by the agency that was founded by David Mays. (The usually negotiated and secured the prime spot on the schedule.)
I am not sure who the agency was you dealt with was.
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I'll admit that some stations that I call dollar a holler carry some good programming (FOTF, Swindoll, etc.) but then they also carry the crackpots like Stait as well. In most cases they have owners that are secular and either don't know how to do do quality Christian programming or they don't care as long as the airtime is paid for. At the time WMQM returned to Memphis in the early 2000s after being off for about 10 years I called to comment that I hope they wouldn't carry crackpots like Stair and was told they would carry anyone who paid for the airtime and made no apologies for it, which would explain why they have no reservations about carrying Alex Jones now. They also have some time with local sports talk shows now that I don't doubt that the people who do it are paying for the time and selling ads. To me that's actually an improvement.
I've really wondered if someone who was blatantly anti-Christian (Atheists, Satanists, etc.) were to want to buy airtime if WMQM's management would sell to them. I get the impression they probably would. If they would just call themselves a brokered station it wouldn't be as bad as the sham of them claiming to be a "Christian" station.
I've really wondered if someone who was blatantly anti-Christian (Atheists, Satanists, etc.) were to want to buy airtime if WMQM's management would sell to them. I get the impression they probably would. If they would just call themselves a brokered station it wouldn't be as bad as the sham of them claiming to be a "Christian" station.
Atheists and Satanists are not necessarily anti-Christian. They just don't believe in it, the same way that Christians are effectively atheists when it comes to all of the thousands of religions in the world, except their chosen one.
And there is already anti-Christian programming on Christian radio stations: the infomercials for buying gold, quack diet supplements, Armageddon food buckets, doctors promising miracle cures for cancer, etc. -- and don't forget all the shady, corrupt evangelists living in mansions and flying around the world in private jets while begging their followers for donations.
Amen, Brother!
I agree none of those things should be on Christian radio. Unfortunately a lot of those are what end up on dollar a holler stations. And there are legitimate Christian stations that don't allow those things on.
I'm afraid we're heading for getting this thread locked out so I won't push this issue any further.
In any profession there are bad apples. Yes, a few mega-church preachers have been corrupt. But that does not mean that the tens of thousands of ministers, evangelists, preachers, pastors and such are bad.
And stations that sell advertising to banks and other financial institutions are, by law, required to accept ads for all legal providers of investment services. Gold is a viable investment, and for many people it has provided life-saving resources.
Allow any kind of vitamin or supplement ad, and you have to take all that are doing business legally.
To select one investment over another is a restraint of trade and an illegal pracctice; same for any other field.
Any time a station, irrespective of format, favors one advertiser in a field over another, it is illegal. It is not a radio station's job to determine how good a product an advertiser offers is. That would set every station up for all kinds of lawsuits.
On the other hand, a company can refuse all advertising in a category, such as all alcoholic beverages, even if they are legal... as long as they apply it to everyone.
There is a lot of current bad apples in that field still with Peter Popoff and Joel Osteen being some of the most noteworthy. Also T.D Jakes is a pretty corrupt pastor out to make money off of his useless "self improvement scam books".
I hadn't thought of KAAY in a long time (clear channel out of Little Rock, right?). I remember it from the late '60s. I could pick it up late at night, and it was then ahead of the curve in playing long-form rock and "weird" songs that my local top-40 station stayed away from. Did it get religion at some point?
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