• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Air-1 and K-Love

I'm sure most of us who are not into Christian music would have a hard time distinguishing between the playlists. But as said above, there is a difference.
 
Air1 used to be Christian rock for a male audience but a few years ago it changed formats to praise and worship.
But if you want Christian rock on the radio then Radio U is a great choice. It's not broadcast on FM nationwide but only in a few cities but the streaming sounds great.
 
There's musical overlap between them but Air1 is almost exclusively Contemporary Worship, which seemingly has a slightly younger listener base (Millennial, Gen-Z) than typical CCM
 
I find it strange that my church's choir director has been telling choir members that songs she wants them to sing are ones they have probably heard on the radio. I don't think there's an Air-1 affiliate (unless someone has HD and I've never heard anyone mention it) and the last one we had was on an AM station whose signal they probably wouldn't tolerate. And I don't think that station's translator reaches the area. She must be talking about K-Love.

Meanwhile, for hymns sung by the people and not just the choir, my church usually sings those songs that are on BBN or other more conservative stations.

Although now that we have screens, the choir director wants everyone to learn the new songs.
 
Air1 is modern worship - there is some overlap with KLove which is Christian Adult Contemporary (Christian AC) as the playlist's overlap (since in recent years CCM has leaned a bit heavy on modern worship artists)
 
In reality, it doesn't really matter to EMF whether there's a discernable difference or not (the choir at Chimp's church notwithstanding) so long as the listeners keep sending in the donations.
 
Contemporary Worship is pretty much the streaming charts these days, thus I assume a slightly younger audience is listening. I consider it the CHR of Christian music these days. New songs get played on the Contemporary Worship stations for long periods of time before eventually making it onto the AC stations in the same way Mainstream CHR hits run through CHR and eventually AC. Sometimes they record different versions of the songs for the AC stations so they sound less like they were recorded live.

Within the last couple weeks, they actually just launched a few new internet streams. K-LOVE Pop (Christian CHR) Most of that music on that feed goes unplayed except on the handful of Christian CHR stations that are left. It's a completely different format. They also launched "Future Hits" which is basically new CCM that has not been added to the playlists yet. I've noticed Future Hits has a lot of the Contemporary Worship mixed in.
 
Air1 is modern worship - there is some overlap with KLove which is Christian Adult Contemporary (Christian AC) as the playlist's overlap (since in recent years CCM has leaned a bit heavy on modern worship artists)
Somewhere I heard there's a difference between modern worship and contemporary worship.
 
In reality, it doesn't really matter to EMF whether there's a discernable difference or not (the choir at Chimp's church notwithstanding) so long as the listeners keep sending in the donations.
Pretty much - their goal is $$$ so that was the main reason behind moving Air1 from Christian Rock a few years ago to Modern Worship - Modern Worship was gaining popularity in the CCM world and their research indicated they could monetize it easier with a demographic vs the demographic that tended to listen to Christian Rock which is not exactly seen as heavy donors.
 
Within the last couple weeks, they actually just launched a few new internet streams. K-LOVE Pop (Christian CHR) Most of that music on that feed goes unplayed except on the handful of Christian CHR stations that are left. It's a completely different format. They also launched "Future Hits" which is basically new CCM that has not been added to the playlists yet. I've noticed Future Hits has a lot of the Contemporary Worship mixed in.
Not surprised - their biggest competition nationally (Hope Media the folks behind WayFM and KSBJ) already have streaming formats for younger audiences. KLove also in recent years added KLove 70s, KLove 80s etc. formats streaming to get the audience looking for classic CCM. EMF really wants to "own" nationally the Christian genre similar to how iHeart wants to own certain mainstream demographics.
 
Not surprised - their biggest competition nationally (Hope Media the folks behind WayFM and KSBJ) already have streaming formats for younger audiences. KLove also in recent years added KLove 70s, KLove 80s etc. formats streaming to get the audience looking for classic CCM. EMF really wants to "own" nationally the Christian genre similar to how iHeart wants to own certain mainstream demographics.

K-LOVE in particular has grown to be a huge name in Christian music obviously. When I first heard them in the 90s, Early 2000s (2000 maybe) it sounded like a small radio network. Mostly in California. They came on the air in this part of the country in 2001. I never would have imagined those networks would have grown into what they are. The more they grew, the more heavily researched their playlists got over the years. They have to broadcast to an entire country instead of just a few regions, that's the obvious reason. Very specific demo.

They gave up on Christian CHR when they flipped Air1 to Contemporary Worship 5 years ago but at that point it was more Christian Hot AC. I do think with the platform, familiarity and the technology that they have, it's good to have those internet options available if they want to offer people more options. They also curate playlists on Apple Music and Spotify.

They have a music library dating back to the early days of K-LOVE (1982), and prior. Some of those songs on the decade channels sound like they were literally pulled from carts. Would rather hear them played than un played I guess.
 
Pretty much - their goal is $$$ so that was the main reason behind moving Air1 from Christian Rock a few years ago to Modern Worship - Modern Worship was gaining popularity in the CCM world and their research indicated they could monetize it easier with a demographic vs the demographic that tended to listen to Christian Rock which is not exactly seen as heavy donors.

Contemporary Worship wasn't a big money maker at first either. They fell really short in the Spring 2019 pledge drive if I remember right. Little over 70% down from almost always reaching 100%. They stopped posting the percentages on the websites after that happened and started doing shorter pledge drives instead of the usual two week ones but overall I think they are doing OK. When I was growing up, Worship music was played mostly on preaching stations during off hours and between some shows. I think it was only in the last decade that it became as popular as it is.
 
Last edited:
None of that matters, in my view. EMF has been playing a game which they are able to bias against the competition (secular radio) from the very start. Those donations I mentioned a few posts back means that they are always sitting on a pile of cash which they can tap for acquisitions whenever they want.

Ask yourself: When was the last time EMF lost a bidding war? Or even started one? More often, they will either make an unsolicited offer to someone who appears to be wanting out of the business, or if they hear a desirable signal is available, they will pre-empt any competing offers by making the highest offer at the outset.

Then, they convert the signal to non-commercial. No taxes. No FCC fees. They close down the studio and feed the transmitter directly with the national programming. Displaced employees? THEY COULD NOT CARE LESS ... not a terribly Christian attitude.

So they get bigger, the revenue to the government takes a hit ... and even if it is a small one per station, it adds up; they recently underwent a corporate reorganizing and transferred control of all their licenses to "Air 1, Inc." The public notices in the FCC's Daily Digest ran to over 190 pages of application filings, repeated when those applications were granted (and not a single one was subject to a filing fee). Even when Clear Channel reorganized into iHeart, there wasn't that amount of paperwork!

I maintain that they are not playing on a level field, and that unfair advantage needs to be addressed. Besides, how many earth-based transmitters does God need, anyway? He is all-powerful and can certainly communicate without an intermediate medium if He wants to.
 
I am not accusing anyone of anything. What I am afraid of is: sometime in the future a "Christian" record company might get caught trying to influence the music on KLove or Airone thru some form of illegal "payola". EMF might be able to "lawyer up" and beat the charges but it would be a terrible stain on CCM and all Christian Broadcasting. CCM is a business and large amounts of money can bring out the worst in people.
 
None of that matters, in my view. EMF has been playing a game which they are able to bias against the competition (secular radio) from the very start. Those donations I mentioned a few posts back means that they are always sitting on a pile of cash which they can tap for acquisitions whenever they want.

Ask yourself: When was the last time EMF lost a bidding war? Or even started one? More often, they will either make an unsolicited offer to someone who appears to be wanting out of the business, or if they hear a desirable signal is available, they will pre-empt any competing offers by making the highest offer at the outset.

Then, they convert the signal to non-commercial. No taxes. No FCC fees. They close down the studio and feed the transmitter directly with the national programming. Displaced employees? THEY COULD NOT CARE LESS ... not a terribly Christian attitude.

So they get bigger, the revenue to the government takes a hit ... and even if it is a small one per station, it adds up; they recently underwent a corporate reorganizing and transferred control of all their licenses to "Air 1, Inc." The public notices in the FCC's Daily Digest ran to over 190 pages of application filings, repeated when those applications were granted (and not a single one was subject to a filing fee). Even when Clear Channel reorganized into iHeart, there wasn't that amount of paperwork!

I maintain that they are not playing on a level field, and that unfair advantage needs to be addressed. Besides, how many earth-based transmitters does God need, anyway? He is all-powerful and can certainly communicate without an intermediate medium if He wants to.

direct thate hate towards the sellers........ theres no guarentee anyone who bought would keep the employees anyways. i never see any hate directed at people who sell to EMF

I am told in the past by people who know, EMF typically is the one that gets approached, no ones holding a gun to their head to buy.

Youre wrong on the taxes, partially.. EMF pays local taxes to municipalities or states where required because of their land/equipment.. i forget how it was explained to me.

you clearly a bit biased and dont like EMF, which you have said in the past. Im not a huge fan, BUT.. they serve a purpose, theyre not in debt, theiur listeners fund the operation AND gasp.. they treat their employees well and pay them well.

Theres also alot EMF does that they never talk about that costs them money form which they derive no revenue.

Im not trying to be an EMF apologist, BUT.. i try .. try hard to look at things factuallly
 


Back
Top Bottom