Any future for CCM radio in Indianapolis?

[MightyFrenchman]

Plenty of people I know listen to K-Love and don't give a darn whether John and Sheri are sitting in a studio locally or in California. In fact, several of them are happy that they can hear the same station when they travel. The locals have had nearly 50 years to go CCm and they aren't going to do it.

They sound like the extremely small percentage of people who listen to satellite radio and for whom the local involvement of a radio station, whatever the format, means nothing.

Huh? What are you even trying to say?

Comparing a syndicated morning show and a pay satellite service that requires a new radio is absurdly hilarious.....Is their added benefit for sprinkling local references and being able to do meet and greets with listeners? Sure, but that is gravy and certainly not a metric by which the audience will reject a show or station.

It's not an absurd comparison at all. It's why the satellite radio is about to plunge into the ocean. To meet & greet listeners. To interact with the local community is not merely "gravy". It's real radio.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Well done live local CCM radio should always be the first choice. But when the local CCM stations are poorly done, or they end for whatever reason, a satellite network like K-LOVE may be the only option. Along with that K-LOVE in many cases is the only option because for whatever reason a local station won't give a CCM format a chance. Unfortunately that looks like the case in Indianapolis.

 

[gr8oldies]

No, I'm talking about people I know locally who have no connection to the radio business other than knowing me. They are happy to hear K-Love when they travel, and aren't saying "I wish there was a CCM station with DJs sitting in a chair in my home town". One of them is even a frequent donor to K-Love.

 

[justalurker]

One person I know locally grew up listening to BBN out east and was thrilled when that satellitecaster put up a local station. Probably more for nostalgia than content (since her believes do not match those of the network - she likes the NIV and the modern CCM on other stations).

Having another K-Love when you travel is a taste of "home". If you listen to any station long enough they become normal for you and whether you consider it good radio or just the rut you are in it is familiar.

K-Love is cheap radio ... so in a market where local donors may not be up to supporting a full station a half station is better than no station at all. There are worse things to put on the air than K-Love. There are also better things than K-Love ... but that takes more money.

 

[War Of Attrition]

It's not an absurd comparison at all. It's why the satellite radio is about to plunge into the ocean. To meet & greet listeners. To interact with the local community is not merely "gravy". It's real radio.

You are verging on crazy talk. It is absurd to compare free radio, which the vast majority of Americans have used all of their lives and have multiple receivers, to pay-radio which requires a new radio and has only been in service since 2001.

Satellite radio is not "failing" (if you insist on using that term) because it is a national platform. It is "failing" because most people don't see the value in paying for something that they have always received for free.

How do you explain all of the syndicated programs that beat their local competition? How do you explain La Preciosa network station KEGL-FM in Dallas beating the all-local Recuerdo KLNO-FM. These kind of examples are everywhere. In many markets K-Love beats many local secular stations (see Oklahoma City). A few years ago the K-Love in Odessa-Midland was #1 12+ beating all of the "local" Clear Channel and Cumulus stations.

Listeners want entertaining and engaging programming, not necessarily local programming. If the good programming happens to be local then great, but the fact it is being piped in from somewhere else in and of itself is not a deal-breaker by any measurable metric.

 

[War Of Attrition]

K-Love is cheap radio ... so in a market where local donors may not be up to supporting a full station a half station is better than no station at all. There are worse things to put on the air than K-Love. There are also better things than K-Love ... but that takes more money.

I would take issue with K-Love being "cheap". They spend obscene amounts of money ensuring that their stations sound competitive and have the highest production standards. Have you listened to K-Love? They have A-List quality personalities (sans Sherri Rivers) around the clock and their imaging is top-notch. Go to a market where there is K-Love and say AFR and just listen to the difference in audio processing.

You think it is cheap because they are not employing different personalities at each of their stations. But there is only so many great personalities who share the ministry's values and it is very expensive to fill the schedule with that level of talent.

Most "local" Christian stations are beyond hacky. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a handful that do a better job of serving their audience than K-Love would. WPOZ (Z 88.3) in Orlando comes to mind. There are certainly others.

Almost every "local" station is either too unfocused, too lazy, or too poor to provide a truly compelling on-air product even close to the K-Love standard. So in almost every case, with K-Love you lose some localism, but you get a much much better product that the market could ever support with a "local" station.

Let me give you one anecdotal example. Recently I was traveling around Oklahoma. My first stop was in Oklahoma City which has both K-Love and Air1 stations. The next stop was Tulsa which has a legendary "local" commercial Christian AC station, KXOJ. Now KXOJ is a great station and the people of Tulsa are blessed to have it, but even still I found my wishing their was a K-Love station in the area. KXOJ seemed to play a lot of commercials and the talent was several levels below what you would hear on K-Love. Again, this last paragraph is my opinion. But judging by the Arbitron numbers, my opinion is shared by many people in K-Love cities.

 

[tillman]

K-Love is cheap radio ... so in a market where local donors may not be up to supporting a full station a half station is better than no station at all. There are worse things to put on the air than K-Love. There are also better things than K-Love ... but that takes more money.

Let me give you one anecdotal example. Recently I was traveling around Oklahoma. My first stop was in Oklahoma City which has both K-Love and Air1 stations. The next stop was Tulsa which has a legendary "local" commercial Christian AC station, KXOJ. Now KXOJ is a great station and the people of Tulsa are blessed to have it, but even still I found my wishing their was a K-Love station in the area. KXOJ seemed to play a lot of commercials and the talent was several levels below what you would hear on K-Love. Again, this last paragraph is my opinion. But judging by the Arbitron numbers, my opinion is shared by many people in K-Love cities.

Didn't Cox buy KXOJ? I thought I heard that Cox bought a religious station there. If so, probably the big corporate way of doing business is the reason KXOJ doesn't sound as good anymore.

 

[neutralobserver]

Satellite radio is not "failing" (if you insist on using that term) because it is a national platform. It is "failing" because most people don't see the value in paying for something that they have always received for free.

Actually, both services are past the number of subscribers they said they'd need to be profitable. The real problem has been cost-containment.

K-Love is cheap radio ....

Umm.....I'd encourage you to check their finances and purchases.

 

[jegrant]

I have to agree. K-LOVE is not local, but it is technically a well put together product, and is not overprocessed, like AFR AC // WQSG Lafayette. I have to admit I have been enjoying the music on WQSG however - they are much more adventurous than sleepy WFRN. AFR will even play Toby Mac - and they generally keep the music upbeat and energetic. If they would remove the few remaining talk shows from their AC network, I would not tune away quite so often.

But I thought that the more interesting Christian station in Oklahoma these days (since EMF bought KOKF anyway) was 89.7 The House. I think they have a nice product and slogan "Where Christian Hits Live."

Speaking of EMF - is it just me, or has Air1 started to have a little bit more of a rock sound lately? Seems like they might be trying to reduce duplication of songs that may play on K-Love as well.

 

[justalurker]

K-Love is cheap radio ... so in a market where local donors may not be up to supporting a full station a half station is better than no station at all. There are worse things to put on the air than K-Love. There are also better things than K-Love ... but that takes more money.

I would take issue with K-Love being "cheap". They spend obscene amounts of money ensuring that their stations sound competitive and have the highest production standards. Have you listened to K-Love? They have A-List quality personalities (sans Sherri Rivers) around the clock and their imaging is top-notch.

A good local station does both.

You think it is cheap because they are not employing different personalities at each of their stations. But there is only so many great personalities who share the ministry's values and it is very expensive to fill the schedule with that level of talent.

Which is why K-Love is the cheap way. They can pay the voices once and air them everywhere instead of needing to hire and develop staff in every market.

Most "local" Christian stations are beyond hacky. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a handful that do a better job of serving their audience than K-Love would. WPOZ (Z 88.3) in Orlando comes to mind. There are certainly others.

The failure of local stations does not mean a local station cannot be successful. Let's take the money that K-Love spends on airstaff and add enough to cover other local staff plus the technical costs of keeping a station sound the best sound in the market. Put that much cash into a local station serving Indianapolis and you can do just as good as K-Love (or you can fail miserably - cash isn't the only variable).

Why does having K-Love's staff not be in Indianapolis make K-Love sound better in Indianapolis?

K-Love is cheap radio ....

Umm.....I'd encourage you to check their finances and purchases.

Sure, the NETWORK has a big bankroll and they buy lots of stations ... but they are still doing the job a lot cheaper than it would cost than if K-Love was actually setting up individual stations with airstaff in each and every city they cover (or at least every state/region). That's where the cheap comes in.

 

[BehindTheLines]

Seems like 70 percent of the conversations in here evolve into EMF discussions.

 

[justalurker]

Seems like 70 percent of the conversations in here evolve into EMF discussions.

They are just that big.

 

[War Of Attrition]

Seems like 70 percent of the conversations in here evolve into EMF discussions.

Well, look on the bright side. At least it is not as bad as the Phoenix board where 100% of the conversations evolve into KTAR/TMISU (Mormon ownership) discussions.

 

[William_Yeager]

I was at Ichthus this weekend, and while K-Love and Air1 may not have local air staffs, they had a significant presence in the festival. If their experience was similar to mine, they would have given stuff out to people from 12-15 states - even if there's no over-the-air station where people live, there's always online (at least until Sound Exchange shuts down the Internet).

Local is nice, but a number of local Christian stations do less to promote local music and events than their secular counterparts. Sometimes it's by design (i.e. outreaches buying ad time on secular stations), but usually it's a lack of ministries actually partnering with each other instead of the station just selling advertisements or underwriting announcements.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Didn't see you. Did you stop by WJCF. Next to Starbucks of all people.

 

[William_Yeager]

I saw the WJCF van next to the coffee tent, but never saw anyone in or around the van, nor did I see a WJCF table.

 

[skippertthomas]

Chief.. Save me a cup of coffee when I'm up in Nap-Town... Any thoughts on the Way network and their reasoning for going slower into markets... ????

 

[jegrant]

Based on their actions, I would say that WAY-FM moves slower because they prefer to build / acquire large signals and outfit them with local staff who customize programming to the needs / wants of the local market.

Not only that - some of their expansion takes place under the CHRSN syndication model, so not every station has to be a "WAY-FM."

 

[MightyFrenchman]

Based on their actions, I would say that WAY-FM moves slower because they prefer to build / acquire large signals and outfit them with local staff who customize programming to the needs / wants of the local market.

I believe that's the best way to do it. In spite of our low 3000 watts, Jesus blessed the ministry-oriented outreach of commercial contemporary Christian Love 98 Radio. Today people listen to radio primarily in the car; we're not going to reach them with translators and/or satellators. We need a normal everyday radio station with at least, at least 6000 watts that covers all of Greater Indy. Not just most of it or certain sides of it, but all of it. And that'll take an absolute minimum of 6000 watts. If a potential Indy Christian broadcaster starts throwing in the word "translator", you know they don't have what it takes to get the job done.

 

[skippertthomas]

You would need three to four placed translators in a triangle or box to give a good combined footprint in an 'urban sprawl' metro, like Indy or Columbus, OH... Way does take their time.... In markets like an Evansville or Fort Wayne, a Way combine of two would do it and in MICROpolitan places like a Bloomington or a Columbus, IN, you can do it with one central placed radiator...