Christian Radio in Atlanta

[Biz Listener]

Trying to do Christian radio has all the drama of being a "high wire artist" out there walking the tight rope.

My kids are grown, also. I can't image raising children today and having half a dozen E.D. commercials in the evening news on TV. So, when your children hear that The Fish is safe, and ask what it means, you just tell them it means "no ED commercials".

After driving around the Metro yesterday and noticing a large number of billboards for 104.7 all saying nothing more than "The Fish is Family Friendly", I've come to the conclusion that they aren't really a Christian station. They're just a "G" rated station. Not that there's anything wrong with being "G" rated. But since I usually don't "surf" for stations, if I was looking for a radio station that played CCM music and saw a 104.7 billboard, I wouldn't recognize that station as being a CCM station.

 

[fortmill]

This is hilarious---of course I was talking about WPZE/97.5, the station which ranked # 7 overall in the last ratings, not WYZE or WIGO. WPZE had almost double the ratings of WFSH, which rated #17. Somehow, WPZE isn't even mentioned in a discussion of Christain music radio in ATL. Very strange indeed....

 

[jabba17]

Trying to do Christian radio has all the drama of being a "high wire artist" out there walking the tight rope.

My kids are grown, also. I can't image raising children today and having half a dozen E.D. commercials in the evening news on TV. So, when your children hear that The Fish is safe, and ask what it means, you just tell them it means "no ED commercials".

After driving around the Metro yesterday and noticing a large number of billboards for 104.7 all saying nothing more than "The Fish is Family Friendly", I've come to the conclusion that they aren't really a Christian station. They're just a "G" rated station. Not that there's anything wrong with being "G" rated. But since I usually don't "surf" for stations, if I was looking for a radio station that played CCM music and saw a 104.7 billboard, I wouldn't recognize that station as being a CCM station.

Dunno about that...when you call yourself "The Fish" and use an ichthys as your logo, it's pretty obvious. Maybe they're trying to extend their audience beyond self-identified CCM fans and people who would otherwise be turned off by a "Christian" station.

And we've all seen what Love 86 and WWEV have accomplished when just preaching to the choir.

 

[taylorengineer]

That's the whole idea.
Christian stations found years ago that if you positioned as "family friendly" or, as you put it, "G rated," they got more listeners. Many people will not listen if they think they will be "preached to" or if they think they will be made to feel guilty about any of their lifestyle choices. But if they think the're going to get good music, having nothing to do with rims,chains or gangsters.....and nobody is going to say booger....then maybe that is something many people will go for.
Many stations have concluded that subtle influence is more effective. The Fish and J93 sound just as vanilla as B98 to me and that's exactly what is desired.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

The quote "11 o'clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week." is attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our participant Biz Listener has in other threads made a strong argument that listeners to talk radio are listening to the host proclaiming ideology for which the listener already has a fondness.

As a former manager of a property that broadcast religious oriented programming, I would plagarize the claim if Biz Listener and state that most listeners to religious radio are listening to a MESSAGE with which they already agree. In the practice of the Christian faith, there are two significant elements: First would be the theology. Second would be the style, the temperament. In broadcast Christianity, the STYLE prevails over the substance of theology. Southern Gospel music (which at one time was dominated by MALE QUARTET styles) will attract people who have a diversity of theological positions. The music of the black church, commonly referred to as "Gospel Music" will attract people who have a diresity of theological position.

Our participant 'fortmill' has very quietly called to our attention the we as a group have focused on Christian radio programming that appeals to basically the white church goer, while looking past the station and large audience of people that appeals to basically the black church goer. Fortmill: your point is recognized, and acknowledged.

There are individual congregations that have "melded together" people of diversity, but for the most part, "the church" is far behind the work place, the schools, and housing in embracing diversity of membership and participants. Christian radio thus parallels the church.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

That's the whole idea.
Christian stations found years ago that if you positioned as "family friendly" or, as you put it, "G rated," they got more listeners. Many people will not listen if they think they will be "preached to" or if they think they will be made to feel guilty about any of their lifestyle choices. But if they think the're going to get good music, having nothing to do with rims,chains or gangsters.....and nobody is going to say booger....then maybe that is something many people will go for.
Many stations have concluded that subtle influence is more effective. The Fish and J93 sound just as vanilla as B98 to me and that's exactly what is desired.

I think you are describing a rather recent development in "Christian radio".... Stations in metro markets where good ratings may have the potential to sell more advertising revenue that earlier station operators ever dreamed of from program sales for "teaching and preaching" and from listener donations "NPR style".

I haven't been to an NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) Convention for a number of years, but I can tell you of the conversations that go on in the hallways, in the exhibit areas, in the seminars, and over meals at a gathering of NRB folks. The great majority of those Christian stations are operated by people who certainly intend to preach to the listener, get pretty pointed about lifestyle, and be anything but subtle and vanilla.

Boys and girls: can you say Dr Charles Dobson? Jimmy Swaggart? Pat Robertson? T. D. Jakes? Bishop Eddie Long? Their styles are not long on vanilla.

 

[taylorengineer]

When I say "years ago" I mean 7-8 years ago to be precise. WVFJ used to be called "The Joy FM" and the calls stood for "Victory for Jesus." When they moved to Peachtree City it was changed to J93 and they took up the positioning "fun and safe for the whole family." This was long before The Fish came to town.
The changes were based on research. The research said there was a core group, the P1's if you will, that liked the conservative, fundamentalist approach. "Preaching to the choir" as it were. Management decided that to reach others they would need to make a stratigic shift - a different and more subtle approach. And it did work - J93 has signal issues so not so much for them as it did for The Fish, which can only be described as a "mainstream" player in Atlanta radio.
The lack of inclusion is simply because there are far fewer African-American participants on Radio-Info than white participants. There are hardly any women posters -it's mostly white men.
I personally like black gospel music but find Praise to be very AC Afro-Christian - just too dull and vanilla for my tastes. But then......I'm hardly the target dem (black female 18-49)

 

[jabba17]

That's the whole idea.
Christian stations found years ago that if you positioned as "family friendly" or, as you put it, "G rated," they got more listeners. Many people will not listen if they think they will be "preached to" or if they think they will be made to feel guilty about any of their lifestyle choices. But if they think the're going to get good music, having nothing to do with rims,chains or gangsters.....and nobody is going to say booger....then maybe that is something many people will go for.
Many stations have concluded that subtle influence is more effective. The Fish and J93 sound just as vanilla as B98 to me and that's exactly what is desired.

I think you are describing a rather recent development in "Christian radio".... Stations in metro markets where good ratings may have the potential to sell more advertising revenue that earlier station operators ever dreamed of from program sales for "teaching and preaching" and from listener donations "NPR style".

I haven't been to an NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) Convention for a number of years, but I can tell you of the conversations that go on in the hallways, in the exhibit areas, in the seminars, and over meals at a gathering of NRB folks. The great majority of those Christian stations are operated by people who certainly intend to preach to the listener, get pretty pointed about lifestyle, and be anything but subtle and vanilla.

Boys and girls: can you say Dr Charles Dobson? Jimmy Swaggart? Pat Robertson? T. D. Jakes? Bishop Eddie Long? Their styles are not long on vanilla.

...and if you want that, Salem will satisfy your listening desires on sister stations WNIV and WLTA. Christian radio is not "one size fits all" any more than any other radio format, although some stations do do that to try and cobble together share.

The problem comes when you try to put Stryper up against Amy Grant, just as if B98.5 tried to put Judas Priest up against Celine Dion (although B98.5 has been known to put Boston or Nazareth up against Celine Dion).

Some people want "preachin' and teachin'", with varying levels of fire and brimstone. Some want old-time gospel. Some want contemporary praise music. Some want more "conventional" CCM. And some want AC with meaning.

 

[trusty]

Some may remember when CBN (Pat Robertson) dumped most preaching programs (except Sundays) to pick up "family oriented" secular programs ("Bonanza", etc.) for their satellite network. (After all, PTL and TBN were coming on strong with 24-7 Christian/church/preaching/music.)

The reaction from the extreme fundamentalist sector was less than favorable – some even saying CBN was going to hell.

When CBN was asked about it, they responded with a statement I’ll never forget:
“We had to decide to either be fishers of men - or keepers of the aquarium.”

 

[Mike Lee TN]

Peaking at this thread, I didn't see anyone mention WNIV 970, which was all CCM for about 6 months at it's debut in 1988. I was part of the staff using the name Matt James. Mike Fernandez, Rick Smith, John Young and others were involved. It eventually started adding preacher shows, the Bible Answer Man, etc until it became Christian Talk. It was also the starting block for Wes Minter before he got the gig at WSB.

My favorite memory was the billboards that had Atlanta talking and in some cases screaming. You may remember them.

Hell? NO!!!
Christian Radio for Atlanta
WNIV 970

We had preachers who scream about hell from their pulpits upset because that eternal destination was mentioned on our billboards.

 

[taylorengineer]

Hello Mike-
I was the contract engineer for Genesis when it went on the air. I remember the Hell? No billboards - they caused Bruce a lot of grief but also gained some visability for the fledgling operation.
Wes did the talk show at night - it was a good show but hardly controversial. I don't remember WNIV having any "bible thumpers"....at least in the classic sense. They did have Charles Stanley and that insipid "Bible Answer Man" program which probably "unsaved" more people than Boones Farm Apple Wine.
We were talking just the other day about Mike Fernandaz and his show "Higher Power" which used to come on WRAS 88.5 on Sunday mornings. Probably the only major college station in the 70's playing Christian music.

 

[Mike Lee TN]

Mike Fernandez was just a great individual. Very gifted jock. I wish I knew of his where-abouts. He was living in the Nashville area, but had left radio last time I talked with him, but that was 10 years ago.

 

[Biz Listener]

As a former manager of a property that broadcast religious oriented programming, I would plagarize the claim if Biz Listener and state that most listeners to religious radio are listening to a MESSAGE with which they already agree. In the practice of the Christian faith, there are two significant elements: First would be the theology. Second would be the style, the temperament. In broadcast Christianity, the STYLE prevails over the substance of theology. Southern Gospel music (which at one time was dominated by MALE QUARTET styles) will attract people who have a diversity of theological positions. The music of the black church, commonly referred to as "Gospel Music" will attract people who have a diresity of theological position.

I have to mostly agree with everything stated there. The theology of the major divisions of the Christian world is different enough that no station could possibly appeal to all branches with any sort of spoken word programming. The theology of the catholic denominations (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, & Orthodox), the protestants (Presbyterian, some Baptists, Methodists, etc.), and the Pentecostals and Fundamentalists (the other Baptists, the Pentecostals, the so-called "non-denominational" denomination, etc.) are far too different from each other.

But I think that Christian music is even more fragmented now than you've listed. There isn't just the division of traditional Gospel and the so-called "Contemporary Christian Music". CCM is now as fragmented as contemporary secular music. A station airing songs with Christian lyrics can no more mix musical genres than a secular station can. Mixing secular rock, hip-hop, and country won't fly. Neither will mixing Christian rock, hip-hop, and country.

 

[tlyle]

Mike Fernandez was just a great individual. Very gifted jock. I wish I knew of his where-abouts. He was living in the Nashville area, but had left radio last time I talked with him, but that was 10 years ago.

I worked at WAEC Love 86 with Mike Fernandez back in 1986 and remember him doing Higher Power. Last I heard, he was a freelance writer in Nashville. I also remember when 11 alive's Chris Holcomb worked at WAEC during the high power summer hours. Does anyone remember Debbie who had very long hair that worked at WAEC. I forgot her last name.

 

[Stu Dio]

Let's go 'way back --

Two Decatur stations in the 1960's -- WAVO-AM and WAVQ-FM -- were owned and operated by Bob Jones University out of Greenville SC. Broadcast relgious classical music and lectures, speeches, etc. from the college

WGUN- AM (1010) was a mix of gospel and country and some preaching.

860 AM was originally WERD and they played gospel.

Moody Bible Institute's Mood Radio bought the 920 AM frequency and put WAFS on the air after for years serving Atlanta via their Chattenooga repeater of WMBW-FM. When the AM went on the air, they shut down the FM repeater. Did pretty well but then the entire Moody Radio network pulled back and they withdrew from the market.

WAOK-AM (1340) also started as gospel.

The Moody Radio influence quickly moved Christian broadcasting from just music to teaching and most of the Christian stations today (other than Praise 97, Joy 93 and the Fish) feature more programs than music.

Hope this helps.

 

[StoneGT]

I remember the Christian Rock show on WRAS Sunday mornings - I was thinking it was Sonshine, not Higher Power, or maybe it changed names. After Mike Fernandez left, a young woman I think named Laura took over dj duties. She got in trouble for talking about the abortion issue a lot, was warned repeatedly, which led to the show being canned. It was a great loss - was the only place in Atlanta for Rock like Rez, Steve Taylor, 77's etc.

The folks at Love 86 were nice, and it was good to have a Christian music station that wasn't Southern Gospel on the air, but musically the playlist was tame AC. Now we have 2 FM stations and the music is . . . still mostly bland uninspired AC. (Although J93 does now have a hot rock show called Late Night Live on Saturday nights.)

I guess some radio research says the only way to have a successful Christian station is to appeal to overly cautious moms and older females. It is frustating, though because other markets across the country do have Christian stations that are more hit/rock/rhythmic oriented, either independently or with Air-1 or K-Love networks.

I can't help but wonder how a Christian station that sounded kind of like Q100 with maybe a dash of the Beat and/or Project, playing rock and rhythmic Christian hits, would do in Atlanta. Basically the Christian CHR chart at Radio and Records, with some rhythmic/urban spice to broaden the appeal. It would have a fairly large potential demographic of under age 40 Christians of all races.

 

[jabba17]

It was a great loss - was the only place in Atlanta for Rock like Rez, Steve Taylor, 77's etc.

Now that would be a treat--maybe Fish could put on an HD2 station with Christian AOR like the Rez Band, Steve Taylor, Petra/Greg Volz, Undercover, Altar Boys, etc. Problem is, most of THAT would be too retro for the target demo (although they could do it as a retro show like HORP or RetroITMetro). Then again, who cares what they do on an HD2?

Of course Salem would probably rather simul WGKA or WNIV instead...

 

[StoneGT]

Of course now on a Chrisitan CHR/AOR station or show, I would want Flyleaf, P.O.D., Fireflight, Switchfoot, Red, Tobymac, Skillet, Family Force Five, Kutless, Underoath etc.

But a little retro stuff would be good, if only to show the kids who the pioneers were! It would make them read the Book of Rock - Rez begat Stryper begat DC Talk begat Flyleaf.

 

[RAD1]

I find it really bothers me the way The Fish brags about being "safe". My kids are grown, but I don't think I'd like to have to explain to my little kids what the radio station means about it being "safe". If it's really safe, then that should be obvious. They shouldn't have to brag about it constantly.

What an odd statement. Does it REALLY BOTHER you that they keep reminding their listeners that they are, in fact, 'safe' to listen to? Would it bother you if a rock station constantly said it was where you could 'get your rocks off' or if a jazz station constantly ran liners saying it was where you could find your 'smooth jazz'? Geeze, it's what they've built a subtantial listening audience on. And how is it 'bragging'?

BTW, If I had small kids, it wouldn't phase me one bit to tell them what is meant by it being a safe station to listen to.

I agree, this guy is an idiot. You'd probably explain if it was bad language on the radio to your kids so what's the difference. Take the time. It's not bragging, wrong interpretation. Keep listening, you'll learn.

 

[Rick Rose 2.0]

My understanding is that 93.3 is working on a HD2 station that will target the younger crowd and in someway using their translators to rebroadcast it even though I am not sure how a translator can simlucast a HD2 station.