SRN's "Today's Christian Music" is a pretty good sounding CCM Mix.
> The company I do consulting work for has just been granted a
> non-comm CP, and we are looking at our programming options.
>
> My experience has been wholly in either commercial radio or
> in "NPR-style" non-commercial stations, so when my research
> indicated that the biggest format hole for a non-commercial
> in the area was CCM, I knew that I needed to seek out more
> information about this format. There is plenty of "public
> radio," and a lot of "teaching and talk" Christian stations,
> both Protestant and Catholic. But, there is no CCM station.
> By the way, my experience with CCM has only been as a
> listener, not as a manager or consultant.
>
> The reason this company applied for the license was
> basically to provide a station that will do at least some
> locally-orientated programming for the community. And, they
> had an idea this was the format they wanted to do with it
> from the get-go, I just confirmed it. If they had not
> applied for the CP, it would likely have fallen to a
> "network," which in the past has only built the tower,
> plugged in the satellite feed, and left.
>
> At the startup of the station, there will be a very limited
> budget, and local programming initially will be a smaller
> part of the day. That would likely change as time goes on.
>
> So, I'd like to respectfully ask the advice of the people on
> this board:
>
> 1. If you had to program a large part of the day initially
> with CCM music delivered by satellite, whose services would
> you recommend? I am looking for CCM programming that is
> inclusive and not heavily oriented toward a specific
> doctrine or denomination. And, is lighter on talk, as that
> is currently well-represented in the market.
>
> 2. For our local dayparts, how do you build a CCM music
> library from scratch? What are the best sources for music?
> I know TM Century has a service for new music, and it is
> free to stations. Is this a good service? How are record
> companies about getting you the new titles (any better than
> the abysmal service from "secular" labels?) The bigger
> problem seems to be building the gold/recurrent part of the
> CCM library. Where would you go to get such a library? All
> my previous sources for other formats tell me "they don't do
> that format."
>
> Again, this is for a non-comm station that would be the
> first CCM station in the market.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>
