Good post about operating a Christian station, etc. As far as should Christian radio compete with Secular radio, it does even if that isn't its intent. If people are tuning in to a Christian station(s) rather than that town's secular station(s) then yes indeed those Christian stations are competing as they are pulling listeners away from the secular stations. A CCM station would be a bigger concern than say a hymn oriented Christian station as the CCM stations demos would be in that 12-49 age range that the secular stations also want for their advertisers thus they are competing.
> > Should Christian Radio Compete With Secular Radio or
> should
> > its mission be to narrow cast and preach to the choir
> only?
> > Lets hear your arguments both pro and con.
>
> It seems to me that the answer you seek would depend on
> which "banner" one would choose to operate a station under.
>
> Lots of stations would rather refer to themselves as
> RELIGIOUS stations (as this board is named). They prefer to
> join such organizations as the "National RELIGIOUS
> Broadcasters." Such a station would do its best work
> cultivating its "exclusive" audience of people who consider
> themselves as religious.
>
> That is a natural extension of the narrowcasting that most
> secular broadcasters do...adult standards for the
> "over-50's", oldies for the "over-40's", A/C for the
> "over-30's", new rock for the "over-20's", top-40 for the
> "over-10's" and Radio Disney for everyone else (I KNOW I'm
> over-generalizing).
>
> It's the concept by which radio stations have survived for
> over 50 years now.
>
> If those who run a station want to call it a CHRISTIAN
> station, then they ought to operate it on CHRISTIAN
> principles, which are...
> --> Inclusive, not exclusive.
> --> Oriented toward the lost first, the newly-saved second
> and the body third.--> Not worried about ratings, age-based
> demographics, groups or anything else that would take the
> orientation of the station away from the business of saving
> souls.--> Being "salty"...that is, distasteful in and of
> itself, but encouraging those who listen to taste the
> "sweetness" of the Lord.--> Living as if the law was going
> to shut the station down tomorrow, when there are souls to
> save today.
>
> BTW...you can find Scripture to back up each of these
> points, but I won't preach to this "choir" today.
>
> Now, let's suppose that someone actually DID put a station
> together that adhered to Christian principles above all
> else. What would happen?
>
> --> Our saved brothers and sisters would tell the manager
> that he/she was a "nut", because the station's sound would
> definitely not be what they were used to hearing on a
> "Christian" radio station.--> Christian broadcast
> consultants would be knocking on the station's door,
> offering to help us "correct" our programming before we
> slide off the cliff ratings-wise.--> Local pastors would be
> asking to have private prayer with the manager and the owner
> of the station, with the intent being to cast out whatever
> "demon" had infected them.--> Advertisers would cancel
> their contracts with the station in short order, because
> the station would not draw a "crowd" as it had done
> previously.--> Ratings would drop, because the station
> would be too "wild" for the religious folks and too
> "churchy" for the worldly crowd. Since a person's tastes in
> music, fashion, etc., tend to change over time beyond the
> crisis experience of salvation, the station's listeners
> would be subject to a radical amount of turnover as the
> "unsaved" morphs into the "choir".
>
> When we "count the cost" of bringing a radio station into
> line with a normative concept of being "Christian", it is
> definitely more than most station owners would be willing to
> pay. Further, the station owner who should choose to do
> this will be exposing him/herself to much of the same fate
> that befell Jesus ... criticism, ostricism and excism
> (death) by the religious folks who consider themselves as
> God's servants.
>
> How many of us would survive, much less thrive, in such an
> environment?
>
> Bottom line:
> If you're working for a "Religious" station, go ahead and
> preach to the choir...they're yours anyway.If you're working
> for a "Christian" station, you can't compete any more than
> light can compete with darkness.If you're working for a
> station that tries to be a little of both, welcome to
> Laodicea. You'll never totally figure out what you're
> supposed to be doing.
>
> Later,
> Moderator Matt
>