Trying to describe how K-Love, Air1, Way-FM and others work

[Miss Tuned]

EMF deserves a lot of credit for running a tight ship. The processing and engineering on their stations are normally very good, they address signal issues promptly (I think they have a form to “report” if your local station is out), they’re quite financially upfront from what I know, and if the listener believes in what they’re doing in giving to them, more power to them. When EMF bought KSWD, WPLJ, and WRQX, for example, they did absolutely nothing wrong legally or ethically. It was a business transaction where EMF paid a struggling radio operator money they needed in exchange for a license/facility to broadcast their message. It’s really no different than how a church operates. Individuals give to keep something going that’s important to them and carry out the teachings/message of Jesus.

I’m socially liberal and I don’t have any beef whatsoever with EMF. Give me both K-LOVE or Air1 any day over BBN, VCY America, Relevant, GNN, The LifeFM, etc. - although those operate in a similar model to EMF. I choose just to not listen to them.

Also, EMF is perhaps able to get this message out to more by playing more “vague” Christian songs. Operations like RTN (who owns The Wind, JoyFM, His Radio, etc), WFSH, KLTY, WPOZ, etc. seem much more…”preachy”, although they still seem very liberal in comparison to a VCY or BBN. They also seem to not “plead” so much like a lot of other religious broadcasters (or, hell, some NPR stations) have done to the point where they guilt you out of listening if you can’t or don’t want to give.

I feel like this, too. Having listened to some K-Love, they make radio. Their programming leverages high-quality radio production techniques and plays to the unique strength of the medium - K-Love are a radio station, with radio people, playing radio-friendly music and they sound good on air. As a non-Christian, I can listen to K-Love and enjoy a bit of the music, laugh at the DJs' funny bits, nod along at the stories on air. I can listen to it, and get along with it, because it's radio, even though it wouldn't be my #1 choice of station.

Many other religious broadcasters are only making radio in the sense that it comes out of a transmitter somewhere. Their stations are just another platform for the church - they are, in effect, little more than big megaphones for preachers. There's no entertainment value, no production value, no radio being made, just a guy droning through a transmitter - probably to next to nobody. In my view, that's the difference.

 

[Kent]

The hatred toward EMF/K-Love isn’t really different from what we saw about Clear Channel and Cumulus 15 years ago. When someone comes in, buys a station, and makes changes, people tend not to like them. People on this board and its predecessors used to gripe every time Clear Channel bought a cluster and would bemoan the loss of another local broadcaster as well as the job losses that often came with the company's arrival.

The difference is iHeart and Cumulus aren’t buying much, and, when they are, they’re swapping. The complaints about EMF are nothing new either. We saw and heard plenty of the same complaints 20 years ago. EMF, however, wasn’t buying as many stations, and it wasn’t the only company buying.