which christian station has the best imaging????

[rbrucecarter5]

If one listens for an hour, one will discover the intended meaning of "God listens." However, one must listen to know for sure, and it can be misconstrued in several negative ways; that makes it a surprising choice for a brand / marketing focus.

Last time I was in Houston, I tried listening for an extended period in the car. I have a lot of pride in KSBJ, because I was a major contributer to them when they were struggling to get back on the air after the KFMK went under, and they came back in 1983 as KSBJ. That took a lot of money, and a lot of us dug deep to make it happen.

I remember more creative, edgier days - shows like "The Rock of Love" - all gone now. And the KSBJ of today is NOT what I donated all that money for. It is now a passe soccer mom AC format. I'm only 52 years old - that music is programmed for somebody else - I grew up listening to rock - and I will be on satellite networks, streaming, or whatever it takes to get Hotter AC or Christian rock. I'm too young to appreciate the clunkers they play every so often. I found myself wondering "WHAT is THAT?!!!" doing on a CCM station way too often when I listened. TOO soft, too much sappy uncreative praise and worship type stuff. I don't know whether to call them lite CCM, or heavy praise and worship, or what. But I sure miss the old KSBJ days. Long gone, never to return I suppose. I wish I could get my donations back - I was thinking of my nephews who grew up in Houston. KSBJ never ministered to them because it wimped out on the music. Teens and young professionals - those with lots and lots of disposable income? They don't even know or care it is on the air. God may listen, but people like me - give me a station where there is some creativity and a beat in the music. Not spiritual MILK. Spiritual MEAT.

 

[rockermom]

Dude...please do not insult all us soccer moms by assuming we all like the sappy, boring contemporary praise music that is called CCM. I am missing my revolution on Sirius all day!! I am a 37 year old mom of two(yes they play soccer), but the bumper sticker on my car says ROCKERMOM. I want to hear Flyleaf, Disciple, Fireflight, Demonhunter, P.O.D., RED, Underoath, etc. Don't stereotype....that just helps promote the myth that there is no adult, employed with income listener base for this type of music. If you find any good places in Texas to hear this type of music..please let us Rockermoms know!

 

[jegrant]

I do understand what KSBJ means by "God Listens." but I also agree it is odd at best as a radio brand. I receive them via Sky Angel, and they seem to not prefer their call letters at all - on the satellite receiver their stream is listed as "LSTEN", again, branding "God Listens."

I think this is just fine if they only seek to serve the body of Christ, and they are not attempting to attract the unsaved or new / younger believers.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I just got broadband, so I'll be checking out streams including KSBJ and see what is the best. I got to tell you, though, I tried the stream last night of an old friend - Z88 Orlando. What a treat! Some songs were a little slow for my taste, but I was blown away by the quality and music selection!

I was especially touched by a spot they did about free heart screening. I wonder if they remembered one of their volunteers who had a minor heart attack while helping them with a remote!

And I am NOT the one promoting the soccer mom myth. To the poster who posted that - I've never met a soccer mom - I was being sarcastic. Most younger married women that I know are right where you are, and a lot more fun than knitting clubs.

 

[rockermom]

To rbrucecarter5:


Try radiou.com...very modern with pretty good diversity in the playlist. Oh, and thanks to referring to a 37 year old as a "younger married"! I agree with your take on KSBJ imaging...it probably won't reach anyone outside of the Christian Demographic because of the way it sounds. That was why I enjoyed Revolution so much...the station projected a positive, uplifting image without appearing hokey.

 

[LegendsGuy]

I like the imaging on Way, however here is my beef with some of the imaging on Christian stations. I often find the Uplifiting and Inspirational imaging to be very hokey and fake sounding.

I am the production Director at 90.9 "The Light" in Lynchburg, VA and I'm working on revamping the imaging here. We are Christian top 40/CHR right now going by music for our generation. I'm trying to personalize it more towards music for my generation. What are some of the other Christian CHR's doing as far as imaging that I could "borrow" some ideas from?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Try streaming some of the WAY-FM outlets. They manage to snag a great number of teen and young adult listeners while playing essentially the same format as some of the "safe for the family" stations. Also try streaming Z-88 Orlando. They do a really good job, too.

My congratulations for running a relevant format under Dr. Falwell's guidance. I was under the impression he was anti-CCM. There are unsubstantiated reports that one of the members of DC Talk was kicked out of the school there. You see that old Christian urban legend on all the anti-CCM web sites.

I've always thought that young people of today are the future of the church. If you don't minister to them today, you may not have a church in the future.

 

[jegrant]

Wow! I am very impressed with 90.9 The Light. It has really improved my impression of Liberty University. I had always assumed they were far too conservative and stuck in the past to allow a "real" Christian CHR station on campus. The imaging actually sounds just fine to me. But, if you want some tips, you might also give a listen to Z 88.3 Orlando's digital HD subchannels which can be found at RadioY.com - Y-Hot (Hip-Hop & R&B) and Y-Rock.

Other stations to check out might include Chicago's Shine.FM, a new online station TheBlast.FM, KLYT "M88" in Albuquerque, and Radio U in Columbus.

 

[LegendsGuy]

Thanks for the kind words, we try hard as a student run station. As far as Falwell is concerned, CCM is not his cup of tea but he realizes the need for it. The urban legend about DC Talk is somewhat true, I don't know the full story but it involves drinking and partying. However, Tait and Toby Mac had good relations with Falwell because they attended around the same time as his son. Those two did come back to get their degrees and in fact Tait sang at Falwell's church earlier this year and Toby will be here in April.

The main deal with the imaging is that it hasn't really been updated in 6 years. So my question is how often should a station update its imaging?

 

[William_Yeager]

Speaking of having not updated their imaging, Air1 has had the same imaging for at least six years-I first heard them in 2001.

 

[VERITAS DE VOCE]

I hope he's referring to the quality of the work rather than the branding presence in the imagers.

Absolutely! I meant quality not branding presence. detail, sound, etc... the more mainsteam a station's image sounds the more likely that station is to attract non-christian listeners.

cause unfortunately a lot of christian station let brother Bob who bought some editing software do image and that's never good. cheap but never good.

GREETINGS KIDS. I am new to this particular blog (hanging out in DFW radio), but this is my passion.

Branding and Christianity (in whatever package... from preacher to platform to pretty radio page) usually aren't incorporated in the same sentence. Much less, board meeting. The three stations aforementioned has a good "look" but a terrible brand. Numbers usually don't matter to alt christian, but they are quickly becoming the world to CCM.

Regretfully, no PD, GM or VP try to BRAND... just accrue numbers. They are not the same. These stations could easily get out there a lot better, if only they tried.

BTW, 897powerfm.com ain't too bad.