The Finney Media Why Listen?® national survey of Christian radio listeners took place in the spring of 2018, with 26,800 respondents filling in a survey. Once the results were compiled and tabulated, with results sent to participating stations and programs, we led numerous conversations and group presentations. Within these conversations and after presentations, we’ve received questions asking for clarification or additional reflection.
In this blog, we’ll cover several of those questions. The full presentation that today’s questions came from can be found HERE/Momentum PowerPoint. The chart that captures the key point in this presentation is this (scatter) chart.
The upper right shows media groups that received high Findex™ scores, showing high listener heart connection, and observationally a large audience.
Question: How important is imaging for stations with a high Findex? Or put another way, what part does imaging play in developing a heart connective relationship?
Answer: Within Why Listen, we see that providing spiritual encouragement is the key summation of how to best engage with your listener. This is true around the clock, and with every type of content. Imaging all by itself can’t do a complete job, but it should, indeed, reflect the spiritual encouragement that is found within the total station sound. It is part of the station, part of what draws a listener in.
Question: Is having fun part of creating a relational connection on a station? Do games qualify?
Answer:Yes, to both. Humor is part of life, and is certainly part of engagement. But a caution sign needs to be hung here. Humor can be a very personal thing, so assess what you are doing and run it by different types of folks. It’s crucial that humor for Christian radio stations not be funny at someone’s expense. The second part of the caution sign is this: Don’t overdo it. This is part of life, but listeners who want a lot of comedy will tune in to a comedy program.
Question: How do highly successful stations make the spiritual accessible?
Answer:This is one of the programming areas that Finney Media specializes in. For starters, how about using accessible language? Everyday language? Talk like you talk to your friends about spiritual matters. Stay away from cliché words. Say what you mean so that if I’m not in the inner circle, I’ll get it. Tone is important here, of course. And vulnerability is the glue.
If you need more help with any of these areas, contact us today!
