X-twitter Linkedin-in Youtube

A Main Reason

If it’s that important to listeners, what’s a PD to do?

 

Chuck here.

 

The Why Listen? Survey is now history—but the stories it reflects live on.  Here’s a big big one.  Your listener comes to you and turns on the radio—out of a lot of other choices—because she wants to “grow spiritually.”

 

Wait a minute, you say.  We live in a secular age where we’ve got to play down Jesus to get reach.

 

Really?  Not what she said. She, your busy, distracted and hurting listener is coming—as a main reason—to “grow spiritually”.   I’ve said it before:  It’s a daggers-out world, her world.  She knows you say you are Christian radio—that’s your distinctive—and that’s what she wants.

 

Someone coming to us to find out about and to grow more like Jesus. That’s a wow.

 

What do we do with that?  A few thoughts.  The level of spiritual maturity is not consistent—just the desire to grow.  So why not thoughtfully place bold, Biblical, short and wildly accessible thoughts throughout your day?  Using words to speak truth—big truths—but in an understandable way is a big deal.  To really connect with someone’s heart is to use language they understand.

 

And borrowing from another finding—many denominations find their way to your station—we realize that there is a rich heritage in these groups.  But some terms may not be understood across denominational borders.  Is the body of Christ the family of God or the “host” in communion?

This calls for broadly accessible terms that most won’t stumble over.

 

We want those moments on your station–whether in savory scripture bites, important topic discussions and brief minutes of worship—that will touch your listeners like their favorite songs. We want to create a tear, a smile, a pull-over-to-the-curb- and-catch-your-breath moment.

Surprising.  An opportunity to minister.  Whatever you want to say about spiritual growth being a main reason to listen, it’s our chance to not only grow our station, network or ministry, but to grow lives ever closer to Jesus.

Blog Info

 

Action:

  1. Pray, discuss and even create a plan with what your ministry might do to communicate more clearly Jesus tone, words and call to a faith-life.
  2. Ask how, where you can find and develop bold, powerful, short content.
  3. Check into the Finney Media Why Listen? Workday that can help you develop your specific daily action plan.

How the finney media Why Listen? Survey Can Impact What You Do

Chuck here.

In a recent post, I let you know how excited I was to be able to stand in front of many of you this last Thursday and share Eight Headlines that will help us understand our listener better, and in so doing, provide a flashlight on ways we can engage her more fully, have greater impact and continue to grow our station reach.

 

Today, I’d like to pass along something to consider that will help you in a very real way.  My heart’s desire is to help you take the results and understand clearly how you can walk back into your station and realize your God-given dream for reach and impact.

 

Here at Finney Media we’ve been praying about a way we can help every size station or ministry.  A way that everyone can afford.  God has laid on our hearts the concept of a Workday—one day in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where we dig deep into the research together and unlock practical, actionable ideas that help you—no matter your market size or ministry size—gain insight and Action Items you can take home to implement within two weeks.

 

I’m blessed to be able to be able to be part of this event.  I trust you’ll start praying right now about joining us.  Specific details are found HERE.  I’m hoping to see you there.

Blog Info

Action: Three Big Things:

 

  1. Chuck’s Powerpoint from Momentum is available.  Get your place in line by e-mailing whylisten@finneymedia.com
  2. Find out more about the Finney Media Why Listen? Workday, that will be held next April 6. Details and registration are HERE.  Space is limited, and there’s a special price right now, so do plan to give this your immediate attention.

 

Christian Radio Pictures to Make You Smile

Jan here.

Six-word stories.

 

These are attributed to Hemingway.

That may be a fable in itself, as it appears they have been around for a long time, with tales relating many of them from before he was in writing form. However, the memoir stream on the six-word story developed just a little while back. According to Wikipedia, the beginnings came from the online magazine Smith Magazine, whose goals relate to storytelling. From the magazine, they moved to Twitter and even a book series. Clearly it has become a popular way to focus on both creativity and deep thought about an important matter—life direction, events and meaning.

And that is what Chuck has compiled here, from sixwordmemoirs websites. Ten word pictures that could be your station or ministry story. An example of what you and your team can locate online or develop yourself to use on air! Six-word stories that cut to the core…or the quick. Pause. Read. Consider. Then take the idea and run with it. Click here to read our next blog

Chuck’s Picks

  1. The silences often utter profound truths.
  2. Seeps into souls like rain drops.
  3. Clouds all fluffed up to party.
  4. Main problem with morning…too early.
  5. Sewing…therapy with a foot pedal.
  6. They said: It’s impossible. It wasn’t.
  7. Broken pieces make up beautiful mosaics.
  8. I lived to tell about it.
  9. Love is more important than anything.
  10. My idea of perfection has changed.

 

Blog Info

Action: Six-word memoirs tell profound truths in an arresting manner.

  1. What might your ministry or station’s be if you wrote it?
  2. Could you create a meme from your six-word memoir?
  3. Where could you use one of these or what you wrote in your programming?
  4. This is an opportunity for a team activity, an active devo using the ones Chuck wrote or a listener engagement possibility.
  5. And what about including these in your prayer life? They bring to mind important, profound truths, something that a morning or evening meditation can use.

 

Feedback:

We’d love to hear about your six-word memoir or what you wrote. Share by e-mail or post it here.

How Wonderment Makes the Day

 

Christianity Today, quoting from the Finney Media Why Listen? survey,  headlined a recent story on radio: 

 

“4 out of 5 listeners are tuning in for the same reason.”  What is that? Spiritual growth.  

 

Here is an additional thought:  How you present can create deep heart Impact.

Here’s Chuck.

 

 

“Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding, you mountains and all ills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children.”  Psalm 148:7-11

 

Powerful words.  But often, as read on our radio stations or programs, without the depth of emotion that the psalmist intended.

 

What if we worked at making more of the profound…profound?

 

Webster says that profound is 1 a : having intellectual depth and insight b : difficult to fathom or understand. 2 a : extending far below the surface b : coming from, reaching to, or situated at a depth : deep-seated.

 

Any of these definitions work as we prepare to speak before our listeners.

 

If she is not moved by our words, then we must consider working again, harder, more carefully or recrafting, re-editing and re-telling in a way that it moves her one more step in Jesus’ direction.

 

How?  Being inspired by someone or something can help us do the same for others.

Take a few minutes with a favorite poet, listen to your five-year-old, or stand outside at night and view the sky.  Sometimes even watching a video clip can move our hearts to move others.

 

Here is one from Louie Giglio, leader of the Passion movement, that touched me.

 

Be inspired…and inspire!

 

Action: Take time often to pause and let the wonderment all around sink in.  Then share that with your listener.  Your genuine transparent heart connects!

One Surprising Truth About Your P1 Listener

 

The Lowdown on P1 Listeners

 

 

Blog Info

Chuck

Recently questions have come in about P1’s. P1 listeners. Who are they? Aren’t they my long-time, every week dependable listener? Well, no.

You may be surprised by that, so let me expand.  A bit of understanding may help as you work to relate every single week to this important group of listeners, who are probably donors to your station. Recently questions have come in about P1’s.  P1 listeners.  Who are they?  Aren’t they my long-time, every week dependable listener?  Well, no.

The standard definition of a P1 is a listener that prefers your station over any other.  With this definition, you would think they would be there consistently, right?  Well, no.  Here’s the raw truth.  Who is in the P1 group will be different depending on the week you measure.

Let’s say Sophie is a P1 this week.  Well, next week Sophie has taken a trip with her two kids down to visit her mother.  She finds a local station in her mother’s town that sounds a bit like yours, and next week she is a P1 for that station.  But she’s not listening to yours.  Week after that, she is home, and you are on again.  But then she is off for vacation….

So here’s the blunt truth:  Fickle, busy, easily distracted.  But when asked what she listens to, Sophie and others like her mention you.  Yes, she is a fan.  This is why creating an emotional bond with Sophie and her friends is so important.  You want her to always come back to you!

But it also stands to reason that building an emotional bond is an every week kind of thing.  You can’t bank on a memory of last week’s flowers—you need to be handing them out again this week.

Action:  A little understanding goes a long way.

  1. Brainstorm how knowing you have different listeners each week as P1’s impacts what you say on-air.
  2. Review our website for more READING ON HEART CONNECTION.

Feedback:

We’d love to hear how you changed your on-air conversation.  Share by e-mail or post it here.

 

There are 10,080 minutes in one week. This is Chuck and I did the math.

Think about this . . . 80 minutes. That’s how much time the typical Christ follower spends in church each week. One hour and twenty minutes per week.

We say we’re trying to tell people about Jesus on the radio.  Pause on that thought.  We get an amazing amount of time each week—that other 10,000 minutes—to touch individual people’s hearts and impact their lives.

If you needed 10,000 reasons to pray this week that God would give you the right focus, the right energy and the right words—well consider this your opportunity!

Action:  Action is often the hardest part of change.

  1. Pray alone and pray with your team about your 10,000 minutes.
  2. Review our website for more reading on heart connection.
  3. Make one small change in your daily words, actions or attitudes that is more heart connective.

 

Feedback:

We’d love to hear how you changed your on-air conversation.

Blog info

How an Open Heart and Mind Keeps You in Shape

 

Beth here.

I started in radio and TV a good five years prior to the birth of my first daughter.  And now, she’s in her mid-twenties.  What can I say after all this time?

Stay a student of your craft.

If radio is your thing, listen to a lot of radio.  Different kinds with different personalities.  Note how they make you feel.  What works.  What can you work into your delivery.  Reach out to the Talents you hear via social media.  They are so approachable now.  We are all people who need people (thank you Barbara Striesand).  Give them the feedback you’d like to get.

Not only that, show up every day.  Exude integrity and fill in at the last minute, learn something new, start small, bake cookies and seek ways to serve.  Know that every listener and co-worker is a person God is trusting you with on-air.  So respond to listeners who reach out to you.  If they take the time to share take the time to answer back.

And pray.  Pray a lot.

Plus you might try an improv class.

Blog Info.

Five Finney tips to guide prayer on-air

Prayer On-Air:  How to Connect with God and Your Listener

Five How-to Tips for Praying On-Air

Blog Info

Jan 

Jesus himself gave us the timeless pattern for prayer, when he shared with his disciples what we’ve come to call “The Lord’s Prayer”. Others have produced powerful compositions—St. Francis of Assisi:  “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace…”  as an example.  And for children there are the endless variations on “Now, I lay me down to sleep…”  Do any of these historic models provide a way for use on the radio?

We already know the listener is upbeat about and into hearing prayer.  Our ongoing research on this question has shown that at least two-thirds of folks would place this high on a list of what they like to hear in a morning show.  And a pre-release tip that Finney Why Listen will have new feedback on this.

We know God hears our prayers, no matter how wooden, long or rambling.  But how to really connect with the listener when prayer is what’s called for?   Well, recently, Chuck was asked about prayer on-air.  Here are his very practical thoughts, which produce powerful results.

Chuck

  1. Pray when it makes sense to pray. If there is something that would make sense to pray about, pray about it. Too many Christian stations have prayer as something scheduled, and therefore contrived, when it probably ought to be driven by a feeling of “this is something we ought to pray about”.
  2. Pray “from the heart”. Make it real, with pauses, emotion. Don’t let it sound scripted.  That happens more naturally when it is a heart-felt need.
  3. Pray using words all denominations use and understand. Words like “traveling mercies” and “hedge of protection” are foreign to many folks listening. Try “safety and peace in their trip” and “your protection” instead. These phrases have the same bold intent with broader meaning and understanding.
  4. Pray concisely. Make it about one thing, not ten things.  Your listener is already busy and perhaps pulled in several directions.  Prayer can be a calming influence as she listens.  Your listener wants to be the “Mary” who sat at Jesus’ feet—but she often feels like “Martha”, so “busy and distracted about many things,” per Jesus.  This one thing can help her move in that direction.
  5. When you pray, it’s better to immediately go into a worship song. Talking to God followed by praising Him—now that’s a truly heart-connective and even sacred transition that your listener will deeply appreciate.

 

And, of course, pray as much or as little as the leadership at the stations thinks is the right amount for the audience. The listener loves it when we pray, but especially when it’s real, spontaneous, and not scripted!

More Help:   Regularly check our research articles in the Research area and the Finney Media Why Listen? survey information.  As well, the notable prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi is quickly available online with a search for “Francis of Assisi prayer”.

Feedback:

We’d love to hear about your experience with on-air prayer.….

Hooperratings started it all: What research did in the 30’s and still does today.

 

What your listeners really want, and how Hooper tapped in.

How Hooper led the way to help us help YOU.

 

Blog Info

Jan

Ask anyone what they love about radio, and they’ll tell you. It’s that simple. Reach out, find out what your listeners love, and create a message that reaches into the center of their need. Grab their ear, and they’ll grab onto you. Grab their heart, and you have a friend. Chuck sometimes can be heard mumbling, “It’s not rocket science.”

Well, at least it wasn’t in the 1930’s. Rating systems have changed since then. But in the 30’s, in the “golden age of radio”, rating systems were much more personal. And in some ways, more immediate and accurate.

It all comes down to making friends, and how does one make friends? Claude Hooper knew. Based in America, Claude Hooper, a former marketing research analyst, started measuring radio and TV popularity in 1934. During that “golden age”, Claude was taking the pulse of the radio listener in a way that had never been done before. C.E. Hooper’s “Hooperratings” became the rising star … the go-to, trusted source for radio show popularity.

So how did this bit of history come up anyway? It all started with a story about life in Cincinnati—in the 50’s.

Chuck

My Dad was (and is) is radio from the day I was born. He was in radio when it was network block programming—and almost no one thought about the “listener”. He tells of a well-known station in Cincinnati that was a harbinger of listener-first. They came up playing “Purple People Eater” for two straight weeks. Yep. Two weeks. Then flipped to rock ‘n roll. They debuted in the Hooperratings at a 78 share. Now, shares were figured differently—but you get the idea. The listener won, eventually.

Jan

But how did Hooperratings work?

“Reach out and touch someone”. Maybe some of you remember that slogan. Well that’s exactly what Hooper did. Hooperratings were based upon phone calls made “coincidentally” to listeners in 36 cities in the US. What made his method unique, besides being highly personal, it allowed him to find out what the listener was focused on at that particular moment. Immediately and personally. This was favorable among the listeners, who didn’t really like having to remember what they were listening to 2 hours ago … much less one day ago. C.E. Hooper made calls every 15 minutes (an exhaustive and expensive process). The results were tallied and distributed to advertisers, networks and radio stations. The industry largely lived and died by these reports, and relied upon their accuracy.

What might we take from all this? We could ask it this way: How’s Your Hooper?

In the 1940s and for some time after, when someone in the radio industry asked, “How’s your Hooper?” they were really asking about the size of a radio broadcast’s audience. You can find more info on all of these important components on our website, including information on listener research that is more helpful, more in-depth and, yes, more actionable than what was done in the 1930’s.

At Finney Media, we love to work alongside you on your Hooper with heart connection, talent and story. Click here to read our next blog

Sources can be found HERE.

It’s not the responsibility of the audience to translate. Four tips on how to sweat word choice.

 

One BIG Reason to Take Responsibility for What Comes Out of Your Mouth

 

Blog Info

 

Jan

In my previous work as a syndicator, Chuck would sometimes call me up out of the blue. I’d see his name pop in on the landline phone screen and take a slight gulp. I knew he wasn’t calling to ask me anything “easy.”

He always had a few persistent questions about our audience. The call would end up with this underlying assessment: It’s your responsibility to communicate—not the responsibility of the audience to translate. And really, how important is this if you are trying to communicate eternal truths?

I wanted to find out more. So, I asked.

Chuck

Barna research shows that a majority of Christian believers in the U.S. don’t know the meaning of the word “justified”. When I was told this by a group of broadcasters, I wasn’t sure I could come up with a totally accurate definition off the top of my head. And I’ll bet the average smart, but distracted and busy listener to Christian media can’t come up with one either.

The problem is we throw big Christian words and concepts like this into our on-air banter as if the listener knows what they mean. Or they are paying attention enough to “get It” as the words fly by.

Should we water down our conversation to make it understandable? No. We’re called to be bold with our words. But we should consider this, from Mark 4:33: “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the Word to them, as much as they could understand.”

He is God. He could choose any words to say what He wanted to say. He could have chosen large theological words to make His points. He didn’t.

Jesus put Himself on the level of people…the people He was speaking to. And He selected stories that the people listening to Him could understand. He took responsibility for making the stories understandable. Consumable. Heart-connective. Life changing.

Think lilies of the field. Think a widow with a coin. Think a father and a son. All stories from Jesus about everyday matters. All stories from the Master Teacher.

Jan

Jan here again.  I’m chewing over this assessment.  But I do have a preliminary plan to share with you.  Here it is:

  1. I will ask Jesus to gently remind me daily that it’s His love I’m to share, not my “knowledge”.
  2. I will focus on my audience as I prepare, be that one or many, and work for understanding of who they are and how they talk.
  3. I will discuss with my team unusual or theological words I want to use before I use them on-air or in presentations.
  4. I will be open to finding synonyms, or new ways to describe a concept or tell a story, because my focus is on understanding.

Do you have a few words that you are having a challenge finding a better way to communicate? 

Categories

@FINNEY MEDIA 2025

X-twitter Linkedin-in Youtube