Who is your listener? At Finney Media, we’ve just completed our third Why Listen® Survey, a nationwide perceptual study of Christian radio listeners across the United States. Almost 11,000 Christian radio listeners were surveyed from the databases of Christian radio stations and programs from three formats: Christian Teaching/Spoken Word, Christian Hybrid (Teaching & Music Stations) and CCM Stations.
Because these are listeners invited to participate from those radio stations and programs, these listeners are likely to be the most interested, most aware, highest affinity listeners to these stations – not your average listeners – but likely superfans.
And it’s important to dive not only into the data, but also into the demographics of who participated. This is not necessarily a mirror of who is listening, but an important reflection of who is likely the most engaged, who is likely to donate and who will give us their opinion.
Here’s some of what we saw:
Finney Media Why Listen® Key Finding: Don’t assume your listener is married. According to our research, almost one of three don’t have a married partner in the home.
Finney Media Why Listen® Key Finding: It appears our formats are a lot more for personal spiritual growth and encouragement today. And, not so much for parents with kids in the backseat.
Leading a team through the last 18 months has been a challenge. But, one thing is steady, going back to the basics is always a sure fire way to remain consistent. And telling the right story, regardless of what’s happening around us, is the most effective way to connect with your team.
Here’s an encore of a article from last year that is still relevant today:
You have important things to get across! Here’s how to be more impactful with a story that connects.
Another week managing changed circumstances. Another program to speak into for listeners or viewers growing weary of limitation. You know story is critical as it creates an emotional bond with those in range of your voice. But, how you ask? How can I be confident of a story I want to use? How do I know it will connect with my team or my viewers? How do I know when they will lean in—not turn away—or worse yet, yawn?
Here’s a process that should be able to guide you to select stories that your team or listener or viewer will want to hear.
Here’s the first important key.
Make sure you are passionate about and interested in your story. If you’re telling a story you’re not interested in, it’ll show. You’ve seen it . . . someone reading a story from a script they’re not interested in. They sound flat. If the storyteller doesn’t sound emotionally engaged, you really can’t expect the listener to be. This is not something easily faked.
Now, the second crucial key to effectiveness.
Make sure your story is one your listener will be interested in and passionate about too. This is often what gets overlooked. We just automatically assume others are interested in what we’re interested in! They may be. They may not be.
Think about the college football movie Rudy. This is an underdog story about an undersized football player with an oversized desire to play college American football for Notre Dame. Rudy fights his way onto the team and ultimately . . . well, watch the movie sometime.
One man was quoted about the movie…“’Rudy’ inspired me to go back to university and finish. Graduating in July. Thanks, Rudy.”
If you’re an American, you’re more likely to love Rudy.
If you’re an American football fan, you’re even more likely to love Rudy.
If you’re a Notre Dame football fan, you’re even more likely to love Rudy.
The point here is that it’s crucial you are passionate about and interested in your story. And, it’s crucial your listener is also passionate about and interested in your story.
What to do? Here’s a simple process:
Imagine yourself in the head, heart and understanding of the listener. One of the amazing things that God has given all of us is the gift of pausing, praying, thinking. And, trying to put ourselves in the head, heart and soul of another person. If you don’t have peace about a story, pick a different one!
And, try to take the time to test your story idea on several people. Here’s a simple way to do that:
Make a list of three to four people available you can speak with.
Ask each to imagine themselves in the situation where you will be telling your story—the mindset of a manager or the mindset of a mom in her 40’s who might be hearing your story.
Give them two or three story ideas and ask them to rate each one on a scale of one to five, low to high interest.
Write down everyone’s responses and tabulate.
Use only those stories that rate at a three or higher.
With a little planning, you can figure out if your listener is likely interested and passionate about the story you’re interested in. And, especially in our conflicted times, you can communicate with increased clarity!
Your Listener, Fall Plans and You
It’s back to school time. Back to fall routine time. But like last fall, this fall is turning out to be anything but routine.
Masks. Or not.
In the office. Or not.
Business trips and conventions. Or not.
Time with friends and family. Or not.
Holiday plans. Or not.
And what are your listeners saying? Here are actual comments from impacted friends and family:
“I just hit a wall. I have to take a day off right now.”
“My house looks like a co-working space more than a home!”
“My brain has too many tabs open.”
“I don’t know about you, but I have thought about running away from home way more often as an adult than I ever did as a kid.”
“I need some peace.”
For us in Christian media, with a mission to provide the hope found in Jesus, this is a time to “meet the moment”. We are bringers of Jesus’ presence, God’s peace and His hope. We bring a chance to worship if only for a moment. That’s our big story, and it’s a story that matches the need.
Ways to Reach Your Listener during this Change of Season
So, what are some specific ways to be the bringer of hope? Bringer of peace? Here’s some ideas to ponder, then consider what fits your specific format or situation, and start doing more of it:
Include Scripture that promises rest, peace and God’s presence. On-air Scripture like this can be soul-care for your listener.
With short snippets reminding us of Christ’s presence and peace, roll directly into the right song. Give her a short worship moment.
Review your ongoing produced short form from outside producers to confirm it is a positive and uplifting compliment to your sound. Leave her with a feeling of encouragement and joy. Dozens of features are available, so you can afford to be selective. If you are the producer of these features—this is for you, too.
Keep the tone caring and encouraging. There’s lots of noise going on in houses that are having to enforce school rules and get Zoom calls done from home, and you want to be an antidote. You may be the background except for those short “listen closely” moments.
Include prayer, genuine prayer, as the need arises.
It’s such a rich opportunity for ministry right now. Let us know if you need to talk more about any of these recommended adjustments. Visit our CONTACT PAGE for details on how to reach us.
Great Storytelling Equals Great Editing
Here’s a real-world example of what we mean that great storytelling equals great editing. Check this out from AMERICA’S GOT TALENT from last month:
You’ll notice this now has almost 29 million views on Youtube!
We believe there are valuable lessons for Christian Radio here: If we tell great stories that are well crafted like this, our reach can increase—sometimes a lot.
It’s about twist endings that have powerful “lightbulb moments”. In this case: “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”
And about concise character development that points toward your twist ending. Nightbirde is from Zanesville, Ohio. She’s 30. She’s here tonight by herself.
And about a “messy middle” – a crisis that’s happening that points toward your twist ending: “Last time I checked, I had some cancer in my lungs, my spine and my liver.”
And it’s about all of the pieces of Nightbirde’s story that America’s Got Talent chose to leave out of this telling of the story that made it so, so much more consumable. Details like her failed marriage. Her attendance at Liberty University. How she has led worship at LU. Who her parents are. What her politics are. And what her favorite flavor of ice cream is. All things you can find out if you do a little digging.
Study it.
This is what great storytelling looks and sounds like. Concise. Edited. Consumable for a short attention span theater viewer.
10½ million views on YouTube and counting. So well done.*
We can keep doing it.
If you’d like help with this sort of thing, it’s the kind of thing we teach at Finney Media. Character Development Beginnings. Messy Middles. Twist Endings. All done concisely for a short attention span theater listener. We call it StoryGold®. I’d be happy to talk about it. Reach out to us atinfo@finneymedia.com.
*High fives to Kank! That’s Kankelfritz of Family Life Radio’s Kankelfritz and Friends morning show who produced this piece.
We need to talk. We’ve just completed the Finney Media 2021 Why Listen® Survey. Almost 11,000 Christian radio listeners from across the United States shared with us why they listen, why they leave, why they give, and more.
Allow me to share with you some exciting . . . and thought-provoking . . . headlines.
We presented 21 different reasons that listeners might listen to Christian radio. Here’s the top Main Reason that they gave us as to why they listen – with the percentage that indicates a Main Reason they listen:
#1 – It helps me worship God throughout the day – 85%
We asked them about growing spiritually. That’s a big main reason to listen at 84%.
We asked them about encouragement. At 76% that’s another big main reason to listen.
We even asked about “safe for me and my family to listen”. That’s strong at 59%.
Just not as big as help with worshipping God throughout the day.
It’s big across all formats. CCM. And Teaching.
We need to include these in our discussions about our spoken word content. Worship is huge with our core listeners.
At a minimum, if you’re doing research, you need to ask about Worship. Music and content between the songs and longer programs. Let’s make it part of the conversation.
Want to dive deeper into what listeners are saying? Download our FREE Conference resources on our CONFERENCE RESOURCE PAGE and join us for a FREE 30-minute Why Listen® Results webinar on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 at 12pm CT/1pm ET. Registration is now open at our WEBINAR REGISTRATION page.
A Guest Blog by Beth Bacall, Sr. Talent Coach
Every moment matters. Being responsible for what comes out of the speakers and into the hearts of our listeners is the blessing, and our product. It’s a calling, a job, a privilege.
In preparation for a workshop, I polled 116 air-talent from all formats asking three questions:
What do you want your program director to know?
What do you appreciate about your program director?
How often do you air-check or listen to audio from your show?
Here were my key takeaways:
A majority of the responders sought positive and consistent feedback, stating they mostly hear about mistakes.
A total of 93% of those polled, which includes veteran personalities, newbies, voice trackers, and syndicated hosts, answered they rarely listen to their audio, they rarely listen to their product.
*Beth continues this conversation with talent coach Gary Morland at the video below.
Why Talent Coaching Matters
Doctors regularly re-evaluate and update their practices, just as we would want them to. Hairstylists take state board testing and stay up-to-date with new trends and techniques. IT security professionals are consistently learning and forming thought-based protective procedures. Staying up-to-date and aware of your work is important in all professions, and ours is no exception.
Talented people need reinforcement. Talent coaching matters. In response, talent coaches offer necessary one-on-one time to keep talent sharp, and focused. Like athletes, media personalities need to know how they are being heard and seen. They need to flex muscles and rock some exercises that will continue to grow their message, brand, and sound. Coaches accomplish this through inspiration, examples, cheerleading, and a safe place to work through something that’s not working.
Equipping talent, growing their craft, and refreshing the mission of the station is vital to compelling, passionate, and successful radio shows. People need people! Radio can be a lonely medium to work, especially when you are trying to communicate to a multi-faced audience. Taking time to listen to audio with a trusted individual is so helpful in identifying strengths and areas to expand, instead of filtering their sound through personal emotions.
A few high fives in the hallways and specifically noting an on-air moment that brought a smile goes a long way. As does a continued relationship with talent who seek feedback, reinforcement, ideas, support, and insight on how they can continue to grow. Airchecks should be life-giving, but I’ve found that not everyone has that experience. It’s too bad, but not too late. If you encourage the voice of your station, your mission will be more encouraging.
We can help. Watch as CHUCK, BETH and Gary discuss the Finney Media approach to Talent Coaching:
Want more? Catch our talent coaches at the following 2021 CMB MOMENTUM events*:
Date/Time
What?
Who?
Tuesday, June 1
8pm to 9pm
Women in Radio at Momentum 2021
Beth Bacall
Wednesday, June 2
10am to Noon
Programming & Music Workshop
Beth Bacall
Thursday, June 3
Talent Coaching Breakout Sessions
Beth Bacall, Gary Morland
*See the program for times/location.
We are coming out of the greatest health crisis in our lifetimes. And people are experiencing their first hugs in over a year.
For some people, the past year has been a time of great trial and loss.
Their health has been permanently affected. And they will be reminded with every breath about 2020 for the rest of their lives.
Many have lost loved ones. Some more than one. We hear numbers like half a million reported in the news, but for our friends, it’s a mother or grandad or friend they will never see again or laugh with.
For frontline healthcare heroes, it’s been a landmark year. Each of us who doesn’t do that kind of work needs to say “thank you”. Our friend Missy is a nurse in North Carolina and she told us a year ago we would all know at least one person who would die from this scourge. I thought she was exaggerating. I was wrong. I know three. God bless you Missy . . . and thank you for being honest with us.
For some, this past year has been a year of more closeness with family. A time to unexpectedly reenergize relationships. To read more. Cook more. Walk more. Have more quiet time. Spend more time with God. And, of course, to work from home.Although for others, it’s been a painfully lonely time.
But now, everything is changing again. Things are opening up, weddings and graduations are happening in person, crowds are returning to concerts and sporting events, althoughgradually and at different paces in different parts of the country.
how can you be the first hugs to your listener
Our part in this? Hope. Encouragement. Blessing.
If they’re ready and you’re ready, who needs their first hug in a year? It’s been so, so long. Let’s encourage our listeners to reach out personally or verbally to those they haven’t seen in a year. At church. Or in their family. Or at work.
Here’s what all of this means for your on-air messaging:
Talk more about how things are opening up.
Talk more about the opportunity to bless and love (hug) those you have not seen face-to-face in a year or more. Who do you need to reach out to?
Talk about continuing to respect that not everyone will feel safe at the same time and part of our loving well means respecting that.
Talk about the experience being harder for some, easier for others. And how it has changed things for everyone.
Our ministry is personal, even intimate. Let’s take advantage of that and use that to remind people of God and give them their first hug in a year. Want to read more? Read last month’s blog SHALL WE LAUGH.
on air Humor and how to add it even if you’re not funny
Throughout the year, we do research with Christian radio listeners across North America to gauge where their heads and hearts are for what we provide on the radio. You’ve heard and read much about how these listeners want encouraging, positive, hopeful songs and messages. All of that is true. And on-air humor is a part of that.
There is another side, though.We’ve seen this from less churched listeners all the way to more legalistic believers and from all different denominations. This other side angleseems to be especially true now that we’re in lockdown, wearing masks and under restrictions and folks are just sick and tired of all the negativity.
The other side is this. They want us to lighten up. Have fun. Be funny. Use humor.
I’m not kidding.
The last few times we’ve played things in Focus Groups and music tests that were fun or funny, listeners rated the humorhigh, commented on how they loved it, wanted it from us, hoped we would play more of it.
They just need a break from all of the hopelessness in the world around themand just want to laugh.
Examples of Effective Humor
So, how do you add humor and make it effective? A couple of cautions. First, if you’re not funny, we’re not recommending you begin telling jokes. You should consider incorporating fun and funny into your show or station, but don’t try to be funny if you’re not. For what it’s worth, I’m not naturally funny, so it’s generally better if I don’t try to tell jokes.
Maybe incorporate something that sounds like this (🎧 CYNTHIA TOBIAS):
Secondly, be careful with the type of humor you use. Some types do poorly with Christian audiences. And I don’t just mean bawdy humor. But self-deprecating/self-reflective humor like this following example almost always works (🎧 CYNTHIA TOBIAS):
We’ve seen some kinds of humor work really well. Other kinds work not at all (ask me sometime about the piece I played in a music test where I thought the respondents were going to throw things at me). Sorting through what kinds of humor work and what doesn’t is something we can help with.
P.S. We’re here to help. Feel free to REACH OUT TO US if we can offer additional suggestions or examples.
Lord, we don’t need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last ’til the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No, not just for some, but for everyone*
I keep being asked how we should respond to the news. How should we respond to the latest on the virus? How should we respond to what’s happening in Washington? Or around the world?
And my answer is always some variation of “listen to your listener”. We’re continuing to do focus groups and music testing,now all online, and a consistent theme of “Don’t bring me down” keeps coming up.
A woman in one of our groups spoke recently about how masks in the grocery store were such a downer. She said she just needed a song with uplifting lyrics when she got back in the car! She wanted to be reminded of God, and of His goodness instead of all the negative that was going on around her.
How to be the hug your listener needs
Here’s the answer to the question about how to respond to the news:
Make it Christ-focused.
Shift away from the facts of the news event and towards actions your listener can take to pray for the situation. Your listener is bombarded by messages about the pandemic, and masks, and politics in other media. She doesn’t need it, nor want it, nor expect it from your Christian radio ministry. But she may be looking for ways to re-center herself towards Christ.
What she needs from youis a hug. Your listener needs a hug. A pro-active–reach-through-the-radio-verbal-affirmation. A this-has-gone-on-so-long-and-we’re-in-this-together-love-you-friend-message.
All this social distancing has gone on now for a year! We’re all ready for it to be over. As Christian media friends, we can help our listener by being a supportive, affirming, loving friend.
And think in terms of giving out long overdue hugs.
Chuck here. Rewind the clock to 1987. I was the Program Director of a secular contemporary hit radio (CHR) radio station in Market no.97 inLansing, Michigan. We were the only radio station in town testing our music library on a regular basis, only because music testing hadn’t yet gained widespread acceptance and understanding.
And it was helping us explode our numbers to a 27 Share 12+ in what is now Nielsen. No kidding, this was huge reach for a station in that size market even then, much of it due to us paying attention to playing songs the listeners loved.
Why do online testing now?
Here’s why I tell you that story. It’s 2021. And with secular station budget cuts, if you test your library this year, you may be the only station in town testing!
It’s always been a great idea to ask your listeners about your music to build your listenership. But now, with perhaps no one else asking, you may never have a bigger opportunity to grow your ministry impact by testing.
And with lockdowns making auditorium testing and the accompanying contact tracing that goes with it just not something any of us wants to go near, it’s time to consider online library testing.
We’ve now successfully completed numerous online representative sample tests and can tell you this:It works! Especially now that listeners of older ages have become more comfortable in the lockdown being online for everything.
It’s early in the year. You still have time to plan to seize the opportunity to grow your ministry impact with online library testing even if you had not considered it before.
We’re here to answer your questions about online library testing. Contact metoday to get started.
Be sure to watch our webinar “Your P1 Listener: What the 2021 Why Listen® Survey Tells us” for additional information. Contact me at chuck@finneymedia.com or find more WHY LISTEN® resources. 
