Hybrid and Teaching Archives

The heart of the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey is understanding listeners’ reasons for tuning in. While Top Reasons are often similar by formats, they’re not exactly the same. Today we’ll take a closer look at how Hybrid and Teaching listeners differ, and how that might affect the way you program your station or program.

Hybrid

Reason	Percentage
1. It Helps You Worship God Throughout the Day	88%
2. You Like Worshipful Christian Music	87%
3. It Helps You Grow Spiritually	82%
4. You Want to Be Encouraged	77%
5. You Want to Help Spread Truth	62%

Teaching

Reason	Percentage
1. It Helps You Grow Spiritually	91%
2. It Helps You Understand the Bible Better	84%
3. It Helps You Worship God Throughout the Day	83%
4. You Want to Hear Sermons	77%
5. You Want To Be Encouraged	71%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—2,953 from Teaching and Music (Hybrid) Stations and 3,087 from Teaching Stations and Programs.

Hybrid and Teaching listeners give similar reasons for listening. “Helps you worship God”, “Grow spiritually,” “To be encouraged” are common to the two formats. As we look at the differences in rank, however, we notice two things:

Hybrid listeners are more heart first, head second (Worship at no. 1 and no. 2). Teaching listeners are more head first, heart second (Understand the Bible, Hear sermons).
Hybrid listeners want it simpler. Teaching listeners want more in depth.

As you piece together your programming, lean more into heart or head depending on which one you are. Lean more into simple, concise, snack-sized or more in-depth depending on which one you are.

Coming in March: We compare and analyze the Top Main Reasons for Leaving. Why do listeners tune out or turn off? How are Hybrid and Teaching listeners different?

Hybrid

Rank/Marital Status	% of Hybrid Respondents
1. Married first time	46%
2. Remarried	18%
3. Divorced	13%
4. Widowed	12%
5. Single/Never Married	10%

Teaching

Rank/Marital Status	% of Teaching Respondents
1. Married first time	44%
2. Remarried	19%
3. Divorced	14%
4. Widowed	12%
5. Single/Never Married	9%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—2,953 from Teaching and Music (Hybrid) Stations and 3,087 from Teaching Stations and Programs

Check out the numbers on marital status. Less than half married the first time. About a third divorced or re-married. Over one in ten widowed. About one in ten never married.

It helps explain why, when we ask about airing Christian marriage advice on the radio we get mixed results. Almost as if the married folks are saying “I could use some of that!” And the non-married folks – about a third – are saying “Not Interested.” It makes planning for Valentine’s Day interesting. It’s not necessarily a happy day.

Coming in February: We compare and analyze the Top Main Reasons for listening. How are Hybrid and Teaching listeners different in why they listen?

Hybrid

Rank/Denomination	% of Hybrid Respondents
1. Baptist	35%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community Church	30%
3. Pentecostal	7%
4. Presbyterian	7%
5. Reformed	6%

Teaching

Rank/Denomination	% of Teaching Respondents
1. Baptist	45%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community Church	33%
3. Pentecostal	7%
4. Methodist	4%
5. Lutheran	4%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—almost 3,000 each from Teaching & Music (Hybrid) stations and 3,000 from Teaching stations and programs. And I’ll bet the denominations they identify with don’t surprise you. The top Five are dominated with Evangelical Protestant denominations (both formats show about 80% from Evangelical Protestant respondents).

What might surprise you is how different this top Five is from the actual denominational composition of the United States. According to the PEW RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE STUDY from 2023-2024, 62 percent of Americans identify as Christian. Of that 62 percent, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Rank/Denomination	% of the US Population
1. Evangelical Protestant	37%
2. Catholic	31%
3. Mainline Protestant	18%
4. Historically Black Protestant	8%
5. Latter Day Saint (Mormon)	3%

Geography makes a huge difference in these nationwide population numbers (for example, Christians in Dallas-Fort Worth are 44 percent Evangelical Protestant vs. Chicago’s 17 percent), but it appears that there could be opportunity to help our stations and programs reach beyond the Evangelical Protestant core.

What are the ways, without compromising the bold Biblical message, that we might attract listeners from other Christian denominations to worship God through our stations the other six days of the week?

Coming in January: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey , The Top Five Marital Statuses represented among the respondents. Hint: Not all of your listeners are married!

Hybrid

Rank/Motivation for Giving	% Very Important
You believe in the mission and vision of the ministry	85%
2. Feeling called by God to give	84%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us	67%
4. An emergency need at the ministry	36%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry	32%

Teaching

Rank/Motivation for Giving	% Very Important
1. You believe in the mission and vision of the ministry	85%
2. Feeling called by God to give	83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us	63%
4. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry	27%
5. An emergency need at the ministry	27%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, which included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—almost 3,000 from Music and Teaching (Hybrid stations) and over 3,000 from all-Teaching stations and programs—reveals clear motivations for respondents’ giving to your radio ministry.

Among those who indicated recent giving, we asked this question: While there are many general reasons for donating to a radio ministry, there are often special circumstances that move you from just thinking about giving to actually making a call, going online, or writing a check to make a gift. Thinking of the last few times you made a gift, how important were each of the following in inspiring your decision to donate?

You can see their answers above. Both of the top two answers are a call to communication clarity. Are you clear (obvious, concise and often) about your mission and vision in ways your listener can relate to? If you were a brand new to Christian radio (and the faith), would you understand and be motivated by the words you’re using? This often means listening to listeners about why they give and then incorporating those words into your appeals.

Listener stories (no.4 or no.5 on the lists above) are an excellent way of communicating the emotions from the top three responses. Do you have ways of capturing those stories, editing them to a snack-sized length and airing/re-airing them?

Coming in January: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey 2025, The Top Five Denominations represented among Hybrid and Teaching the respondents. Get ready to hear about an opportunity to grow your audience.

Hybrid

On-Air Topic	% Very Interested
1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today	87%
2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage	58%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible	58%
4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships	35%
5. Information on a local Christian concert	26%

Teaching

On-Air Topic	% Very Interested
1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today	89%
2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage	76%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible	73%
4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships	40%
5. Regular news updates	33%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® 2025 Survey reveals clear priorities among Hybrid and Teaching audiences regarding on-air content. The survey conducted earlier this year included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide, of whom almost 3,000 were Music & Teaching (Hybrid) stations and over 3,000 were Teaching stations and programs.

Leading by a wide margin, A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today demonstrates that spiritual growth is the heart of Hybrid and Teaching radio. Listeners are tuning in for messages that connect biblical truth to daily living, affirming your role as a spiritual companion.

At no. 2 for each format, Bible Study echoes what we heard at no. 1. We see the same things with the no. 3 topic, studying an entire book of the Bible.

We have to go all the way to topic no. 4 to find ways to improve your marriage and topic no. 5, either Christian concerts or news as the first topics aren’t specifically about the Bible.

Almost like your listeners are saying, “Please give me more Jesus, more Bible,” and reduce everything else.

Coming in December: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top Five Motivations for Giving to your ministry, directly from your donors.

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey gathered data from more than 11,000 Christian radio respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and Teaching stations and programs. Fascinating findings!

We presented respondents with 16 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Two months ago, we looked at the TOP FIVE MAIN REASONS CCM LISTENERS LISTEN. And, last month, the BOTTOM FIVE MAIN REASONS – Reasons no. 12 through no. 16. This month, we present the Top Five Reasons broken out by Gender and Age. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

HYBRID

Younger Women (Ages 54 and under)

Older Women (Ages 55+)

1. It helps you worship God	91%	1. It helps you worship God	92%
2. You like worshipful Christian music	89%	2. You like worshipful Christian music	91%
3. It helps you grow spiritually	85%	3. It helps you grow spiritually	85%
4. You want to be encouraged	83%	4. You want to be encouraged	81%
5. It’s safe for you and your family	68%	5. The presentation is calming	63%

Younger Men (Ages 54 and under)

Older Men (Ages 55+)

1. It helps you worship God	90%	1. It helps you worship God	82%
2. You like worshipful Christian music	86%	2. You like worshipful Christian music	80%
3. It helps you grow spiritually	85%	3. It helps you grow spiritually	76%
4. You want to be encouraged	72%	4. You want to be encouraged	67%
5. It’s safe for you and your family	71%	5. Understand the Bible better	63%

TEACHING

Younger Women (Ages 54 and under)

Older Women (Ages 55+)

1. It helps you grow spiritually	98%	1. It helps you grow spiritually	93%
2. Understand the Bible better	92%	2. Understand the Bible better	85%
3. It helps you worship God	89%	3. It helps you worship God	84%
4. You want to hear sermons	83%	4. You want to hear sermons	77%
5. You want to be encouraged	71%	5. You want to be encouraged	75%

Younger Men (Ages 54 and under)

Older Men (Ages 55+)

1. It helps you grow spiritually	90%	1. It helps you grow spiritually	90%
2. You want to hear sermons	86%	2. Understand the Bible better	84%
3. Understand the Bible better	85%	3. It helps you worship God	80%
4. It helps you worship God	84%	4. You want to hear sermons	78%
5. You want to help spread Truth	65%	5. You want to be encouraged	67%

Keep in mind that the respondents to our survey come from station databases – the most loyal, most interested, likely P1 superfans.

Women and Men. Younger and Older. Very similar . . . with one exception. “Safe for you and your family” scores with younger, not with older.

Hybrid listeners respond in a manner similar to CCM listeners. High scores on worshipful Christian music and help with worshipping God throughout the day. Two key words for Hybrid listeners: Spiritual Encouragement.

Teaching listeners answer differently, Growing spiritually is their no. 1 reason. Note how strongly sermons score. Worship still high. And a much stronger response to “you want to understand the Bible better.” Two key words for Teaching listeners: Spiritual Growth.

Coming next month: From the 2025 Why Listen? Survey, we presented our respondents with a number of topics we might talk about on the air. We’ll show you the Top Five Show Topics for Hybrid and Teaching listeners.

The Finney Media 2025 Why Listen®) Survey gathered responses from more than 11,000 Christian radio respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music and Teaching stations and Teaching stations and programs. The findings are fascinating!

We presented listeners 16 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station or program. Last month, we looked at the TOP FIVE MAIN REASONS HYBRID AND TEACHING LISTENERS LISTEN. Here are the Bottom Five Main Reasons for those same respondents; reasons no. 12 through no. 16. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

Hybrid Stations

12. Practical advice on family relationships, personal finances and topics that help you improve your life	38%
13. It gives you a Christian perspective on the news	35%
14. You like to hear interviews with key Christian leaders and authors	29%
15. You want to be informed about possible threats to your Christian faith	26%
16. You want to hear regular news updates	13%

Teaching Stations

12. Practical advice on family relationships, personal finances and topics that help you improve your life	51%
13. You like to hear interviews with key Christian leaders and authors	41%
14. You like it when the speakers pray	39%
15. You want to be informed about possible threats to your Christian faith	38%
16. You want to hear regular news updates	27%

Let’s start at the bottom with news. For both formats, it ranks last among the Main Reasons listeners tune in. Do these listeners want news? Perhaps. Just not from you. They have other channels for that. If you still do newscasts, consider reducing or eliminating them.

The top main reasons they listen are all about hope. That seems to be why threats to faith, even relationship and financial advice, score lower. They’re just not about the hope these listeners are looking for.

Interviews: These are the backbone of many Hybrid and Teaching stations. But they are likely holding back your ministry’s audience growth. We have ideas on what you might do instead and would love to discuss. CONTACT US today.

Coming next month: From the 2025 Why Listen? Survey, we take a look at the highest Main Reasons by Age and Gender. How are men and women, younger and older Hybrid and Teaching listeners the same or different?

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen?(R) Survey is out! More than 11,000 respondents from three different formats including, Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and Teaching stations and programs. The findings are fascinating!

We presented listeners with 16 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons for Hybrid (Teaching & Music) station and Teaching station and program respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

Hybrid Stations

1. It helps you worship God throughout the day	88%
1. You like the worshipful Christian music	87%
2. It helps you grow spiritually	82%
3. You want to be encouraged	77%
4. You want to help spread Truth	62%

Teaching Stations and Programs

1. It helps you grow spiritually	91%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better	84%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day	83%
4. You want to hear sermons	77%
5. You want to be encouraged	71%

We’ve highlighted the Main Reasons for each format over 80 percent. Laser beam your vision onto those reasons.

For Hybrid stations, notice the prominence of Worship and Spiritual Growth. You can and should be focused on Jesus and helping your listener take a step in His direction today.

For Teaching stations, notice the prominence of Spiritual Growth, the Bible, and Worship. We know from talking with Teaching listeners that even though these stations don’t play music, they want spoken Word content that is worshipful.

Your mission is to help your listener grow toward Jesus. Turns out your listener wants the same thing!

Coming next month: From the 2025 Why Listen? Survey, we take a look at the lowest Main Reasons . . . things we do that aren’t the reasons she listens.

…in your Teaching and Hybrid Programming

If you work at a Christian Hybrid station – the kind with long-form Teaching/Talk programs and music – or at an all-Teaching station, read on.

In the recently completed Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we surveyed earlier this year over 11,000 Christian radio listeners from Teaching, Hybrid and CCM radio formats. The centerpiece of the survey is when we ask these listeners their Main Reasons for listening. We offer them 16 different reasons and ask them to select one of these: “A Main Reason,” “A Secondary Reason,” or “Not A Reason at All” for each of them. There are some that are big Main Reasons in all three formats, an example being “You want to grow spiritually”.

There is one Main Reason that stands out much higher among Hybrid and Teaching listeners: “It Helps You Understand The Bible Better”.

Your mission and your listener’s preference line up very strongly on this point. And it’s an opportunity for differentiation.

Your Hybrid or Teaching station should have a good bit of Scripture on air with help in understanding. It’s your calling. And your opportunity for audience growth!

When the world is in chaos and confusion, I turn to (your station) for truth! I really appreciate that (you) continually monitor the radio ministries and make sure they are biblically sound and remove them if they’re not.

I especially treasure that all the broadcasts are largely in keeping with traditional . . . Christianity and that you’ve kept heresies like the prosperity “gospel” . . . off (your station).

These are comments from respondents in the 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey. Imagine you’re riding with or having coffee with these friends and listening to them talk about their passion for your station or program . . . and appreciation for your Biblical “guardrails.”

Christian Radio listeners in all formats, but especially in Teaching and Hybrid formats, are laser-focused on your Biblical message . . . and they trust you to keep it that way.

I remember the Board member who called and asked after the Morning host had resigned if we could ensure that their next Morning Show host would not be “spiritually vacuous.”

Great question.

It’s the kind of question your most interested, most aware, most committed listeners are trusting you to ask.

Here’s our Action Point:

It’s crucial that your ministry leadership be clear about your beliefs and convictions, including on nuanced topics like which versions of the Bible are allowed on the air or how often and when you pray on the air or how much of your “between the songs” content is spiritually-focused.

Your listener doesn’t want “spiritually vacuous.” They do want spiritually truthful, Biblically bold, Jesus-focused content.

Let’s give it to them.

February 2026: How Are Hybrid and Teaching Listeners Different in Why They Listen in the 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey

Hybrid

Teaching

Hybrid

Teaching

Hybrid

Teaching

Hybrid

Teaching

Hybrid

On-Air Topic

% Very Interested

Teaching

On-Air Topic

% Very Interested

HYBRID

Younger Women (Ages 54 and under)

Older Women (Ages 55+)

Younger Men (Ages 54 and under)

Older Men (Ages 55+)

TEACHING

Younger Women (Ages 54 and under)

Older Women (Ages 55+)

Younger Men (Ages 54 and under)

Older Men (Ages 55+)

Hybrid Stations

Teaching Stations

Hybrid Stations

Teaching Stations and Programs

…in your Teaching and Hybrid Programming

When the world is in chaos and confusion, I turn to (your station) for truth! I really appreciate that (you) continually monitor the radio ministries and make sure they are biblically sound and remove them if they’re not.

I especially treasure that all the broadcasts are largely in keeping with traditional . . . Christianity and that you’ve kept heresies like the prosperity “gospel” . . . off (your station).

Great question.

Here’s our Action Point:

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