The Finney Media 2021 Why Listen?® National Survey! Almost 11,000 respondents from three different formats: Music, all-Teaching and Hybrid stations. There’s so much fascinating information on our listeners. 

One of our big questions is about tune outs; the things your listener perceives you might do that would cause her to tune away or turn off the radio. The list below is focused on the respondents who came from Hybrid stations and Teaching stations/programs. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”: 

Hybrid

Teaching

How do you keep your listener locked in?

We discussed in this column LAST MONTH how the main listener reasons for listening to Christian radio could be summed up in four words: Spiritual Growth and Encouragement. Our top tune out confirms this. The no. 1 tune out – and it isn’t even close – is a negative, angry judgmental tone. 

Your listener is looking for spiritual growth and encouragement without negativity, without anger, without judgment. 

We believe that doesn’t just mean we take out things that are negative, angry, judgmental, but also that we’re proactive about including “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”* 

The other tune outs are important (“talking too much about something that’s not interesting” comes to mind), but none is as important to your listener as your station or program being the loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled channel in an otherwise negative, angry, judgmental world.   

Coming in October: Thoughts on the data above about listeners leaving when we talk about topics she’s not interested in and how we stay focused on being Biblically bold while consistently staying on more interesting topics.  

*”The Fruits Of The Spirit” – Galatians 5:22 

The 2021 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 11,000 respondents participated from three different formats – Music and Teaching (Hybrid) stations, Teaching stations and programs, and All-Music stations. The findings are fascinating!  

Today we begin a series of special monthly releases of the findings from that massive nationwide survey, specifically designed for Hybrid and Teaching broadcasters.  

In the survey, we presented listeners about twenty different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons for Hybrid Station respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

Top Five MAIN REASONS (Hybrid): 

Now check out the Top Five Main Reasons for All-Teaching Station and Program respondents. Again, the numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

Top Five MAIN REASONS (Teaching): 

We believe there are at least two headlines to focus in on. First, if you were to sum up both of these, your listener is coming to you for Spiritual Growth and Encouragement. The more you deliver on these and less on other things, the more she will keep coming to you.  

Secondly, listeners want help with worshipping God from you . . . and they don’t identify worship with songs. It’s the no. 2 reason they come to Teaching Stations and Programs, and you don’t play many songs.  

Coming in September from the 2021 Why Listen?^® Survey: The Top Five Listener Tune-outs for Hybrid and Teaching Stations. 

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