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June 2020: The Top Five Values Your Listener Wants From You Now

We are in one of the strangest times of our lives. We’ve rarely been part of a national experience where everyone has had their lives changed simultaneously for an extended period of time. In our recent blog Recommendations for Christian Radio Emerging from Lockdown, we pointed out three significant things to say to listeners during this extraordinary period. You can reread that blog HERE.

What are the values to emphasize behind those phrases of familiarity, safety and comfort? We believe we serve her best when we understand what’s on her mind and talk about those things with values consistent with what she expects from us.

This month’s Finney’s Fast Five is based on research of Christian radio listeners nationwide with Scriptural foundation. Here’s our take on The Top Five Values Your Listener Wants from You Now:

  1. Empathy. The fear and worry are real. The sickness is real. The job losses and their financial and emotional challenges are real. The loneliness is real. The hurdles of homeschooling, childcare and no summer camp are real. We’re at our best when we’re the friend who lives in that place with her. According to Dr. Brene Brown, empathy sounds like “Hey, I know what it’s like here . . . and you’re not alone.”
  2. Affirmation. “Mom, you’re doing a great job” is always a good idea. It just sounds a little different right now. From our Talent Coach Beth Bacall: Right now, it’s affirmation for doing the best she can with what she has.
  3. Other Focus. Might be you’re not scared of getting sick. Why wear a face mask? Here’s why: To honor others. It’s the right thing to do. Loving others well by thinking of others first. It’s always part of our DNA but your listener would love to hear it more.
  4. Godly Perspective/Reassurance. About what’s happening in this world. According to our Talent Coach Gary Morland, this sounds like a calm confidence that God has this. Check this out: “I am one in whom Christ delights and dwells. I live in the strong and unshakeable kingdom of God. The kingdom is not in trouble and neither am I.”*
  5. Eternal Perspective. Focusing more on our eternal home. One of the top reasons your listener listens to you is for help in worshipping God throughout the day.** That has not changed. She is coming to you to get away from the fear, worry, negativity and anger and to focus more on thanking and praising the God of the universe.

Today, we have more opportunity than ever through our radio, video and digital channels to be Jesus for our listener. Let’s make this a special time of ministry!

*James Bryan Smith

** Finney Media Why Listen? Survey 2018

 

Face masks, hand wipes and social distancing are now all a part of our world . . . with a dose of fear and uncertainty thrown in . . . and quite possibly friends or family members either sick or in high risk jobs.

This background means Christian radio listeners are likely even more open to worship songs right now. To help with that, for May, from the nationwide music research we’ve done in the past year, here are the Top 5 Testing Worship Songs.

1. Cory Asbury Reckless Love 2018
2. Phil Wickham This Is Amazing Grace 2013
3. Johnathan & Melissa Helser Raise A Hallelujah 2019
4. Chris Tomlin Whom Shall I Fear 2012
5. Chris Tomlin Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) 2007

And, the next five.

6. Zealand Worship Good Good Father 2015
7. Jeremy Camp Here I Am To Worship 2007
8. Josh Baldwin Stand In Your Love 2018
9. Kari Jobe Revelation Song 2009
10. Matt Redman 10,000 Reasons 2012

We recommend you double-check that you’re still giving spins in regular rotations to these titles and other high testing worship titles. Some stations have moved some of these to Sunday morning only.  You would be making your audience smile if these showed up during the week!

There are few times in the past 100 years where everyone – 100 percent of people in our nation – are thinking about, and had their daily lives changed by, the same thing at the same time. And, for that reason, your “between the songs” content needs to reflect that “my work has changed, my childcare has changed, my church has changed” topic. It’s the only thing most people are thinking about. We recommend you focus on where the heads and hearts of your listener are, in ways that only Christian radio can do.

With help from our friend, Dwight Bain, a nationally board-certified counselor in Orlando specializing in helping people in crisis, here are the Top Five Things to be saying to your listener right now:

  1. Pray. For calm. This time is scary. We are loved by a God of peace, joy and hope. Pray that He gives you a sense of calm in this time. And, an ability to be a calming influence to those around you. For a heart of compassion for others. Pray for the people who are sick and their families. For overwhelmed healthcare professionals and their families. For wisdom for our leaders and their families. For your eyes to be opened to ways to serve.
  2. Choose how you use this time wisely. Most everyone has to “stay put”. You have choices as to how you use this time. More prayer or less. More quiet or less. More Bible reading or less. More screen time or less. More meals together with family. More board games. Who could you FaceTime with – maybe on a schedule? Dads and Moms – if everything is too busy normally, this is a time you can choose to lead spiritually in ways you didn’t have time for before.
  3. Worry less. The world is telling us right now to worry more. Jesus tells us not to worry. You have a choice as to what to do with your worry. Pray that He will help you with and take away your anxiety. Read and pray Philippians 4.
  4. Be a peacemaker/be more sensitive to others. All of this togetherness, combined with uncertainty, will lead quickly to short tempers. Choose to be more of a peacemaker now. Listen better. And, be sensitive to those for whom a significant life event will now not happen – prom, sports championship, birthday party, commencement, presentation.
  5. Tell a friend. The world is right now spending less time yelling at each other. And, people have lots of questions and worries. If there was ever a time you could have an opening to tell someone about the peace, joy and hope of God, it’s now. Pray that He gives you the right words at the right time.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

We do music research each year on hundreds of songs in markets across North America . . . and every year, the numbers on which songs from the past are the most popular with Christian Music Radio listeners changes. From our research during the six months, here are the Top Five Testing Songs released during each of the past 10 years.

2019

  1. Vertical Worship/Yes I Will
  2. Danny Gokey/Haven’t Seen It Yet
  3. Rhett Walker/Believer
  4. Building 429/Fear No More
  5. Big Daddy Weave/Alive

2018

  1. Lauren Daigle/You Say
  2. For King & Country/God Only Knows
  3. Corey Asbury/Reckless Love
  4. Lauren Daigle/Look Up Child
  5. Josh Baldwin/Stand In Your Love

2017

  1. Lauren Daigle/O’Lord
  2. Tenth Avenue North/Control
  3. Micah Tyler/Different
  4. 7eventh Time Down/Only King Forever
  5. Tauren Wells/Known

2016

  1. Zach Williams/Old Church Choir
  2. Lauren Daigle/Trust In You
  3. Mercy Me/Even If
  4. Ryan Stevenson f/Gabe Real/Eye Of The Storm
  5. Tim Timmons/Everywhere I Go

2015

  1. Bethel Music/No Longer Slaves
  2. Zeeland Worship/Good Good Father
  3. Jordan Feliz/The River
  4. Lauren Daigle/First
  5. Third Day/Your Words

2014

  1. Lauren Daigle/How Can It Be
  2. Mercy Me/Greater
  3. Lincoln Brewster/There Is Power
  4. Third Day/Soul On Fire
  5. Casting Crowns/Just Be Held

2013

  1. Newsboys/We Believe
  2. Phil Wickham/This Is Amazing Grace
  3. Phil Wickham/Glory
  4. Hillsong United/Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
  5. Kristian Stanfill/In Christ Alone

2012

  1. Chris Tomlin/Whom Shall I Fear
  2. Matt Redman/10,000 Reasons
  3. Casting Crowns/Already There
  4. Big Daddy Weave/Redeemed
  5. Newsboys/God’s Not Dead (Like A Lion)

2011

  1. Third Day/Trust In Jesus
  2. Aaron Shust/My Hope Is In You
  3. Afters/Lift Me Up
  4. Chris Tomlin/I Lift My Hands
  5. Matthew West/Strong Enough

2010

  1. Chris Tomlin/Our God
  2. Building 429/Where I Belong
  3. Casting Crowns/Glorious Day
  4. Chris Tomlin/I Will Follow
  5. Dave Barnes/God Gave Me You

Check out which titles are on this list that you may have taken out over the years . . . and consider if they should be a part of your station now.

In the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we asked thousands of Christian Music Radio listeners across the country 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 TRIGGERING your decision to donate?

Among the many reasons to give, here are the Top Five Reasons, according to Christian music radio listeners, ranked on the percentage who indicated it was a “very important” reason to give.

1. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry   85%
2. An inner feeling God wanted me to give 80%
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 30%
5. An emergency need at the ministry 27%

Listeners say they give when they believe in your mission – when your ministry mission aligns with their beliefs.They are also moved by a “responsibility” to help, as shown in reasons number 2 and number 3. We recommend that these findings be a foundation for your discussions about how you craft your messages. Is your mission clear through your day-to-day on-air work? Does it align with everything you do?

If you participated in the Why Listen survey, now would be a good time to review the answers on giving for your specific radio ministry (the question and answers begin on line 619 of your findings). Spring sharathons are fast approaching.

 

This Finney’s Fast Five is a bonus edition for our clients and friends. A little post New Year’s gift to you!

At Finney Media, we conduct music tests with Christian Radio listeners across the United States. And, we include testing on morning show topics, asking listeners to rate topics on how interested they would be in hearing various topics on a wakeup show. In our surveying, 1 = not interested and 9 = very interested. During the last six months of 2019, here are the Top 5 topics, based on average score across multiple markets:

1. A Word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today     8.2
2T. A word of encouragement from a Biblical devotional 8.1
2T. Free, fun activities to do with your family around town this weekend 8.1
4T. A story from a listener about how God has done a miracle in her life 7.5
4T. Information on a Christian concert in your area 7.5

We are consistently surprised by just how spiritual listeners want their Christian morning shows. To score an average 8 or higher means almost all respondents need to rate a topic at a 9, with few less than 9. Check out the top two topics. They rated higher in interest than weather, parenting and communicating in marriage. All of those do well, but not as well as personal spiritual growth themes.

Note also the “free, fun activities” topic near the top. It combines three of the areas that resonate strongly – saving money, saving time, and togetherness with family.

NOTE:  Save for another month….

If you’ve been wondering if your morning show should lean more in a spiritual/Jesus-focused direction, it sure looks like your listener would applaud if you do.

Read more about Finney Media’s RESEARCH work.

In the Finney MediaWhy Listen® Survey, we asked thousands of Christian Music Radio listeners across the country 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 TRIGGERING your decision to donate?

Among the many reasons to give, here are The Bottom Five Reasons, according to Christian music radio listeners, ranked on the percentage who indicated it was a “very important” reason to give.

5. An emergency need at the ministry  27%
4.  Knowing my gift would be matched by someone else 18%
3. Urgency of meeting a goal the broadcaster set for receiving a certain number of gifts before time expires 10%
2. An offer of a free gift from the ministry if I made a donation 2%
1. Knowing the broadcaster might publicly acknowledge my gift 1%

Listeners don’t resonate with being acknowledged on the air after making a gift, with only one percent indicating it’s “very important” to them. Even if there is some false modesty here, the numbers are very low. We recommend that this low response to on-air acknowledgement at least start a conversation about how much and how often you use this technique.

If you participated in the Why Listen survey, now, as you head into the new decade, would be a good time to review the answers on giving and discuss  what listeners say motivates them to give.

This month, we showed what listeners rated as low motivations. Next month, we’ll dive into their top motivations – The Top Five Reasons Listeners Give, coming in February.

A Christmas Treat! We recently asked Christian Music Radio listeners about their favorite Christmas Movies and TV Shows. Here are their Top 5 Responses:

1. (tie) Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

1. (tie) Elf

3. Miracle On 34th Street (some made a point of commenting “the old one”)

4. Home Alone

5. (tie) The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

5. (tie) A Christmas Story

5. (tie) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Hmmm. Didn’t see Rudolph coming! In fact, check out the Top 3 on this list: All could be described as Christmas Innocence. In the case of Rudolph and Miracle, not fast paced and not 21st century looking.

This mirrors what we see elsewhere in our research about Christmas – a yearning for the opposite of our coarse, angry, busy, hurried world. No one dies, but the Wet Bandits come close.

Quiet, hopeful, peaceful, traditional, innocent, goodwill toward women and men.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NIV

Amen!

During 2018, we conducted the nationwide Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey, asking more than 16,000 listeners to Christian Music Radio why they listen. We gave them 20 different possible reasons and asked them to tell us for each one if it was a Main Reason they listen, A Secondary Reason they listen, or Not A Reason At All. Here are the Top 5 Reasons based on the percentage who said that’s a main reason to listen:

    1. It helps me worship God throughout the day. 91%
    2. I like worshipful Christian music. 91%
    3. I want to be encouraged. 80%
    4. It helps me grow spiritually. 77%
    5. It’s safe for me and my family to listen to. 62%

Fascinating how strongly worship does! Both #1 and #2 answers reflect a strong bent toward worshipping God as a big reason for listening. And, if you combine all the first four answers, it looks like Spiritual Encouragement is a big reason for listening. Christian radio listeners want . . . Christ!
Coming in December . . . more Why Listen? Survey nuggets. This time, the Bottom Five Reasons Christian Music Radio listeners listen.

A part of our work at Finney Media is doing representative sample music testing – online testing and auditorium testing – all over North America. Part of what we research is favorite Christian songs. In the past few years, we’ve seen a number of new, big-testing artists. Here are the Top 5 Testing Songs by artists who are new to Christian music, having their first chart song since the beginning of 2014.

  1. You Say – Lauren Daigle
  2. Old Church Choir – Zach Williams
  3. Even Then – Micah Tyler
  4. Build My Life – Pat Barrett
  5. Trust in You – Lauren Daigle

. . . and the next five.

  1. Chainbreaker – Zach Williams
  2. Eye of the Storm – Ryan Stevenson
  3. Thy Will – Hillary Scott
  4. O’Lord – Lauren Daigle
  5. How Can It Be – Lauren Daigle

We still see strong numbers on Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, Jeremy Camp, Mercy Me and others. A note on artists who almost made the list: We Are Messengers and I Am They are artists who were close. That doesn’t mean that every new artist is high testing, nor that every song from all of the new artists above are high testing. Just that with this much churn, there had never been a better time to be regularly testing your music with your listeners.

Coming in November . . . It’s been about a year since the release of the Finney Media Why Listen? Survey. We review the Top Five Reasons Christian Music Radio Listeners listen.

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