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October 2023: Top Five Reasons Listeners Listen (All Christian Formats)

In 2023’s Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey, there were almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, all-Teaching stations & programs, and CCM stations.  

The centerpiece of the survey is the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out that listeners who came to Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations and all-Teaching stations and programs listen for reasons similar to CCM station listeners. But there are a few reasons that are different. Here are the percentages, by format, of respondents who said that’s a Main Reason they listen. 

Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Station Respondents 

1. It helps you grow spiritually 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 71%

All-Teaching Station Respondents 

1. It helps you grow spiritually 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 71%

CCM Station Respondents 

1. You like worshipful Christian music 93%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 91%
3. You want to be encouraged 82%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 76%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 67%

The answers in bold are the ones not common to all three formats. The ones not in bold made the Top Five Main Reasons for each of the formats. A few observations: 

  • It makes sense that “I like the worshipful Christian music” would not show up as a top Main Reason for Teaching Station/Program respondents since those stations don’t play any music. 
  • A more Bible-focused and evangelism reason shows up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs. “It helps you understand the Bible better” shows up much more strongly than that reason did with music listeners. 
  • We believe that the biggest headlines are: When you look at the Main Reasons that are common to all three formats “It helps me worship God throughout the day”, “It helps me grow spiritually” and “I want to be encouraged” for our Hybrid and Teaching station and program listener, it’s Spiritual Growth. For the all-Music listener, it’s Spiritual Encouragement.

Coming in December: The Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Give. 

The Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Listen: How Music Station Listeners Are Different from Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Station and All-Teaching Station and Program Listeners 

In 2023’s Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey there were almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: CCM stations, Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, and all-Teaching stations & programs.  

The centerpiece of the survey is the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out that in some cases, listeners who came from CCM stations listen for reasons similar to listeners from both Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations and all-Teaching stations and programs and then there are a few reasons that are different. Here are the percentages, by format, of respondents who said that’s a Main Reason they listen: 

Music Station Respondents

1. You like worshipful Christian music 93%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 91%
3. You want to be encouraged 82%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 76%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 67%

Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Respondents

1. It helps you grow spiritually 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 71%

All-Teaching Station Respondents

1. It helps you grow spiritually 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 71%

The answers in bold are the ones not common to all three formats. The ones not in bold made the Top Five Main Reasons for each of the formats. A few observations: 

  • It makes sense that “I like the worshipful Christian music” would not show up as a top Main Reason for Teaching Station respondents since those stations don’t play any music. 
  • A more Bible-focused and evangelism reason shows up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs “It helps you understand the Bible better” showing up much more strongly than that reason did with music listeners. 
  • We believe that the biggest headlines are this. When you look at the Main Reasons that are common to all three formats “It helps me worship God throughout the day”, “It helps me grow spiritually” and “I want to be encouraged” it is as if our CCM listener is saying “I’m coming to you for Spiritual Encouragement. Because of the differences in Hybrid and Teaching stations and programs, for those stations, it’s more Spiritual Growth. 

Coming in December: The Top Five Reasons Listeners Give. 

We surveyed nationwide again this year for a snapshot of CCM and related formats. The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey has almost 15,000 respondents, over a million data points, from three different formats including, Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations/programs.

There’s much discussion about focusing our radio stations on people beyond the nuclear  family; a husband/wife both married for the first time with natural born children. In 2023, more friends are listening than just men and women who are married for the first time. Here are the Top Five Marital Statuses for CCM listeners ranked in our recent nationwide survey:

1. Married First Time 46%
2. Re-married 21%
3. Divorced 14%
4. Single/Never Married 10%
5. Widowed 8%

Here’s a way to think about this: If you’re talking to your listener as if she is married for the first time, you’re talking to less than half of your listeners. And if you assume she is married, for the first time or more often, you’re still talking to only 7 in 10. One-third of the CCM listeners in the Why Listen® survey are not currently married.

We’re coming up on the holidays and, for many of your listeners, that means blended families sharing time (35% are either re-married or divorced) or some form of spending it alone (almost 20% are either never married or widowed). It’s time to be empathetic to how complicated it is.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included almost 15,000 respondents andover a million data points from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations/programs.

There’s much discussion about focusing our radio stations on people beyond the nuclear  family; a husband/wife both married for the first time with natural born children. In 2023, there are more people listening than just men and women who are married for the first time. Here are the Top Five Marital Statuses for Hybrid (Music + Teaching) and all-Teaching listeners ranked in our recent nationwide survey:

Hybrid

1. Married First Time 50%
2. Re-married 18%
3. Divorced 13%
4. Single/Never Married 10%
5. Widowed 9%

Teaching

1. Married First Time 42%
2. Re-married 20%
3. Divorced 15%
4. Widowed 13%
5. Single/Never Married 9%

Here’s a way to think about this: If you’re talking to your listener as if she is married for the first time, you’re talking to half of your listeners. And if you assume she is married  for the first time or more often you’re still talking to under 7 in 10. Almost one-third of Hybrid listeners and almost 40 percent of Teaching listeners are not currently married.

We’re coming up on the holidays and for many of your listeners, that means blended families sharing time (30 to 35 percent are either re-married or divorced) or some form of spending it alone (about 20 percent are either never married or widowed). It’s time to be empathetic to how complicated it is.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey. There were almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations and programs.

One of the challenges we face and opportunities we have, unlike a church which is focused on one particular denomination, is that our radio stations and programs are multi-denominational, heard by people from many denominations. In our nationwide Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we asked about this affiliation. Among respondents from Hybrid (Music & Teaching) and All-Teaching stations and Programs, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Hybrid

1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 34%
2. Baptist 30%
3. Pentecostal/Charismatic 8%
4. Reformed 5%
5. Presbyterian 5%

Teaching

1. Baptist 46%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 27%
3. Pentecostal/Charismatic 7%
4. Lutheran 4%
5. Methodist 4%

The first two denominations in both formats total over 60 percent. The other 40 percent are other faith traditions. All these many denominations have different ways of worship and different words they use in their worship and way of communication.

For us to reach them and others who haven’t even given us a pre-set yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that most understand.

A story to help illustrate

Heard this on the radio from a prominent Christian broadcaster – “we need to exhort fellow believers.” I asked friends from a CCM station to tell me the meaning of the word exhort. One thought it meant to exercise. A friend pointed out that that is to exert. Another thought that exhort is what you do when you know something damaging about someone and you expect payment to keep it quiet – to extort. These were smart broadcasters focused on a Biblical mission, but they didn’t know that exhort means to “strongly encourage or urge”. And if the national broadcaster had said “urge” instead of “exhort”, he would have been clearer.

If we’re going to be clear in our communication, we’ll need to consider what our multi-denominational listener – people of all nations . . . and denominations – understand. Clarity and understanding of the Truth is at stake.

Coming in October: The Top Five Marital Statuses represented among Hybrid and Teaching respondents in the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey. You already know not all are married. We’ll break down how different the respondents are in relation to marriage/life situations.

“. . . gospel clarity is the antidote to the rampant confusion.”

– Dean Inserra, The Unsaved Christian/Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations and programs.

One of the challenges we face and opportunities we have, unlike a church which is focused on one particular denomination, is that our radio stations and programs are multi-denominational. They are heard by people from many denominations, with varying traditions and practices. In our nationwide Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we asked about denomination affiliation.

Among respondents from CCM stations, here are the Top Five Denominations:

1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 30%
2. Baptist 30%
3. Lutheran 10%
4. Pentecostal/Charismatic 10%
5. Catholic 7%

The first two denominations total 60 percent. The other 40 percent are led by Lutherans at 10 percent and include Catholics at 7 percent. This list includes many denominations with different ways of worship and different words used in their worship and ways they communicate with each other.

For us to reach them and perhaps many who haven’t even given us a pre-set yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that many or most understand.

A story to help illustrate

This phrase was heard on the radio from a prominent Christian broadcaster. “We need to exhort fellow believers.” I asked friends from a CCM station to tell me the meaning of the word exhort. One thought it meant to exercise. A friend pointed out that that is to exert. Another thought that exhort is what you do when you know something damaging about someone and you expect payment to keep it quiet. That is extort. These were smart broadcasters focused on a Biblical mission, but they didn’t know that exhort means to “strongly encourage or urge”. And if the national broadcaster had said “urge” instead of “exhort”, he would have been clearer.

If we’re going to be clear in our communication, we’ll need to consider what our multi-denominational listener, people of all nations . . . and denominations, understand. Clarity and understanding of the Truth is at stake.

Coming in October: The Top Five Marital Statuses represented among CCM respondents in the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey. You already know not all are married. We’ll break down how different the respondents are in relation to marriage/life situations.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is complete. Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations and programs participated and provided fascinating information about our listeners. 

One of our big questions is about tune outs – 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 and Teaching stations. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”: 

Hybrid Stations

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 75%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in 52%
3. They play songs you don’t like 48%
4. An announcer talks too much 42%
5. They play commercials 41%

Teaching Stations

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 70%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in 56%
3. They play songs you don’t like 56%
4. An announcer talks too much 45%
5. They play commercials 42%

Over the last couple of months, we discussed in this column (links here) how the main listener’s reasons for listening to Hybrid and Teaching Christian radio are summed up in two words – spiritual growth. 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 without negativity, without anger, without judgment. 

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

The others are important but none quite as important 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 September: Top Five Denominations among Teaching & Hybrid Listeners.  

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

 

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is complete. Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations and programs provided fascinating information on our listeners. 

One of our big questions is about tune outs – 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 just the respondents who came from Music stations. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”: 

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 84%
2. They play songs you don’t like 44%
3. An announcer talks too much 43%
4. They play commercials 40%
5. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in 40%

Over the last couple of months, we discussed in this column (links here) how the main listener’s reasons for listening to Christian radio could be summed up in two words – spiritual encouragement. Our top tune out confirms this. The #1 tune out – and it isn’t even close – is a negative, angry, judgmental tone. 

Your listener is looking for spiritual 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  are important but none quite as important 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 September: Top Five CCM Denominations. How can knowing your audience enhance your programming?

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

Gender and Age Breakdown

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats, including Music stations, Music and Teaching stations and Teaching stations and programs. The findings are fascinating!

We presented listeners about twenty different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Last month, we showed you the Top Five Main Reasons for Music Station respondents. This month, we show you those same numbers, split into Women Under 55, Men Under 55, Women 55+ and Men 55+. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

Women under 55 Women 55+ Men under 55 Men 55+
1. You like worshipful Christian music 93% 95% 90% 90%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day  93% 93% 87% 83%
3. You want to be encouraged 85% 85% 76% 71%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 77% 78% 71% 70%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 76% 63% 71% 57%

We’ve highlighted in bold the Main Reasons above 80 percent. If you were to try to isolate the most motivating reasons for listening among these superfans, it comes down to worshipful encouragement. Food for thought as you and your team discuss just how spiritually focused and encouraging your music selection and the breaks between songs should be.

Coming next month: From the 2023 Why Listen? Survey we present the Top Five Reasons Listeners Tune Out.

Gender and Age Breakdown

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats, including Music stations, Music and Teaching stations and Teaching stations and programs. The findings are enlightening.

In the survey, we presented respondents with almost twenty different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station or program. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons broken out by age: Under 55s (Younger) and Over 55s (Older) and by gender for Hybrid and Teaching Station/Program respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

Top Five Main Reasons (Hybrid)

 Women under 55 Women 55+ Men under 55 Men 55+
1. It helps you grow spiritually 89% 89% 85% 83%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day  87% 86% 81% 76%
3. It helps you understand the Bible better 72% 77% 77% 73%
4. You want to be encouraged 76% 76% 66% 64%
5. You like worshipful Christian music 66% 64% 52% 52%

Top Five Main Reasons (Teaching)

 Women under 55 Women 55+ Men under 55 Men 55+
1. It helps you grow spiritually 91% 93% 81% 88%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day  80% 85% 84% 81%
3. It helps you understand the Bible better 84% 88% 83% 76%
4. You want to be encouraged 77% 69% 81% 72%
5. You like worshipful Christian music 79% 76% 64% 64%

Please note: Almost all age/gender respondents agreed on the bolded Main Reasons over 80 percent.

Two headlines:

  1. The differences between Younger and Older are negligible. The biggest differences are between Women and Men – the scores for Women are generally higher.
  2. Secondly, your listener is coming to you for Spiritual Growth. The more you deliver on this and less on other things, the deeper your ministry impact. This includes Worship for Teaching Stations and Programs.

Coming next month: From the 2023 Why Listen? Survey, we focus on the reasons respondents tune away or turn off. Do less of these things and grow your ministry impact.

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