…and how Music Station Listeners are different from Music/Teaching Stations and All-Teaching Stations Listeners

In the Finney Media 2021 Why Listen?^® Survey there were almost 11,000 respondents who participated from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations & programs.

The centerpiece of the survey is the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out that listeners who came from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations listen, in some cases, for reasons similar to listeners to Music/Teaching stations and all-Teaching stations . . . 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. I like the worshipful Christian Music	92%
2. It helps me worship God throughout the day	91%
3. I want to be encouraged	83%
4. It helps me grow spiritually	78%
5. I want to get away from negativity on other stations	67%

Music/Teaching Station Respondents

1. It helps me worship God throughout the day	86%
2. It helps me grow spiritually	85%
3. I like the worshipful Christian music	80%
4. I want to be encouraged	76%
5. It helps me understand the Bible better	68%

All-Teaching Station Respondents

1. It helps me grow spiritually	87%
2. It helps me worship God throughout the day	81%
3. It helps me understand the Bible better	79%
4. I want to help spread Truth	72%
5. I want to be encouraged	70%

What does this mean?

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’s fascinating to us that “It helps me worship God throughout the day” shows up strongly even among the Teaching station listeners who play no music. Christian radio listeners, it would appear, identify not only the songs but what happens between the songs as helping with their worship experience from radio. Your songs help them worship. So do the breaks you do between the songs. Definitely something to pray about as you plan your content.
Notice the Bible-focused and evangelism reasons that showed up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs – “It helps me understand the Bible better” and “I want to help spread Truth” showing up much more strongly than those reasons did with music listeners.
We believe that the biggest headline is 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 listener is saying “I’m coming to you for SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT”.

Coming in November: The Top Five Most Interesting On-Air Topics. There is one that is much bigger than all the others. We’ll have it for you in November!

Want more? Read LAST MONTH’S article.

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

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone	77%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in	50%
3. They play commercials	46%
4. An announcer talks too much	43%
5. They play songs you’re tired of	33%

Teaching

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone	68%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in	54%
3. They play commercials	48%
4. An announcer talks too much	46%
5. They play songs you’re tired of	38%

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 Finney Media 2021 Why Listen?® Survey! Almost 11,000 respondents from three different formats – Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations and programs. Lots of 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 totals of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”:

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone	85%
2. An announcer talks too much	45%
3. They play commercials	44%
4. They talk about a topic the listener is not interested in	41%
5. They play songs the listener is tired of	36%

How do you keep listeners from leaving?

We discussed in LAST MONTH’S ARTICLE how the main reasons for listening to Christian radio could be summed up in two words – spiritual encouragement. Our top tune-out confirms this. The no. 1 reason listeners leave – and it isn’t even close – is a negative, angry judgmental tone.

Your listener is looking for spiritual encouragement without a tone of negativity, anger or judgment.

We believe that doesn’t just mean taking out things that are negative, angry, or judgmental. We recommend proactively including “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control*.”

The other reasons listeners leave are important (“talking too much about something that’s not interesting” comes to mind), 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 October: Another look at the Top Five Main Reasons Christian Radio listeners listen. This time, we review the Main Reasons in the whole survey – all formats – and discover how listeners to Music Stations are similar to – and different from – listeners to Hybrid Stations and Teaching stations and programs.

*”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):

1.	It helps me worship God throughout the day.	86%
2.	It helps me grow spiritually.	85%
3.	I like the worshipful Christian music.	80%
4.	I want to be encouraged.	76%
5.	It helps me understand the Bible better.	68%

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):

1.	It helps me grow spiritually.	87%
2.	It helps me worship God throughout the day.	81%
3.	It helps me understand the Bible better.	79%
4.	I want to help spread Truth.	72%
5.	I want to be encouraged.	70%

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.

Want more? SIGN UP for our limited-time Why Listen® Pulse email series and get Teaching and Hybrid research delivered each month directly to your inbox.

Coming Soon

Sign up today for our special, limited-time email series, The Why Listen® Pulse. Find out what your Teaching and Hybrid listeners want from you.

Top Reasons They Listen

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

This month’s Finney’s Fast Five is the first in a limited series where we focus on those findings. We presented listeners about 20 different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station.

Here are the Top Five Main Reasons for Music Station respondents…plus the next five. The following numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

1.	I like the worshipful Christian music.	92%
2.	It helps me worship God throughout the day.	91%
3.	I want to be encouraged.	83%
4.	It helps me grow spiritually.	78%
5.	I want to get away from negativity on other stations.	67%

…and the next five:

6.	It’s safe for me and my family to listen to.	65%
7.	The presentation is calming.	55%
8.	I want to help spread Truth.	53%
9.	I feel the speakers care when they pray on-air for someone in need.	45%
10.	The hosts sometimes add light-hearted humor that’s family-friendly.	44%

Our Action Point for CCM Stations

The no. 1 and no. 2 reasons are roughly equal, and really a powerful reason for us to consider the spiritual temperature of our stations. It appears that our biggest fans – the folks who took the 20 minutes or so to complete the survey – continue to want an overtly spiritual focus to our stations.

Laser beam your vision onto the first four reasons. Those are the ones over 75% indicating they are powerful reasons they listen. You could boil those four reasons down to two words – Spiritual Encouragement. It leads us to our Action Point for CCM Stations: Talk just enough, with Spiritual Encouragement, about something interesting to your listener . . . and then play a song she loves.

Coming in September…From the 2021 Why Listen? Survey -–The Top Five Listener Tune–outs.

Missed our initial results webinar? Watch the REPLAY now.
Want to dive into more research from the 2021 Why Listen® Survey? Visit our RESOURCES page.

Finney Media does music research every year on hundreds of songs in multiple 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 past year, here are today’s Top Five Testing Songs released during each of the past 10 years.

2020

2019

1.	Cain	Rise Up	1.	Helser, Johnathan & Melissa	Raise A Hallelujah
2.	Tasha Layton	Into the Sea	2.	Vertical Worship	Yes I Will
3.	Jeremy Camp	Keep Me in the Moment	3.	We The Kingdom	Holy Water
4.	Josh Baldwin	Evidence	4.	Michael W. Smith	Waymaker (ft. Vanessa Campagna)
5.	Hope Darst	Peace Be Still	5.	Hillsong United	Another in the Fire

2018

2017

1.	Lauren Daigle	You Say	1.	Tenth Avenue North	Control
2.	Cory Asbury	Reckless Love	2.	Lauren Daigle	O’Lord
3.	Casting Crowns	Nobody	3.	Crowder	All My Hope
4.	Micah Tyler	Even Then	4.	Tauren Wells	Known
5.	Elevation Worship	Do It Again	5.	We Are Messengers	Point to You

2016

2015

1.	Zach Williams	Old Church Choir	1.	Bethel Music	No Longer Slaves
2.	Aaron Shust	Ever Be	2.	One Sonic Society	Great Are You Lord
3.	Hillsong	What A Beautiful Name	3.	Northpoint Inside Out	Death Was Arrested
4.	Elevation Worship	O Come to the Altar	4.	Jeremy Camp	Same Power
5.	Mercy Me	Even If	5.	Jordan Feliz	The River

2014

2013

1.	Francesca Battistelli	Holy Spirit	1.	Newsboys	We Believe
2.	Third Day	Soul on Fire	2.	Hillsong United	Oceans (Where Feet May Fall)
3.	Mercy Me	Greater	3.	Phil Wickham	This is Amazing Grace
4.	Owl City with Britt Nicole	You’re Not Alone	4.	Rhett Walker Band	Come to the River
5.	All Sons & Daughters	Great Are You Lord	5.	Big Daddy Weave	Only Name (Yours Will Be)

2012

2011

1.	Chris Tomlin	Whom Shall I Fear	1.	Aaron Shust	Risen Today
2.	Matt Redman	10,000 Reasons	2.	Third Day Children of God Chris Tomlin	I Lift My Hands
3.	Hillsong	Cornerstone	3.	Third Day	Trust in Jesus
4.	Newsboys	God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)	4.	Jason Gray	Remind Me Who I Am
5.	Big Daddy Weave	Redeemed	5.	Afters	Lift Me Up

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.

Coming in August – Data from the Finney Media 2021 Why Listen® Survey.

Year-round, Finney Media tests Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) across the United States so we get a view on how listener tastes change over time. So, we thought it would be helpful to give you a look at the top Male and Female Artists based on the latest research of library songs from across the country.

Last month, we looked at MALE CCM ARTISTS. This month, Female. Based on a weighted scoring system (higher scoring songs mean higher weighting) over the past few months of testing, here are the Top Five Female Artists:

Top Five Female CCM Artists
1.	LAUREN DAIGLE
2. (tie)	Hillsong United Kari Jobe
4. (tie)	Francesca Battistelli We the Kingdom

How did we define female artist? Frankly, it’s a little subjective. If one of the dominant voices in a multi-voice band is a woman, we defined that artist as female. That makes Hillsong United, Hillsong Worship, We The Kingdom, and Cain female in our thinking. Casting Crowns, however, with Mark Hall as the dominant voice, is male.

That doesn’t change at all who our runaway no. 1 is. Lauren Daigle is easily the top female artist. Since her debut, every one of her songs has scored well and continue to score either great or good. We have not seen a female artist like her since Amy Grant’s debut forty years ago!

Coming in July . . . we’ll review the latest testing on the Top Five Songs released in each of the past ten years!

Year-round, Finney Media tests Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) across the United States to get a view on how listener tastes change over time. So, we thought it would be helpful to give you a look at the Top Male and Female Artists based on the latest research of library songs from across the country. Based on a weighted scoring system (higher scoring songs mean higher weighting) over the past few months of testing, here are The Top Five Male Artists:

1. CHRIS TOMLIN

2. Casting Crowns

3. Third Day

4. Mercy Me

5. Jeremy Camp

The list might surprise you. Where’s For King & Country? Where’s Crowder? For context, here are the next five artists:

6. For King & Country

7. Big Daddy Weave

8. Crowder

9. NEEDTOBREATHE

10. (tied) Newsboys
Zach Williams
Tenth Avenue North

Bottom line, CCM listeners still score songs from Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns and Third Day well if your station and your market continue to play them. If you’re testing, they’re worth a look.

Next month, The Top Five Female Artists – we’ve seen strong scores from women over the past couple years. Who rises to the top in our latest nationwide research?

Want to take a look at the top artist from the last decade? Read LAST MONTH’S article.

A fun new twist from Finney Media this month – our Top Five Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) Artists of the Decade. Here’s how we calculated what you’re about to see:

First, we considered song scores from 2020 on songs released between 2011 and 2020.

Secondly, we gave scores to artists based on how many higher testing songs they had. We score on a 5-point scale: Five points for any song with a nationwide average of 4.2 or higher, four points for a nationwide average over 4.1 to 4.19, all the way to 1 point for any song 3.8 to 3.89. So, it was possible for an artist to have lots of releases between 2011 and 2020 but because their song scores were not that high, they didn’t make the list. Conversely, it was possible for an artist with just a few releases, all of which test high, to make the list. The ideal was lots of releases, many of which test high – if you do music testing, you won’t be surprised by the artists on this list.

With that buildup, here are Finney Media’s Top Five CCM Artists of the Decade 2011-2020:

1.	Lauren Daigle
2.	Chris Tomlin
3.	For King & Country
4. (tie)	MercyMe Big Daddy Weave

Lauren Daigle = High Test. Pretty much every song she has released since How Can It Be in 2014 still tests great. And that’s what makes her easily our no. 1. We’ve noticed that a number of CCM stations have begun to deemphasize Chris Tomlin songs . . . but listeners sure aren’t hearing it that way. His songs are still testing great. And certainly, no surprise to see For King & Country, MercyMe and Big Daddy Weave round out the Top 5.

Want to see more artists?

For fun, here are the next five:

5. (tie)	Crowder Third Day Zach Williams
6. (tie)	Micah Tyler Jeremy Camp

Perhaps the biggest surprise to many programmers I talk with is how well Third Day still tests. Keep in mind, this list includes nothing they released from before 2011, much of which still tests well, and they still managed to pull in at no. 6.

Remember that the highest performing CCM stations regularly test their music, including titles they haven’t considered in a while. Figuring out what those might be is crucial when you’re figuring out the list to test.

Research is what we do. Need help? Visit our RESEARCH page to learn more.

Want to read more? Visit our ARCHIVES to read past articles.

October 2021: Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Listen