The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey had almost 15,000 respondents – over 1 million data points – from three different formats, including: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, All-Teaching stations and programs.
We asked about topics you might talk about on your stations and programs and how interested your listener is in those topics. The list below is focused on the 6,000+ respondents who came from Hybrid stations (Music + Teaching) and almost 4,000 respondents from All-Teaching stations and programs. These are the percentages who indicated they are “very interested”:
Hybrid Stations
| 1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today | 88% |
| 2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, marriage, etc. | 69% |
| 3. A series on an entire book of the Bible | 61% |
| 4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships | 44% |
| 5. Regular news updates | 28% |
All-Teaching Stations and Programs
| 1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today | 91% |
| 2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, marriage, etc. | 76% |
| 3. A series on an entire book of the Bible | 74% |
| 4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships | 40% |
| 5. Regular news updates | 33% |
SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT AND GROWTH
In whatever form we ask, our Christian radio listener is attracted to spiritual encouragement and growth. Notice how far ahead “A Word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today” shows up.
In fact, most of the topics above lean in a spiritual direction.
What topics score lowest?
For Hybrid respondents, second to last is “weather forecasts” at 19 percent “very interested”. Dead last is “the latest news from Hollywood” at two percent “very interested”. Run quickly from this!
For All-Teaching respondents, second to last is “Ideas for free, fun activities with your family next weekend” at 14 percent “very interested.” And, as you might expect, “the latest news from Hollywood” is last at two percent “very interested.” As with Hybrid, we recommend leaving that off your Christian station or program. Your listener doesn’t want it, nor expect it.
