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.
