Over the last several weeks I’ve attempted to bring out in the open the top ten reasons Christian music stations aren’t successful. While there are certainly a number of ways to measure success having lots of people listening certainly is a step in the right direction.

(Drum roll) It’s time for the #2 reason stations aren’t successful…

The very people who would enjoy your station don’t know you’re there.

In his book “Linchpin” Seth Godin tells of an author who has passion is for his craft, but no real passion for spreading his ideas. “And if his ideas don’t spread, no gift is received. When an artist stops work before his art is received, his work is unfulfilled.” It’s that if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest thing.

The way I see it Christian music radio is the only faith-based art form that is still in the public square. In Michelangelo’s day all art was Christian. Not so now. Christian TV is laughable. Christian bookstores and movies are still a niche, although it’s encouraging to see the recent success of faith-based films. But there are a handful of Christian music stations with larger audiences than the AC, country, or rock stations in their market. That was once unheard of. Consider the implications if we really had a passion for letting people know that we were on the air!

In the landmark research study “Why Christians Don’t Listen to Christian Radio?”, 40% of those who said they liked the music indicated they didn’t know of a station that played it.

My friend Alan (not his real name) tells me about one company that considers $1 spent on growth more important than $1 spend on maintaining. Spending that $1 on growth is non-negotiable to them, rather than the first thing that gets sliced from the budget, a practice common at most stations.

When Jesus commanded to go make disciples of all nations, I don’t recall him adding “if it’s in the budget.”

For the last several weeks I’ve been making a down-right nuisance of myself by bringing out into the open the top 10 reasons radio stations aren’t successful. It’s remarkable the response I’ve received! “How’d you know?”, “You must have been eavesdropping on some of our meetings!”

Here’s #3 on the countdown:

Many general managers, program directors and board of directors simply don’t understand what makes the format successful in the first place.

Consider this:

Of the 1,075 Christian radio stations in the USA, only half a dozen have at least 400,000 listeners. (There are 17 stations in Seattle alone that have at least that). I reckon’ less than twice that rank in the top five in their market.

While there are certainly many ways to define success, if one views the format as just a bunch of Christian songs by a bunch of Christian singers with a bunch of Christian disc jockeys saying a bunch of Christian stuff they won’t have many listeners.

To be really successful a station must understand a bigger idea that transcends the nuts and bolts of most programming conversations.

People don’t listen primarily because of who you are; they listen because of who they are!

When you understand that, the rest is just details.*

(*There’s lots and lots and lots to the details, but I really needed a pithy ending!)