Contemporary Christian radio continued to grow in 2008, adding 28 stations over the past year and more than doubling its numbers from a decade ago.
The radio format is the second most popular music format following Country radio, which has lost more than 350 stations since 1998, according to Inside Radio and M Street Corp Publications, which tracks radio statistics.
Among all radio formats (31 in total), Contemporary Christian radio ranks No. 4, trailing News/Talk, Country, and Religion (Teaching, Variety). Southern Gospel, meanwhile, ranks No. 16 and Black Gospel No. 18.
According to the National Religious Broadcasters, a Virginia-based trade group, Christian contemporary music is one of the top three fastest growing genres. And in a review of Arbitron ratings over the last decade, religious radio showed steady growth, while other formats, such as classical, oldies and even rock, declined.
Those familiar with the music scene say part of the success of contemporary Christian stations is that they feature songs about people's personal relationships with Jesus. For some, especially the unchurched, that individual message resonates.
The latest statistics compiled by Inside Radio covered the growth of radio stations through the end of November 2008. Data was broken out into commercial/non-commercial counts, AM/FM counts, simulcasts and nets counts.
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Anyone remember a group called Vector? Talk about techy hair band ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMYTzanjNa8&feature=related
"rez band? that's like soooooooo 80's!"
Actually, Rez bands first project came out in 1977 if memory serves. You want an 80's band that would be Crumbacher. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxEuAg5x2Xw)
i didn't mention petra because that's just a given. but second chapter of acts? are you serious? that's like the christian version of the carpenters! oy! actually, they were alright. i liked matthew ward when he went solo.
jester, I saw the Archers along with Andre Crouch and the Disciples at Icthus in 75!
jester, but then again they were the 70s!!
jester, do you remember when some of those groups like the Archers were considered radical? But you forgot Honeytree, Petra, and 2nd Chapter of Acts!
rez band? that's like soooooooo 80's! next thing you know you'll be talking about stryper, the archers, farrel and farrel, dallas holm, pat boone, and don francisco.
SKILLET! did someone say skillet?! i love skillet!
Christian Music - by definition is music that promotes Jesus Christ. Listen more carefully to the lyrics of what passes for "Christian" music and you will find out whether it is indeed Christian by God's standards. Songs that do not expressly include the name of Jesus fall into two categories. 1. Pagan music trying to get a buck($) from gullible Christians by "inferring" that the soungs are about Jesus but never using His name. 2. SOngs that are specifically for a "Believers only" audience with no thought of evangelism. This generation has forgotten that there is ONLY ONE name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved...JESUS! Contemporary song writers who find the name too "cheezy" for this generation of cool Christian kids are really wolves in sheep's clothing. Christian parents beware! Songs that are all about the miserable condition of the singer and void of the victorious life of the redeemed are written in hell to capture the emotions of adolescents. Pastors beware! The children and young people in your congregations are being assailed by phony wildly popular but completely Calvinist passiion song writers and performers. It is your responsibility to preach the truth about what is happening as we rush toward the end times. This is the kind of music that will be the end of discipleship and evangelism in America.
You got that right!!!
Give me Rez Band any day!
The term "contemporary Christian" is somewhat in the eye of the beholder! My dad's idea of contemporary is Evie....
Still, a bit of Skillet is good for you every now and again. Our station was "contemporary Christian" of sorts. We still played some traditional music but played the light end of the harder artists. To see what they are playing today you can go to www.wmhk.com and listen live. Many changes since I moved on over a dozen years ago and they are mostly good ones! (After all, you can't please everyone.)
Klove rocks!
"Those familiar with the music scene say part of the success of contemporary Christian stations is that they feature songs about people's personal relationships with Jesus. For some, especially the unchurched, that individual message resonates."
Christian radio is supposed to feature songs that talk about personal relationships with Christ.
What this may mean is that the Christian radio stations are playing more of these songs. Less preaching.
Perhaps all of the MP3 downloading is starting to get the message across.
Christian radio in our area is in a seasn of transition. Of the three in my area, one is viewer supported, one is a mix of viewer supported/business supported, and one was taken over by K-LOV (syndicated, you might say).
Added to this is i-tunes streaming of "religious" Internet stations (oh, granted that Pagan Radio is one of the streams) where there are close to 100 stations, with a handful of Christian stations in the Talk/Spoken Word catagory.
It always seems that if there is a way (oh, yeah, let's not forget the WAY-FM streams)to promote God's Word, there will come a response.