Air Talent: How to Pull Off a Reverse-Crossover

The talent pool is suddenly deeper than it has been in recent years, thanks sadly to recent cutbacks at companies like iHeart and Entercom. Aside from those infamous chops, many of those left in mainstream radio find themselves overworked and undervalued. If you’re a person of Christian faith, you should seriously consider the reverse-crossover: join a CCM station! (CCM = Contemporary Christian Music. Most CCM stations report to the Mediabase and Nielsen Christian AC charts; there are a handful of other format flavors too). Good radio is good radio, regardless of format, and you may be surprised how fulfilled you could be on our side of the fence. Below, some helpful do’s and don’ts that may also be good reminders to those of us already reverse-crossed over

First, in case it doesn’t go without saying, most Christian stations are going to expect you to share their faith. Some want their folks deeply entrenched and quasi-theologians. Others just want to know you love Jesus. “Isn’t that discrimination?” Would you expect a Muslim Mosque to hire a Jewish priest? Taking religion out of the equation, almost any station in any format expects their air talent to be bought into the lifestyle. You’ve probably seen phrases like “living the life of the target audience” in countless allaccess.com job openings. Talented as you might be, if you can’t make a genuine connection with any audience in any format, your path will be bumpy.

Before we get to the hopefully helpful advice, I’m grabbing some pom poms to cheer for what many Christian stations have over mainstream. (You’re lucky I’m not trying to fit into my high school cheerleading skirt. JK. I didn’t cheer. Ugh. What a visual.) Christian radio frankly pays as good or better than mainstream. You probably won’t get rich doing it (nobody is making Seacrest or Bobby Bones money), but you can support a family. (That’s not to say some stations don’t pay as little as possible, but overall there’s a fair median range you should expect.) You can take pride in your work: If success in the ratings matter, many Christian AC stations are Top 5 ages 6/12+ and #1 in-demo. Many of our owners take funding surpluses and reinvest them into the product. As in, consoles that aren’t falling apart. Video equipment. Social media support. Actual marketing and research. Above all those things, there’s a deep satisfaction of working for something bigger than yourself. It’s not like you haven’t had listeners show you love already, but the stories they share on this side of the fence are humbling and inspiring beyond anywhere else. I make that bold claim as a guy who worked Urban, Smooth Jazz, CHR, Hot AC, and Country before getting into Christian radio.

On to some practical tips!

1. Your demo needs to be just as tight and crisp as you’d make it for any mainstream station. Don’t get lazy just because you have a (possibly incorrect) perception of what Christian radio is. The content might need to be tweaked though. If you have great bits featuring two girls mud wrestling, leave those out. Don’t show off what you can’t bring to this format. As with any demo, make sure your first 10 seconds is your best 10 seconds.


2. Consider doing a custom Christian demo. In addition to the normal aircheck, not instead of. Some GM’s or PD’s need help hearing what you might sound like with their music. Treat it with just as much care and finesse as you would your other aircheck.


3. Don’t overcorrect. This is the BIGGEST mistake I’ve seen people make when trying to exit mainstream for Christian. When I programmed in Denver, a jock at a big deal NYC station applied. His aircheck from that station was AWESOME. Perfect blend of fun, topical, authentic, and PPM friendly. I invited him to do a demo show for my station. He threw his fun, timely, real self out the window and gave us nothing but breaks that would put a Catholic priest to sleep. Every break was overtly religious and sappy. MOST Christian stations want the same kind of show you’re likely doing on a mainstream station, but with your faith naturally integrated into the content. It’s a scale…some will want your faith in a majority of breaks, others just want to know you can swing that club when you need to.


4. In the interview process, be honest about where you are faith-wise. Don’t fake it. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for five minutes or 20 years. Maybe you only recently started taking it seriously. Or you fell away. Wherever you are, there’s a station you’d fit in with. As stated above, some stations want the deep thinkers/borderline preachers, others just want somebody who’s grounded and can give listeners good, clean fun.


5. Scrutinize and perhaps scrub your social media. Going back to “living the lifestyle,” if your profile shows you doing things that could seem contrary, change privacy settings on those posts or pictures. Not saying you can’t live your life freely within your convictions, but be mindful that even within Christianity, views of what’s kosher vary widely. This isn’t about dishonesty (see #4 right up above this), but about putting your best foot forward.


6. Leave your ego behind. One thing I LOVE about CCM formats is knowing my coworkers are all chasing the same ultimate goal: point people to Jesus. I also hoped my life was doing that in mainstream radio, but it often had to be in more subtle ways. At a few mainstream stations, my successes were occasionally somebody else’s losses. It was a constant game of self-promotion and watching my back. To not be on my game 100% of the time was putting my job and status in the building at risk. I’m not saying those things NEVER happen in Christian radio, because people are people everywhere, but in most places it’s the exception and not the rule. Most of us aren’t here to build our own brands, but to strengthen the station’s brand for the larger goal of celebrating Christ.

If or when you join Christian radio, you might be pleasantly surprised at A. The professionalism and results/impact. B. How many of your former mainstream peers are already here (we all act like we’re the special ones who gave it all up for God, but truth be told, most CCM radio people used to be mainstream jocks. Waving that flag gets kind of old…even though I waved mine earlier! Ha). C. The passion the audience has for the format. It’s one of the few formats that connects on EVERY level, right down to our souls.

There is no perfect place to work, but I hope there’s a place perfect for you. If radio is in your blood, God speed on finding the right spot, whatever the format is.