CCM Radio's Biggest Threat Isn't What You Think

If you were to ask a random sample of Christian radio leaders what the biggest threat to the format is, you’d probably hear them talk about rapidly changing technology or the graying of Christian AC’s audience. What if the greatest danger came through our radio friends up and down the dial? The decay of mainstream commercial radio may doom even Christian radio.

You may have been in the game long enough to remember when Christian radio was nearly universally laughed at. The tables have turned mightily. In almost every market with a CCM outlet, you see our format in the top 10 if not the top 3. Yet some mainstream radio pros are still mystified; they haven’t updated their perception of what we do in a decade or more.

Meanwhile, their own stations have exploded their spotloads, gutted talent, eliminated research, and shrunk marketing/promotions efforts to miniscule levels. Cliche’ as the phrase is, the “race to the bottom” vibe is real. Don’t celebrate though! Mainstream radio’s challenges may not translate into the eternal gains we’re in this for.

Let’s go to the Chesterfield Mall for a glimpse of an ugly but too possible future. When I moved to the neighborhood nearby nine years ago, this was a bustling mall. Not an empty storefront or parking spot. A couple of years later, overleveraged new owners started raising rents. By 2022, the only national chains left in the mall were an AMC Theater and a Cheesecake Factory. A month ago, the AMC sold its last overpriced popcorn/soda combo. It’s only a matter of time before Cheesecake Factory packs up their 358-page menus. The city is voting on bulldozing the entire mall.

Has the mall business model seen better days? Yes. Yet many still seem to thrive. (I can never get a close parking spot at the one down the street from the station.) Some people still like the experience. Same goes for radio. But radio feels like when the new owners took over my neighborhood mall. Every choice they made seemed to accelerate its decline.

At first, it might feel good for Christian radio to be the only store left in the mall. We can celebrate how we’ve got ALL the dial’s market share! While completely ignoring how foot traffic/seek-the-dial traffic will have dwindled by 90%. We’ll dominate among the 10 mall walkers left in the building.

Here’s what you and I can do from the cheap seats to push back at this ugly future:

1. Don’t look at other radio stations/peers as mortal enemies. To me, if they’re trying to do good radio in the current climate, they’re heroes. Are they still our competition? Sure! But let’s view them as the friendly kind.
2. Celebrate them. Befriend them. When you hear/see a peer across town do something noteworthy, drop them a quick note/DM/whatever. Today’s radio pros are wildly overworked and underappreciated. As you’ve hopefully experienced, a little recognition goes a long way.
3. Maybe even be helpful when it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest.
4. Be a genuine fan and student of the medium. Good radio is good radio, no matter the format. There are still a lot of stations and talents doing amazing work; we can learn from them. Perhaps by befriending/celebrating/helping them, the learning would go both ways. Along with the inspiration they need to be part of keeping the whole FM dial alive. (We’re going to do ourselves in long before external threats get a chance to.)

At its best, radio still accomplishes things other types of outlets can’t. I could be reaching here, but maybe God will use Christian radio to redeem all of radio. His redemption knows no limits.