Mixed Blessing

Virtually every meaningful radio programming principle has across-the-board application.

Listeners demanded less clutter/fewer interruptions, and the industry responded with appropriate initiatives, most notably Clear Channel’s “Less Is More.”

Music-intensive FMs are anxiously anticipating whether lower spot loads will actually translate into ratings gains.

It might be assumed that Christian AC is immune to such exercises, but nothing could be further from the truth.

One of this spring’s Good News/Bad News scenarios was found at KLTY/Dallas, where the Salem Christian AC flagship posted stellar ratings, including a first-place target demo tie (Women 25-54).

On the flipside, however, 94.9 FM’s revenue dropped 5%.

Inventory Reduction
Approximately one of every four dollars of Salem’s total broadcasting revenue (23%) stems from the company’s 13 Contemporary Christian stations, but company officials are extremely cognizant that reduced inventory is just as critical in Christian AC as it is in any other format. “It’s particularly important when you have new competitors in the market that haven’t sold much inventory,” remarks Salem Executive VP/COO Joe Davis. “It becomes increasingly important when competitors have either reduced their [commercial] load or are starting with a very small [spot] load.”

It’s noteworthy that the first thing Salem did when it acquired KLTY from Sunburst in 2000 was to reduce inventory. “They were running about 17 minutes an hour,” Davis recalls. “We cut it to 14 and since then reduced it considerably more to between 10-12 commercial minutes an hour.”

Another thing Salem did was concentrate on execution. “We positioned KLTY as being safe for the whole family and tried to make it sound as good as any [other] station in town,” Davis notes. “We’re an Adult Contemporary format that happens to play Christian-themed music. Our audience sharing is [usually] with general market stations that play Adult Contemporary music.”

In Perspective
The spring (2005) book wasn’t the first time KLTY reached No. 1 in-demo: It also attained that status in summer 2004.

Acquisition of the Dallas property was practically concurrent with the company’s Los Angeles-Orange County debut of “95.9 – The FISH” (KFSH) and rollout of WFSH/Atlanta. “That was really our big movement into the format, although we did have some Contemporary Christian music on stations before that,” David notes. “But it was in 2000 that we did this with a real commitment to building a format and platform that could stand on its own.”

Christian AC partisans tend to have similar listening habits as core Adult Contemporary listeners.

Since it plays a particular type of music, Christian AC is believed to be a niche format, but as Davis comments, “It’s such a big niche. More people went to church last Sunday than attended NFL football games all season long.”

For point of reference, excluding playoffs and the Super Bowl, total attendance for the NFL’s 2004 season was 17,206,205.

Reliable Partner
The impressive upscale nature of a representative Salem Contemporary Christian listener can be seen in its qualitative profile. Three of every four of its partisans, for example, are college educated; 61% earn over $50,00 a year; and 34% earn $75,000+ annually. “Because of this unique audience, we think we probably produce the most responsive audience in radio for our advertisers,” Davis contends. “People trust us. We’ve been fortunate to deliver some of the best results in terms of revenue growth and station operating income growth the last 16 quarters for our stockholders. Advertisers and stockholders like us because we’ve been a reliable partner.”

In line with that strong qualitative picture, representative core clients include ABC-TV, BMW, Coldwell Banker, Discovery Channel, Disney, Dodge, FOX Home Video, Home Depot, Lexus, Mercedes, NBC-TV, New Line Cinema, Six Flags, Sony, Target, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo.

The main reason for the popularity of Contemporary AC/Contemporary Christian (the two handles are often used interchangeably) rests with delivery and execution of what Davis opines is a quality product that has improved over the years. “You can put it alongside any [other] musical genre and find it’s just plain good music,” he states. “This music is uplifting to adults and also safe and friendly for [other] family members [who] happen to be in the car. We’ve trademarked the `Safe For The Whole Family’ phrase. It’s the type music you can listen to and not worry about being embarrassed.”

No “Bible Belt” Bias
Another explanation for the popularity surge goes just as deep and deals with some of the same issues that caused “The Passion Of The Christ” and Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” to be popular. “People seem to have a spiritual hunger – maybe even a spiritual void – and are looking for culturally acceptable ways to express it,” Davis comments. “These people may not be associated with any particular church, but love to listen to music that reassures them somebody is in charge and there’s order to the universe.”

Some may believe it’s a format with restricted geographical appeal (i.e. “Bible Belt”). However, Salem’s corporate strategy has always been to go to bigger markets, simply because as Davis aptly quips, “It’s where the people are. Half the United States population is in the Top 25 markets. I don’t think the format necessarily works better in the South and I’m not sure Dallas or Atlanta are typical Southern cities. In a very competitive market, [Salem’s WFHM/Cleveland is] seventh [Women 25-54] and our Portland [KFIS] and Honolulu [KAIM] stations [also] do well.”

The reason Salem isn’t in the country’s No. 1 market has nothing to do with geographical issues or supposed sophistication. “We haven’t found a suitable FM that we can afford,” Davis comments. “We think there would be a tremendous interest in Contemporary Christian music in New York City.”

Similar Struggles
The oftentimes-strained relationship between radio programmers and record labels also extends to the Christian AC community. “We try to maintain a good relationship with [labels, but] that doesn’t mean we always do what they want,” Davis explains. “I’m sure they’d like us to churn music faster. If music continues testing well, we may play it a long time [even though label executives] would like us to play something else. There’s that creative tension you’d expect. It’s mainly that we can’t always meet their expectations.”

By the same token, Christian AC stations are interested in developing new artists and keeping the format alive. “We want to introduce new artists and new tunes, but sometimes have different interests and try to work those out,” Davis comments. “We want to play what people want to hear, rather than what the record companies want us to play.”

A Million-Dollar Principle
Similar to Salem’s KLTY/Dallas, KCMS/Seattle also boasts a No. 1 demo showing to its credit, with its achievement coming last fall (Women 18-44 and a first-place tie 25-44).

As “Spirit 105.3” started showing ratings gains, many were convinced it was a fluke. “You can’t draw a straight line and have it be constantly up,” KCMS GM Tony Bollen remarks. “We slipped a little in the spring, but didn’t lose our ranking. We didn’t wave banners or shoot off fireworks when we got to be No. 1 in a demo, because we know how transitory that can be. I’m not interested in flash-in-the pan growth. It’s cool to see steady growth, which is the by-product of a healthy organization.”

Success generally doesn’t come without cost and, in this instance, that means leaving a considerable amount of money on the table. “We’re owned by a large, non-denominational, not-for-profit ministry [Christa], which has been around since the late-1940s,” Bollen points out. “Because of our ownership and philosophy, we refuse a lot of advertising.”

Categories they abandon include Beer & Wine, Lotteries and Casinos, but it doesn’t end there. “We also don’t air many network television spots,” Bollen notes. “We want to be family-friendly and do our best not to offend anyone. We could document at least $500,000 – and probably closer to a million dollars - a year in advertising that we [refuse to take]. The beauty is we’re not dealing with stockholders.”

Equal Consideration
Some competitors tend to be happy for Seattle’s “Spirit” because, as Bollen reasons, “If you’re Entercom selling against Infinity, you’d rather see KCMS come up in the ratings than an Infinity station. Clusters have a tendency to fight each other. If we do well, it’s no skin off anyone’s nose. For whatever reason, some advertisers are still leery of [our format]. Most of those barriers, though, drop once advertisers look at things empirically and understand the value of the listener.”

Market leader (Infinity Country) KMPS and Sandusky Soft AC “Warm 106” (KRWM) are the primary Seattle metro outlets Bollen tracks when it comes to commercial clusters and he proclaims, “Our spot loads are the same - we run 12 units an hour. We got rid of some barter contracts because it was giving us too many [10-second commercials]. We’d rather not give that stuff away any more. The interesting thing about [`Less Is More’] is that it’s predicated on the accuracy of Arbitron methodology. I’m not smart enough to know if they’re using the right micrometer to gauge all this stuff.”

The principal priority for Bollen is that agency buyers consider KCMS the same way they’d consider any other Emerald City station. “If you measure Christian ACs with a comparable yardstick, we measure up very well,” he maintains. “If you have a direct response client, there’s no comparison. Contemporary Christian does great with direct response. If you’re buying straight cost efficiency, it’s a numbers sell. Agency buyers pat us on the head and say they know we have a loyal audience, but at the end of the day, they still have to justify their decisions to clients writing the checks. It’s immaterial whether or not they like your format. You need to play the game the way it’s scripted.”

For “Spirit 105.3,” the script is geared to Women 25-49, with a 37-year-old bulls eye. Echoing sentiments of Salem Executive VP/COO Joe Davis (see above), KCMS has excellent qualitative data. “One neat surprise is the strength of our adult numbers,” Bollen remarks. “We’re not limited to just competing on female buys. I understand 19-year-old males will think we’re a lame station. The temptation is to try to be all things to all people. Programming wisdom suggests it’s best to figure out who you are and the core audience will probably love you to death. An awful lot of our quarter-hours are from P1s.”

Interactive Morning Show
Having spent nearly four years in the mid-1990s working for Salem’s rep firm, Bollen is “grateful” they got on board so aggressively with the FISH format. “It’s really helped with major market acceptance around the country,” he explains. “The more major market buyers who hear the format and realize how marketable it really is, the more it helps people in individual markets sell within and outside the markets. It helps a lot of that resistance evaporate.”

Contemporary Christian radio people might notice subtle differences between Salem’s FISH stations and KCMS’ “Spirit,” but Bollen believes average listeners probably wouldn’t be able to. “It’s more subjective than objective,” he states. “There are more similarities than differences, but we may be more interactive than some of those stations. Our morning team is very interactive and we do a lot of on-air contesting. It’s a format that lends itself to many remotes.”

The three times daily “Family Name Game” is a benchmark promotion KCMS has been running for quite some time and Bollen emphasizes the station doesn’t give away anything with less than a $50-75 value. “Days of giving away [small prizes] are long gone. On the other hand, we won’t be the $100,000 Prize Package station. That doesn’t go along with our character - or our budget. We have a fulltime Promotion Director and several assistants who are militant about what we give away. We don’t clutter the airwaves with a lot of junk.”

Highway To Heaven
The appeal that Seattle’s “Spirit” possesses goes far beyond the church community. “While 80%+ of people in other parts of the country identify themselves as Christian, it’s more like 60% in Seattle,” Bollen points out. “If you hate anything to do with Christianity, you’re not going to like [a Christian AC].”

Pre-dating when he became a spiritually committed person more than 30 years ago, Bollen listened to KCMS because it’s different and encouraging. “People like something uplifting and upbeat,” he states. “We try hard to avoid anything that smacks of being `churchy.’ I want [an on-air talent’s] faith to come through in a winsome way – not hokey or canned.

Christian AC Spring 2005 Ratings Overview
The following “Inside Story” 12+ analysis details how Christian ACs performed in Arbitron’s Top 100 markets.

Following a station’s Calls/City are its Owner; Spring 2004 12+ share; Spring 2005 12+ share; and Spring 2005 12+ market rank.

Dual asterisks (**) designate non-metro stations.

01 WAWZ/New York Pillar Of Fire 0.4 0.4 No. 32
02 KFSH/Los Angeles Salem 1.0 0.7 No. 32
03 WJKL/Chicago McNaughton 0.0 0.4 No. 35
05 KLTY/Dallas Salem 3.1 3.2 No. 11
10 WMUZ/Detroit Crawford 1.2 0.9 No. 25
11 WFSH/Atlanta Salem 3.3 3.1 No. 13
11 WVFJ/Atlanta Provident 0.8 0.9 No. 23
14 KCMS/Seattle Christa Ministries 3.9 3.4 No. 07
14 KWPZ/Seattle Christa Ministries 0.4 0.5 No. 31
24 KFIS/Portland Salem 2.6 3.1 No. 12
25 WFHM/Cleveland Salem 2.4 2.4 No. 14
26 KKFS/Sacramento Salem 1.3 1.5 No. 19
27 WAKW/Cincinnati Pillar Of Fire 2.0 2.2 No. 15
32 WFZH/Milwaukee Salem 1.7 1.7 No. 16
35 WCVO/Columbus Christian Voice 2.7 3.5 No. 11
37 WAWZ/Middlesex** Pillar Of Fire 2.5 2.0 No. 20
41 WISG/Indianapolis Susquehanna 1.3 1.5 No. 15
44 WFFH & WFFI/Nashville Salem 1.1 1.7 No. 17
48 WVIM/Memphis First Broadcasting 0.0 1.0 No. 20
49 WBGB/Jacksonville Salem 2.7 2.9 No. 11
51 WAWZ/Monmouth** Pillar Of Fire 0.7 1.2 No. 29
54 WRCI/Rochester Crawford 1.8 0.9 No. 18
54 WMJQ/Rochester Finger Lakes 0.4 0.6 No. 22
55 WRVI/Louisville Salem 1.2 1.3 No. 19
57 WDJC/Birmingham Crawford 4.3 4.3 No. 09
59 WOLI & WOLT/Greenville, SC Entercom 3.7 2.9 No. 12
61 KAIM/Honolulu Salem 3.4 3.1 No. 14
63 WPTR/Albany Crawford 1.2 0.6 No. 23
64 KEMX & KXOJ/Tulsa Stephens Family 4.4 4.0 No. 11
66 WJQK/Grand Rapids Lanser 2.3 2.1 No. 14
66 WFUR/Grand Rapids Keiper 1.2 2.0 No. 16
72 KGBI/Omaha Salem 0.0 2.6 No. 13
73 WFHM/Akron** Salem 3.1 3.2 No. 13
83 WQCK/Baton Rouge EMF 2.5 3.2 No. 10
94 KTLI/Wichita EMF 2.7 3.0 No. 15
96 KBIQ/Colorado Springs Salem 5.3 5.7 No. 05

Gains/Losses
Nearly six of every 10 Top 100 Market Christian ACs (58%) had 12+ spring-spring improvements; 31% were down; and 11% remained flat.

Led by Salem’s KGBI/Omaha, these are the Top Five gainers.

KGBI/Omaha Salem +2.6 No. 13
WVIM/Memphis First Broadcasting +1.0 No. 20
WCVO/Columbus Christian Voice +0.8 No. 11
WISG/Indianapolis Susquehanna +0.8 No. 15
WFUR/Grand Rapids Keiper +0.8 No. 16

>The average 12+ improvement was +0.50; typical decline was –0.45.

12+ Market Rank
Top 100 Market Christian ACs stations generally ranked 17th this spring (12+).

Salem’s KBIQ/Colorado Springs paced the Top Five finishers.

KBIQ/Colorado Springs Salem No. 05
KCMS/Seattle Christa Ministries No. 07
WDJC/Birmingham Crawford No. 09
WQCK/Baton Rouge EMF No. 10
KLTY/Dallas Salem No. 11
WCVO/Columbus Christian Voice No. 11
WBGB/Jacksonville Salem No. 11
KEMX & KXOJ/Tulsa Stephens Family No. 11

>Slightly more than one of every 10 Top 100 Market Christian ACs (11%) finished in the Top 10 this spring (12+).

>Nearly two of every three (64%) ranked 11th – 20th and 14% placed 21st – 30th.

12+ Share
Top 100 Market Christian ACs posting the 10 best 12+ shares this spring are noted below.

KBIQ/Colorado Springs Salem 5.7
WDJC/Birmingham Crawford 4.3
KEMX & KXOJ/Tulsa Stephens Family 4.0
WCVO/Columbus Christian Voice 3.5
KCMS/Seattle Christa Ministries 3.4
KLTY/Dallas Salem 3.2
WFHM/Akron** Salem 3.2
WQCK/Baton Rouge EMF 3.2
WFSH/Atlanta Salem 3.1
KFIS/Portland Salem 3.1
KAIM/Honolulu Salem 3.1

>The average Top 100 Market Christian AC registered a 2.15 share this spring (12+), compared to 2.20 this time last year.

Complete details about how and why Delilah and G. Gordon Liddy switched syndication companies are included in last Thursday’s “Inside Story with Mike Kinosian” (8-25-2005).

Subscribers can read more about Democracy Radio Co-Founder/Executive Director Tom Athans (8-29-2005) in “The Mike Kinosian Interview: Personalities Inside Radio.”

These exclusive weekly Inside Radio features are archived here.

--by Mike Kinosian--