Jon Hamilton “Barbarians at the Gates?”

Commentary

The announcement made by Moody Radio last week to nationalize their programming strategy and de-emphasize creating local content has reverberated throughout the Christian radio industry. Many an armchair quarterback has opined on social media, lamenting the loss of the local programming and suggesting these changes are based on corporate greed. Others call it proof that radio is dead. 

Truthfully, a lot of good people are losing jobs in this process, not because they were doing anything wrong but simply due to changing realities in the media landscape.

Still, Moody is hardly the first. This trend has been underway for many years. With the possible exception of Northwestern Media, virtually every multi-market owner in Christian radio has been slowly consolidating programming efforts, eliminating personality positions in local markets, de-emphasizing the importance of ‘live and local’, and increasingly thinking in terms of a unified national strategy.

Perhaps we should pause and ask, “Why?”

Truthfully, radio has changed. I started working as a disc jockey at a contemporary Christian radio station in 1981. I fell in love with the medium, the audience, the music, and the process of changing lives through contemporary Christian radio. Everything was live and local. That was radio. I have great memories and great stories.

That era will never return. Now, we will either think outside of the old box, or be buried in it.

We built Christian FM Media for the express purpose of helping LOCAL stations compete and thrive in a changing marketplace.  Almost 20 years ago, I began advising most local stations to invest their available resources in one or two strong and memorable local shows, then secure the absolute best syndicated talent and make sure their brands are strongly associated with your station. We advised stations to fill every day part with compelling talent, because what happened between the songs was defining stations in the new era.

As Christian FM Media grew, God began to place me in relationship with some amazing, gifted communicators who are simply the best at connecting and building an audience. When we began bringing the Brant Hansen Show, Lisa Barry, Doug Hannah and our family of communicators to stations, there was one rejection response that I began to hear countless times: “We are live and local!”

I met scores of broadcasters who resisted syndicated shows as if they were an invading Vandal horde. They pictured themselves bravely holding back the evil army at the gate, bolding waving a standard on behalf of “local” radio.  I got it.  Unfortunately,  they were not offering listeners something better, more interesting or more engaging.  

I often discovered that the reality was stations usually had one “live” daypart, and the rest of the day was filled by remote voice tracking buddies who were rarely memorable. Most nights and weekends were simply back-to-back music with no personalities at all.  As wonderful and well-meaning as these broadcasters were,  they were not really staving off the barbarians at the city gate, they were effectively starving their own citizens.

The added problem some stations have had is an inability to recognize inevitable changes in the marketplace.  By sheer force of will, they hope to return radio to a bygone era. One by one, I’ve watched such stations needlessly struggle. Some are now gone.

Radio will continue to change. Broadcasters who think outside of the old ways will adapt their brands and grow. Meanwhile, may I please suggest a few things?

Please stop blaming KLOVE, Moody, or others for the loss of an era. They didn’t do it.  Besides, they don’t determine your success or failure as a ministry.

The truth is, Christian radio has more listeners than ever. And the very groups many criticize are not failing, they are succeeding.

Likewise, syndication isn’t hurting radio.  The best syndicated shows are attracting huge audiences and are actually saving local stations by pulling in listeners, revenue. They are enabling MORE people to be employed in local radio, not less. There is a reason why Christian FM is now working with well over 400 local stations across America.

The legendary names that once made radio great were virtually all heard on multiple stations. If syndication is a problem, then Paul Harvey and Casey Kasem would have killed radio in the 70’s. Winning stations OWNED those famous brands in their markets and leveraged the success.

“Live and local” is NOT the fix for radio’s problems. Your local personality is NOT preferable to the listener UNLESS he or she connects better than the national personality.   I often tell people that if local won every time, KLOVE would be broke.

Please stop saying “live and local wins”. It is just not true, and it is creating false security. Local only wins when it can consistently say things that listeners find more connecting and compelling than what’s on their smartphone. 

Radio groups with national strategies are not the source of radio’s decline.  Technology, marketplace, and consumer demand have produced most of the changes we see. Adapting to the future marketplace isn’t evil and perhaps it is simply stewardship.

Finally, I just don’t agree with my colleagues who say radio is dead.  Yes, digital is the future, but the larger audience today is still on the radio.  We still have the largest mass-medium in America. We just need to wake up to the changes, work smarter, and stop criticizing what isn’t ours. 

Jon Hamilton is the President of Christian FM Media, America’s #1 provider of content to Christian Music radio, now serving well over 400 radio stations daily across the U.S. and Canada. With 3 distinct music formats available, advanced delivery platforms and America’s best-loved personalities, Christian FM’s mission-first approach equips local stations to compete and thrive in the CCM format. Contact Jon at jhamilton@christianfm.com