Thursday, March 24, 2005
Rhoda Tse

"Americans are tuning in!" to Christian radio -- at least according to
statistics from the world's largest association of Christian broadcasters
and the nation's foremost Christian survey group.

Statistics from the recently released Barna report showed that nearly half
of all adults in the United States - around 46 percent - are tuning in to
Christian radio broadcast in a typical month. That's 141 million Americans
listening to some form of Christian broadcasting at least once a month.

What's more, nearly 28 percent of those on the list are non-Christians.

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) meanwhile found in a separate
study that the number of religious stations grew 14 percent in the past five
years as compared with the four percent growth in the overall radio
industry.

NRB President/CEO Dr. Frank Wright calls this growth, "dramatic." The fact
that Christian radio stations grew at a 14 percent rate is "a reflection
that there is underlying demand." There is an interest among many Americans
for the "spiritual," and these latest statistics indicate growth of this
interest over the years.

However, according to the Barna survey, the reason for the decline in
non-Christian broadcasting may be because the absolute number of
nonbelievers who listen to the radio declined. In 1992, 38 percent of the
radio audience were unbelievers, but the number dropped to 28 percent, the
survey showed.

But to Dr. Wright, the decline in overall radio usage does not reflect a
decline in Christian interest. Rather, he said nonbelievers are likely to be
tuning into the "explosion" of other broadcasting mediums, such as
television and Internet.

"We need to use every means of distribution that we can find. Our focus is
on the Gospel message, less the delivery system. We'll always strive to stay
abreast of media - so we want to use every available platform," said Wright.

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an association representing
Christian communictors in radio, television, Internet and film.

http://www.christianpost.com/article... casting/1.htm