ARTICLE TOOLS

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During the Christmas season we experience a rare pleasure while walking through our local shopping mall. Much to our surprise, the familiar sounds of Christmas carols tickle our ears with their tunes and warm our hearts with their lyrics of a babe in a manger and peace on earth. While the rest of the year we listen to musak in the stores, at Christmastime the airwaves are filled with the story of Christ's birth.

Already, however, retailers have shifted their focus to upcoming holidays such as Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. But Christian radio continues to send out the sweet strains of this amazing message to all corners of the globe.

Ever since families began tuning in from their living rooms, radio programming has ministered to millions of Christians around the world. Pioneering men such as J. Frank Norris popularized radio preaching as a way to get the gospel to those who might never attend church. Today, Norris's vision of the airwaves as a mission field has expanded to short-wave radio around the globe. "In the Caribbean alone, there are approximately 35 Christian radio stations serving English-, Spanish-, and French-speaking populations, according to TWR's McDaniel Phillips, chair of the Communications Commission of the Evangelical Association of the Caribbean." Christian radio also penetrates hard-to-reach groups such as Vietnam's Hmong population. "In the U.S. State Department's 1999 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the Vietnam section said: 'The house churches in ethnic minority areas have been growing rapidly in recent years, sparked in part by radio broadcasts in ethnic minority languages from the Philippines.'"

Thanks to the availability of technology, even small churches are now able to host weekly radio preaching ministries. "With a low-power station we can do more to serve our community," says Ricardo Reyes, pastor of the predominately Spanish-speaking Unidos Para Cristo church in Queens, New York. "If I had a full-power station, I would be working with a wider community. But if I have a low-power station, I am more tied to my community. The audience will be smaller and we can do a better job and send people personally to help people."

Christian radio programming is as diverse as the people who listen to it. "Christian radio has mushroomed to the extent that it is now the third most-common format on the dial, behind country and adult contemporary. The National Religious Broadcasters Association (NRB) says 1,600 stations—one in ten—have a Christian format, more than two-thirds of them for-profit." In addition to radio preaching, Christian stations regularly broadcast music, drama, and special programs targeting specific audiences.

Even in a media-saturated culture, radio drama still has a powerful impact on listeners. Some programs, like Pacific Garden Mission's Unshackled! (still playing after 50 years), include familiar old-time elements like organ music, "a throwback to the golden days of radio." Others, such as productions from Focus on the Family, introduce audiences to classic literature like George MacDonald. "Dramatizing such classics is a delight," says Phillip Glassborow of his experiences working with Focus on the Family's theater. "Each story presents a different challenge. Les Misérables, which was distilled into seven half-hour episodes, offered an embarrassment of riches, whereas adapting Billy Budd entailed painstakingly extracting dialogue and action from Melville's dense, oblique, and allusive prose." Sandra de la Torre, a producer with HCJB radio in Quito, Ecuador, says, "Radio drama can have the same impact as TV drama." In Latin American countries where television soap operas are popular, Christian radio drama also attracts audiences.

Despite the appeal of drama, music is perhaps the most popular of today's Christian radio programming. From country to classical to rock, Christian radio stations offer listeners a wide variety of musical options. Rick Bowles, a music executive, developed "positive country" to fill a void he sensed in country music radio. His Christian-infused country music plays on over 1,600 stations. Christian radio has also expanded to the internet, attracting audiences with eclectic tastes. "Especially good is Live365.com, which streams music in nearly 100 different Christian genres." In 2000, Christian Pirate Radio, an internet-only Christian music station, attracted the most online listeners, second only to the UK's Virgin radio.

Christian radio appeals to the specific needs of its various audiences. Hispanic programming has increased dramatically in the United States. "Hispanic Christian-format stations are not limited to areas traditionally thought of as Spanish-speaking strongholds. In some Michigan communities, for example, stations have started inserting two-hour blocks of Spanish programs."

Christian programming also attracts women listeners. "Advertising surveys indicate that two-thirds of the Christian radio audience is female," and mid-day radio programs targeting women have resulted in community movements such as an increase in prayer for school children. Concerned Women for America (CWA) hosts Beverly LaHaye Live, a 30-minute daily radio program. And Mary Whelchel of Christian Working Woman, Kay Arthur, and others bring unique messages to women tuned in throughout the day.

While Christian radio no longer broadcasts only preaching and church services, the expanded content is still ministering the amazing message of a babe in a manger and peace on earth to a growing listener base.