Rolling Stone Article About K-Love/Air1

[Barry]

The rock-oriented magazine has a lengthy piece on E.M.F., and how they built up K-Love and Air1. It's an interesting read.
I do feel it is rather snarky, particularly about the CCM music they play. While the writer may not like it, there apparently is a substantial market for it, as many of the stations do get decent ratings.

From Rolling Stone

 

[DavidEduardo]

I do feel it is rather snarky, particularly about the CCM music they play.

I always respond by saying, "and there is no doubt that I won't like the music you like, either".

 

[xmtrland]

I thought this was discussed in a previous thread when the story came out 4 months ago.

 

[TheBigA]

I thought this was discussed in a previous thread when the story came out 4 months ago.

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/rolling-stone-from-rock-n-roll-to-rock-of-ages.769473/

 

[bturner1]

This is the same old 'gripe'. You don't sell a station what is successful and making money or if you do, it's at a premium price nobody is paying these days. Money is money. EMF dollars are just as convincing as the dollars in your pocket.

The complaint is they are buying up stations. They are because they know there is an audience there that will support them and even toss off enough money to buy stations in the future. Anybody can buy stations (subject to 'candor' per FCC) so instead of complaining and saying whoa is me, why aren't these folks doing something productive like organizing a group to acquire stations. Last time I posted these words I was called snarky. That just shows what is wrong with the complainers. They only complain. Be different, do something about it. My radio career has not been about complaining about everyone hired but me but about me working to be a better hire and that took me doing something more than complain.

 

[TheBigA]

Anybody can buy stations (subject to 'candor' per FCC) so instead of complaining and saying whoa is me, why aren't these folks doing something productive like organizing a group to acquire stations. Last time I posted these words I was called snarky.

Me too. In fact, this is what I posted in response to this article in January:

The thing it ignores is that the exact thing that makes EMF successful COULD be used by fans of other genres of music if they'd simply tap into the power of operating as a non-profit. There is absolutely no reason why a group of music lovers couldn't start a non-profit, raise money, and buy a radio station.

In fact, in Seattle, a very wealthy music lover started a non-profit based on the legacy of Jimi Hendrix. He funded a museum and an alternative rock radio station called KEXP. That group of friends just bought a second radio station in San Francisco, and will preach the gospel of rock music in a second city. So it CAN be done.

Just last month, KEXC signed on in. A non-commercial station on a commercial frequency. Just like EMF.

KEXP Bay Area

kexp.org

 

[Barry]

What I have difficulty understanding is the reason that Air1 exists, in addition to K-Love. I realize that the former plays Praise and Worship music, while the latter is devoted to CCM. To my ears, the two genres sound similar enough that they could both be broadcast by one network. Is this primarily a means to put even more stations on the air, than if EMF only had K-Love?
I would also like to know whether EMF maintains office space in any cities, outside of their national headquarters.

 

[TheBigA]

What I have difficulty understanding is the reason that Air1 exists, in addition to K-Love.

There's been talk of EMF starting a Spanish language version of the channel. There are other genres of Christian music if they choose to go there.

 

[DavidEduardo]

To my ears, the two genres sound similar enough that they could both be broadcast by one network.

I don't know rock music well. I can not tell the different styles of alternative, and could not identify a "grunge" song if it played at 120 db in my living room!

To me, it all sounds pretty much the same. I suspect your lack of familiarity (and mine, too) with different kinds of Christian music makes it seem all the same. Those who like it tell me I am crazy (and not for the first time, of course).

 

[crainbebo]

Praise and Worship music is the music we sing on Sunday morning at church and at the worship nights throughout the year. Often slow, with many references to Jesus, how he is good, references to his resurrection, miracles, holiness etc. Some of the songs ask for Jesus to come into the room. Hands are raised, and people come to the altar and pray.

CCM music is often more upbeat, with pop/rock influences, sometimes even country, and is not sung in a church environment. We don't sing "I Can Only Imagine" (MercyMe), "You Say" (Lauren Daigle) or "There Was Jesus" (Zach Williams/Dolly Parton) in church for that reason.

Some praise music is considered upbeat, but it's often done by worship bands. Elevation Worship's 'Praise' is one of them.

It's ironic that this article comes out at the same time that K-LOVE is in the middle of the spring beg-a-thon. The begging is more constant and dramatic than ever before. Often sounds like this:
"Let's all come together - all of K-LOVE nation - let's click send and give $30 a month all at the same time (10 second pause/dramatic sounder) let's all put ourselves in the running for that $4,000 in free gas...... (another 10 second pause) in 3................................2.....................1.........................................now!!!" (Cue constant reminds of the 800 number and K-LOVE.com 5-10 more times).

(I'm curious - HOW is EMF getting these vacations to Hawaii, $2,000 gas cards, $5,000 gift cards, big-screen TVs, and more that they give away? My local CCM outlet won't give anything away at the $30/month level during the beg-a-thon time except a T-shirt and a coffee mug!)

(Also: Spanish outlet - isn't that what Radio Nueva Vida is?)

 

[TheBigA]

(Also: Spanish outlet - isn't that what Radio Nueva Vida is?)

EMF has a partnership, but not ownership.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Praise and Worship music is the music we sing on Sunday morning

Not at my church. Maybe the choir does some, and sometimes there are soloists who do it with a CD, but we sing hymns.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I suspect your lack of familiarity (and mine, too) with different kinds of Christian music makes it seem all the same.

Someone linked to what stations could be picked up on the radio dial in Greenville SC. There were several CCM type stations, some of which seemed to be Praise and Worship based on the definition, but I couldn't tell the difference. Then there were the ones playing Southern gospel. BIG difference! I don't remember whether the BBN station was playing music, but that's very different too. Those last two genres sound like what is still sung in some churches.

 

[Mark Roberts]

There's been talk of EMF starting a Spanish language version of the channel. There are other genres of Christian music if they choose to go there.

They're doing "K-LOVE 2000s" on some HD subchannels.

What Pillar is doing with Christian hip-hop on the newly acquired KFCO is interesting. Pillar is a small operation, relatively speaking, but the market is large enough that it might attract some notice elsewhere.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Not at my church. Maybe the choir does some, and sometimes there are soloists who do it with a CD, but we sing hymns.

I'm far from an expert on these things, but my impression is that the praise/worship music is intended to replicate, to a certain degree, the experience of worship - particularly as practiced in the more evangelistic churches - while CCM as a genre has more parallels to how secular formats are used by listeners. Possibly the difference could be considered analogous to a theoretical secular format consisting of live albums and in-studio performances versus a format comprised almost entirely of highly-produced studio recordings. I say "theoretical" because, aside from specialty shows and possibly a few HD subchannels, there's no secular format consisting entirely of live performances to try to reproduce the experience of being at a concert.

Well, it's a theory, anyway.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I think CCM is supposed to be like secular AC but it's more family friendly.

 

[jonsmth62]

CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) is just that. It's music with Christian lyrics but music that resembles the popular music of today. If you listen to the current CCM Top 50 I would agree that the majority of the music is similar to current AC only with Christian vice secular lyrics. Over the past few years there has been an influx of more black gospel artists, such as CeCe Winans and Maverick City Music which I think has really helped broaden the appeal of CCM.

CCM first caught on and became quite popular in the mid to late '70s. In fact, in the early 1980s, the late Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) owned a 50kw FM in Tidewater VA (WXRI 105 FM). The FM offered an unusual format of approx. 25-30% CCM mixed with 70-75% Adult Contemporary Music. The Station was well programmed with a great Air Staff, Jingles and Promotion. CBN eventually syndicated this format and offered the format to stations across the country via satellite, which was known as "Continental Radio" Unforunately, the format only lasted 4 or 5 years until the format turned to all Christian music then eventually moved to a more main-stream, non-Contemporary Christian music format. CBN eventually sold WXRI and got out of the radio business altogether. I often visited Tidwater during this time-frame and listened to and throughly enjoyed the AC/CCM mixed format of WXRI. Depending on your beliefs, I suppose you could make the agrument that mixing secular and Christian music just should not be done. In the end, I belive that idea is likely why the format along with the network eventually ended. I don't know it for fact, but I can only imagine that CBN felt that by playing secular music and mixing in a CCM song once in awhile was a great way to reach people that normally wouldn't listen to a radio station that was playing only Christian music.

 

[Larry]

I'm curious - HOW is EMF getting these vacations to Hawaii, $2,000 gas cards, $5,000 gift cards, big-screen TVs, and more that they give away? My local CCM outlet won't give anything away at the $30/month level during the beg-a-thon time except a T-shirt and a coffee mug!)

Your earlier quote is

let's all put ourselves in the running for that $4,000 in free gas.

So it’s like a sweepstakes or raffle, similar to Publishes Clearing House or Consumer Reports raffle. Even if EMF has to buy the prizes (perhaps at a wholesale price if the prize isn’t donated) if they give away one $4,000 gas gift card they used that giveaway as an incentive to raise many many times that amount in donations.

 

[Gregg.]

Praise and Worship music is the music we sing on Sunday morning at church and at the worship nights throughout the year. Often slow, with many references to Jesus, how he is good, references to his resurrection, miracles, holiness etc. Some of the songs ask for Jesus to come into the room. Hands are raised, and people come to the altar and pray.

CCM music is often more upbeat, with pop/rock influences, sometimes even country, and is not sung in a church environment. We don't sing "I Can Only Imagine" (MercyMe), "You Say" (Lauren Daigle) or "There Was Jesus" (Zach Williams/Dolly Parton) in church for that reason.

I know that your definition of Praise and Worship Music is what I've heard described before. But when I listen to Air 1, it doesn't sound like anything people in my church sing. (Admittedly, I'm Catholic.) It sounds much too contemporary. Maybe the live band in a Mega-Church plays this as entertainment. The beats, the rhythms, they sound like current music to me. It's not an organist with limited skills playing a 50 year old hymn I've known since childhood. It sounds like Soft AC.

And yes, I know CCM and Worship Music are not interchangeable. CCM is supposed to sound like Hot AC. 30-something Christian women, listening on their way to work, are supposed to get some hummable music, some info, some personality, maybe a laugh, just as they would get on a Hot AC station. I sometimes think CCM artists wish they could be Justin Timberlake or Taylor Swift... or Amy Grant. But this is how they make their living so they have to write and perform songs about one topic and one topic only. Their faith.

 

[DavidEduardo]

So it’s like a sweepstakes or raffle, similar to Publishes Clearing House or Consumer Reports raffle. Even if EMF has to buy the prizes (perhaps at a wholesale price if the prize isn’t donated) if they give away one $4,000 gas gift card they used that giveaway as an incentive to raise many many times that amount in donations.

Exactly.

In a number of markets, Saint Jude Children's' Hospital buys a near-completion home and then sells $100 raffle/drawing tickets. They tie in with one of the TV station's news departments to visit the location and show the home.

Here in the Palm Springs area, they have bought a $750,000 house... likely at a steep discount due to the promotion for the development they get... and sell about $3 million in tickets. Every year they have sold all the promised number of tickets. This year we wanted to buy a couple more (my wife, the former air personality, has broadcast from Saint Jude's facilities in Memphis and likes to support them) but they were all gone!

There is nothing improper about offering a prize or incentive to encourage donations. I get many invitations to attend a lecture, banquet or cocktail party with a celebrity here in my area in benefit of the Eisenhower Health, our local non-profit (and marvelous) hospital. I'm on their sucker significant donor list so I get these rather often. Such "incentives" encourage people to donate more than they normally would, so there is a reason for this.