Christian radio refers to

Christian media Christian media refers to media that is Christian, or refers to various aspects of Christian demographic. As a genre its conventions originated in sermons, Christian literature, literature, and gospel music, and it has been adapted into Christ ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

s that focus on

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

religious broadcasting Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

or various forms of

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

. Many such formats and programs include

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

s, as well as

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

and

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

shows covering popular culture, economics, and political topics from a Christian perspective.

History

American evangelicalism

In the first part of the 20th century, American revivalists saw radio as a tool for spreading

the gospel The gospel or good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman imperial cult and today in Christianity, the gospel is a message about salvation by a divine figure, a savior, who has brought peace or other benefi ...

. Christian radio pioneers included

Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian-born American Pentecostalism, Pentecostal Evangelism, evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920 ...

D. L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelism, evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon Sc ...

, Charles E. Fuller,

Donald Barnhouse Donald Grey Barnhouse (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1960), was an American Christian preacher, pastor, theologian, radio pioneer, and writer. He was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1927 to his dea ...

, Walter A. Maier, Paul Rader, Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, and

Percy Crawford Percy Bartimus Crawford (October 20, 1902 – October 31, 1960) was an evangelist and fundamentalist leader who especially emphasized youth ministry. During the late 1950s, he saw the potential of FM radio and UHF television and built the first ...

. In addition to preaching and sermons, other content such as news, children's programs, and gospel music were broadcast. Scholar Leah Payne states "In the 1920s, hristianbroadcasters featured gospel quartets and trios who upheld the traditional

social order The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social orde ...

and contrasted with images of '

bright young things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in London during the Roaring Twenties. The name was given to them by the tabloid press. They threw flamboyant fancy dress part ...

' and

flappers Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their d ...

." Patriotism during the World Wars,

teetotalism Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to b ...

, and

youth ministry Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry of faith groups or other religious organizations, usually from ages 12 to 30, whose mission is to involve and engage with young people who attend their ...

were also common topics, and American

celebrity culture Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands. Whereas a culture can usually be physically ...

spread to Christian radio, making celebrities of radio revivalists.

Youth for Christ Youth For Christ (YFC) is a worldwide Christian movement working with young people, whose main purpose is evangelism among teenagers. It began informally in New York City in 1940, when Jack Wyrtzen held evangelical Protestant rallies for teenager ...

founder

Torrey Johnson Torrey Maynard Johnson (March 15, 1909 – May 15, 2002) was a Chicago Baptist who is best remembered as the founder of Youth for Christ in 1944. For a time Johnson had his own local radio program called ''Songs in the Night'', which he later tu ...

's radio program brought evangelist

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...

to American homes, helping launch his career. Christian radio was also used to encourage political action; major broadcasters such as

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, however, aired

mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...

content and avoided controversial themes. While Catholics, Jews, and mainline Protestants had their own broadcast organizations, various evangelical groups and

fundamentalists Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

banded together to form

National Religious Broadcasters National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint com ...

, which "spread conservative, white political views and

premillennial Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, heralding a literal thousand-year messianic age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a liter ...

dispensational theology". With its ability to reach significant numbers of people for potentially hours each day, at home and away, Christian radio had a formative impact on the direction of Christian media.

Business models

WWOC-LP Christian Radio Broadcast Station and Seventh Day Adventist Church

Brokered programming Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

is a significant portion of most U.S. Christian radio stations' revenue, with stations regularly selling blocks of airtime to evangelists seeking an audience. Another revenue stream is solicitation of donations, either to the evangelists who buy the air time or to the stations or their owners themselves. In order to further encourage donations, certain evangelists may emphasize the

prosperity gospel Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, seed-faith gospel, Faith movement, or Word-Faith movement) is a belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial bl ...

, in which they preach that

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

and donations to the ministry will result in financial blessings from God. Others may have special days of the year dedicated to fundraising, similar to many

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

stations. Although the solicitation of donations and the sale of airtime may resemble a commercial enterprise, such actions do not necessarily constitute a

call to action Call to Action (CTA) is an American progressivism in the United States, progressive organization that advocates a variety of changes in the Catholic Church. Call To Action's goals are to change church disciplines and teachings in such areas as ma ...

, and thus this does not forbid them from airing on

noncommercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of profit. The opposite is commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on business. For example, advertis ...

licensed stations in the U.S. A minority of stations, typically music stations, use the traditional model for music radio and allow traditional commercial advertising. Numerous religious broadcasters own many of their own stations. In the U.S., religious radio stations are exempt from certain rules requiring radio stations to have some local operations, which allows them to have massive networks of transmitters covering far larger areas than a radio station would otherwise be allowed and may not face the same restrictions on the number of signals a broadcaster can own within one geographic area.

Radio formats

Most Christian radio stations transmit a mixture of Christian music and Christian talk and teaching.

Christian music

Christian

music radio Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio. M ...

outlets mirror

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

in many ways, and music in a variety of different

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

s is available. Many stations play primarily

, including Black Gospel and Southern Gospel, or

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...

, while others play all formats of

, including Christian pop,

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. This music is typically performed by Christians, Christian individuals. The extent to whi ...

, Christian rap,

Christian country music Christian country music (sometimes marketed as country gospel, gospel country, positive country or inspirational country) is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as (in terms ...

, and

Christian alternative rock Christian alternative rock is a form of alternative rock music that is lyrically grounded in a Christian worldview. Some critics have suggested that unlike CCM and older Christian rock, Christian alternative rock generally emphasizes musical ...

. Many artists within the

Christian music industry The Christian music industry is one aspect of the broader music industry, with a focus on Christian music and subgenres such as gospel music, southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, contemporary worship music, and even traditional church m ...

criticize Christian radio for only playing "safe" music, and not taking enough chances on new artists, or in some cases older artists, that may not be as appealing to the largely conservative

Gospel Music Association The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of gospel music. As of 2011, there are about 4,000 members worldwide. The GMA's membership c ...

. Many non-religious radio stations devote some of their weekend programming to Christian music; for example, Black Gospel programming is common on Sundays on many stations featuring the

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

format.

Christian talk, radio drama, sermons

Other Christian stations will present a no-music format that features

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

-style programming (sometimes including live radio call-in shows) and/or long-form "preaching and teaching" programs. Notable examples include ''

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is an American Christian fundamentalism, Evangelical Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of Evangel ...

'' with host Jim Daly, ''

Amazing Facts Amazing Facts is a non-profit Seventh-day Adventist evangelistic ministry based in Granite Bay, California, which broadcasts daily television programming worldwide. It is based on the teachings of Scripture, with particular focus on the Three ...

'', ''Living Way'' with pastor Jack Hayford, and

Pastor Rick's Daily Hope Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptists, Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he serves as execut ...

; an example of an inspirational program are '' Moments of Melody'' and '' The Voice of Prophecy.''

Radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

programs, long dead in most other radio formats, continue to be transmitted on Christian radio; notable examples include long-running ''

Adventures in Odyssey ''Adventures in Odyssey'' (AIO), or simply ''Odyssey'', is an Evangelical Christian radio drama and Radio comedy, comedy series created and produced by Focus on the Family. Aimed at families with children age 12 and younger, the series first air ...

'', '' Patch the Pirate'', and ''

Unshackled! ''Unshackled!'' is a radio drama series produced by Pacific Garden Mission, in Chicago, Illinois, that first aired on September 23, 1950. It is one of the longest-running radio dramas in history and one of a very few still in production in the ...

'' and relative newcomers such as '' Down Gilead Lane'' and '' A Work in Progress.''

Denominations

Christian radio, particularly in North America, is dominated by

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

ministries, particularly those associated with

evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

. The predominant

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

radio services are the Eternal Word Network, founded by

Mother Angelica Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation (born Rita Antoinette Rizzo; April 20, 1923 – March 27, 2016), commonly referred to as Mother Angelica, was an American Roman Catholic nun of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration. She was known fo ...

as a spin-off of her television service

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic programming. It is the largest Catholic television network in America, and is purported to be "the world's larges ...

, and

Radio Maria USA KJMJ (580 AM) is a Catholic radio station broadcasting from Alexandria, Louisiana, United States. It is the originating station of Radio Maria USA, The World Family of Radio Maria's US operations, airing Catholic programming including a mix o ...

. The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded durin ...

, a sect whose place in Christianity is heavily debated, maintains some limited radio evangelical operations through

BYU Radio BYU Radio (stylized as BYUradio) is a podcast network and former talk radio station run by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. BYUradio's podcasts can be listened to on all podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTub ...

, which owns a single FM station. The

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabba ...

are most closely associated with

Three Angels Broadcasting Network The Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) is a Christian media television and radio network which broadcasts Seventh-day Adventist religious, music and health-oriented programming, based in West Frankfort, Illinois, United States. Although ...

North American and international availability

Most Christian radio stations as well as programmers based in the United States are members of the

, a Christian organization. There are reportedly 1,600 Christian broadcasting organizations in the U.S. They range from single stations to expansive networks. It is common for religious broadcasters to purchase many small

broadcast translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

s to create networks that stretch across large regions.

Moody Radio Moody Radio is one of the largest Christian radio networks in the United States. Located in downtown Chicago, Moody Radio has 71 owned and operated stations

was the first example, and still one of the largest, though most of its stations broadcast stand-alone programming as well as network feeds. Z88.3 in Orlando, Florida, the

WAY-FM Network The WayFM Network is a national, non-profit radio broadcasting network in the United States, primarily playing Christian adult contemporary music. While WayFM is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, it operates stations in 12 states (), with co ...

K-LOVE K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...

Air 1 Air1 is an American Christian radio network owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry. It primarily broadcasts contemporary worship music, and is a sister to the EMF's K-Love network. History On July 15, ...

, The Joy FM, Reach Radio, 3ABN Radio, Radio 74, and the

Bible Broadcasting Network The Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is a listener-supported global Christian Conservative Christian radio radio network, network staffed and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1971 by Lowell Davey, who was the network ...

are other notable examples in the world. Christian radio expanded in the early twenty-first century. It became available in the United Kingdom with changes to broadcasting regulations.

Premier Christian Radio Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station, part of Premier (a Christian communications organisation), owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust. Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming, including ne ...

is based in the London area where it is available on medium wave and DAB; elsewhere, it is available digitally or by Internet.

United Christian Broadcasters United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) is an international Christian broadcasting and media group, founded by Rhema Media. Through affiliates in twenty five countries, it operates radio and television stations and publishes and broadcasts Bob G ...

is an international broadcasting and media company; radio stations are based in Albania, Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.

Trans World Radio Trans World Radio (TWR) is a multi-national evangelical Christianity, Christian media distributor. The largest Christian media organization in the world, it uses high-powered medium wave (AM) and short wave transmitters, local FM radio stations ...

is an evangelical media distributor broadcasting Christian programs in 190 countries in more than 300 languages, TWR-UK can be heard in the United Kingdom on Sky, Freeview and online.

Christian radio programs

* ''

,'' an internationally syndicated daily interview produced by Focus on the Family * ''

,'' a scripted radio comedy/drama for children produced by Focus on the Family * '' Patch the Pirate,'' a scripted radio musical comedy for children produced by Majesty Music * ''

Back to the Bible Back to the Bible is an international Christian ministry based in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. History Founded in 1939 by Theodore H. Epp on radio station KFOR (AM) in Lincoln, Nebraska, Back to the Bible expanded by supporting missionari ...

'' with

Woodrow M. Kroll Woodrow Michael Kroll (born October 21, 1944) is an evangelical preacher and radio host. He was the president and Bible teacher for the international ''Back to the Bible'' radio and television ministry. He was president of Davis College (New York) ...

* ''

'' produced by

Pacific Garden Mission Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter which is located in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side section of Chicago, Illinois, it was founded in 1877 by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah. Nicknamed "The Old Lighthouse", it is ...

in Chicago

References

External links

Billboard Christian Airplay Charts

Gospel & Christian Radio Stations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Radio Radio formats Christian music media Christian radio stations

History

American evangelicalism

Business models

Radio formats

Christian music

Christian talk, radio drama, sermons

Denominations

North American and international availability

Christian radio programs

See also

References

External links