It seems many posters have commented on the age of SG fans at 50+. I agree that seems to be the norm around here, maybe even 60+.
My question is how are we missing the younger listeners?
I don’t know how the CCM stations program in your areas, but here they mix what I consider pretty good music (NewSong, Steven Curtis Chapman, and the like) with other artists who sound more like rap, heavy rock, and even some type of new age sounding mess. But almost every person around here who listens to Christian radio listens to one of two contemporary stations.
I used to make it a point at our concerts to ask what radio station the people listened to. It was at least 10-1 for the CCM stations. Our concerts were primarily at Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi churches. The ones I’ve asked don’t like a lot of whats being played on the CCM stations but they still listen. We also have a SG FM station that covers the same geographical location. They primarily play quartet and traditional music.
How are we missing the middle age and even young adult Christian listeners? What is turning these listeners off.
Do you think a station that played groups like LordSong, Crabb Family, Martins, Hopes Call, CrossWay, Mike & Kelly Bowling, and other similar groups might attract these listeners?
How can SG radio attract a multigenerational fan base?
[ Edited: 21 November 2007 01:03 PM by FamilyMan ]
Without changing the way they market our music, and holding to an objective quality standard, they can’t attract the younger listeners. Heck, they can barely attract people like me who are involved in the industry!
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
The SG music that I program has allowed us to cultivate a younger 35 - 45 yr old crowd without alienating the senior crowd. This is accomplished by playing music that is of the highest quality - zero tolerance for twang or poor sound quality regardless of who it is. We are not afraid of the electric guitar and realize that it takes more than just great vocals to draw a crowd. The music is important and lackluster cookie cutter tracks don’t make it.
We also pay attention to the tempo of the music that is played. We are up tempo 3/4 of the time. Radio can’t afford to put people to sleep at the wheel. The younger audience appreciates this.
When I go to concerts I see a great age mix. We are attracting younger people and the older crowd is still there as well.
Sometimes its not what we play - its what we don’t play.
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
The SG music that I program has allowed us to cultivate a younger 35 - 45 yr old crowd without alienating the senior crowd. This is accomplished by playing music that is of the highest quality - zero tolerance for twang or poor sound quality regardless of who it is. We are not afraid of the electric guitar and realize that it takes more than just great vocals to draw a crowd. The music is important and lackluster cookie cutter tracks don’t make it.
We also pay attention to the tempo of the music that is played. We are up tempo 3/4 of the time. Radio can’t afford to put people to sleep at the wheel. The younger audience appreciates this.
When I go to concerts I see a great age mix. We are attracting younger people and the older crowd is still there as well.
Sometimes its not what we play - its what we don’t play.
Tim,
You are so right. I have been saying for years that we waste our time worrying about trying to influence the CCM crowd. We are trying to mix water and oil with the two. It’s never going to happen.
We do have a huge Country audience that has tons of young people in it, who would love good SGM if they heard it. Same chord structures, same vowels, the harmony, just a lot of things alike, but we still sit around and argue why we can’t draw the young people from the CCM crowd.
You are also very right about the music you play. People like upbeat material for the most part when they are listening to radio. The also like quality. There is a ton of quality to be played, yet I still hear questionable music played even on some of our big named stations.
It seems many posters have commented on the age of SG fans at 50+. I agree that seems to be the norm around here, maybe even 60+.
My question is how are we missing the younger listeners?
I don’t know how the CCM stations program in your areas, but here they mix what I consider pretty good music (NewSong, Steven Curtis Chapman, and the like) with other artists who sound more like rap, heavy rock, and even some type of new age sounding mess. But almost every person around here who listens to Christian radio listens to one of two contemporary stations.
I used to make it a point at our concerts to ask what radio station the people listened to. It was at least 10-1 for the CCM stations. Our concerts were primarily at Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi churches. The ones I’ve asked don’t like a lot of whats being played on the CCM stations but they still listen. We also have a SG FM station that covers the same geographical location. They primarily play quartet and traditional music.
How are we missing the middle age and even young adult Christian listeners? What is turning these listeners off.
Do you think a station that played groups like LordSong, Crabb Family, Martins, Hopes Call, CrossWay, Mike & Kelly Bowling, and other similar groups might attract these listeners?
How can SG radio attract a multigenerational fan base?
Speaking as a young fan myself (I’m 23 years old), I would say that the main problem is not so much the age or style of the artists, but the lyrical content and musical nature of their songs. Speaking bluntly, there is still too much of the “old country church” culture in SGM. Speaking from my own experience, I was born in Pittsburgh, and grew up in New Mexico and Denver, before moving to Tennessee six years ago. So again, if you’ll allow me to be blunt, the old country church/old convention song culture means nothing to me. When the Dove Brothers do a Tribute to Mosie Lister, that holds little significance for me. I had never even heard of Mosie Lister before a couple years ago, and even then I wasn’t sure if he was the same or different than Hovie Lister (they are different, right?) But when I hear a song like “When He Spoke” by the Perrys, or “I am a Christian” by the Greenes, THAT moves me. Today we have too many songs like Palmetto State’s “Old Fashioned Alter Call”, and the Dixie Melody Boys did “Sweet By and By”. But it used not to be this way, as far as I can tell. I started listening to SG radio in Denver in 1999, and back then, I thought all around SG was as modern as any CCM. But that was before I moved to Tennessee and was exposed to back-country SG radio stations.
What SGM needs today is original songs with a timeless message. The age of the artist really means little to me. Take the McKameys, for example. I was recently thinking about the song “Do You Know How it Feels”, and I started to get choked up. And when the judge delivered the decision to take Terri Schiavo off life support, I was devestated. But then I remembered the lyrics of “The Good News”, also by the McKameys (“the good news is that our hope’s not in this life”). At a time when it seemed like the world was going to hell, that song ministered to me. And those aren’t the only examples. “He Calms Me”, “Arise”, “I’ve Won”, and “Under His Feet” are other great songs by the Ms. The McKameys have a very country sound, but their music ministers to me because it is timeless, relevant, and powerful (to a large extent, at least)
Furthermore, SGM radio stations need to have DJ’s and announcers who sound like average modern Christians, and stations must be professional and well-organized.
Now I realize that the old country church culture (and I don’t call it that derisively) is relevant to people who grew up in that background, but in order for Southern Gospel to reach a wider audience, the industry will have to marginalize that image.
So that is my view, for what it’s worth. And for the record, I’ll take good quality Southern Gospel over most CCM any day (though some individual CCM artists are much better than most others). So my intent is not do dis SG in any way or say that CCM is better. I hope everyone will hear me out, and I hope I haven’t offended anyone.
[ Edited: 23 November 2007 03:19 PM by subace914 ]
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
I disagree. Speaking for myself, I can listen to Gold City one minute, then White Heart or the Newsboys the next minute. What I want is good quality music with a powerful Christian message. So while you might be right in general, it isn’t always that way. And as I recall, our own James Hales was a fan of SG and CCM, and collected albums of both.
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
I disagree. Speaking for myself, I can listen to Gold City one minute, then White Heart or the Newsboys the next minute. What I want is good quality music with a powerful Christian message. So while you might be right in general, it isn’t always that way. And as I recall, our own James Hales was a fan of SG and CCM, and collected albums of both.
But where did you come from? How did you arrive at Sg and what was your first impression?
People that like good music - for what it is - will like good music from any genre. The casual listener, which is the majority of the people listening to radio, tends to like a particular style. It is the casual Country listener, more so than the casual AC listener, that can be drawn to listen to SG. The styles are more similar.
My favorite music runs from The McKameys to Switchfoot to Josh Turner to the Isaacs to Point of Grace (and all points in between). That’s me. I’m not a normal listener. I participate in music forums and am a fan - a fanatic - about music. My listening habits are not normal and I would say that your’s are not either (and that is not a bad thing!)
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
So if they don’t measure up, why do they have thousands more listeners than our largest stations?
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
So if they don’t measure up, why do they have thousands more listeners than our largest stations?
I think you’re missing the point. It’s not the quality that they do not come close too, of course quality is subjective. It’s the trying to cross styles that aren’t even close. We can try until we are blue in the faced to draw listeners from the AC, Inspo. CCM crowd, but it ain’t gonna happen. We will have much more success trying to cross with the Country style. This is just common sense, and yet the major runners in this industry cannot figure that out.
It is very difficult to draw listeners from Christian AC/Inspo radio to the SG format. The two are light years apart. Even the groups that we in SG consider AC aren’t that close. The diction and harmony just don’t match up.
I disagree. Speaking for myself, I can listen to Gold City one minute, then White Heart or the Newsboys the next minute. What I want is good quality music with a powerful Christian message. So while you might be right in general, it isn’t always that way. And as I recall, our own James Hales was a fan of SG and CCM, and collected albums of both.
But where did you come from? How did you arrive at Sg and what was your first impression?
First of all, my family is about as country as spaghetti is Mexican. My dad’s family are yankees, and my mom’s family are upper-class urban southerners (not country folk at all). My immediate family has never listened to country music. To answer your question, I was introduced to SG as a kid in New Mexico, where a family that we knew had some southern gospel tapes that they gave us, and a couple CDs that we borrowed. My first introduction was mainly Gold City, the Cathedrals, the Kingsmen, and the Bishops (for several years I thought they were the “big four” among SG artists). The very first SG recording that I ever heard, that I remember, was “I’ve Read the Back of the Book”, by the Cathedrals. (I think a southern quartet performed at our church in Pittsburgh, but I was too young to notice the music, and I don’t remember what the group performed at all, or even who it was).
What was my first impression? Ironically, when I heard “I’ve Read the Back of the Book”, my first thought was “what in the world is this stupid country music?” But then I started listening to other songs, and I was eventually hooked. For me, as a kid, SG was new and exciting music,and that was true when I listened as a teenager also, though it really wasn’t new for me anymore. In fact, even as a kid one of my favorite songs was the Bishops’ accapella version of “Lilly of the Valley”. When we moved to Denver, I stopped listening to SG for a couple years, but then my brothers and I started listening to a station that played SG during drive time, and also the Gospel Greats. This introduced me to other SG artists, like the Greenes, the Hoppers, Kirk Talley, Tony Gore and Majesty, etc.
People that like good music - for what it is - will like good music from any genre. The casual listener, which is the majority of the people listening to radio, tends to like a particular style. It is the casual Country listener, more so than the casual AC listener, that can be drawn to listen to SG. The styles are more similar.
My favorite music runs from The McKameys to Switchfoot to Josh Turner to the Isaacs to Point of Grace (and all points in between). That’s me. I’m not a normal listener. I participate in music forums and am a fan - a fanatic - about music. My listening habits are not normal and I would say that your’s are not either (and that is not a bad thing!)
I’m glad to hear that you can enjoy Switchfoot and the McKameys, and you aren’t one of those who thinks that Christian rock is the only real music and Southern Gospel is lame (or maybe I’m just sensitive). You and I are also kindred spirits, in a way. I don’t care for Switchfoot, but I enjoy the McKameys and Point of Grace like you.
Anyway, I guess my point-having told you my story- is this: my own experience tells me that a contemporary Christian, even someone who doesn’t listen to country music, can be drawn to SG when he or she hears really good quality Southern Gospel. (I think most here wouldn’t say that the Bishops, the Kingsmen, the Cathedrals, and Gold City were not good quality SG!)
[ Edited: 24 November 2007 01:51 AM by subace914 ]
Subace, the “Big Four” you listed put out quality music. Imagine what would have happened if you had found some of the twangy less than quality stuff that’s out there. Its doubtful you would have become interested in SGM.
Pittsburgh? We just opened two new translators in that area. One in Murrysville on the east side od Pitts, and one in Kittanning. We also added a station in Waynesburg earlier this year. Go Steelers!
Subace, the “Big Four” you listed put out quality music. Imagine what would have happened if you had found some of the twangy less than quality stuff that’s out there. Its doubtful you would have become interested in SGM.
You are correct, but then you get back to my original point- SG needs to have good quality music with lyrics that contemporary Christians can relate to, and as long as there is not-so-good-quality SG out there, the radio stations need to focus on the quality music, and that which can minister to a modern audience.
And on the side- you are doubly correct: Go Steelers!!!!!
Subace, the “Big Four” you listed put out quality music. Imagine what would have happened if you had found some of the twangy less than quality stuff that’s out there. Its doubtful you would have become interested in SGM.
You are correct, but then you get back to my original point- SG needs to have good quality music with lyrics that contemporary Christians can relate to, and as long as there is not-so-good-quality SG out there, the radio stations need to focus on the quality music, and that which can minister to a modern audience. And SG doesn’t have to sound like CCM or country western to accomplish that goal.
And on the side- you are doubly correct: Go Steelers!!!!!
[ Edited: 26 November 2007 07:45 PM by subace914 ]
For us to have talent that much superior to other genres, we sure don’t have listeners or fans. Seems like if our vocalists were that great and our songs that awesome, we would attract a fan or two under 50. We’ve got Emperors New Clothes syndrom. Just keep tooting our own horns. Ignore radio listenership, concert attendance, and album sales. We are the best. WE all know that!!!
For us to have talent that much superior to other genres, we sure don’t have listeners or fans. Seems like if our vocalists were that great and our songs that awesome, we would attract a fan or two under 50. We’ve got Emperors New Clothes syndrom. Just keep tooting our own horns. Ignore radio listenership, concert attendance, and album sales. We are the best. WE all know that!!!
You know that I can’t let you get away with that. Our genre is vocal dominated, while others are music dominated. Of course we are going to have great talent in our vocals. The music driven genres have great guitarists. It’s the nature of the beast.
Again, we don’t have many fans under 50, for a couple of reasons.
#1 - our crowd tends to go along with the church crowd. Follow any televised church program and as the camera pans you will see mostly 50 and over. That is our crowd, because that is where we sing.
#2 - We STILL are trying to get our younger fans from CCM instead of Country.
Country has forever been called our cousin. They already like our chord structure, harmonies, and vocals. Why are we so determined to go after an audience that will never like what we are doing. It would be like the Country artists trying to get Rock fans to listen to their product. It just ain’t going to happen.
For us to have talent that much superior to other genres, we sure don’t have listeners or fans. Seems like if our vocalists were that great and our songs that awesome, we would attract a fan or two under 50. We’ve got Emperors New Clothes syndrom. Just keep tooting our own horns. Ignore radio listenership, concert attendance, and album sales. We are the best. WE all know that!!!
Family Man you might as well give up! I have tried to explain all of this with no luck. But maybe you can get somewhere. I have been accused of talking bad about SG performers and music.
In reality SG could be much more than what it is. The artists CDs they sell are great. Without getting in to the usual discussion, the (live) performances for the most part are not.
Good luck here. YOU WILL NEED IT!!!!
