Attitudes and Behaviors of Christian Adults Towards Christian Radio
Wilson Research Strategies was commissioned by Dunham+Company to conduct a research study of 1000 Christian adults nationwide. A sample of n=1000 has a margin of error of ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The study was conducted by telephone May 27-29, 2008. This sampling represents 72% of the United States population, which is equal to roughly 150.5 million people who call themselves Christians. Christians in this study were defined as people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by believing He died for their sins they have eternal life.
All respondents were contacted via Random Digit Dialing methodology. The sample was stratified by key demographics including age, gender, and area in order to representatively measure the United States Christian population at large. Click here to download full study.
Attractiveness of Christian radio
- 46% of Christian adults—representing over 69 million people— tune in to Christian radio
- For those who don't listen to Christian programming, nearly 1 in 4 (23%) say they are not interested in listening to Christian content while 1 in 5 (20%) say they prefer other content, such as news and sports
- 11% (8.4 million) say they prefer to get their Christian content elsewhere
- 65% of those who listen to Christian radio do so at least several times per week
- Nearly 1 in 3 (29%) say they tune in every day, which represents approximately 20 million people who listen to Christian radio every day
Profile of Those Who Tune into Christian Programming
- Women 45-54 years of age
- Pentecostal/Charismatic (with non-denominational and Baptists also highly represented)
- Living in the South (inclusive of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida)
- Politically conservative
- Activists
- 71% of listeners say they attend church frequently
- 1 in 10 say they never attend church, representing nearly 7 million people
Programming Preference
- The single greatest reason for tuning in to Christian radio given by respondents was to listen to Christian music (56%), which represents over 38 million listeners
- The second highest reason given was to listen to teaching/sermons (40%), or 27.6 million listeners
- 16% of respondents (11 million) said “Talk” was their primary motivation for tuning into Christian programming
Listener Profile by Programming Choice
Of critical importance is the difference in the profile between those who tune in to Christian radio in order to listen to Christian music and those who are tuning in to listen to teaching/sermons.
Those who are primarily driven to listen to Christian music are:
- Younger, predominately women 18-44
- More likely to attend church less frequently (although frequent church attenders do tune in)
- More likely to be single than those who listen to teaching programs
- Less likely to listen to Christian radio on a frequent basis
Those who tune in to Christian radio to listen to teaching/sermons are:
- An even split of older men and women (55+) with a very high incidence of those who are 65+
- Much more likely to be retirees
- Those who attend church more frequently than those who seldom attend church
- Much more likely to be loyal listeners to Christian radio
Other Findings
- Christians want more variety and choice in Christian radio stations, particularly when it comes to music.
- The core and most active audience of Christian radio listeners is demanding sermons and teaching.
