Leading the way is Lauren Daigle, whose songs continue to test incredibly well year after year. Her powerful voice and memorable hits give her a strong lead in the rankings.

Next comes a tie for second between Tasha Layton and Francesca Battistelli, both known for uplifting songs that connect with listeners.

There’s also a tie for fourth between rising artist Katy Nichole and longtime favorite Laura Story.

These artists prove that when meaningful lyrics meet unforgettable melodies, listeners keep coming back again and again.

Coming up in May: We take a look at the men Christian radio listeners can’t get enough of. How many of these artists are currently in your rotation?

The post The Women Christian Radio Listeners Can’t Get Enough Of first appeared on CMB.

The post The Women Christian Radio Listeners Can’t Get Enough Of appeared first on CMB.

During those long days at home, the instructors were broadcasting from their homes too. We were all going through the pandemic together. Their encouragement, honesty, and positivity lifted my spirit in a time when we all needed it.

The instructors began to feel familiar, like personalities you look forward to hearing. They reminded me of what we’ve always known in radio: people connect with people.

When I made it into a live ride class at the Peloton Studios New York, it was everything I hoped it would be. In fact, it was so great that one ride turned into three. I found myself going back again and again, each time reminded of how powerful that in-person connection can be. Meeting the instructors I had ridden with for years and seeing that they were just as real, just as encouraging off camera, mattered.

A couple of years ago, it looked like Peloton might be struggling financially. But they made a strategic reset. They shifted their focus beyond just fitness and leaned into what was already working, the personalities and the experience.

It’s what we’ve always said in radio.

Connection matters.

And Peloton doubled down on that idea in a way that clearly worked.

I can tell you exactly why I connect with certain instructors.

Take Matt Wilpers. He’s from Atlanta, always smiling while I’m riding with him. He talks about loving his mom. He runs races all over the country. He shows up for his friends, and they show up for him, especially in class. You feel that.

Or Jess Sims, a former kindergarten teacher and WNBA player. She shares stories about going to Payless Shoes with her mom, brings a fun, spicy energy, and even taught me how to make “sweat angels” on my mat.

It’s those personal details. Those real-life moments. That authenticity.

That’s what builds connection.

Because whether it’s a Peloton instructor, a morning show host, or someone on social media, the impact is the same. When people feel like they know you, when they feel encouraged by you, they come back.

That’s the opportunity we have every day, every break.

Personalities matter because they’re more than voices, they’re people who share themselves, spark connection, and reflect God’s light in ways that help listeners feel truly seen. When we support, guide, and develop them, the connections they create aren’t just heard, they’re felt, lasting in hearts long after the broadcast ends.

And that’s the work we get to do every day, helping people feel known, helping them shine, helping them carry that light forward.

Beth Bacall is a media personality and talent coach. Catch her on Peloton at @BethBacall.

The post From Bike to Mic: What Peloton Can Teach Us About Radio first appeared on CMB.

The post From Bike to Mic: What Peloton Can Teach Us About Radio appeared first on CMB.

This year’s conference carried a theme that should feel familiar to anyone who works in faith-based media: in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, human connection is more valuable than ever.

The AI Conversation Has Grown Up

Last year’s SXSW panels were still debating whether to adopt AI tools. This year, the question shifted: Are we building the right organizations to use them?

Industry analyst Ian Beacraft made a pointed argument that most companies are failing at AI. Not because the tools aren’t ready, but because the organizational structures around them are already obsolete. The winners, he argued, won’t be the fastest adopters. They’ll be the ones who rethink how work is organized entirely.

For Christian radio stations serving multiple markets on constrained resources, this framing is clarifying. The question isn’t whether to use AI for tasks like content scheduling, social copy, or audience targeting. The question is whether your team is structured to use it strategically, or just reactively.

Storytelling Is Your Competitive Advantage

Serena Williams took the stage at Axios House and told entrepreneurs that the most underestimated skill in business is the ability to tell a compelling story. Actor and producer Jamie Lee Curtis echoed the sentiment later in the week, making the case that people need to tell stories and others need to hear them. No technology changes that fundamental truth.

Nobody at SXSW asked why human creativity is irreplaceable. They just kept affirming that it is. But for those of us in Christian media, the answer isn’t a mystery. It’s foundational. Humans are uniquely creative because we are made in the image of a creative God. The imago Dei isn’t just a theological concept; it’s the reason a song can move someone to tears, why a story told with honesty and vulnerability can change a person’s day, and why no algorithm, however sophisticated, can replicate what happens when one human being speaks directly into the life of another. SXSW was circling the truth without naming it. We get to name it.

This is ground Christian radio has always occupied. Our stations don’t just play music. We share listener impact stories, walk through grief and celebration on-air, and create moments of genuine human connection across the dial. At a conference full of conversations about AI-generated content, that irreplaceable human voice, rooted in faith, community, and shared experience, is not a weakness. It’s a differentiator.

Audio Is Resilient, But the Landscape Is Shifting

The audio industry had a significant presence at SXSW this year, with Podcast Movement Evolutions co-locating at the festival for the first time, hosting three days of sessions on the future of audio. Some of the discussions are directly relevant to Christian radio.

One of the most debated questions: is video killing the podcast? The data says no. Research from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights found that 92% of podcast consumers listen to at least some of their content in audio-only form, with just 8% exclusively watching video. The argument that emerged from sessions is that video is a distribution multiplier, not a replacement for audio.

For Christian radio, this is an important reframe. Adding video components to interviews, artist sessions, and listener stories is the kind of content already being developed for YouTube and social platforms. It isn’t abandoning radio. It’s extending its reach.

Also worth tracking: the growing conversation around podcast content ownership. Apple Podcasts’ HLS update, discussed at length at Evolutions, allows creators to host video podcast content through their own hosting provider rather than ceding that control to platforms like Spotify or YouTube. For stations building digital audiences, maintaining ownership of your content and audience data will matter increasingly as the platform landscape continues to shift.

The Hunger for Human Connection Is Real, and It’s Our Mission

Perhaps the clearest through-line at SXSW 2026 was something that should feel deeply familiar: people are hungry for genuine connection. One analyst described it as “the single red thread running through the entire program.” In a world of automated content, algorithmic feeds, and AI-generated voices, the hunger for something real has never been more acute.

Christian radio exists precisely for this moment. We don’t manufacture connection; we facilitate it. Between a listener navigating a hard season and a song that meets them there. Between a morning host and a commuter who feels less alone because of a two-minute conversation about faith. Between a community of donors and a station that reflects their values back to them.

Consumer behavior research presented at SXSW also noted a broader cultural shift toward what analysts called “intentional consumption.” Audiences are pulling back from excess, seeking content that is simpler, more transparent, and more emotionally resonant. That’s not a trend we need to manufacture. It’s what we’ve always offered.

What to Watch and What to Do

A few practical takeaways for Christian radio teams coming out of SXSW 2026:

Audit your AI readiness, not just your AI use. The tools are available. The more important question is whether your team has clarity on where AI can accelerate your mission and where human judgment is irreplaceable.

Lead with transparency. Audiences, especially faith-based audiences, respond to honesty about how content is made. If AI helps you produce more content, say so. Your listeners will respect it far more than discovering it on their own.

Treat storytelling as strategy. Impact stories, listener testimonials, and on-air moments of genuine human connection aren’t just feel-good content. They’re your most powerful tools for building the kind of listener loyalty that leads to advocacy and support.

Don’t abandon audio for video; expand from it. Video content is valuable for discovery and social reach. But your core audience still chooses audio, and that’s where the deepest connection happens.

Position your distinctiveness. In an era when every brand is trying to manufacture authenticity, Christian radio has the real thing. Lead from it.

SXSW doesn’t always speak directly to faith-based media. But this year, it kept circling back to the same truth we’ve built our stations on: technology can do a lot of things, but it cannot replace what happens when a person feels genuinely known, heard, and not alone.

That’s still our job. And if the conversations in Austin are any indication, there’s never been a more important time to do it well.

The post The Conference That Predicts the Future Confirms What We Already Know first appeared on CMB.

The post The Conference That Predicts the Future Confirms What We Already Know appeared first on CMB.

It’s evolving.

Radio’s future will belong to stations that combine what they’ve always done well—local connection, trusted personalities, and immediacy—with the digital tools audiences now expect.

This bears repeating.

Here’s a practical 7-point plan for radio leaders who want to win the next decade.

1. Own the Car Experience

Radio’s biggest competitive advantage remains the dashboard. As automakers redesign infotainment systems, radio must ensure it stays easy to access, visible, and integrated with digital features. Stations should also create “drive-friendly” content: quick information, personality interaction, and local relevance that fits how people listen while commuting.

2. Invest in Air Talent

Algorithms can deliver songs, but they can’t deliver personality. Great air talent creates habit and emotional connection. Stations that prioritize coaching, development, and creative freedom for their personalities will stand out in a world of automated playlists.

3. Double Down on Local

Local information is radio’s most defensible advantage. Weather, traffic, community events, local culture, and neighborhood conversations cannot be replicated by national streaming platforms. Stations should become the daily soundtrack of their city—not just a jukebox.

4. Expand Aggressively Into Podcasting

Podcasting shouldn’t be viewed as competition. It’s an extension of radio’s storytelling and personality strengths. Smart stations are using podcasts to deepen engagement with listeners and extend their brand beyond the broadcast clock.

5. Build Strong Digital Distribution

Listeners increasingly expect access everywhere: smart speakers, mobile apps, connected cars, and social platforms. Stations must ensure their streams are easy to find and frictionless to use wherever audiences choose to listen.

6. Improve Advertising Attribution

Radio’s biggest revenue opportunity lies in proving its effectiveness. With better use of digital analytics, promo codes, and attribution tools, stations can demonstrate measurable results to advertisers and compete more effectively with digital platforms.

7. Think Like a Media Brand, Not Just a Radio Station

The most successful operators will stop thinking in terms of transmitters and start thinking in terms of audiences. A station’s brand should live across broadcast, social media, podcasts, events, and digital platforms. The more places listeners encounter your brand, the stronger your relationship with them becomes.

Radio’s story is one of transition.

The stations that succeed will be the ones that protect radio’s traditional strengths while embracing the tools of modern media.

The future of radio isn’t just on the dial anymore.

It’s everywhere the audience is.

Link to Original Source

The post The Problem With Radio Isn’t the Audience. It’s the Strategy. first appeared on CMB.

The post The Problem With Radio Isn’t the Audience. It’s the Strategy. appeared first on CMB.

Why It Matters

The weeks surrounding Easter consistently represent one of the most significant times of the year for Christian music engagement. Listeners are naturally drawn to songs that point them to hope, redemption, and the resurrection story.

Christian Music Month builds on that momentum by encouraging fans to listen, share, and rediscover the music that strengthens their faith. It’s also an opportunity for stations to spotlight the artists and songs that continue to shape the Christian music landscape.

How Stations Can Participate

Christian Music Month is a collaborative effort across the Christian music industry, bringing together artists, labels, streaming platforms, tours, and radio. Stations have a unique opportunity to help amplify this celebration within their community.

Stations can participate by:

• Highlighting Christian Music Month on-air and online
  
• Featuring artists and songs that have impacted listeners’ faith
  
• Sharing stories about the role Christian music plays in people’s lives
  
• Encouraging listeners to engage with and share the music they love
  

By leaning into this moment together, Christian radio can continue to lead the way in connecting audiences with music that points them to Jesus.

Resources for Stations

To help stations participate, Christian Music Month resources and artist liners are available for download: https://christianmusicmonth.com/resources 

The post Celebrate Christian Music Month with CMB first appeared on CMB.

The post Celebrate Christian Music Month with CMB appeared first on CMB.

“Christian radio is mostly just preaching to the choir.”

“Why are so many of us content with that when there are so many lost people that Jesus wants us to reach?”

It’s a valid question.

I have a different one:

“Is it possible we’ve misunderstood what the choir actually needs?”

We act like longtime “choir members” have moved on from needing the Gospel. What they need now are…reminders, instructions, motivation, or maybe a Medi-Share spot.

The Gospel is for “getting saved.” God did His part; now we do ours.

That message is an exhausting dead end.

No one ever finds assurance looking at their own track record or heart. Woe to them if they do.

There is always something more you should have done, could have done, or left undone.

Many of the faithful in your audience’s choir, even after years of singing, live with anxiety, uncertainty, and lack of assurance.

Every once in a while they hear reminders that obedience is necessary. And that’s good, because it is.

Yet…obedience is fruit from the tree, not a receipt showing proof you paid.

If choir members ONLY hear burden, we shouldn’t be surprised when they either despair or pretend.

The choir you’re supposedly preaching to so much is replete with people who don’t need another list, pep talk, time-waster, or false comfort.

They need Christ. They need the Gospel. Daily.

If that sounds basic to you, congratulations! You understand.

Air, water, and food are basics, too.

Too many in the choir are barely getting enough to survive.

They’re subsisting on empty spiritual calories

Seems to me if you’re looking to reach the lost, check the choir loft. There are tons of ‘em up there.

They, like all of us, need to hear, again and again, that Jesus did not merely make salvation possible and then hand us the bill for the rest!

That’s bad news.

They need the steady Gospel good news that their standing with God rests on Jesus, not on them.

So, if someone dismissively says “Christian Radio is just preaching to the choir,” remember: by doing it faithfully, you’re preaching exactly what the choir needs to hear.

So they can keep singing.

Doug Hannah is the Senior Director of Content for Family Radio/Loam Media

The post The Choir Is Starving first appeared on CMB.

The post The Choir Is Starving appeared first on CMB.

These rankings are based on song scores from the past 12 months. We’re noticing not only that worship songs that played on CCM stations are testing better than ever (Tomlin/Holy Forever and Elevation/Graves Into Gardens, for example), but now we’re seeing worship songs that largely didn’t get played on CCM stations also testing. For example, Passion/The Lord Will Provide and MCM & Brandon Lake/Fear Is Not My Future are songs that are sung in church and played on Worship stations. We recommend that at a minimum those titles should be a discussion at your station.

Coming in April: The latest rankings on the most popular artists with CCM listeners across the United States.

The post The Top 5 Songs from Each of the Last 10 Years first appeared on CMB.

The post The Top 5 Songs from Each of the Last 10 Years appeared first on CMB.

And I don’t mean stepping out your front door. I mean outside your routine. Outside your office. Outside the predictable rhythm of meetings, copy deadlines, music logs, and studio lights.

For me, live shows are my way of going “outside.” They pull me away from the desk. Away from the comfort of the daily grind. Even when the grind is hard, it’s familiar. We know what to expect. We know how people respond. We know the flow.

But outside? Outside reminds you.

Recently, I went outside at Winter Jam. I’m glad I went. Seeing thousands in an arena to enjoy music that points to a Savior was incredible! I was reminded of one simple truth:

God is still on the move.

That word still matters.

Because if we’re not careful, ministry can start to feel mundane. We get so busy doing the work that we forget to look for the movement. We produce. We plan. We execute. But do we pause and ask: Where is God moving right now?

Here’s the beautiful part: in Christian radio, you sit in the middle of the observatory.

Every day, you hear the stories. The emails. The calls. The prayer requests. The testimonies. You are entrusted with front-row seats to the evidence that God has not stopped.

He has not stopped loving.
He has not stopped pursuing.
He has not stopped restoring.
He has not stopped placing reminders of His character in people’s paths.

And your microphone and station become part of that reminder.

When you open the mic this week…
When you write copy…
When you dream up a marketing idea…
When you plan the next event…

Remember: you are not just filling airtime.

You are amplifying evidence that God is still moving.

Christian radio plays a vital role in carrying those stories into cars, kitchens, hospital rooms, and headphones. You help people see that they are not alone. You help them recognize that the God who moved yesterday is moving today.

And maybe, in telling those stories, you’ll be reminded too.

God is still on the move.

And you are right in the middle of it.

The post God Is Still on the Move first appeared on CMB.

The post God Is Still on the Move appeared first on CMB.

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—5,470 of them from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations. 

Check out the numbers on marital status. Less than half were married the first time. About a third are divorced or remarried. Almost one in ten is widowed. And almost one in ten never married. 

It helps explain why, when we ask about airing Christian marriage advice on the radio, we get mixed results. Almost as if the married folks are saying, “I could use some of that!” And the non-married folks – about a third – are saying “Not Interested.” 

Coming in March: From our music research over the past year, the Top 5 Testing Songs released in each of the past ten years. Are you testing them? Are you playing them?

The post Top 5 Marital Statuses Among CCM Listeners first appeared on CMB.

The post Top 5 Marital Statuses Among CCM Listeners appeared first on CMB.

DESPAIR • “Make It Well” – MercyMe

When a season feels long and heavy, it’s easy to believe you’re stuck. But Scripture reminds us that God is still writing your story. “It Is Well” was born from profound loss, yet Horatio Spafford declared, “Whatever my lot… it is well with my soul.” That same anchor carries through generations, echoed by Bart Millard and Tim Timmons in I Can Only Imagine 2, where we see a shift from deep pain to quiet surrender. Nothing was instantly fixed; Jesus was simply present. Philippians 1:6 assures us that the God who began a good work will carry it to completion. Your story isn’t over. You’re not forgotten. This season is not the end, but the middle of God’s work—and in His presence, the heart can still say, “It is well with my soul.”

UNCERTAINTY • “The Way” – Jon Reddick

“The Way” speaks directly to listeners living in uncertainty. With competing ideologies, endless voices claiming truth, and growing pressure to believe all paths lead to the same place, many are watching foundations shift and wondering what’s truly solid. This song gives people permission to plant their flag with bold clarity, declaring that Jesus isn’t one option among many, but the only way. It’s an anthem for listeners tired of chasing worldly solutions and ready to stand confidently in what’s true, reinforcing your station’s role as a trusted voice of conviction and hope in a culture of compromise.

HEAVINESS • “Jesus Is Why” – Hannah Kerr

This song has been described as an absolute “joy bomb” – a message your listeners truly need right now. It offers a refreshing break from the heaviness of the world, pairing an easy-to-sing, unforgettable chorus with a clear message of faith and hope. With its upbeat, fun energy, Jesus Is Why is a smile-inducing addition to any playlist.

DISAPPOINTMENT/MEANING IN SUFFERING • “The Long Way” – Natalie Layne

Sometimes CCM paints a picture where the miracle always comes, the healing always happens, the prodigal always comes home, and the hard season ends quickly. But real life doesn’t always work that way. Many listeners are walking long, unseen journeys that have lasted years, not weeks. This song is for them. While we often ask God for the fastest way through the pain, He more often leads us along the slower, scenic roads. And it’s there, over time, that we come to know Him more deeply, discovering that He was what we truly needed all along.

LONELINESS • “What A God” – SEU Worship 

“What A God” is a song for the listeners who can testify to what God has done in their lives during hard and lonely seasons. When they felt unworthy of the goodness of God, He drew them back to Him with a song of praise and a story to tell. This song will remind your listeners of His faithfulness and who He is! No matter what they are walking through, they can lift their hands and sing with all they have, “What A God, What A God!” 

HOPELESSNESS • “Hope’s Gonna Find You” – Ellie Holcomb

Hope can be a hard thing to find. When the pressure is on us to rally, to gather any shreds of hope we see, it can feel slippery somehow. Like it’s just around a corner, but right when we feel like we have it in reach, it seems far away again in the blink of an eye. In Ellie Holcomb’s song “Hope’s Gonna Find You,” her lyrics flip the chase for hope on its head. Hope is going to find YOU. Hope has YOU in its sights. Hope is holding onto YOU. Hope is personified in Jesus Christ, and this song reminds your listeners that it isn’t all up to them to manufacture hope for their days. Hope is actually where they find rest – in the strong, everlasting arms of Jesus. 

The post Songs for the Moment first appeared on CMB.

The post Songs for the Moment appeared first on CMB.