2025: 3 Items for Your Resolution List

Based on my new 2025 calendar, I’m about to begin my 50th year working in Christian radio.  Among other things, I’m thinking back on what remains the same and what has changed, radio-wise, in that half-century.  By God’s grace, for most of us mission and ministry remain paramount. But it’s safe to say that methods and mechanics have changed.  Handwritten pie charts serving as format clocks no longer adorn the studio wall. Other than a microphone and some type of control console, few of us work with the same equipment we used to. While those improvements are signs of progress, one thing in our industry has changed, and not for the better: the relationship between radio and records. I believe this is something you and I should prayerfully consider working to improve in 2025. 

I’m old enough to remember when the words “radio” and “records” were accurate descriptors of the players on the field.  Here in 2025, we no longer play records per se, and the platforms we occupy are much broader than only radio.  But, for the sake of this conversation, I’ll stick with those monikers.

For much of my radio life, the relationship between those who create and produce the songs and those of us who are privileged to play them for a listening public has been a symbiotic one.  It was predicated on the fact that radio needed records, and vice versa. As in many relationships, each partner had seasons where they felt they were working harder than the other one was.  For the most part, though, we reached a comfortable stasis that worked well for everyone.

But…times have changed.

For reasons too many to list here, the companies who make the music don’t need radio the way they used to. They’ve found other avenues to sell their product. Unfortunately, many of us who work in radio either didn’t get or didn’t pay attention to that memo.  We’re still trying to live in the day when we could depend on record labels to spend a lot of energy and resources wooing and rewarding us.  Please pay attention to these next four words:  Those days are gone. 

As you read this, you may be scratching your head.  From where you sit – perhaps as the person at your station who takes the weekly tracking calls from labels and artist management – things still seem good.  You’re probably correct.  At your level things seem fine.  But at the executive level, where difficult resource and budgetary decisions are being made, radio isn’t the 800-pound gorilla we once were.  Your label reps are having to fight harder than ever to hang on to the budget for a promotional tour or artist junket.  And the phrase “but we need this station” rings more and more hollow every day.

Is there anything radio can do about that?  I believe the answer is “yes and no.”  No to the halcyon days of lots of product and concert tickets at our disposal.  But, yes to the premise that radio can create and pursue a newer, healthier relationship that better suits the economic realities of the mid-2020’s.

I’d like to recommend three things that can help put radio on that more appropriate and sustainable path.

 

1. Become servant-minded. What if, instead of looking for something that will make us feel valued (because we’re the ones being served) we became the ones committed to serving? While record labels don’t need us the way they used to, I believe we can, by our servant-hearted actions and attitudes, create an atmosphere in which they want to continue working with us. Back in the 1980s I worked for a group of radio stations that paid someone to reach out to local churches and ask how we could promote what they were doing – for free. It shocked them until they realized that all we wanted was to see God’s name honored and His Kingdom enlarged. One could argue this was a one-sided relationship: that the radio station was doing all the giving. I would contend that even if that were the case, a biblical principle of servanthood was being displayed.  

2. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  While we’ve all had to find new ways of thriving in the 21st Century, it’s been harder for those on the retail side than it has for those of us who depend on listeners to pay the bills.  What if we cared enough to understand their world and how we can continue to be an important part of it?  If I seek to better understand the label’s landscape and the reduced marketing budgets they’re operating under, perhaps I’ll do a better job of matching my appetites to their ability.  In fact, it behooves me as someone who still needs what they produce (more than they may need the airplay I can give them) to look for ways to remain part of the mix for them.  Is that more one-sided than we might wish? Perhaps. But if you think so, see item #1 above.

3. Be more creative. Successfully implementing those first two items will put you in the headspace to become successful with the third. This is where I believe the 21st century Christian music station can still bring tremendous value.  You and I must look for ways to creatively leverage every platform we have to maximize the impact of the artists and songs we play.  We’ve chosen them because they align with our mission.  So, why not work overtime to help them succeed?  In doing so, we’ll help our audience(s) find people who sing about things that matter to them – people who can be a vital part of creating a deeper sense of community.  How do we do this?  I suggest that we take the initiative: Look for and present ways to create winning partnerships that are filled with servant-minded empathy and action. It may not always feel like a 50/50 relationship.  But, as we’ve already seen from the items above, that shouldn’t be our goal.  Our goal should be to look for winning opportunities we can offer to those artists who honor Christ and fit our brand. Let’s commit ourselves to adding value to our partnerships by offering artists, labels, and tours access to our constituents on every platform we occupy, not just broadcast.  Don’t fall into the trap of believing “they need me.”  Instead, offer carefully thought-out and executed partnerships that come from the vantage point of, “How can we serve you?”  An appearance on one of your most downloaded podcasts?  Short video clips with the artist that are sent to specific donors?  Extras that don’t have any “strings” attached?  The specifics of how you do this will only be limited by your creativity and desire to serve.

 

You and I can directly impact the relationship Christian music radio will have with the people who create and produce it. Let’s work to change “us versus them” into “we.”  It’s going to take some work and creative thinking on all our parts.  It’s going to require that we stop living in the past and look clearly at the present. I also believe it’s going to require introspection and repentance. It’s human nature to enjoy being served, but we follow in the footsteps of the One who said (as His disciples argued over which of them was greatest): “I am among you as the one who serves.”

 

I hope you’ll take the challenge.