Not too long ago, I completed a cross-country move that took me from Cleveland to Austin. Occasionally, I’d stray from Sirius and tune through the FM band, looking for something interesting and local-oriented. I’d often stumble upon stations where I had a strong gut feeling that they had mostly Christian programming, despite the lack of a Southern accent, immediately hearing hymns or screaming preachers, or catching a cliched line of a Christian rock song. My gut feeling was ALWAYS right; on the stations I felt were Christian, the apparently secular talk turned out to be some sermon or lecture, and the rock song that otherwise sounded normal would eventually segue into lyrics like “the spirit of your light gives me everlasting life”.
So, what is it about the sound of a Christian radio station that says “yup, it’s Christian”, given the lack of all other cues such as fire n’ brimstone preaching, “twinkly” or “sparkly” music, Southern accents, any immediate mention of anything religious, and the like?
FWIW, I asked this question several years ago, and it devolved into a discussion about Christian rock, after which it was closed The question was never really answered, though, and I’m still wondering about the phenomenon. Please … no “Christian rock sucks” comments: I’d like to keep this post factual.
I don’t have an answer about that but NPR is also instantly recognizable just based on its style and content (even when they aren’t asking you to take your wallet out of your pocket and mail it in).
Most places I’ve lived have had all the Christian radio stations clustered at the low end of the dial (between 90 and 95). If that’s indeed the case in other places, then where you are in the spectrum when your scanning through channels might be at least one clue your sub-conscious might be picking up on.
Actually NPR stations do this to. Seems like they’re usually at 88 or 89.something or 107.something.
And, if I actually had money in that wallet, I would mail it!
FWIW, I have heard a few Xtian radio stations that did not immediately come across as Xtian. But by that I mean I believed it might be something else for a minute or so. I agree that a lot of it has to do with radio formats. Just like you can usually tell a Top 40 station in between songs from all the obnoxious sound effects, sophomoric DJs, and bar and dance club commercials. College radio stations from the sound of shuffling papers, dead air, and “umms.” Etc.
As Simplicio mentioned, it helps that Xtian stations are usually (not always, though) lumped at the bottom or top bands of the dial.
Well, I hope this doesn’t have what it takes to get the thread closed, but I have to concur that CCM is indeed very lousy. BUT, it is a lousy that can be quantified. I can’t quantify it all, because as soon as I identify it as the said CCM, I change it.
The music seems to be generated by an automatic program, hence, it is void of the stuff of ‘real’ hits. Sort of a faux energy.
There is a ‘breathiness’ to the singing that one can tell is a weak imitation of, I don’t know, Kurt Cobain, or whoever has a breathiness in their singing. I’m not sure what the female equivalent is, but the singers seem to come from the same mold.
The lyrics are very tepid, and nondescript. Too tame to be in praise of the sinful life, but they are trying to be hip so that secular people will want to buy the record. Ergo, you’ll hear themes such as "I think you’re great’, kind of a murmured reference to ‘you changed my life’ and indefinite stuff like that-you won’t hear amorphous tripe like that on a secular station.
Reliance on acoustic guitars or low budget synthesizers. Rock music has invested more in the synthesizers and less time with acoustics.
Some lack of talent. Many churches are starved for new entertainment, and the local yokels may develop a following of people who hear their music for free, which livens up a boring church service, so they have a false esteem of their own talents, and find a content starved Christian station more than happy to play music that is not overtly offensive. In secular music, supply and demand and fierce competition slam down those with less that extreme professionalism (if not talent.)
I don’t represent that this is exhaustive, only what I have picked up on.
Is it all? I find it hard to believe that there is absolutely no CCM song that is not generated by a program or, for that matter, hit worthy. Of course, “the stuff of ‘real’ hits” is a pretty subejective concept. For that matter, where is this automatic song-a-matron prgogram? I don’t doubt its existence. In fact, if it does, it would explain so much about pop music.
Imitation is not limited to the Christian set. In both realms, it is more lovingly called “inspiration.” Is CCM required to be breathy to be CCM? Is non-CCM that is breathy CCM? This seems to be a dubious criterion.
I agree, secular stations like their tripe very firmly shaped. Preferably like buttocks?
What about other genres? Is it the case that Acoustic=Not Rock=Christian? Is Dave Matthews Band a closet Christian group?
Local yokels? Do you think all of the pop/rock stars started their careers as huge celebrities? Let’s play nice. Truth be told, there is a lot of dreck in CCM. There’s a lot of dreck on the Top 40s stations, too. There are also quite a few locally popular entertainers who occasionally score some radio time. Maybe even get published. This is not exclusive to CCM. Are you saying the CCM industry is not powered by supply and demand? They sell their records, too. Some sell, some don’t. Heck, if a Cannibal Corpse can manage to sell enough CDs to survive on what they pass off as talent, I’m sure The Jesus Pals can manage the same.
Oh man, I intended to only make the tripe/buttock joke. How this turned into a defend-a-genre-I-don’t-particularly-like post I may never know.
I challenge anyone to name a single Christian rock band that would have some appeal to actual rock fans. It’s musical milquetoast.
I concur with the perception that the lyrical content of the songs and the banter of the DJs on those stations is very shifty. It’s like they strive not to induce any sort of reaction in the listener other than passive acceptance, get you listening for a bit, then slip in something that sounds suspiciously uplifting. The stations that play modern sounding pop and rock songs are aimed at a younger demographic, and they get DJs who sound young and unthreatening, probably some cool former youth preacher or Christian summer camp counselor.
I think NPR is instantly recognizable by the particular microphones, EQ, and compression (and perhaps other audio effects) they use. I doubt that there is a similar audio signature common to all Xtian broadcasters, unless they were all part of some network (which is entirely possible, but it seems that there is a lot of independent Xtian programming out there, too).
I would listen only to Christian stations, if they weren’t so tragically terrible. I am newly restored to Christianity, but I have liked good music all of my life, and most of this stuff ain’t good, and saying taste is subjective is a copout. Like the old joke about stepping in barn byproducts, what you wanna step in and what you don’t aren’t subject to personal taste. And, the smell is pretty universal.
You must not have read the explanation for local yokels immediately after that description. But, it doesn’t matter. If most of them had real talent, some big name label would snatch them up, and they would go secular in the time it would take to sell a soul.
In re: programmed music, most of the ccm genre is preprogrammed into cheap synths, and they grab into what is there. Pick up a casio or yamaha and check it out.
Go back and reread my post, and you will get a clear picture of what I was trying to express.
btw, don’t know or care about Dave Matthews, unless he is on Christian radio, which is what my post was about.
There is a strange twist to supply and demand in ccm. You have a limited supply of talent. If that is all there is, there is only so much supply upon which to make a demand, and this will skew the standard model somewhat.
Life is indeed strange. POD is offered as some kickin’ heavy metal band, and the wikipedia cite picture show them all with acoustic guitars!
Not once, but twice!
Hoo-ha!
Like I said, I only meant to make the tripe/buttocks comment, the rest was mostly rambling.
As for Dave Matthews Band, they’re a secular rock group with more than a few hit songs, including, well, the only one I remember the title to, “Crash Into Me.” I don’t particularly like DMB, but they immediately popped into my head when I thought of secular acoustic rock groups. The fact that they are secular is the point I was making. You stated that part of the CCM genre is acoustic guitars. DMB shows that acoustic guitars aren’t exclusive to CCM’s flavor of rock. Furthermore, there are gobs of CCM bands that don’t use acoustic guitars. Five Iron Frenzy comes to mind as a Christian band that used electric guitars. They’re not the most amazing thing ever, but they weren’t horrible. P.O.D. comes to mind as well and they’ve even gotten nationwide recognition in secular media. I don’t want to give any credibility to MTV, but, within the music industry they’re a pretty prominent outlet.
I read your post WRT “yokels,” I was just saying that it is an unnecessary pejorative that comes across more as an ad hominem attack against CCM artists than an actual debate point.
ETA: Yes, POD plays on acoustic guitar. Lots of (secular) bands have acoustic guitars, too. Not only that, many release entire acoustic albums!
Try listening to a few POD songs, Youth Of The Nation got a lot of play time on secular radio and television.
Talking, music and the like done in the Spirit of God calls to His people in a way they can distinguish His voice through His people. IMHO if you are one of His you will recognize respond to His voice, how you respond however depends on where you are in our relationship with Him.
Lots of rock fans like Johnny Cash, and his Christian cred is pretty much taken at face value. That said, though, not many people don’t like Johnny Cash.
Each radio genre, including Christian and NPR, does seem to have its own style and “accent” that’s instantly recognizable. So, to some extent, most NPR announcers do tend to adopt the same way of speaking (think of SNL’s NPR parody “The Delicious Dish”), which is totally unlike the manner of, say, a DJ on a rock station. Even the newscasters on the different formats have different manners of speaking.
This goes for music as well. It seems like, once a singer becomes really big in a genre, you start getting a lot of sound-alikes who think that “that’s how you’re supposed to sing.” So, a decade or two ago, it seemed like every female CCM singer was trying to sing like Amy Grant (and maybe every male CCM singer like Michael W. Smith); I don’t know who the model is nowadays. But this happens in “secular” genres as well, where you get a whole bunch of singers who sound like Bono or Sting or Eddie Vedder.
I have no cite for this, but I’m pretty sure the target audience for Christian radio is soccer moms. It’s touted as being family-friendly, stuff you can listen to in a mini-van full of little kids, and I’ve heard that there are far more women than men who listen to Christian radio.
