In the first of a new series we look at different aspects of the Christian music industry.

Chris Cole

You might think quality will win out, therefore we'll be able to hear good quality Christian records instead, but how often have you known the record at the top of the charts to be the BEST record out? It gets worse! If the only deciding factor in the survival of a radio station is selling more advertising than their competitors, then they're not about to take any risks. Advertisers will not be lining up to buy a slot next to a "minority interest" CCM show. Within a couple of years in most areas you will have a choice of five national BBC stations, four national commercial stations, you might have incrementals, community stations, and even speciality music stations like Kiss and Jazz FM in London. So what's the best way to ensure your station has an audience? Stick to the demon you know - the Top Forty!

It is an established fact that people much prefer music they know to music they don't, and if the Top Forty consists of the records most people want to buy at the present moment, then it doesn't matter how good the latest Amy Grant or Deniece Williams record is, they're going to play Kylie and Jason (or whoever there successors will be) instead. You might think perhaps Christian records could be played on regular music shows, but when did you last hear a Christian record on a weekday radio show? I'll explain why, and it's an unfortunate side-effect of modern technology.

Every pop music station has a playlist which covers the peak listening hours from about 8am to 8pm weekdays, and basically results in the same records being rotated throughout the day. However, a sinister element has recently crept in called 'selector' and what it means is that instead of a DJ or producer choosing the music you hear, it's chosen by computer! All it now takes is one person, the head of music at a station, to programme the titles into the computer, then the computer mixes them all up and prints out the entire choice of records for every show during the day.

So the DJ is no longer a 'disc jockey' or even 'presenter', but merely an 'announcer', announcing the records the computer has selected when he is instructed to speak. On one station I worked at, DJ's are forbidden to speak at the start of a show, after the news, or an advert break; some of the announcements have to be weather or traffic reports, and advert breaks are every ten minutes, so you're lucky to be able to say anything personal five or six times in an hour!

Of course, if the head of music happens to be a Christian, then you might argue he could fill the computer with Amy and Deniece records, but he's not likely to keep his job for long when they find the audiences retuning their radios to hear the top 40 shows on the competition.

Just to complete the picture, apart from taking away the obligation for stations to broadcast religion, the Broadcasting Act allows Christian groups to own stations, but apart from requiring them to represent a balanced overall view (does that mean EVERY other religion represented too?), who is likely to want to listen to a 24 hour Christian station? There may always be a small demand in heavily black populated areas for a black gospel show, but unlike in the States there are few places in the UK with a sufficient 'Concentration of Christians' to sustain a radio station by advertising; remember: THERE'S NO MONEY IN RELIGION IN THE UK!

Still, in the long term there is possibly a glimmer of hope in the bleak tunnel for lover's of Christian music. The Broadcasting Act has heralded a veritable tidal wave of new local or community stations. Areas have already been named for 27 and the contracts advertised, and there are plans to establish a staggering 300 new local stations before the end of the decade. Already, there are signs that committed Christians are gathering to bid for some of these stations, not to come up with 24 hour Christian programming, as I've said already such a concept would be a commercial disaster, but at least to ensure that Christianity is allowed some access to the airwaves. Now if every one of these new stations had a high-quality contemporary Christian music programme maybe the least heard musical underground in Britain could at least get the airwave hearing it so desperately needs.

RADIO: A NEW PROGRAMME CONCEPT by Chris Cole

In case you hadn't noticed, it's 1991 - the year in which a Japanese TV presenter broadcast from the Meir Space Station; BSB spluttered and hurtled out of orbit to be swallowed up by Sky: a new satellite was launched to offer Europe another 16 TV channels: three new licences were offered for National Radio Stations; and in which 'religious' broadcasting is still everyone's broadcasting Aunt Sallie. But maybe not for much longer.

For 1991 will see the launch of a new radio programme called...wait for it...Cross Rhythms. Cross Rhythms the programme is the brainchild of Chris Cole, head of Plymouth based Cornerstone Productions and Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms the magazine's editor.

The cornerstone (ouch) of the programme will be contemporary Christian music plus rock and pop by secular artists who happen to be Christians. As Chris Cole says "Music might come from a U2, through to say a Rick Elias And The Confessions. We'll also be featuring an 'Inspirational Dance' section, the best of Christian funk, soul and rap, which Sal Solo will present."

Yet the programme will be much more than a straight-forward music programme. In the words of Chris Cole, "the programme will cover contemporary issues in a way that is not 'religious' but does not compromise the truth."

This aim will be achieved largely with interview material but interviews not with the standard dull-but-worthy studio guests but interviews with the musicians whose album tracks will be the focal point of the programme. Tony Cummings explains the concept, "If we're dealing with an issue like alcoholism we could well talk to the singer Charlie Peacock who has a testimony of being delivered from alcohol abuse. If we're dealing with the topic of South Africa we could well interview Garth Hewitt who has recorded many powerful songs about the subject. We want to demonstrate that Christian music speaks into all the issues of today and that the singers who sing this music aren't would be megastars or pious religious escapists but concerned, creative people who care passionately about the world in which we live."

Chris Cole confirms the programming "will not shy away from subjects like Aids, the occult, sex, and the Christian response to them."