Why is it that Christian rock has a hard time finding a home on radio? In my years of listening to and enjoying Christian rock music, I have found that Christian rock radio stations are few and far between. They are incredibly hard to find and when you do find them they are usually limited to their song selection thus rendering them useless for finding new music to listen to. The contemporary Christian music station here in Houston, Texas attempted to start a Christian Rock station a little less than a decade ago. They were starting it out small as an internet only option, but promoted the heck out of it on their main over the air station. But unfortunately it never got off the ground beyond the streaming internet station.
The satellite radio company, XM Radio, had a Christian rock station for years and Sirius radio followed suit with the Revolution channel. But as of a couple of weeks ago, Sirius dropped the Revolution channel and XM Radio dropped their station soon before that. You would think that with over 100 commercial free music stations, that one of these 2 companies could provide a little bit of bandwidth for some Christian rock music. I do not mean a contemporary station that plays a "rock block" for an hour or two every night, but a real true to life Christian rock radio station, complete with DJs and awesome song selection. It has apparently been proven that the Christian rock formula does not work on regular, over the air, FM radio. But why should the satellite companies get rid of it too? Is it because this market is not big enough? It is apparently big enough to sustain multiple record labels for well over a decade. But why does it fail on the radio? Are the DJs (when there are DJs) being too preachy? Do people not like U2 and Coldplay being played? Or is it simply that it is not a major radio draw so no body bothers?
I mean, I understand that the Christian rock industry is not as big as other music markets, but it is big enough to warrant a little bit of bandwidth somewhere other than streaming internet radio. Why should I be limited to only listening to music I like on my computer? I can only listen to my CDs and iPod for so long before I just crave new music. I loved having a Christian rock station because I learned about new bands that way. Sure, I did not like every band that got played but I liked enough that I 1) kept listening and 2) purchased actual CDs based on that listening.
So what are those of us that like Christian rock music supposed to do? We are apparently not market that matters, but we are a market. How is this suppose to work? I would love to be able to get good Christian rock in my car for my commute, and I really do not believe that it should be this difficult.
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One of the guys who used to program said Christian rock internetstation in Houston now programs http://www.TheBlast.FM, an internet Christian rock radio station, which is heard in cars! Find out how by visiting our website and listening to The Blast.
One of the guys who used to program said Christian rock internetstation in Houston now programs http://www.TheBlast.FM, an internet Christian rock radio station, which is heard in cars! Find out how by visiting our website and listening to The Blast.