Radio Ministry Impacts Community

The radio ministry of the Upper Columbia Conference is making a wonderful community impact, according to a recent ratings report.

Radio stations receive periodic ratings figures, similar to the Neilsen TV ratings, from a statistical research company, Arbitron, which calls hundreds of people in each market every quarter and asks them to keep a diary of their radio listening habits. These, in turn, become ratings reports for radio stations. Here is an overview of a recent report on KEEH-FM (104.9 FM) in Spokane, a Positive Life Radio affiliate:

As a Seventh-day Adventist "inspirational/adult contempory" music station, KEEH is ranked in the upper third in the Spokane market. Considered a large market, Spokane ranks 94th among the top 100 U.S. cities by population.

KEEH has a little more than 20,000 different listeners age 12 and above in any typical week. A high percentage of these listeners are non-Adventist, and a reasonable number claim no religious faith. The listener's average time spent listening was a little more than six hours per week. Positive Life Radio is truly the only church many listeners regularly "attend."

Statistician George Barna has done some fascinating research into the behavior of Americans, and more specifically, Christians. His Web site, www.barna.org, states that a high percentage of Christian radio listeners are actually non-Protestant. Listener-funded KEEH's audience is 10 percent Catholics and 15 percent non-Christians or athiests.

Thanks to the Lord's blessing the recent listener-supported More Power to Ya' project, KEEH now has one of the five strongest FM signals of any station in Spokane.

Throughout the year, KEEH invites pastors from many Protestant denominations to come into the studio to record daily "Good News Bible Verses." Staff members enjoy many non-Adventist friendships through contacts in the community generated by this radio ministry.

While music preferences differ from person to person, the radio ministries of Upper Columbia Conference are breaking down walls and generating goodwill in the communities they serve.

Featured in: May 2004

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