You Get the Christian Radio They Deserve

As always,  I speak only for myself here.

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Next time you tune into a Christian CCM station, and wonder, "What planet, exactly, is this 'air personality' from?" please know it's -- amazingly -- Earth.

I know, it's hard to believe.  While he sounds utterly non-human, completely removed from our biosphere, he's actually a bipedal hominid, and, in many ways, like you and me.  He's omnivorous.  With opposable thumbs, he employs "tools" to accomplish tasks.  And, most encouraging, he has verbal skills, forming sentences that a normal human might also form.  He expresses plausibly human "emotions" and reactions to external stimuli.

He's actually pretty cool.

That's when he's off the air, anyway.  When he's on the air -- forget it.  When he's on the air, talking between those songs about how you should "prayerfully consider" going to a concert, about those "video games 'the kids' are into these days", and using only the most obvious humor?  That's not him.  It's not him, because the most vocal listeners just don't want him to be him.  He's been beaten into submission, by Christians immersed American evangelical church culture. 

And these people are getting the Christian radio they demand:  They're not asking for real life.  They want a dose of church culture, on the go.  And the twain may rarely meet.

If he slips up, if he's real, they bombard him with judgment, scriptures that they think he's never heard, suggestions that he should pray about it -- he's never considered that! -- and quick answers to make everything better NOW. 

If he doesn't use "I'm-on-the-team" code language, they call to point it out.  ("I notice you don't say the word 'saved' very much, and I'm concerned that...")  If he acknowledges that he's a sinner, but is specific and present-tense, the phones ring.  Whatever his show was before, it's now "Platitude Open Line", something he didn't encounter when he worked at a mainstream station.

If he makes a spiritual point, one perfectly in keeping with a teaching of Jesus Himself, but doesn't connect the dots for the simplest listener, the phone lines will ring again, with those anxious to connect the dots for him, to end the mercilessness of ambiguity once and for all.   He hears the callers channeling last week's sermon that summed it all up:  The Bible has all the answers, and why don't you read it?

He could be honest.  He could be real.  He could be human.  He could even be smart, engaging, and delightfully quirky.  He could point out the redeeming aspects of a rated PG-13 movie.  He could see all of life, enlivened and entwined with his faith.  But that's not what many church-encultured tune in for.  You get the radio they deserve.

(Please note:  The caller/complainers don't talk that way, either, in real life.  And they saw the movie, too.  But they expect this sort of posturing in Christian contexts, and, by golly, they tuned in for a Christian context.)

So he doesn't bother trying all this stuff.  He keeps it innocuous, uninteresting, over-simplified, obvious, and -- above all -- drenched in specific church culture-talk. 

What he means:  "Please don't call.  I'm on the team, okay?"   

And now the rest of the humans on Earth know, once and for all, loud and clear, at 50,000 watts:  They're not.

Comments

[Kathie Chandler]

I've been a follower of Jesus Christ for many, many years and I've never, in all that time, liked to hear much of what's on "Christian" radio or TV, either, for that matter, because it all seems so phony and I really don't care to be associated with them. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so" is all I need to know. I just try to be like him and do what he wants me to do.

[jenn]

Just to throw out there...

I actually stopped listening to a CCM station you might have heard of in [editor deleted, to spare some feelings] (*wink wink*) because I grew tired of exactly what you describe here. I'd tune in for the real thing any day. What could a listener do to encourage that to happen more often?

[Seth Ward]

I am nearly convinced that the Evangelical Christian Subculture is a culture really run, owned and operated by the devil.

It is a weird flickering neon sign that Christians mistake for real light. It lures Christians into a hypnotic state and nearly washes them of all saltiness while simultaneously repelling the sick souls who yearn for God.

For me, I am at my absolute worst when I am immersed in the Christian Evangelical Subculture. In fact, I would say I operate my lowest capacity to show real love to the people who need it.

I admire your attempts to stay real and vulnerable while swimming in salt-saturated sea where nary a lost and thirsty can really drink from. Just know that for every one caller who questions your faith from their own secret cold mountaintop of hidden doubt, there are probably 300 who needed to hear another Christian admit to effing up and needing God.

I think the only thing that can body-slam a cemented Christian out of the realm of the C.S. into the realm of the real where Jesus is, is suffering. And thank God for it. Without the gift of suffering and the grace to love God through it, we would probably have no witness at all that could shout above the towers of denial and unrepentant spiritual arrogance.

Sorry, that might have been a little over the top on the negative scale.

The Christian subculture can give you, when saturated by it, a distorted notion of what people really need.

[Jenn]

Wow this is so spot-on. I get so frustrated listening to Christian radio. It's not authentic...not that it's fake, but very bland. The little quippy statements and "jokes" are completely irrelevant to everyone.

I have a whole other argument against the music Christian radio stations play...I hear the same 20 songs everyday.

[Brant]

Jenn 1: To answer your question, write your local station and ask, nicely, for the real thing.

Do it, knowing that the people on the air are very cool people, quite real themselves, and they've been judged into submission over time. They need to hear from you, and -- with very few exceptions -- even agree with you.

Ultimately, it will take a change in our presumptions of what it means to be the church.

As media takes our culture, amplifies it, and feeds it back to us, Christian radio can do the same, with American evangelical culture. Our presumptions regarding "church" will need to change.

What you're hearing are those presumptions, which have encouraged us/them, in/out, church/real life dichotomies, broadcast right back to you.

Jenn 2: The music rotation thing is a different issue. There's some savvy method to this, but I understand the observation.

[MamasBoy]

"I have a whole other argument against the music Christian radio stations play...I hear the same 20 songs everyday."

My own solution to this type of boredom is to only listen in once very 2-3 months. Of course, that may have something to do with my car radio dying and me being too cheap to buy another. Whatever the reason for the intermittence, I have found that I can actually listen to Christian radio for a half hour straight if I haven't listened in for a couple months.

MB

[Jonathan]

I'm with mama's boy! I stopped listening to Christian radio just for that reason!
I like all the rock and stuff like Pillar and Family Force 5!!! None of that on any Christian radio station I have ever listened to.

[Seth Ward]

BTW, your hand looks rather soft in this picture.

Did you use a hand model to double for yours or are you using palmolive?

It almost looks a little... girly.

[karenkool]

I have found quite a group of Christian blogging mamas, in amongst my blogging friends, who fall into the same category as those radio-listeners you mentioned. It's a sick culture--to be so confined to boring spiritual banter; being sure to confront one another in love about praying more and not saying certain unmentionable things. I personally enjoy good humor and a bit of snark and I'M A CHRISTIAN EVEN!

[Jeannie]

I refuse to buy in to the Christian "lifestyle". It's phony, hypocritical and a source of endless material for atheists and other detractors of Christianity to pull from to prove that Christians are deceptive, slimy, greedy control freaks and therefore the religion doesn't work.

I initially refused to consider Christianity because of Christians. I knew a lot of unbelievers who were a heck of a lot nicer and more accepting. If God hadn't let me know he was there, well...

[Brant]

Talk to the hand, Seth.

You know, the thing that galls me about the hip atheist critique of American Christians is that it's so...dang...right. There's a disturbingly large amount of truth to it, even as I find many of their suppositions wanting.

I feel that same as Jeannie, largely. Thing is, if Jesus is God-as-man (and I believe he is) God's character is incredibly attractive to me. Jesus is fascinating, challenging, freeing, brilliant, stunningly accepting, demanding, authoritative, subversive, even ironically funny in some profound ways. Properly understood, and without the lens I was given through church culture growing up, his character is irresistable to me.

[Lisa]

You all need to wash out your mouths with Scripture Soap. (Don't worry, you can get rid of the taste afterward with a few Testamints.)

[euphrony]

Brant, for the frequency you blog about this and similar topics, I can only imagine and pitty you the number of such phone calls and pressure you get. Seriously, I'm glad to not be put up on a pedastal, no matter how tall or small. (Not to say you put yourself there, but that people put you there.)

[Chris Good]

In Minneapolis, our CCM station had the number 1 rated morning show. Then because he was having marital issues, they canned him, (he resigned). Shortly after the manager of the station resigned too...they were partners on the morning show.

I LOVED this morning show. Guess what a year later, Chuck and Jon morning show is back on...a Country station. I'm not a huge country fan, but I listen to this station now for my morning kicks.

[alexg]

Isn't this all because Christian radio is "listener supported"? And therefore those listeners feel ownership of the station and what comes out of it? Maybe this problem of "fakeness" will never be solved until Christian Radio starts getting money the way non-christian radio gets money (i'm not sure actually how all that works...) If you take ownership from the listeners, will they stop calling??? That's the question.

[RevJeff]

Hey, I was going to post about what Chris just said... Chuck and Jon (the napster and the pastor) were REAL.

I moved away from MN a couple of years ago and last month when I went back I missed them. Because they were REAL.

I will never forget listening to their HONEST reactions to the unfolding events of 9/11. I was driving into the Minneapolis Metro when they broke in on Caedman's Call with the story.

Today I wonder what Christian SLANT was played on the air as the morning hosts talked abuot the freeway collapse tragedy...

I have problems listening to CCR hosts who always find some connection between what they read in their morning devotion (always from Our Daily Bread or Rick Warren) that exactly explains the song we just heard... and then I wonder, was I listening to the same song, or did I tune it out because it has been played 12 times since 6 AM....

Sorry, I am ranting.

[Paul]

As a professor of radio studies at a religious institution with a very large Christian Radio station (and network of stations) I understand your point and work hard with my students to avoid being "fake" on the air.

I listen to our Christian Radio station very infrequently, and the times that I do listen are because I know the announcer on the air is just like the person I know off-the air.

I think you're right that there are too many shallow devotional moments between songs that come from a sense of duty, not an overflow of the heart. [I believe that some of this comes from inherent problems of music format radio, but that is probably another discussion all together.]

However, I do think you have to be careful defining success for an announcer as an ability to be "genuine." There are somethings that should and somethings that shouldn't be said on the air, no matter how genuine.

John 1:14 and 17 illustrate that what made Jesus unique was that he was "full of truth AND grace." The law came through Moses, but truth and grace through Christ. I've heard too many dj's trying to be genuine and leaving truth and grace behind. In fact, I've read too many blogs and corresponding comments that do the same.

A desire for genuineness cannot trump truth. What we need are people who know how to rightly handle the Word of God (truth) and to do it as wise a serpents and harmless as doves (grace).

[Brant]

Paul -- Totally agree. I do not believe authenticity is the only issue. Authentic foolishness merely makes one a real fool.

In order for this to work, an on-air personality needs to be actually pursuing God in his/her life. Otherwise, it's fakery or foolishness.

I know many radio folks who seem, off-air, to be genuinely seeking God, but are unable to be themselves on the air because of the way they're shaped by the status-quo and by feedback from a certain segment.

My larger point is that what people complain about that they hear on the radio is actually a reflection of a false sacred/secular divide that exists in the lives of many American evangelicals.

[Landon]

Brant, you’re right. I’ve never heard your radio show (afraid it would ruin your “blog voice” in my head), but it’s extremely unusual and refreshing to hear someone be real. This is a huge problem in the Church in America right now. It’s very hard to be real, isn’t it – very scary. Hard to be the first one to admit you’re not perfect. The thing is, once one person admits it, guess what? Scores of others are suddenly free to express their own imperfections – to share the pain caused by their own sin, their own internal frustrations with themselves, and their perpetual need for Christ. That kind of honesty is contagious, and it’s a pre-requisite for spiritual maturity. A necessary building block for the Holy Spirit’ work on our hearts. We put on these plastic smiles on to hide our shame from each other instead of confessing our sins. And sometimes we even manage to fool each other (or worse, ourselves), but we never fool the lost. They see right through the hypocrisy and they say to themselves “If Jesus is so forgiving, then why do all the Christians have pretend to be perfect?” I met Jesus because I finally saw a group of Christians being real. Not pretending, hiding, or anything. I was won over instantly. All of that is just to say, Brant, thanks for being real – good job. Keep it up as long as you can. And when you can’t, come rant to us and we’ll sympathize. You encourage us, bro. I admit that I very often slip into Christianese and just blend in to the CC culture (that’s right, present tense sin). I’m glad to see someone being real, decrying fakeness in the Body. It’s very encouraging.
Now, about radio: some of those songs really are uplifting, and there’s only one place to get them without buying a bunch of CDs. I tolerate the dribble with which most stations fill the in-between-air because I really like the music. Even some of the cheesy pop. I’ve found, however, that listener supported is the only way to go. Certain nationwide, extremely successful CCM network radio station(s) make my skin crawl because the in-between-air is filled with used car salesmen, Network TV plugs, and (ick) pseudo-religious retailers pushing stuff on gullible church-goers. They “have made my Father’s house a den of thieves”! I can’t stomach commercial “Christian” radio anymore. The listener supported stuff is prone to the same problems facing our Church at large, but it’s megatons better than the commercial variety.

[Steve_11]

Brant - what do you think will get you fired from WAY-FM first - toast or being real?

For me, listening to the radio is not a spiritual event, unless it's a pre-recorded sermon by pastor Whatzisname or a song I sing along with to praise our maker.

Radio is simply entertainment and information. I enjoy the "blah-blah" in Christian radio because it is not R-rated. It's "family-friendly" (tm), even if it is not "deep" If I want deep conversation, I can meet with other Christians in person.

This may seem un-Christian, but I vote for shallow, 'cause I'm a shallow guy.

[Brant]

Steve -- There are a lot of stations that encourage their on-air people to be real, and relatable. Mine is one of them.

Doesn't mean everyone will pull it off. It takes determination, and serious encouragement, to offset the other feedback.

Anyway, the answer to your question is "the toast".

Landon -- Hopefully, it wouldn't ruin the "blog voice". But it might. I think if you listen for long, it won't, but a given five minute segment might.

I've got a lot to learn about both writing and being on the air, so in that sense, they two exploits are in harmony.

[jenn]

Brant-
Reading through the comments, I realized that I misspoke in my previous comment. What I should have said is that I stopped listening as regularly. I still tune in on occasion, and I stick around for a while when I hear something that peaks my interest, but often only listen for 10-15 minutes at a time.

I appreciate that what you and those on my radio dial do is not easy - when it's done well. I am genuinely interested in how to encourage you and others like you, and I plan to take your advice - after tuning in for a while to check the current state of affairs. ;)

[Todd Hawkins]

Coincidentally, I listened to your show for the first time just a couple of days ago. I came away with two thoughts:

1. Knowing the complexity of your intellect and personality, I felt sorry that you have to stay within the happy happy Christian-radio boundaries. And early in the morning, no less.

2. Learning that you really only "work" about 90 seconds every ten minutes, I wanted to call you and ask you how I might get myself one of them there radio jobs. (By the way, lamest field trip: Lincoln Sewage Treatment Plant; college biology.)

I had a bunch of serious stuff written here, but I just deleted it all because I got tired of listening to myself. It was supportive, of course. But I'm just going to stick with razzing you a bit.

[Landon]

Hey, Brant - I just saw that you used to be on KSBJ in Houston. That's the radio station I'm listening to right now (online), and listen to frequently. And the one that inspired my earlier comments on CCM radio. Great music there, and below average ammounts of dribble. Interesting coincidence...

[Brant]

Alice -- I'm getting on it. Got your email, then waited til after my show, then forgot.

Todd -- I'm embarrassed, to be honest. A little, anyway. I do think it takes a few shows to get the vibe, but I'm still embarrassed.

Fact is, even when I did mainstream talk radio, I had to tone down some things here, emphasize some other things there. It's like teaching -- you consider your audience, and try to meet them there so you can take them somewhere else. But I don't always do that well, to put it mildly.

Landon -- KSBJ has some super people, and a couple remain very good friends of mine. We LOVED living in Houston.