According to Dr. Frank Wright, president of the 1,700 member National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), the number of religious broadcasters has increased greatly in the last five years. He stated this at a broadcast development meeting.
Dr. Wright said that there are 13,838 broadcasters, 15% of them are related to religion. There are 2,014 Christian broadcasters presently. Comparing this number to that of five years ago, it was a 12% increase.
He stated further that there are many broadcasters that have increased in the recent years. On the contrary, many have decreased such as Country Music which decreased by 9%. The Christian broadcasters steadily on the rise.
NRB is an association of Christian communicators that fosters electronic media access for the Gospel. It promotes standards of excellence, integrity and accountability; and provides networking and fellowshipping opportunities for its members.
Like all radio formats, Christian stations have benefited from advances in technology, and adapted to shorter attention spans. Dr. Frank Wright said long-lasting Christian stations focus on the word of God.
Rather than spending an hour reading from the Bible, stations deliver a message while listeners are driving to and from the grocery store.
A 2002 survey by the California-based Barna Research Group found more than half of adults had tuned into a Christian radio program in the past month.
