Sydney, Australia
Christian radio is having a major positive impact on Australian society, with new data showing 1.8 million people tune in each week – a third of them either holding no religious beliefs or following a religion other than Christianity.
The Social Impact of Christian Radio in Australia report found Christian radio was a source of personal growth for listeners, considered a trustworthy, shared experience for families and was a vehicle for positive social impact in society.
GRAPHIC: Courtesy of McCrindle Research.
The report, commissioned by Christian Media and Arts Australia, found listeners tuned in on average for nine hours each week.
A total of 4,609 people responded to the survey from 19th of March to 26th of April across Australia by McCrindle Research.
Mark McCrindle, principal at McCrindle, said when they contacted the listeners to find out more about them, they found 77 per cent said their faith or spirituality was core to their life, but one in four said while they listened to Christian radio, their spirituality was not the key driver of their life.
“You’ve got a diverse listener base, and that’s what’s fascinating,” he said.
Sixty-two per cent of respondents held Christian beliefs, 12 per cent held “other”religious beliefs and 21 per cent said they held no religious beliefs, the report found.
He said the research revealed four key impacts, including that Christian radio was a source of growth for individuals, families and communities.
“We’d expect Christian radio to grow people spiritually…but what is remarkable is how [it] has helped people grow relationally and intellectually,” he said.
There was not much difference in the main demographic of listeners, with Baby Boomers (33 per cent), Gen X (33 per cent) and Gen Y (23 per cent) the main audience, with those aged 76+ (three per cent) tuning in less often than Gen Z (six per cent).
“Half of all young listeners (aged 18-26) – Generation Z – say that by listening to Christian radio, it has helped them socially. And for a generation that is vulnerable to isolation and disconnection, getting them involved in listening to Christian radio and being made aware of the connection opportunities for them – well, it highlights this great benefit of building community and impacting individuals,” he said.
The second impact was that it was a trustworthy, shared experience for families.
GRAPHIC: Courtesy of McCrindle Research.
The majority of listeners (63 per cent) said Christian radio had a positive impact on their family. This was in part because the content was considered trustworthy and appropriate, as well as teaching morals and values.
“A key proportion of all listeners are families with dependent children. Seventy-six per cent of all listeners are parents and 41 per cent of them are parents who live with dependent children.”
The third impact related to the ability of Christian radio to mobilise community connection and inspire volunteering that helped “build the social fabric of our communities and this nation”, McCrindle said.
“One respondent said, ‘as I live in a rural, small community, one is involved in nearly everything that is going on. Listening to my radio station reminds me of how important assisting our community is.’ This is remarkable – that Christian radio listening is not just filling the time on a commute, it’s not purely for entertainment purposes; it has impacts, it equips them, it supports their volunteering of community, it engages and fosters that support.”
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The data showed three in four listeners volunteer in at least one community, political, charity or church group, including 49 per cent who were leaders in a community organisation.
“We know from the national Census that 19 per cent of Australians volunteer, that’s just under one in five; here we’ve got three in four [Christian radio listeners] volunteering,” McCrindle said.
The fourth main feature from the research was that it was a “valuable source of uplifting content and views not heard on other [mainstream] stations”.
“What is important for a healthy media landscape is a diverse one…Ninety-two per cent of Christian radio listeners strongly or somewhat agree that maintaining the presence of Christian radio is important for Australian society.”
Stephen O’Doherty, chair of Hope Media in Sydney and also a CMAA board member, said Christian media tries to motivate people with Christian values and the truth of the Gospel, and for them to serve, love their neighbour and do good works in the world.
“This survey is the first time we’ve measured the social engagement of those people who are part of our weekly audience,” he told an online forum to launch the results on November, 18th.
An example of the impact one Christian radio station had on its community was Townsville’s 99.9 Live FM in the far north of the state of Queensland, where devastating floods caused havoc in 2019.
Live FM also was part of a cooperative “Team Townsville” event in the aftermath of the flooding, joining with the city council, the combined churches of Townsville and YWAM (Youth With a Mission) visiting more than 17,000 homes to check on households and help connect them with services.
The station provided on air coverage, live updates on social media, highlighted the work of volunteers and set up a call centre to connect people needing assistance as they cleaned up and rebuilt.
“We really love listening to Live FM, and especially during the flooding time, the updates were invaluable,” one listener was recorded saying.
