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We're all familiar with the saying, “If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It” – and that's sound advice.   Why fiddle with something that's working just fine?   However, I'd have to say that when it comes to Southern Gospel Radio, it appears that we might have a whole new saying we've invented all by ourselves – “If It Is Broke, Just Ignore It And Hope That It Will Fix Itself”.  

I know we've been down this road before in my monthly articles, but I cannot stop addressing something in our industry that's really broke and needs fixin' . . .   Southern Gospel Radio .   We simply cannot ignore the problem any longer.   We're ignoring our future if we act like it ain't broke.   It's broken…….   Bad.

Another famous saying, “Believe half of what you see and none of what you read” must have been uttered by someone reading the charts in some of the leading Southern Gospel Music Publications.   Why do I say such a thing?   Below are the charts from four of our leading publications.   I've listed the top twenty.   They are all from the same time period (July 2006), and they clearly illustrate why I say “Southern Gospel Radio is Broken”.

There are about six songs that even appear on all the charts, which I've highlighted.   There are a total of SIXTY-THREE different songs listed in the Top TWENTY .   How is it possible for four different publications in the same industry to be so far off in the twenty slots?   We must have some radio stations on Jupiter and Mars.   I've listed them below so you can see for yourself.   And you can believe what you are reading below.

The only song that all the charts are somewhat close on is “Sky Full of Angels”

Southern Gospel Music is the only area of the music industry that has such a ridiculous attitude toward its own radio charts.   Why don't we just let every group make up their own radio charts?   Each group would put themselves in the #1 position, and then every one of their ads in every leading SGM Publication would have the claim – “#1 Song”.   Sure, it's false as science fiction, but in reality, what we have is just as absurd.

Until and unless we adopt a unified and uniform method of compiling accurate and honest charts then what's the point in having charts at all?   I'm not one to give up the fight and go home, and so I keep believing that if we just keep telling the Gospel Music Truth, then someday we might have accurate radio charts in SGM.   I still believe that “honesty is the best policy”.

I have my own opinions about how to fix Southern Gospel radio and I would love to hear yours.

As always, I welcome your comments.

God Bless You,

Nick Bruno
http://www.songgardenmusic.com

Reader Comments

Back in the fifties, there was a scandal called "payola" where record companies were paying dj's to play their artists stuff. The government came down on that and, if I remember right, people went to jail for it. I know that a few well-known dj's at the time lost their jobs.
Here we submitted our projects to the dj who handled the local show. He played them some and the station made a collective decision that to play some of our stuff on the nights where they play the national groups. They picked several of the local artists of higher quality and added them to their regular playlist.
The preaching segments you refer to are considered advertising dollars. You could go and buy air time and play your music for a solid period of time, but that is different than paying the station or a dj to play your songs.

Ransomed

Go therefore, and teach all nations,…

Keith,
That would be covered under what I already described as basically "paid advertising". So I addressed that. What it sounded like the other post said was that someone was taking money to play that groups music and that nothing was mentioned about paid advertising. If the group didn't understand that when the money stopped they wouldn't get played anymore, then it was probably not being done legally.

Ransomed

Go therefore, and teach all nations,…

Southern Gospel radio is broken, but I'm not sure what chart discrepancies have to do with anything.

Different charting methods are going to get different results. Weekly charts compiled with one week delay and printed instantly online aren't going to match monthly charts that are printed with a 2-4 month delay.

If SG radio was good, there would still be differences in charts that are compiled by different methods and printed with or without a delay.

SG radio does need to be fixed. Why aren't key industry entities buying SG radio stations and doing something about it? That's the question that needs to be asked. Why aren't the few successful, good quality radio stations that we have buying smaller stations and upgrading the quality? Why isn't Gaither weighing into Southern Gospel radio? Why isn't NQC? Why aren't key concert promoters getting into the SG radio business?

It's an element that's missing from the equation and like Nick said, no one seems to be doing anything about it.

--Making hay while the sun shines--
sgnforum@musicscribe.com - BLOG - SGHistory.com

jj,
I understood he was saying dissimilar charts are a symptom of the problem.

I was saying that they aren't. If every radio station played only the best quality SG available, the charts would still be different due to the different ways in which they are tabulated.

Doing away with the charts to fix radio would be like saying, "Oh, the bass singer is flat again. I think I'll fire the tenor."

I agree there's currently no logical way to compile data for charts by sales.

The disease that is making SG ill has nothing to do with payola. It has everything to do with tin ears and weak spines.

Why shouldn't Gaither buy into SG radio? Being on TV hasn't stopped him from forming record labels to develop new Christian artists. It hasn't stopped him from investing in virtually every other area of the Christian music business. He owns a Christian retail store, for example. One of his greatest strength is establishing businesses and then delegating QUALIFIED people to operate them. I wasn't suggesting that he start up an "all Homecoming all the time" radio station, though that would probably be OK too. I used specific examples, but I used several to make the point that there are several companies that could invest in SG radio and make it better if they ever take the notion.

Efforts have been made to improve SG at every level except radio. Labels like Daywind raise the bar for every other SG record label by putting out quality product consistently. Concert promoters like NQC raise the bar for other concert promoters by putting out a quality product like NQC. Gaither raises the bar for everyone by putting quality in everything he is involved with.

But SG radio has been ignored for decades, continually falling behind in terms of advancement in technology and knowledgeable staff, as if it doesn't need fixing.

--Making hay while the sun shines--
sgnforum@musicscribe.com - BLOG - SGHistory.com

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