During 2004 the Christian Radio sector in Australia recorded a year of significant growth, with the acquisition of more narrowcast and community licences and the continuing growth of Christian programs and music artists.
In New Zealand, where Christian stations broadcast using commercial licences, the sector is commercially successful, while in Australia most Christian stations are granted licences in the community radio sector, obliging them to be non-commercial.
One syndicated program in the Christian radio sector is SPORKradio, a program of information and Christian music.
’Majic’ Johnston, SPORKradio’s Executive Producer has told radioinfo: “2004 has been has been an exciting and challenging year for so many reasons. We’ve had our greatest growth so far… now on air through 11 stations across 5 states of Australia.”
In NSW for instance, SPORKradio began being heard on Wagga’s Life FM on the 21st of October and airs weekly each Thursday at 9pm. The program this year also began airing in the nation’s capital, on Canberra’s 1 Way FM and in South Australia in Ceduna on 106.1 FM and Limestone Coast on 100.3 FM.
The SPORKradio team of 4 was expanded during the year to become a team of 6. Pastor Dave joined
the team to present the INSIGHT segment and Jo Fellows has contributed to the SPORKradio team as news researcher.
Listeners to the program can vote for a National Top 5 chart of Christian music at the website sporkradio.com.
Also syndicating to Christian radio listeners through the Vision Radio Network since December is an Australian version of a program called Soul2Soul. It is produced by Audiacom in Louisville, Kentucky, and is hosted by Toowoomba based Jason Myatt, with feature imaging from Kerry Denten.
Soul2Soul is a weekly hour long interviews and music show that “goes straight to the source of Christian music – the artists.”
Recent guests have included Michael W Smith, Point of Grace, FFH, Caedmon’s Call, Nicole C Mullen, Selah, Sandi Patty, Building 429, Bebo Norman, and Watermark.
Broadcast Operations Manager of Vision Radio Network Phil Edwards has told radioinfo:
“The rest of the world has been getting this great show for years and we were very interested in taking it – except we felt it was too American for where we’re heading with the network. So earlier this year we started talking about taking all the best bits and ‘re-badging’ it with a local host and imaging – we found the S2S team just as keen as we were to develop an Aussie version of the show.”
“The show captures both the power of music and the spoken testimony – which transcends any culture, but with the addition of a local host and imaging it’s potential impact has increased dramatically. It is a welcome addition to the Vision Radio Network.”
Vision Radio Network now has 194 stations in its Australian radio network. Soul2Soul’s website is at www.s2sradio.com