DUIN: Christian format a ratings success

I mainly listen to two genres of radio: classical and contemporary Christian. I remember the salad days of Christian radio in this area, when my ears were permanently glued to WCTN, an AM station based in Potomac.

When I moved back here in the mid-1990s, the major Christian station was the Arlington-based WAVA 105.1 FM, mainly Christian talk. I listened to its drive-time shows for a time, but after a long day of work, my mind was too fried to concentrate on talk or apologetics.

A few years later, I stumbled upon WGTS 91.9 FM, a station owned by the Seventh-day Adventists, a denomination I associated more with hospitals, health food stores and Saturday sabbaths than radio evangelism.

I saw that WGTS was outperforming WAVA by a 4-1 ratio, according to Arbitron. For the first three months of this year, WGTS was hovering at 3 percent of the population compared to .07 for WAVA; not bad for an Adventist-owned station up against an outlet owned by the radio broadcasting giant Salem Communications.

Arbitron ranks WGTS as No. 20 among 52 local stations; a drop from the No. 6 spot it occupied at the end of 2008. The station's managers are still trying to figure out what caused that as the format has stayed stable for 13 years. Moreover, its budget has expanded from $2.5 million back then to $3.8 million today.

With a 23,500-watt signal that reaches from Baltimore to Fredericksburg, Va.; from Easton, Md. to West Virginia, WGTS is the country's second-most listened-to noncommercial Christian station after KSBJ 89.3 FM in Houston.

All the excitement emanates from a rumpled studio tucked next to Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park.

"WGTS is huge," local concert promoter Carol Auxier told me. "Once I place an ad with them, the phones start to ring."

WGTS, she added, stays strictly with adult contemporary Christian offerings, not venturing into some of the more radical bands. Mercy Me, Casting Crowns, Sidewalk Prophets, Tobymac, Third Day, Darlene Zschech and Natalie Grant are typical picks on their playlist.

WGTS is the largest of two dozen Adventist-owned stations in the country. It started out in the 1950s as a ministry of what was then known as Washington Missionary College and changed formats several times, settling on CCM (the shorthand for contemporary Christian music) in 1997.

"We were looking for a hole in the market," general manager John Konrad told me, "and at the time, no one was doing CCM" in the Washington market other than some weekend CCM on WAVA.

WGTS started loading up on Christian rock and an easy-listening faith format. Last year, it brought on local pastor Terry Johnsson as a full-time chaplain to serve all the people who ask for advice and prayer. So many have called, the station is looking to hire an assistant. To afford this, the donor-supported station depends on biannual fundraisers, one of which is May 25.

WGTS moved its antenna from Takoma Park to a transmitter in Arlington in 2004, increasing its listenership by 2 million, many of them unchurched.

"[Pollster George] Barna says 40 percent of the people who listen to Christian radio don't go to church," Mr. Konrad told me. "We try to be positive, we try to bring the community together, we focus a lot on faith, family, relationships and community."

• Contact Julia Duin at jduin@washingtontimes.com.