At the beginning of 2024, I read an article from Rolling Stone.com that I can’t get out of my head. It was titled “Why Is the Radio Full of Christian Rock? Thank This Nonprofit.” It’s a long article, that I encourage you to read, but if you’re short on time, I will summarize its most important content for the commercial radio industry.
What is EMF?
EMF stands for the “Educational Media Foundation,” a name that does not immediately convey that they are a religious broadcaster.
On their website, the foundation states their mission this way:
“Educational Media Foundation (EMF) is a nonprofit, multi-platform media company on a mission to draw people closer to Christ. Founded in 1982 in Santa Rosa, CA, with a singular radio station, EMF today owns and operates the nation’s two largest Christian music radio networks (K-LOVE and Air1) with over 1,000 broadcast signals across all 50 states, streaming audio reaching around the world, and a growing family of media ministries including podcasts, books, films, concerts, and events. EMF employs nearly 500 team members between its offices in Nashville, TN, Rocklin, CA, and field locations around the country.”
Today, I believe, EMF is the largest radio station owner in America, with more radio signals in its control than iHeartRadio, estimating that it reaches a weekly audience numbering over 18-million listeners. It’s those listeners – and their donations – that fund EMF’s operations, much like the listeners support at public radio stations. EMF’s radio stations are licensed as non-commercial educational (NCE) radio stations and the foundation receives the majority of their donations during their twice annual pledge drives; usually held in the spring and fall.
What is iHeartRadio?
iHeartRadio is America’s largest commercial radio broadcaster and owned by iHeartMedia, which was rebranded by CEO Bob Pittman from Clear Channel Radio in 2014.
Full-disclosure, I worked for Clear Channel Communications from 2004-2010, a time when the company operated in a decentralized manner, allowing each of its radio station’s general managers to make their own decisions based on local market conditions and to deliver what was forecast by the radio station’s annual budget. That would change after I left the company to a centralized management model.
At its peak, Clear Channel owned and operated more than twelve hundred American radio stations. Today, the iHeartMedia website says:
“With over 860 live broadcast stations [with 781 employees] in 160 markets across America, there’s an iHeartRadio station where you live. Discover how our stations can deliver your message live and local to your community.”
Wikipedia says ”iHeartRadio’s main radio competitors are Audacy, TuneIn and SiriusXM,” which I found interesting in that TuneIn owns no radio stations, and while SiriusXM is licensed to operate by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and does employ land-based transmitter sites in addition to its satellites, it is basically a subscription service.
Its real competitor, like that of the rest of the commercial/public radio industry, is flying under the radar.
EMF versus Commercial/Public Radio
Rolling Stone writes: The big difference between EMF and other commercial broadcasters is that it operates without a local presence and unmanned transmitters.
“Almost every new EMF station operates as a repeater
with no local voices, few local jobs and barely any overhead.”
Rolling Stone says that as of 2022, this “little-known organization had just shy of a billion dollars in net assets (a number that grows steadily year after year), with an annual revenue of nearly a quarter billion. (National Public Radio, by comparison, had net assets of less than $150 million and operated near the break-even mark.)”
The EMF business model has few operating costs – unlike commercial and public broadcasters – where every new radio station they acquire becomes a new source for donations. It’s estimated that about ninety-seven cents of every dollar comes from listener donations.
“Nonprofit EMF has built an unassuming money-making machine.”
-Rolling Stone
The genius of the EMF business model is that it exploits loopholes that the FCC created to help small nonprofits.
“in my own heart, I know God was involved
[in the decision to form a 501(c)(3)]
because being a not-for-profit has paid off for us
many, many times.”
Mike Novak, EMF CEO
The decision to incorporate as a “not-for-profit” entity allows EMF to enjoy many benefits:
- Avoid paying taxes
- Waves FCC applications costs and other fees
- No requirement to maintain a local broadcast studio
- Legally accept tax-deductible donations from their listeners (a revenue stream not available to commercial broadcasters)
- The acquisition of translators* that are made more easily available to entities such as religious broadcasters
- Access to lower FM band frequencies (88.1 – 91.9) that the FCC reserved for use by colleges, community and public-radio organizations and tribes; entities that the FCC envisioned would have limited funds to acquire these frequencies, and commercial broadcasters were banned from bidding on, but didn’t exclude a not-for-profit giant like EMF from buying up.
Sadly, true community broadcasters find this unlevel playing field almost impossible to compete with, when EMF’s billion-dollar foundation can offer iHeart-level prices for neighborhood radio stations. It’s something I personally witnessed happen in my city of Winchester, Virginia when EMF bought 50,000-watt WINC-FM. All local community programming vanished, along with its employees and building.
While the FCC still maintains a policy of not allowing a single radio broadcaster from owning more than five AM or five FM stations in any one city, it left open a loophole for noncommercial broadcasters by never applying its ownership cap to nonprofits. There’s also no ownership cap on the number of translators a nonprofit may own in a single radio market.
Soft Conservatism
While nonprofits can’t legally engage in any political campaign activity, don’t think EMF isn’t using its fortunes to influence its point-of-view; through lobbying and legislation. Those in the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) industry know that the genre is a punchline for most Americans; it’s something that actually works to EMF’s advantage, by keeping them low profile.
Unfortunately, this unlevel playing field is negatively impacting local commercial and public radio stations to profitably operate, which impacts the communities these stations once served with vital local news, sports, weather and community information.
DickTaylorBlog 
It’s perfectly legal for commercial broadcasters to solicit and receive donations from listeners. WJIB under the late Bob Bittner did this every year for the last decade or so; after revenue from leasing airtime dried up.
The only difference is that the donations are not tax-deductable for the donors.
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Thank You Aaron for reminding me about Bob Bittner’s WJIB. He did indeed operate his radio station(s) on listener donations.
-DT
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I think of all the wonderful people I worked with during 40 years at WPLJ that lost their job in an instant a couple of years ago when Cumulus sold PLJ to these folks. Sad.
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Yes Frank, it was. And that same happened, and is still happening, all across America.
-DT
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Who’s the real culprit here? EMF or the broadcasters who willingly sell to them, often at reduced prices, because they have run their companies into the ground and are desperate to dump stations?
I’ve listened to their two networks and they are pop music stations with a Christian theme. Hot AC and Jesus. They’re well produced and easy to listen to. Even their fund raisers are far less in your face than PBS’s begging for money extravaganzas.
These desperate radio companies abandon their employees, shut down heritage stations without hesitation all in a desperate attempt to appease shareholders and hang on to their jobs. It’s the seller, not the buyer who has dumped on their employees and destroyed the heritage stations. What Audacy did to WCBS is far more egregious than anything EMF has done. The Rolling Stone article dumped on EMF, yet never said a word about how the owners had run the station into a hole they couldn’t get out of, so they willingly dumped the station to EMF. Take the money and run. The carnage in radio today is on the owners, not the buyers.
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Radio station owners are in business to make money. That’s the reality.
If making money means selling their station(s), then that’s their prerogative.
What was missed by the FCC, was creating broadcast law that created an unlevel playing field between different types of broadcast owners.
Those laws meant to help the small, nonprofit, radio broadcaster should never have been allowed to be used in the ways EMF has taken advantage of them. These laws were not thoroughly vetted by the broadcast industry’s regulatory body.
I believe, Mike, that’s where the blame lies.
Thank You for sharing your thoughts on this important broadcast issue.
-DT
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If “The Righteous Gemstones” got into radio, their business model would be EMF’s. I wonder how many gold-plated homes run in the EMF family.
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I’m not sure who “The Righteous Gemstones” are to which you refer, but again, I’m not taking issue with the programming content of EMF, only that they have bee afforded benefits that commercial and public radio operators have not.
It’s time to talk about these issues.
-DT
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Think Jerry Falwell and family. A hoot of a series.
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If these other commercial broadcasters had operated their stations with a profit margin instead of running them in the ground, you would not be worried about EMF buying these stations at fire sales. Take your blinders off people. I-Heart, Cumulus, Audacy, Townsquare and the other large broadcasters focus on digital media sales first and radio last. That’s just the business model now. So don’t go blaming EMF for the demise of radio. If the previous mentions companies were totally successful, they would continue to run their stations and employ locals. The honest fact about locally employed people with those companies, many locals have been let go and outsourced by voice tracking and programming/operations/sales departments that work multiple regions. Local programming is mostly a thing of the past with those companies too. They’re not operated like the old mom n pop stations of yester-year. Those days are over!
As for gold-plated homes in the EMF family, get real and step out of stupid! That is one of the dumbest comments I’ve read so far.
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Thank You for joining the conversation Stan.
-DT
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Stan’s comment would ring true … EXCEPT that time and time again, EMF (and other religious broadcasters) take advantage of the pile of cash that their “sheeple” have donated in order to outbid everyone else when a station they want goes on the block.
The playing field is therefore uneven from the outset for that reason, and then all of the exemptions Dick mentioned come in and really tilt things out of proportion.
I’ve never understood why God should need transmitting facilities owned and operated by mere mortals to spread His word in the first place. Especially since those mortals essentially “cheated” to acquire those stations.
I have a simple idea that might dissuade EMF and the others from owning so many stations: Eliminate the non-commercial status exemption for stations above 92 MHz and then apply all of the rules regarding FCC fees, corporate income taxes, local presence to those stations.
Let’s see how well they do when they have to operate on the same terms as the owners they displaced in the first place.
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Thank You K.M. for expanding on my original thoughts and those in the Rolling Stone article.
I think you make some good points.
And thank you for stopping by the blog to read what I wrote and share your perspective.
-DT
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Thanks for the thoughtful article. I must say I would rather have k love’s quiet conservatism as opposed to I hearts in your face hate based conservatism The few times I’ve listen to K-LOVE I’ve been impressed with the Content, the presentation and the audio quality. And most of all I’ve enjoyed joyed it.
This is all a self-inflicted wound on the part of The big commercial broadcasters, the FCC and the NAB. I heart, Audacy and the rest have all forgotten how to do great radio and instead go for cheap shots and quick bucks.
I was working at the number one station in a major market in 1999 when they decided that to save money they were going to do away with the overnight position. The overnight guy had 20 years in radio at least and had programmed in several major markets. He chose to work there because he loved radio. And he wasn’t making a ton of money because he supplemented his income by delivering mail during the day. Tell me how cutting his maybe $60,000 job made the radio product any better and how it really impacted the balance sheet Of a radio station grossing eight figures a year.
25 years later that still the case with legacy talent around the country, some with 20 to 30 years at a single station are being let go weekly. Where is the outrage at the operators?
just this morning I happen to be driving back from the airport at four in the morning and the two most listenable programs on the dial during my hour drive were paid religion on KOA. KOA Usually has nothing for me because I’m not Republican and I’m not a sports fan.
Big commercial broadcasters are doing their share in keeping smaller broadcasters off the air. They would rather sell the land and return the license than offer it to a local.
after 50 years in radio and related industries, and seeing radio station sale prices in many small markets are less than a condo in Florida, I struggled for many months to decide whether my third act should be station ownership. Im noJohn Garabedian or Fred Dockins, Two great local broadcasters, so I sadly chose the Florida condo.
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Thank You Gene for sharing your thoughts on this subject.
It’s something that no one’s talking about, but I feel should be.
-DT
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Plain and simple: if you want to run a scam – do it under the guise of religion. No one wants the bad PR (including government agencies) of going after or criticizing them for just about any reason. And, of course, there is an endless supply of “sheep” who will keep giving money no matter what. While corporate radio is on life support they can’t gobble up radio stations for cash fast enough. Thanks, Dick for blowing the whistle on this, although it’s not likely to change anything.
Behind the scenes, some pretty hefty salaries , bonuses and perks being given out as well.
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Thank You Charles for weighing in on this subject. Also, thank you for all you do to preserve and promote radio.
-DT
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I largest grievance about EMF is that they apply for and/or buy the remaining non-commercial radio channels that would have been applied for by local educational institutions and community groups. Also, they elevate the ceiling of prices that can be commanded for non-com channels both by outbidding others (e.g, they procured the Santa Cruz community/public station outbidding KCRW), and then they have a side business of maximizing the coverage of stations and asking for premium rates from others to buy the channels (channels they might have received for free from the FCC). They aim for four channels per metro. Even if they don’t need the channels, they keep them to rebroadcast the same content to minimize competition. Recently they have been broadcasting third party Christian networks which I assume are LMA’d, which I can only assume is hinged upon some type of “operational cost” pursued (side revenue stream?). Moreover, its basically a commercial sounding format on a non-com channel. Non com should be used for content not heard in tight commercial formats.
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Very interesting additional information about EMF and how they operate.
Thank You Todd for sharing what you know.
-DT
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WELD AM/FM and WQVW-FM Franklin/Moorefield WV just consummated the sale to a local community group called “Save Our Station.” While it’s not a non-profit, there’s a good chance it will evolve that way at least bide time until Corridor H extends to Stasburg, Virginia and I-81. The Moorefield community after many years of decline appeears to be thriving now.
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Thank You for sharing that information with the readers of this blog.
I hope you will keep us posted on how this goes over time.
-DT
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