Christian Worldview Growing Cold

Overview

The Salem Media Group is a bellwether for Christian media. They own and operate 95 radio stations in 38 American markets, with 3200 affiliates. Further, Salem has multiple internet publications, along with magazine and book publishing enterprises (details here). Headquartered in Irving, TX, Salem represents the largest single Christian media organization in the country. From their latest annual report, Salem's 2023 revenue fell $8m from the previous year, resulting in an operating loss of $46 million (here).

Details

Salem Media Group continues to struggle due to declining broadcast revenues and "changing audience behaviors" (here). To offset losses, the company sold its headquarters ($6.2m), divested of other real estate holdings ($8.2m), and sold six of its radio stations in South Carolina and Kentucky for an estimated $11m and its publishing arm for $4m. Pending divestments represent another $10m in movie and land sales along with a recently failed $30m sale of its Church Products division. Stock prices for the company have trended down from a high of $28/share in 2004, to its current value of 38 cents/share, voluntarily delisting from the NASDAQ this past January (details).

What's Happening

Matthew 24:12 - And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Americans are turning away from all forms of traditional media, and especially Christian media. What we see in churches, book sales, crusades, radio stations, television programming, libraries, schools, and higher education has a single theme running through it. The United States is changing and Christians are having to choose between accepting that change or holding fast to their traditional values.