`SALT RADIO' INCREASING IN AIRWAVE POPULARITY : CHRISTIAN-THEMED SHOWS SYNDICATED ACROSS NATION.

Byline: Kathy Thacker The Dallas Morning News

Christian talk programming has become so popular on the airwaves that the niche has earned its own slang name among broadcast executives - ``salt radio.''

``Salt radio,'' which generally takes a conservative bent, refers to Jesus' description of believers as ``the salt of the earth.''

Salem Radio Network in the Dallas suburb of Irving, the syndication division of Camarillo-based Salem Communications, today is one of the largest Christian radio syndicators in the country. In three years, it has grown from an operation with no affiliates and a staff of two to 750 affiliates and a staff of 100.

Salem Communications in Camarillo manages the 40 owned-and-operated stations. The national division in Irving oversees the Salem Radio Network satellite syndication operations, Salem Radio Representatives sales unit, the Salem News Network in Washington, D.C., the Morningstar music network in Nashville, Tenn., and KDFX-AM in Dallas.

Salem's Christian-oriented dialogue includes well-known conservative talk show hosts on programs such as ``The Oliver North Show,'' ``The Alan Keyes Show,'' ``The Dick Staub Show'' and ``Janet Parshall's America.'' In addition, Salem promotes its news programming as taking a Christian world view.

Salem Radio Network President Greg Anderson sees his programming as an opportunity to underscore community and provide a common bond for the faithful.

``I think people in general are absolutely looking for hope,'' he said. ``There is a feeling of alienation and separation in our culture. . . . I think we as Christians have the answer to that lack of hope.

``The primary agent for facilitating that relationship is the church, but you can't be in church all the time. Radio fills in the cracks in the cement.''

The company's mission, he said, is to reach as many listeners as possible ``while being consistent with the truth we feel is in the Scripture.''

Salem Radio Network is a for-profit, barter-based company, meaning it trades programming to stations for blocks of time that it resells to advertisers. Because of Christian radio's extended reach and its relatively small but loyal consumer base, Anderson said, advertisers are responding and profits are climbing.

Salt radio is heard on an increasing number of Christian stations nationally and also is spilling over into other formats. The National Religious Broadcasters organization says religious-oriented radio has seen a 48 percent increase in the past 10 years and accounted for 12.5 percent of the radio industry in 1995.

Among the trends noted by the Manassas, Va.-based trade group is that Christian radio is becoming more niche-oriented. Religious formats include teaching/preaching - the largest - as well as news/talk, African-American gospel/urban, Christian country, contemporary Christian, Latino, inspirational, sacred and Southern gospel.

Feeding the trend has been a relaxation of Federal Communications Commission ownership rules that has allowed broadcast companies to hold more stations in a market. To avoid duplicating formats in a market, these companies, many of which have no theological commitment, have been looking for new formats and are adopting some of the popular Christian offerings.

Many religious-format stations, the NRB reported, are noncommercial and listener-supported. That's where Salem comes in.

``Salem radio has added a lot of programming to the Christian radio mix. I like to think we've increased the level of dialogue,'' Anderson said.

``(Our affiliates) are manned by a cadre of extremely dedicated people who are there to further the gospel of Jesus Christ,'' he said. The dollars these local radio operators take in is minuscule by comparison. They're driven by cause.

``We offer them an economical way to further their cause and give them a degree of quality that would be difficult to provide at the local level,'' he said.

Salem is a privately held company and doesn't release revenue figures, but Anderson says the amount of advertising it sells is in the multimillions of dollars annually.

The money has put Salem Communications in a position to increase its own reach, particularly in the largest markets. The company, which already owns 40 stations, offered $40 million earlier this year to buy KDFX, with plans to convert the all-news station to an FM Christian format in January, pending FCC approval.