CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN RADIO WEB SITES: A USES AND GRATIFICATIONS STUDY By JOSHUA MARK BENTLEY Bachelor of Science John Brown University Siloam Springs, Arkansas 2002 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE May, 2010 CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN RADIO WEB SITES: A USES AND GRATIFICATIONS STUDY Thesis Approved: Dr. Jami A. Fullerton Thesis Adviser Dr. Stan Ketterer Dr. Lori McKinnon Dr. A. Gordon Emslie Dean of the Graduate College ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Dr. Jami Fullerton, my advisor, guided me through the process of writing this thesis. Without her encouragement and advice I would not have been able to complete it. I am deeply grateful to her. Dr. Stan Ketterer and Dr. Lori McKinnon, my other committee members, provided invaluable feedback. Dr. Ketterer's notes on factor analysis were particularly helpful. This study would not have been possible without the radio stations that agreed to participate. I appreciate the staff and management of these stations. My wife Kassandra has endured my long hours and messy office with patience and good humor. She has provided me with the moral and financial support to continue my education. Anything I have accomplished is because of her. To each person who has been involved in this process, you have my heartfelt thanks. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 The Rise of Contemporary Christian Music Radio..................................................1 The Challenge of the Internet ..................................................................................2 CCM Radio’s Online Presence ................................................................................3 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................4 Significance of the Study .........................................................................................4 Methodology ............................................................................................................5 Research Questions ..................................................................................................5 Limitations ...............................................................................................................6 Thesis Plan ...............................................................................................................6 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................................7 The Uses and Gratifications Approach ....................................................................7 Uses and Gratifications of Radio ...........................................................................13 Uses and Gratifications of the Internet ..................................................................19 Analyses of Radio Station Web Sites ....................................................................24 Summary ................................................................................................................26 III. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................28 Research Questions ................................................................................................29 Definitions..............................................................................................................30 Sampling ................................................................................................................32 Survey Instrument ..................................................................................................33 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................39 Limitations .............................................................................................................40 Summary ................................................................................................................40 iv Chapter Page IV. RESULTS ..............................................................................................................41 Research Questions ................................................................................................41 R1 .....................................................................................................................41 R2 .....................................................................................................................46 R3 .....................................................................................................................49 R4 .....................................................................................................................54 R5 .....................................................................................................................55 R6 .....................................................................................................................61 R7 .....................................................................................................................63 V. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................67 Sample....................................................................................................................67 Web Site Features ..................................................................................................68 Web Site Gratifications ..........................................................................................69 Radio Station Gratifications ...................................................................................70 Relationships Between Uses and Gratifications ...................................................71 Relationships Between Demographics and Web Site Use .....................................72 Relationships Between Demographics and Stations Support ................................72 Limitations .............................................................................................................73 Suggestions for Future Research ...........................................................................74 Summary ................................................................................................................75 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................77 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................85 Appendix A: IRB Approval Letter ........................................................................85 Appendix B: Survey Recruitment Letter ...............................................................86 Appendix C: Survey Instrument ............................................................................87 Appendix D: Content Analysis of Radio Station Web Sites ..................................98 Appendix E: Responses to Open-Ended Survey Questions .................................102 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Age of Respondents ..............................................................................................42 2. Education of Respondents.....................................................................................42 3. Annual Household Income ...................................................................................43 4. Church Attendance................................................................................................43 5. Time Spent Listening ............................................................................................44 6. Listening Per Day-Part ..........................................................................................44 7. Listening in Different Places ................................................................................45 8. CCM Radio Station Support .................................................................................45 9. Frequency of Web Site Visits ...............................................................................46 10. Frequency of Web Site Feature Usage................................................................47 11. Most-Used Features ............................................................................................48 12. Web Site Gratifications .......................................................................................50 13. Which Reason is Most Important? ......................................................................51 14. Web Site Gratification Factors ............................................................................52 15. Correlations Between Gratification Factors and Web Site Features ..................54 16. CCM Radio Gratifications ..................................................................................56 17. CCM Radio Gratification Factors .......................................................................58 18. Correlations Between CCM Radio Gratification Factors and Web Site Features ...............................................................................................................59 19. Correlations Between CCM Radio Gratification Factors and Web Site Gratification Factors ...........................................................................................60