GIVE ME THAT DRIVE TIME RELIGION

RELIGION Thought you heard more church-oriented advertising on the radio this past Easter than ever before? Depending on which stations you tuned in during the Holy Week, chances are you might have been saturated with the season’s simple message: it’s time you joined the rest of the world in church Easter Sunday, the biggest attendance day of the year.

KSKY-AM. the largest (and one of the oldest) religious station in the Southwest, and KLTY-FM. with its “Christian contemporary format” and a claim that it’s “the most listened-to station in the world,” say they both saw ad sales increase by 20 to 25 percent over 1989. “Our extra Easter business came from a lot of religious organizations that had never before advertised,” says KATHIE WATSON, sales manager for KSKY. Mainstream stations like KRLD-AM, KMEZ-FM. and KVIL-FM, however, saw no noticeable change in churches looking to advertise with them. “We have four or five who advertise with us throughout the year, and none increased its time around Easter,” says KRLD’s local sales manager JEFF STEELE. (KMEZ had two churches airing their Easter messages; KVIL had only one.)

And for the first time in years, you heard nothing new on any radio sta-tion from that perennial of the ainvaves, JAMES L. PLIETZ, the soft-spoken pas-tor of Park Cities Baptist Church. Author of the memorable “Plietz Moments” (he’s run variations on the same basic come-to-church theme for 12 years), Plietz opted to do no spots at all this time, clearing the airwaves for other nontraditional religious organizations like Christ For The Nations. The “interdenominational international missionary” spent 20 percent more this Easter at KSKY.

As listeners well know, some “out-reach” churches, like the ever-growing Church On The Rock, don’t wait for holy days or special occasions to get their names and claims on the airwaves. Says SCOTT BARNARD, pastor of administrations at the Kock. “We advertise all year round regardless.”