Mediabase Comes To Christian

Mediabase last week announced plans to expand its airplay recognition service to include Christian-formatted radio stations. The monitoring service will be in place in early 2004.

What does this mean for Christian music? It means that radio stations in the top 140 markets will be monitored in a matter of months, giving the Christian industry more complete information on actual spins. It will also give the format equal billing along with all the other major mainstream formats offered across the U.S. The Mediabase expansion will increase the amount of data available to programmers and participating label executives.

Through its exclusive partnership with Mediabase, R&R will transition Christian charts to a Mediabase-monitored system sometime in 2004. The company currently monitors more than 1,100 radio stations in 15 formats across the country 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Mediabase has also announced plans to expand its service north of the border into select Canadian markets.