I’ve been reflecting on the change of Air1 from positive alternative hits to worship music, after six years.

The big change is in the music (now worship), the market (where they’re getting the music from… the worship collectives), the artists (worship leaders), and in the audience (seemed like moving toward reaching a generation of believers rather than reaching those who aren’t as aware of Christianity).

So a possible question is: Did Air1 make the right decision to change to a worship focus and then keep going in that direction?

Luckily, I don’t have to answer that question. Because that’s much of a personal opinion for you, and plus, I’ve been hanging on to these articles which say enough.
“Air1 Changes Direction”
“Air1 Worship Now Enters 2019 with New Sound, Renewed Focus”
“Anyone miss the old Air1?”

What happens in these articles is that people break into discussion about Air1, and then there is discussion about ways to get back to the old variety of songs. That’s a topic that I would be more passionate about addressing. One user, “kitnorrie,” mentioned of making a playlist of old Air1 songs from the 2000s using the Wayback Machine. That sounds like an excellent idea! I haven’t listened through the playlist, but it definitely is dense and thorough, representing a great variety of songs (which is the sense of the old Air1). Another user, “Acrobatic_Cicada5700,” referred to the creation of a playlist on Apple Music to feature some old Air1 songs.
“Nearly every song you heard on Air 1 between 2000-2009 [Playlist]”
“Good old Air 1”

So seeing all of that, I’m guessing that now is the time to consider the old and open up new boundaries.

From the main “Air1 Changes Direction” article that I read through, I’ve compiled a list of artists that listeners miss from the old Air1. These include (but are definitely not limited to, in alphabetical order-ish) Audio Adrenaline, Bleach, Bride, Britt Nicole, Creed, Danny Gokey, Day Of Fire, DC Talk, Decyfer Down, Disciple, Emery, Everyday Sunday, Family Force 5, FireFlight, Flyleaf, Group 1 Crew, Guardian, Hollyn, Ivoryline, Jeremy Camp, Jesus Culture, Joshua Micah, KB, Kirk Franklin, Kutless, Lecrae, Manafest, Newsboys, NF, P.O.D., Petra, Pillar, Plumb, Red, Royal Tailor, Seventh Day Slumber, Skillet, Stryper, Switchfoot, Tedashii, Tenth Avenue North, Third Day, Thousand Foot Krutch, TobyMac, Trip Lee, Twenty One Pilots, White Heart, and Whitecross. I know that are probably hundreds more that people haven’t mentioned… but that’s a basic list to get us started.

Now, how many of those artists have been considered by the new Air1? I’m thinking of Danny Gokey, Joshua Micah, KB, Kirk Franklin, Lecrae, Royal Tailor, Switchfoot, Tedashii, and TobyMac.

Danny Gokey is still a pretty popular Air1 artist. With songs like “Haven’t Seen It Yet,” “Every Victory” (The Belonging Co), “Live Up To Your Name,” “Stay Strong,” and the 2024 “Can’t Help but Worship,” it seems like he is staying pretty strong.

Joshua Micah had his song “Heart Stops Beating” on Air1 in 2021. I haven’t heard any of his music playing on Air1 since then.

KB had the “Yes Song” playing on Air1 in 2020. I haven’t heard any of his music playing on Air1 since then.

Kirk Franklin (almost) made it to Air1 with the song “Kingdom” from Maverick City Music. The thing is that I don’t recall ever hearing this song being played on Air1. I know it was listed on the Air1 website, which means that it was probably considered for airplay but ultimately didn’t make it to the playlist.

Lecrae was on the new Air1 in 2020 being featured on the song “This is Living” from Young & Free. That being said, by 2022, Air1 stopped playing the upbeat version featuring Lecrae to replace it for a different acoustic version that didn’t include Lecrae… so we don’t hear Lecrae on the new Air1 anymore.

I don’t recall hearing Royal Tailor on the new Air1, although the voice of the past Royal Tailor is the same voice of the present Tauren Wells, a popular worship artist on Air1 these days. Tauren Wells has released and been featured on numerous songs of the new Air1, including “Never Lost” (Elevation Worship), “Famous For,” “Known,” “Seen,” “Joy In The Morning,” “Outnumbered” (Lakewood Music), “Hold Us Together” (H.E.R.), “Making Room,” “Close,” and “Take It All Back.”

Switchfoot’s “Joy Invincible” was played on Air1 in 2021.

Tedashii’s “Home” and “Gotta Live” stayed on the new Air1 for a little while until 2021.

I remember one TobyMac song being played on Air1 during Fall 2021, which was “Promised Land.” That was a popular song during the time, but it’s rare to hear it on any popular Christian radio stations these days.

So… those things considered, which artist from the past is still on Air1? It all narrows down to Danny Gokey.

Wait, what about NEEDTOBREATHE? Was this group not mentioned in the comments section? NEEDTOBREATHE has carried a variety of Christian and alternative songs as well, and Air1 has featured a few of their songs in the last few years: “Who Am I,” “I Am Yours,” and “Fall On Me.” These songs aren’t as popular on Air1 nowadays, and I don’t even know if they are still played. Of course, these songs aren’t like the NEEDTOBREATHE songs of the last couple of decades, but they’re still from the same artist.

One of the things that I saw in common with many of these comments is that listeners considered the old Air1 to hold a very unique playlist of Christian music… with a VARIETY (that’s the key word) of music: pop, hip hop, rock, and MORE!

But Air1 was not the only Christian music station with VARIETY. If people are looking for that key attribute… there are luckily still a handful of places out there, and unlike the old Air1, I have listened to many of these stations and can guarantee that they carry a variety of music. Let’s consider some of these stations that listeners on the comments section and I have had in mind.

RadioU and Blast FM are Christian rock stations with a variety of upbeat music. Personally, I am not as familiar with these.

NGEN, LF Radio, and BOOST Radio are Christian hip hop stations.

The HouseFM is a Christian contemporary station, but does occasionally feature a variety of Christian rock and Christian hip hop songs from artists like Newsboys, Social Club Misfits, NF, KB, Lecrae, and Hollyn.

WayFM is a Christian contemporary station. Like Air1, as I was reading in the comments section, WayFM used to have a bigger variety until they also narrowed down their focus to contemporary. Don’t look away, though, because this same company also has the station WAY LOUD, which is similar to RadioU and Blast FM in its Christian rock format.

Then, if you want to hear that variety of all the formats together, I’d recommend, along with the comments section, the stations 107.1 The X, CurrentFM, and YesFM. These stations carry a similar type of variety as the old Air1.

Then, there’s a certain type of outreach that we haven’t discussed yet on this part… the younger generation. For that, I’d say the go-to is His Radio Z, which is definitely focused on bringing a younger and newer generation of believers to know more about the Gospel. It has the mix of pop, hip hop, and rock, and it also has a variety of popular on-air shows all in one station. Think of the Chad Bradley show, the JAYAR Show (weekdays on the JOY FM), the UPLIFT Radio Show with Matt Reid (which was featured on the JOY FM this summer while Jayar was away), and the Weekend22 (with Josh Ashton from Air1).

So if you miss the old Air1, there is definitely a handful of radio stations with a similar concept ready to check out six years later. But there are also options outside of radio to go to if you’re just looking for that style of music.

Like I mentioned, the Weekend22 show is a weekly podcast featuring a countdown of Christian alternative hits. Each show typically features 24 songs, counting down from the top #22 song to the top #1 song of the week and also featuring two new releases that haven’t yet made it to the top 22.

Another source of Christian music is Christian music release websites. There are a handful of these, with the ones I am most familiar with being New Release Today, Louder Than The Music, and The Christian Beat. There’s also Amen Worldwide, which features Christian music from an alternative style from a wide variety of artists that are less well known.

Personally, when I am looking for alternative music, I like to create my own playlists. I used to rely on Amazon Music and YouTube Music, but nowadays I mainly use Spotify. I usually take a look at their “All New Christian & Gospel” playlist that gets updated weekly to find new artists. I combine those songs with songs from the music release websites as well as some older songs from radio artists, and then Spotify adds to my recommendations list of Christian artists that I haven’t heard about before. This way, I can grab a wide range of Christian-based music from a variety of artists.

I’d hate to call this an option with all of the others… since what I do definitely doesn’t match up to the level of service and work that has been put into all of the radio stations above, but I also hope to make THIS THING a great source of discovering Christian alternative music. This is the Uncovering the Music Project, and it’s finally coming to the real world with a physical and a spiritual mission.

The physical mission is simple… along the lines of what I have been mentioning about Air1 for a while now. The Project aims to seek out to find and reflect on music from a variety of Christian-based genres and artists. Songs are a lot like people with different styles, different tones, different appearances, and different messages. In fact, they are this way because they are created by a variety of artists. In building up a place to worship God, we can think: Who is going to be brothers and sisters in Christ without being able to face each other due to our differences? The goal is to open up to a big variety, because after all, God created all of us uniquely and we have our own ways to serve. Sure, not every style is going to be appealing or pleasing to all of us, but we can at least have a way to see things… as long as we can use them to lead us back to goodness. Let this Project be a place where the different styles of music collide in letting us find out the meaning and see how God can speak to us through them.

The spiritual mission goes much deeper… along the lines of fighting against the evil aspects of the world and the culture. Time after time, I have been warned that society doesn’t match the ideals of what God wants for us. So what? It’s not just a personal effort… it’s something deeper that involves all of us. The followers of Jesus are the original bearers of the force of love throughout the world. God shows Himself in that way. And when people continue to turn to hatred and worldly success, we realize how far we have gone. We put ourselves before our Kingdom, we put our thoughts before the voice of God, and we fall far from what we were created to be. The message here is that success in the spiritual sense is not in worldly money, trophies, or positions, but the success comes from the joy and the blessings in the impact, in changing people’s hearts, in using the things we have to give glory to God. The hope comes when we discover ourselves in light of the Creator. Our lives were meant to worship God, not to glorify ourselves.

One thing that has bothered me throughout the years is this sense of worldly success. When worldly perfection advertises itself, like in the case people are said to achieve something great through their own power or just have certain self-sufficient characteristics that others lack, I often fall into the trap of thinking of these people are seen to be “better” than the others. I would have this idea, that when I felt like I wasn’t good enough (because I was fed from my dependence on God and I had no other choice) compared to these people (who seemed like they didn’t have to have God to have a perfect life), there would be that fighter there to remind me that we’re here to fight against the evil parts of the culture, saying… You are good enough in God’s eyes. You are special in your own way. You don’t have to be like that in order to live out your life. You depend on God.

In the end, this fight boils down to childhood: Are we dependent on God as our Father, or are we dependent on ourselves?

I imagined a place or a show on the radio where there would be an inspiring nobody talking each evening in those long nights of the fall season, playing songs but also taking the time to tell the stories about the meanings behind them. At nightfall, that’s when the darkness comes in and the reminder that you’re not good enough strikes even harder… but you have these reminders to depend on God and to trust in Him rather than in man. You have the songs, and you have the stories. And you can get through it all, with God’s help. I imagined that this concept would be called “Uncovering the Music.”

I am acting in that place/concept of the nobody, being here, in my same childish passion to play video games that eventually drove me to see myself in God’s great care, to take these songs like they are ores in Minecraft and mine them until I get the diamond gem of meaning out of them. Then, that precious, sparkling thing will be a reminder of motivation to get me through till I find the next one. The story, the meaning, the passion, and the motivation are what will get us out of this struggle with the world and its calls for worldly pleasures and successes. There’s an alternative option to what is mainstream, and that is here, in our restlessness and our seeking of the greater good that can only come to us in God.

The world needs God now just like always. But in a special way, we need to focus our lives in adoration… adoration not to our created devices or personas or talents, but to the God who makes mountains move and who makes things secure. “Come Adore Him,” we say at this time of Christmas (from the new song by Riley Clemmons). And how much will it be for the whole world to stand before and adore its Creator?
That is the essence of what I hope to get out through the Uncovering the Music Project. Previously, I have written short commentaries about songs like they do on the K-Love and the Air1 music news sections, except mine were more focused toward a specific point: to worship God, to avoid the evil. That was generally before introducing and reflecting on the controversies within the Christian music industry. In the case of the EMF and related companies, I realize that these popular radio stations and podcasts are seemingly focused on promoting the success of artists, jobs, and profits more than the message behind songs. On the K-Love and Air1 music feature articles, it seems to me like the reflections are geared more toward the artists’ talent rather than what the songs could mean for believers. While it is great to highlight talented artists and how they are using their works to glorify God, I’d also like to explore the music area with a heavier focus how we can use these songs to remind ourselves of God’s work within our own lives.

I would love to use the methods of radio streams and podcasts, and these opportunities are likely to open up in the future, but I’m afraid that I don’t have the proper licensing and permissions ready right now to play these types of music. There’s a lot of money and before-hand training involved to get somewhere with this worldly system. So that leads me with one option for right now: to tell the story through the keyboard and the screens, through pages and stories. I will be making and sharing music playlists and collections of a variety of Christian-based music and reflecting the meaning behind their songs. I will uncover some great songs that the radio stations haven’t been featuring. And on the side, I will incorporate telling the story of the Internal Experience… a journey toward a life with God as the Author, while still bringing to light the need to turn the world closer to God. With all the assistance of the Lord, let’s begin.

Wait… we’ll begin next time on the next page. This page has probably been through enough already.