It is time to consider some of the very thoughtful comments that passionate and former Air1 listeners have posted on the “Air1 Changes Direction” article. I’m a little bit late to the discussion as most of this stuff comes from early 2019, but I guess I’ve made it within the six year stretch.

At the very least, I know more now than what they knew before… about the new and post-“new” Air1 and how it has continued in its worship direction, as the variety fades away and gets replaced with mostly all worship music.

So let’s consider some of the common thoughts that have been noted throughout these comments.

Some people don’t listen to music much. That’s an honest thought. For me, there are parts of the year when I am listening to music constantly but other parts of the year when weeks go by without me deliberately listening to any music. There are definitely other ways to worship without listening to worship music… and I think that worship shouldn’t just be contained in singing songs. If worship is our honest interaction with God, there’s more that we can do than singing songs. We can live our lives in focus on service to God’s Kingdom… feed the hungry, teach people about the good news, and take care of the sick. Those don’t require beats and lyrics, but they do require the heart. So I’m being led to think that what really matters inside the worship is the love that we put into it… our hearts intended to serve God in this action. Our lives did it not because we were forced to but because we got up and chose to do so.

The old Air1 used to have Christmas music. That sounds like a very festive statement. I don’t think that we’ve ever heard Christmas music being played on the new Air1 except for a certain time when they broadcasted a Phil Wickham Christmas concert during Christmas of 2022. I don’t think they’ve given us a good-enough reason why they don’t play Christmas music. Whenever this topic is mentioned on the air, the response is that they just want to keep the worship going (from CJ) or that the heart behind Christmas is worship so any worship music still fits the scene of Christmas (from Careth). That’s not a bad idea, but what about Christmas worship music? I’ve seen another worship station which plays worship music and also includes some Christmas worship songs throughout the hours during the month of December. Overall, though, the focus on regular music on the new Air1 instead of Christmas music provides it with a year-round ability to feature songs and also gives listeners another option when the holiday styled songs on other stations become too repetitive.

Alternative Christian music is geared toward the younger generation. So this is definitely a big deal! A station that brings in new listeners and teaches them about God for the first time is a real life-changer, or at least that’s how it feels. There definitely is a certain focus that you can get from listening to music as a younger person who isn’t as aware of God’s love. I can absolutely see how moving toward a worship format is more focused on people who are already believers since some worship songs take at least some understanding of biblical stories and concepts to understand. (Think of how many songs end up focusing on the prodigal son, Psalm 23, or dancing like David.) But can God help the younger generation through worship music? Absolutely. Would the younger generation be more willing to listen to worship music? Probably not. So I think that the change with formats also brought with it a change in audience… toward those who are more familiar with the Christian Faith. It doesn’t necessarily mean that these people are older, it’s just that they’ve had more time to think about God and what it means to worship. There’s a common theme going around here that there needs to be some type of alternative outreach that goes in between strict worship and secular music that can bring people in and teach them a little bit about Christianity, which is great. However, if we’re reaching out to people to only show them a message that is fancy and that sounds good (through the good music), we might miss out on some of deeper aspects of God’s message. Yes, Christian music often talks about positivity and feeling good… but the point to get across is that we also have to take up our crosses (like Jesus did) even if that means that we have to go through pain, disappointments, and daily struggles. If someone previously unaware of Christianity was presented with just a message of being positive and feeling good, without the extra knowledge of how God uses suffering to build us up, that person might be a little bit more tempted to turn away when trials and tribulations come. In the end, in order to reach out to a newer generation of believers, we should have the full message! Unfortunately, with the songs these days, that full message is not proclaimed (How could it be when we only have 24 hours in a day and a limited selection of songs?). That’s why going to Church and reading the Bible, in order to seek out the entire message, are more of a priority than just having a music station. We can use the music to support us in what we already believe from the Church and the Bible.

Worship isn’t considered to be as upbeat as alternative. Generally, how I see it, there is more shouting and energy in the voices singing in worship songs. Especially, for live worship, there’s more cheering than in a studio-recorded alternative song. But in terms of the beats and the general instruments, alternative music does seem to give a more upbeat feeling overall.

Let’s think of some comparisons. One of the hit songs in late 2021 on Air1 was “Wait On You” by Maverick City Music (with Elevation Worship and Dante Bowe), which is one of my most favorite songs of all time. Personally, I like the song because it appears to have a lot of hope and honesty, especially when Dante Bowe mentions fairy tales and hospital rooms. However, consider another couple of songs with the same topic of waiting on God. The first by Christian pop/hip-hop artist Branan Murphy is titled “I Will Wait.” The second by Christian hip-hop artist Roy Tosh is titled “Gotta Wait.” While keeping with the theme of waiting on God and finding hope in that situation, their music is more upbeat.

Think about two songs on the topic of God answering prayers: the Air1 feature of Lizzie Morgan’s “Maybe the Miracle” and alternative artist David Dunn’s “Yes & No.” Lizzie Morgan’s “Maybe the Miracle” is somewhat of a sad song, especially if the listener’s emotions are in line with it, with the third word of the song being “tears.” But on top of that, when I heard this song on Air1, I noticed that Air1 played a different version of the song (which I think was the Song Session with Essential Worship) which wasn’t as upbeat as the normal version. Now think of David Dunn’s “Yes & No.” It does seem to be more upbeat.

Now, bring in KB. KB, if you haven’t noticed yet, tends to take worship songs into a hip hop format. Think about his songs “10K,” “Graves,” “Yes Song,” and “Miracles.” These draw inspiration from the respective songs: “10,000 Reasons,” “Graves Into Gardens,” “Yes I Will,” and “Million Little Miracles.” The only KB remix I recall hearing on the new Air1 was “Yes Song.” Compare that with Vertical Worship’s “Yes I Will” and you can see that KB, while keeping some of the same lyrics, can move into an alternative format with a much more energetic and upbeat song.
So, yes, this new Air1 music generally isn’t as upbeat as alternative music. But don’t say that Air1 never has upbeat songs. In fact, Air1 compiled a set of songs called “Worship in the Workout: 7 Tracks to Elevate Your Exercise” on the website and even listed out the “beats per minute” for each song to prove to us that the station does try to add some upbeat songs. Brandon Lake saves the day, and now after counting the miracles, we have to “COUNT ‘EM” beats per minute. (Although, there’s a KB remix for that too!)

Air1 seemed to follow its own agenda when making the switch instead of consulting listeners, and people who weren’t happy with it stopped donating. I think the listeners in general should have gotten more of a say in Air1 switching formats. Although Air1 claimed to have talked to listeners about this change, it seems like the passionate listeners in the comment section didn’t get a call or a chance to put in their input. So maybe Air1 had talked to some listeners… but not all of them. They didn’t even make an announcement in advance that there would be a music change? That’s strange… as if it was supposed to be a surprise. Like all surprise presents, we can’t guarantee if the person receiving the present is going to love it.
As I saw in the comments, people who weren’t happy with the change in music formats stopped listening and cancelled their donations. That’s definitely a way to lose listeners and money for Air1… but the station is still up and running, so it definitely has gotten the support it has needed to keep going after six years in its new format.

Some people really love it. Yes, they do. For someone who loves artists like Elevation Worship, Cody Carnes, Church of the City, and Tasha Layton and wants to hear worship music all throughout the day, Air1 radio is an awesome option! One advantage of Air1 for people who like discovering worship music is that Air1 adds new music regularly and prioritizes playing top songs over older music. It is a great way to find new songs especially if listeners are fans of Brandon Lake and Maverick City Music, as the station features a handful of new songs from those artists each year.

Air1 seems to be just like K-Love now (but Air1 plays more worship music than K-Love). For the people who say that Air1 and K-Love are the same, that doesn’t seem to be the case in late 2024. It might appear that way on the surface because Air1 and K-Love generally play the same types of artists and songs, but the Air1 music has a much larger collection of LIVE worship and worship artists too. How often is a live edit played on K-Love? Occasionally, yes, but that doesn’t seem to be their main focus. K-Love mainly plays songs recorded in a studio, not those recorded live in churches. I’d say that about half or more than half of the Air1 featured songs are live songs, and while it has its selection of studio edits, these aren’t as common. How often do we hear artists like Church of the City, Mack Brock, Red Rocks Worship, Benjamin William Hastings, Rolling Hills Worship, and Aaron Williams on K-Love? Very rarely, I’d say, if at all.

And finally… a thought about “What is worship?” The concept of the Air1 station definitely takes a turn depending on how we define what “worship” and “worship now” mean. For me, I think that worship isn’t just “live worship sung in churches” but also is the focus behind the music and the way the music style is. That means that if the song is addressing God, it seems to be in the zone for “worship music.” Now, if a song’s lyrics are giving glory to God, do we want to stop them from doing so? I don’t think so! We’ll join in with the worship. But if that’s the right definition of worship, then we really shouldn’t be concerned with Air1 changing its format. Right now, it’s the market of songs that seems to be the concerning thing that is decreasing the variety. Air1, even with its theme of strictly worship music, can get worship-type songs from pop, rock, and hip-hop artists, but right now the market that it addresses most is worship from big churches and worship artists, like Elevation Worship and Tauren Wells. However, if you’ve noticed, in 2024, Air1 is adding a few songs from these pop, rock, and hip-hop artists. Think of “Prepare the Way” from Stars Go Dim, “Whisper and the Wind” from Bodie, and “Lift My Hands” from Forrest Frank. Air1 is keeping that variety going, even within the worship focus, just so much less than they had been doing before the format changed to worship.

Don’t give up! Think of a popular Air1 song in 2024: “YET” from Maverick City Music. If we uncover this song a little bit, we think of the theme… it’s asking God not to give up.
If our goal in worshipping is to become closer and more like God, then we don’t need to be afraid to listen to Air1. Sure, former listeners might think that Air1 has seemed to “mess up” by changing formats, bringing heartbreak and devastation to those who absolutely loved the alternative format. But God offers us a different message, and He reminds us of OURSELVES. We have messed up too, but God stayed around and kept us through our wrongdoings. He welcomed us back even when we didn’t reach up to our full potential to do good in this world. He was patient with us.

In the same way, maybe, we could think of Air1 and say that although it has been turning away from what it used to be, hope is not lost. If we stick around and don’t give up on it, we could be there for the day that Air1 becomes even greater with the help of God. It’s a treasure to uncover while we wait on Him. If, after six years, we are still unhappy with the direction that Air1 is going in the music that it adds, let’s pray about it. Let’s think of God through all of it. After all, it is His gift to have this music here for us, and it is because He has allowed it that all of these things have taken place. God deserves our worship regardless of how good, how appealing, how repetitive, or how engaging worship music is.