Religion on the Radio: Using Christmas religious broadcasting to reframe the sacred-secular interface

This article examines the breadth and depth of religion in British radio by means of a case study of eight different BBC stations on 25 December 2015. It draws on previous research by Knott and Gill where pre-established definitions of religion, in which the category of ‘Conventional Religion’ is prioritized, have tended to obscure and underestimate the location and place of religion in British media and makes the case for utilizing a tighter rationale and methodology to better examine the relationship between religion and so-called 'secular' media. Using a comparative content analysis across 22 individual programmes and 44.5 hours of broadcasting, this article proposes that, with a more nuanced methodology, alternative and more challenging ways in which to seek, find and interact with religion on the radio can be identified, with key implications for both the category of religion and the BBC's own definition of the remit of 'religious broadcasting'.