The operator approach provides a coach who can help put together a more interesting ad. On the other hand, and especially with the Christian market, singles are already nervous and a stranger is the last person they want to run into on the phone.

One outfit, Direct Response Marketing of Williamsville, N.Y., has software that matches a caller with other singles right after the ad is placed: "Your ad matches 12 singles in your community," says the recorded voice. "To hear them, dial 1-900. ..."

But 900 numbers are a hard sell in the Christian community, according to James Ebel, partner in Christian Singles Network which has hitched up with Direct Response Marketing.

"All Christians ever hear about 900 numbers is when kids call some sex line and run up an enormous phone bill and the parents go nuts," he said. "So we had to break through a little tunnel vision on that."

One of the ways Ebel fights that is to sell to the fundamentalist churches himself, using a letter of introduction written by his pastor.

"That speaks their language," Ebel said. "We're providing acceptability to a tremendously conservative group that wouldn't ever consider personal ads, and we market that to churches in the area."

Often, Ebel says, pastors will contact newspaper publishers to ask that Christian single ads be printed as a service to their flocks. Newspaper publishers, especially those who have held back from regular voice personals, seem to be only too happy to oblige.

So are the service bureaus and system packagers: Almost every audiotext purveyor has a Christian singles service along with its regular fare.

Ebel has even taken to casting his outfit as "real Christians," as opposed to those who slap on the Christian label just to make a buck.

There's an ironic twist to the growth of Christian singles personals that papers and service bureaus are noting. The service was designed for fundamentalists, right?

So how come Christian singles is growing at such a pace? There aren't that many fundamentalists out there.

Here's why:

Christian singles ads imply wholesomeness, safety, sobriety -- attributes which draw cautious non-fundamentalists as well.

Chris Schott of Bureau One, the Longview, Wash., distributor of Christian Singles Connections, puts it bluntly: "When you ask in a poll, 90 percent of the population claim they're Christian," whether they've been inside a church in the last few years or not.

"So they look at Christian singles ads, and they think, 'This is going to be OK,'" he said.

The service bureaus write their software to allow for this "Christian wannabe" effect: When you're punching in your profile for a match you can specify, for example, that you attend church only "occasionally" and you can rank the importance of religion in your life.

These variables allow the computer systems to match you to other such "occasionals."

The bottom line is it's nice for the bottom line: Usage records indicate that the profitable minutes for regular 900 personals services drop a little, but the money streaming in from the Christian sector more than makes up for the loss.

Now that Christian singles is established, where's the next vertical slice of the personals market?

Senior Singles, says Ebel, who has already copyrighted that name. It's coming soon to newspapers in Florida and Arizona.

We can hear it now:

"Wanted: Gentleman. Object: conversation, companionship, bulk discounts on hearing aid batteries."

-- JB

See also: The ringy-dingy of audiotext is not phones, it's cash registers
Audiotext speaks Spanish

From THE COLE PAPERS, September 1995, Copyright © 1995, All Rights Reserved.