Jaye Lance, 21, is just about the same age as Maine’s first Christian music radio station.

She’s a University of Maine student majoring in broadcast journalism. She plays Christian music on the air – on the university’s student-run station, WMEB-FM 91.9.

It’s the kind of station where you might expect to hear a mix of hip-hop, rock and world music. And you can.

But on Wednesday afternoons, “Giving God Glory: An Urban Explosion of Praise,” is on the air, and people on campus and beyond can hear Christian pop music.

Christian music and Christian radio have seen dramatic changes since Bangor’s WHCF-FM 88.5 went on the air in the early 1980s.

They’ve gone mainstream.

WHCF, a ministry of Bangor Baptist Church, once billed itself as “Your Constant Christian Companion,” a mixture of music and sermons. It was the first full-time FM Christian music station in the state, although an AM Christian station in Portland was around earlier.

These days, you can move up and down the FM spectrum in Maine and find Christian radio rivaling secular rock, pop and country stations. Nationwide, there are about 2,000 Christian radio stations.

It’s still possible to hear “Onward, Christian Solders” and other great 19th century hymns. You also may hear Southern gospel or a cappella vocal arrangements of “In the Garden.”

But along with conventional broadcasts about biblical prophecy and live call-in prayer requests are shows with Q-and-A on parenting and sexuality, news reports, giveaways and advertisements.

Listen carefully and you can hear another area Christian station, WHMX-FM 105.7, “The X,” playing in the background at secular businesses around Bangor.

There’s even a National Association of Christian Rock Radio, founded in 1996.

All this mainstreaming hasn’t blurred the motivation behind the medium.

At UMaine, Jaye Lance says without hesitation that her show spreads God’s message through music.

“It’s helping reach people,” she said.

A co-host, Jermaine Hardy, 19, joined the show about two months ago. The two bring Christian music to an urban hip-hop genre.”I used to play secular hip-hop and rap,” Lance said. “This semester, it’s Christian.”

She said she experienced a life-changing event this past Christmas break. She participated in a program through the UM chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ, a national evangelical organization.

So, when spring semester began, Lance decided she wanted to keep her radio show, but wanted to be able to praise God at the same time.

Everyone at WMEB is supportive of the range of music genres that are played, said station manager Jeff Mannix. After all, the UM station’s motto is “Where Diversity Rules the Airwaves.”

The show that Lance and Hardy co-host isn’t even the only Christian radio show on the campus station.

Mark MacKinnon and Matt Dodge co-host “Straight From the Word,” which airs from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Lance and Hardy play more hip-hop and rap, a style that MacKinnon, a classic- and hard-rock kind of guy, admits he doesn’t really have an ear for.

“I know that was something that was missing” from “Straight From the Word,” MacKinnon said. “So I was really glad to hear her show was coming on.”

MacKinnon, a former student, began hosting “Straight From the Word” in 1995 on Husson College’s student station, WHSN-FM 89.3.

“It was a different way of presenting God and Jesus … with the music that was out there, but wasn’t being played on any station,” he said.

The early Christian rock groups, such as Petra and Striper, appeared during the late 1970s and early 1980s but didn’t become popular until about a decade later, MacKinnon said.

As part of their end-of-semester programming, Dodge and MacKinnon brought back some of that “relic rock.” But that’s just about the only portion of the show they plan.

“I find it best to just bring it in and let God guide what he wants me to play,” MacKinnon said. Dodge also likes to report on music news in the Christian rock world.

“Straight From the Word” moved to the UMaine station in 1997, and Dodge and MacKinnon joined forces about a year ago.

Dodge became a disc jockey at WMEB in 1999 when he and friend started a Jamaican-rooted ska and punk program.

He began e-mailing MacKinnon after listening to the show a few times, and the two are now co-hosts.

All of the student DJs say they agree that music and radio provide a distinctive way to spread their message, and they hope to continue doing so for as long as possible.

“This is the heart, right here,” Hardy said.