Early Radio-TV Ministries: From the early 1930s to the 1980s,radio and TV min...

Early Radio-TV Ministries: From the early 1930s to the 1980s,radio and TV min...: From the early 1930s to the 1980s, radio and TV ministries blossomed and flourished in America. By the 1930s, radio developed a reality th...

From the early 1930s to the 1980s, radio and TV ministries blossomed and flourished in America. By the 1930s, radio developed a reality that was unknown at that time. Father Charles Coughlin ushered in a weekly broadcast on social justice. This theme reached a rather small audience since radio was in its infancy. However, it was recognized then that radio could reach a much larger audience. By this time, radio had joined forces with other media such as the traditional print media of religious newsletters, newspapers, and magazines.

With technological developments and the Federal Communications Act of 1934, many more radio sets were sold and the audience was much larger. This paved the way for Rex Humbard who built a ministry on radio and TV in 1952, known as the “Program Cathedral of Tomorrow.” His operation grew to the point that it distributed programs to more than 600 stations. He envisioned the future when he invested in a 5,000 seating megachurch.

During this process of growth there was trial and error. It was Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), an Irish author, playwright and poet, one of London's popular writers of the early 1890s, who remarked, “Experience is simply the name we give to our mistakes.” Humbard gained in experience and vision through planning, trial, and error during the infancy of his Christian media's growth.

Bishop Fulton Sheen - An Evangelist's Dream

The 1950s through the 1960s, TV had become an evengelist's dream. This was especially so if a preacher was compatibly with the medium of television. By this time, a A TV preacher would have learned a great deal form radio ministries of the past. TV however, demanded compelling images which is the backbone of this medium. So, there arose televangelists who were able to fit such a role.

After World War 11, a Roman Catholic bishop Fulton Sheen was most successful. He and his professional staff inaugurated the program “Life Is Worth Living,” and later the “Bishop Sheen Program.” Although TV was more expensive than radio, he was able to attract a large enough audience to sustain these programs. His producer-director was skilled in integrating live pictures of the televangelist with video footage, audio, special effects, and graphics.

Bishop Sheen's message was simple, he implored his flock to have faith in his message. His topics emphasized the working of the Holy Spirit, heaven, eternal damnation, judgment day, healing, wealth, prosperity, and being a born again Christian.

Much of what Bishop Sheen was preaching could well be likened to the teachings of Francis of Assissi (1181 – 1226), an Italian Catholic friar and preacher, founder of the men's Order of Friars Minor who encouraged his followers to “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Bishop's Sheen's message always envisioned his viewers as going beyond themselves by knowing Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s other successful envangelists followed Bishop Sheen

Billy Graham celebrated his “Hour of Decision” broadcast shows and international crusades.

Oral Roberts built Oral Roberts University (1963) and the City of Faith Medical and Research Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was known for “The Hour of Power.”

Pat Roberson created the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) – the “700 Club” with CBN University (1971), and the “Flying Hospital.”

Robert Shuller was author of Christian self-help books and presented the “Hour of Power.”

Jerry Falwell was founder of Liberty University (1971) and the “Old Time Gospel Hour,” and put in motion the “Moral Majority.”

Jimmy Lee Swaggart had his “Jimmy Swaggart Telecast” and Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

By the end of 1980s, there were an estimated 1,370 religious radio stations and more than 200 religious TV stations in America.