Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive

Theses and Dissertations

1984

A Descriptive Analysis of the Current Status of Paid Religious Broadcasting on National Television

Wayne R. Bills Brigham Young University - Provo

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Bills, Wayne R., "A Descriptive Analysis of the Current Status of Paid Religious Broadcasting on National Television" (1984). Theses and Dissertations. 4533. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4533

This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. faiF ioZI10101.004 f A desceDESCRdescriptivejprcprivilivinivanivln ANALYSISANALYSES OFCA tyl11111111 CURIZENTrifcliPRENT STATUSSTAFUS OPOF PAID

RELIGIOUS broadcajtjngbroadcastingbroadcasiing ON NATIONALNA 1 ional10nal telltelitelevision1.1iVISION

A thesischesjhes is presentedre sentted to theuhe

depardepartbepartt melic ofoc communicationscommunicatcommunicate ionslons brigham young university

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of the rcpeququ i irenientsloincnty lotloifotfor lietiletiloLeieele ie degree mastermaslmast r olof01 artartsarte

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ai 1.1 J1 84A this thesis by wayneayne R luilfulllullsB-nisHIss s accepted inn its present fordfformordorm by the

department of communications of Brighbrighamcam young university as salisfsalisbsatisfyingsatisfyjngying the thesis requirement for the degree of master of arts

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I1 f f ene S rich commicammini teet c chairmancl

a llebrtieberiebeellebrr G wolseywolwoi sey committee memberbembmemb

2 ai rrt date 5i owen S rich graduate coordinator

typed by donna M sndsnithsmithit-h

j i A CKN N IS

any work such as this is never solesolelyty the work of one person andondaridolid althougha 1 th0 ug h it is difficultdifdlf ficultscult to ththankchankink illailallaljali thosechose involved1 there are a few who I1 eelfeelf deserve special recognition first my thanks to dr owen rich for his support and encouragement in pursuing thetlletile topic of religious broadcasting thanks also to dr reberheberlieber wolsey and other members of the public communications department of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints I11 extend special thanks and would like to dedicate this work to my wife mary ann without her supportsup P ort dedication love for and faith in me I1 would have lacked the courage to embark upon such an undertaking and finally a special thanks to my little girl katharine ann who patiently gave up much of her time with dad while the thesis was being researched and written 1 tl3iiI A 11 t 1 0OF xntlontlUNTLNTSjnllsjolls

pa chapterch J sas02eae acknowledgments 6 0 0 0 0 t 0 g 0 iiiliilil LIST OF FIGURES v

FOREWORD vivt

I1 introduction I11 statement of the problem 2

j 10 3 justijustlaustifjustif cationcatlonicationmication 0 0 9 methods 4 deldeidelimitationsimi tationslons 5 ilir the electronic church 7 ilililliihistoricalF toricaldorical background 8 phi losophiesphilosophies and 0101jectjec tavaveslveive 13 audience and accornplaccompllAccorn pl i shmentsslimentsalimentsslisllsilsementsmentsmenus 20

mormon way a 0 0 a 0 illlillii11 J the 0 0 9 33 1 historical background 0 0 0 0 0 33 trends and philosophies 0 36 audience and accompliaccompli8 shmentsalimentsplimentsriirilplimentsmenus 40

IV findings i a 0 11 0 4 6 contrasts 46 recommendations 48 bibliography 52

ii v distLISTL OF FIGURES figures pag

1 2 sample prayer request 0 0 4 0 0 16 2 2 total syndicated programs and audience 23

2 3 audience data on ten syndicated television ministries 0 24

2 4 percent of audiences by region 26

3 1 US audience size for LDS paid time television 42

v FFOREWORDR EW 0 1 1

ye are the light of the world A citycleycd uy that is set on a hill cannot be hid neither do men light a candle and pulpillput it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it givelgiveth h liihtlichtlight unto all that arcarecare in the house

let your light so shine before tlienmenlen that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven

matmatthewchevthewchew 551414 166

vVIi c1CHAPTERcaI1AVE I1 R 0ONEN I1

I11ntioductI1 I1 tr 0 d u C t iionlon0 11

the use of the brocadbroadcastcast media as an evangelicale tool is a subject that has received relativerelativelyly ittlelittleiuele ahtenaLtenattentionliori injn the worldwould of higher education and yet broadcast religireligareligionon is as old as broadcasting itself the first wireless voice broadcast wawas transmitted to the public in 1906 it was a christian program of songs and scripture reading the first religious program on television was broadcast on easter sunday 1940 1 during the last few years broadcast religion has received more attention than in years past more and more it is becoming a subject of interest study and conconcerdconcardconcerncerDcern many observers of the american religious scene fromfrodifrodl the left and the right care passionately alaboutout what is currently happening in religious broadcasting it is a social phenomenon so videwidewidespreadspread and ifyortantirrmortant that it has acquired a name the Pelectronicic church

inen the future the subsubjectJ ct of rellreilreligiousbiousgious broadcasting viwill11 continue to attract momorer e andondalid moboicmoicr e auenauentionattentionquentiontion in ilnslitutionsns ti t u t 1 0 r i s 0off higher learning As a churchchurchownedowned school itjl would be well lorforcor brigham young university to bebo amot12amon the leadetbeadetleaderss in theelleeile study of and

ben limstrongaimstrongalmnimarifiAim trotzigtrotrotigstrongilgtig pheihofhe illo mijctijc chunh naohnashviNash vi 1 J teitetteunpsseeuiesseeunessee iiiliithomasill allmollm s neisonnelson PutpubpublpuhlpuhiJJishersasherssliersiler s incjnc7r 117799 pl 20 2aaa4 2 jeffresjeffrey K rodlenhadlenhadden mmj chorles FI1 swannSwrinncinn pi ieeleeime timerimeideime preachers powe iai1 I1 ma E L i theilietiietile risifrisiallllbiipbip weiwoiwob wo1 of0 e ni i m roadboadpoadkoad n massrumasarus i huselhusoeh ti s e tt S addisonadd bon I1 gojo 1 ajol 1 J wesley tubpublishinglishing I1 inilcric ijol p 2 application of the pritwijprinciplsprincipalste 3 TFINinvolvedoved in teaching gospelp concepts through television As john kinnear directordire lortoreor of mediamedlamedda planning for the church of jesus christ of latlerlatter day saints hasliasilashagilag saidsaldsa ad1d we muslmust use mediainediamedla effectively Q and efficiently to get the message of the church out 3 in order to do that one must first understand more fully what is happening in the world of broadcast religion today through this thesis ilit is hoped that other researchers will be prompted to investigate the field of broadcast religion even further in doing so they will add to an ever increasing body of knowledge that can be made available to those who plan and carry out the policies concerning use of the broadcastbroadcbroadba A media as ara teaching proselyting and public relations tool statement of the problem this study will present the results of extensive research concerning the current status of what has been called the electronic church it and will discuss some of the contrasts between the trends and philosophies of the major evangelical broadcast organizations and the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints LDS in their use of paid time on nationalnatdonainonaljonal television since the numbers of organizations and people involved in religious broadcasting have grown 0 o rapidly ionoi attempt wiliwill be made to inincludelude

yn f 11 the entire cast of charaerscharchargerschainchaiochalochainupisoolsAersUPis in thistius effort tinslitislitls 1 tudy will

t focus its altentattentionalbent donjon on at fewi PW 0ol01 theeheelleielleb ilytl cyy plpliycistyclusi tildandond willwiilwj ll11 includeincludc thetiletlletiie church of jesus christ oioj lriiarii t er day saintsS antsjnts amonaamonpimong thedthellthelitheilthem

30 interview withwittiwiell john G kinnealkinnealy altaitsaltS lakehakeike city utah 17 october 1983 31

the study will exziorexpiorexploree indi omejm aspectsas ectsacts thetiietiletlle differences between the approach taken by the hnslbsLDS church and thelheahe philosophies and atUtatutudesaltitudesaltftudesudes of the evangelical broadcasters toward religious broadcasting it wiilwill

i L not focus on the malnmainmainmaln lineiinelineaine relreirellreilrelireligionsiai2v101113S catholicaL holic methodist lutheran etc but rather it aijiwijiw111i11 looklookjook at the evangelicaevangelical1 movements that use national televisiontelevision as their primary means oiof spreading theelleeile word 11 in brief the problem was to conduct a study identidentifyingi dentilifyingying some oiof thetiietile major contrasts between the therhe church oiof jesusjeslis christ olof01 lauerlouerlatterdouer day saints and the electronic churches use of thechecileeile broadcast media austifjustificatjionjustificationmication although much has been written on thetiietile subject of relirellreligiousbiousgious broadcasting in general and there seems to be renewed interest in the activities of several of uhe nationallynationatlonaly known television evangelists very little hasliasilas been written aboulabout the involvement of the church of jesus christ of0 latterlatterdaydatter day saints inianlan broadcasting A thorough search of the literature reveals a dearth of writtenwr itten material unitinqunitinuniting inderunder one cover information about the major evangeliststeltelevangelists with the LDS churchschurchy efforts in national television broadcasts the study of this evangelical phenomenon known as the electronic church is important its abilityal to Jeachreachr out and influence hundreds of thousands of americans is a force not to be taken lightly its influence can reach fartar beyond the laliverplalivercrpnativeAative peace of thecheuhe nation I1 s spiritual lifeilfe indeed many analysts point to the powerful influence of if evangeliststeltelevangelists such asac jerry falwell in the politics of thetlletile 1980 presidential campaign 4

4 hadden and swann op citclecieit p 4 4

this thesis will focus on a few olof01 the major organizations involved in nationally televised religion today and discuss the different methods used to convey tltheirleir inesibesmessagesage it will bring together the opinions of many professional observers of the electronic church and present facts and figures as given by various media agencies As a parallel to thisthJs it will present a current look at the mormon involvement in national television and discuss some of the most recent projects as well as the general philosophy guiding the LDS church in its decisions concerning the mediamedla

in some ways thistchish L s study will compare thetlletile approach of the electronic church with thcjhctacitthcitit of thetlletileehe mormon church it will discuss some ofoc the major differences and put forth possible explantexplanaexplanationslions for these contrasting elements it is extremely important thaithat rell9rellareligreligiouslyli ouslybously oriented scholars gain a better understanding olof01 what is lakingtakong place in broadcast religion today if they ararearce to be prepared to make signllicantsignifsignia tcantscant steps forward in the futurefuturee As hollywood script writerwrit or james 11leckfleckfieck hliasilasis said iflf religiousrelrei iviousigious minded people dontjontloneione learn how to use the media correctcorrectlyly oienhienolen anti religious or areldaareligiousareldg iotis factions willwiilwi 111.1iill form the value systems oiof the world tt5tta5

methods this thesis has beenboenboon developed using a combination of the

descriptive and historical methods and represents a consolidatlonconsolidationconsol idae i on oiof information gathered in a searchsc arch of more t- han a humichumarhum1rhundred1.1 magazine and newspaper articles and severallseveral books approximately 30 articles six

5 1 C interview with beberheber GI wolsey proveprovo utah 28 sept 1983 C D books and four unpublished 1 desesjeses were selected and studied more closely for specific use in compiling the information in addition to this literature search personal interviews were conducted with reberheberlieber wolsey managing director of publicpubliepub ilclie communications for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints from 1978 to 1983 john kinnear director of media planning and lorry rytting director of communication analysis in order to get an accurate account of what the LDS church is doing on national television today through these interviews we are also abableabieie to see more clearly the basic LDS philosophy concerning the use of the broadcast mediainediamedla delimitationsdelicidelimi tatjcms this study is not intended to be an exhaustive historical treatise nor will it focus on what lilalllamayy be in store for the distant future of religious broadcasting I1jtL is simply a compilation of facts and opinions concerning religious broadcasting as it is being conducted on television today by some of the nationally known religious groups including the church of jesusdehms christ of latter day saintsscrinScain ts tiietiletheilie programs included in this study are broadcast to a nnationnaelonablonabion wide audience this work will not attempt to iiicludeinclude organizations with programs that are produced and broadcast wiwiltllfilnin the boundaries of a single city or reureVrev1011region1011 As jeffrey hadden and charlescharieschacleschaCirulesiesrlesriescles swaniaswaniswann set- out on annn investigation of the electronic church they soon found that there were many more elements involved than simply the productproduction1 ionlon of a weekly broadcast

before we got very far into the research itJI beccbecabecameime obvious that we could not properlyproperlyexly understand the electronic i church if we restrictedrestrcestr icledctedacted ourselves to thelliecideclde radio and television 1 C 1 broadcasts themselves theIie computerscampucompu le r S1 that spit out direct mail at 119lighteningileliteninglitlikeningening speedspee the telephone banksbarilbarllbarli s tthathritchritha t serve to 6

receive pledges as wpjwpc i was ofotleroilerfer counselcounse and prayer to listeners the casse1acassottcncassela r records newslettersnewslettercS and magamagazineszines that are available to faithful viewviewersUs these arer e aallaliayi1 integral componecomponentslitsrits of theedieedle electronelectelectroniceJectejectronicronicjc churches in collecting information lorfor ththistillseliisIs thesis the author hasliasilas had a

similar experience thereinore are simply moremo r e facets of religlireligiousous broadcasting than can be covered thoroughly injn one thesithesiss many of the things mentioned by hadden and swann will ilotriotnot be included in this work but could be the focus of ffutureuturefuture research in thisflitsuhls way this study has a high degree of heuristic value because of the potential lorfor future research and investigation there are many subjects suggested by thistills thesis that willwiil ilotriotnot be discussed in depth in this work but that could be the subject of future writings these include questions such as what fformator ibalmaima t is most effective for communicating a religious inesidesldesmessagesage on television what is the typical religious attitude of those who regularly attend the electronic church should the LDS church put more emphasis on the use of TV to spread the gospel niesmessagesage should the LDS church compete with other religious broadcasts through a weekly prograiiiprogram of a similar format since radio and television stations are no longer required to provide free public serservicevilcevince time to religious groups how long can thetlletile LDS church hope to continue airing music and the spoken word in its current publpublicc serviceserv acelce status and what is the future of public service spot announcements surhsuchsuc h aras the hormonesmormons iiomefronthoniefrortt series it is hoped that llistinsllliislilsis study will piprovideovide not only ariartan additional source of valuable informal ionlon1011 but an nicennicentivo111cerilivelivelivotivo forcor others to pursue further studies in ththistillsJs fifjieldid

63 hadden aandniiniv swann 01op JJit p jxaxi CHAPTER TWO

the I1 leclroniclecleeieelecL ronicironic chinchchurch

the teaching of religreligiouslous prtriciplesprinciptcbtrici ples one Ihumanillman being to another has been practiced since the days ofoe adam andcand Eeveve indeed one of the longest best selling books in the world today isJs a compicompjiationtationlotion of the writings andalidaridarld teachireachiteachingsrigs olof01 christianghristianan principles known as the bible As the world population has grown in number our capability to communicate with people liasilasllos alsoaiso increased with the development of radio and televisionteleteJevision it is now possible for one man standing in one place to send a message that may be heardhe ird andoralldoraridorabidor seen by literally millions of people in many countriescounti iesles all at practically the same instant in time

As a natural result of0 maisdaismalsmanismants interest in religion and his well advanced technology in the field of mass communication more people in the world today have had an portuniopportuniopportuneopportunityop ty to hear the gospel of christianity than at any other time in our history it has been estimatedestimcestimaitedcited that jesus christ preached to no more than 20 to 30 thousand persons during his lifetime even if thistills total is underestimated the number is trifltoifltriflingjngingang in contrast to the audiences reached today by his disciples who utilize the airairwaveswaves many ministers perhaps scores speak to significantly more people every time they preach than did christ in his lifetime considered in histiahistoahi staticalstoticalical contecontextatxt the vast numbers tuning in every week and in a few instances every day to tthehe 30so called electronelectronictc preachers with national audiences constitute truly a phenomenal development moleMoiemoreoverover the technology is now in place so0o that theoretically at least a billion persons could be eachedreadiedreachedr simultaneously with the gospel message

7 8

for many evangelevangelicalicalsicalas thiehiehl01lis11s isi indeed good newnownewss but iiff i 1 those christians area rk 3 elated withwi th the potentp 0 t e n t a for electronics to beam the gospel across the gobeglobe soinesome are uncertain whether the airairwaveswaves constitutecoristitute the best or even a proper way to spread the good news still others seesec the phelomphenomphenomenonnolinollnori we call the elecelectronictroriic church as a threat to developing and sustaisustalsustainlsustainssustainingnli ng local christian communities 1 historicalrishistor i ca 1 back&ijbackgroundbagkground

F in order to undunderstandersLand thetlletileehe status ofo-i religious broadcastbroadcastinging in the 1980s1980 it is importantimport amt to understand some of the histhistoricalorica background behind this movement televiheleviTetelevisionlevi i on waswac of couisecourse preceededpreccededproceededprecprece ededceded by radio it was in 1906 that the first wireless voice broadcast was transmitted to tthehe publicp u bab1 i c the broadcast was a religious program of christianchristianchr 1 stian songsongs 0 and scripture readings 2

e oc a religious programmingpropC ramming continued to be an essential lementlemeneclementelementclemene of radio stationstations format aniand w itllitil theche Cadvent oiof television clergymen whowiiowilo had been actively involved niin spreadingspread anglng the gospel message by radioradlo ssawsowiw

toa another valuable tohloatool to lielleilehelpheipll11 tthmahmlentleni inJL thetheirthe1111 ministry these early builders oiof theehe electrice Lec tric chunh sharedshored a common passion lo10 clarrycarrycorry the luemessageasagevsage of the gospel to as itallymany ieopleleopieleoplekeoplepcsop le

1 1 r I I 1 as popossibleSsibiesible by thetleheli most effective me insinh avriiavria abl1 I e theyi e Y recognized radio as an instrumentst amentument 0 codoodod whilewin ie each program speaker haihad idsinshi own way oiof expressingexpress nighig thetlletile inessageiresinesmcssagpsage all stressed thethoeho asicasio doctrines of elloeilo traditional c11ristianchnstinn faith and stood fastjast againstagri instdinst modernirio dern aberrations most were ordained clergymen and wtnouiw t rioutribout exception all were activeaatiacti ve membelmemberss efaofaeraof i 1 oc a S buirchduirch

n jeffrey K raddenhaddenraddHaddcn boiisrsoiij I1L savingSa vi i a viavlaviovibavika Tvideodeo ththee christianchr i s t i an cenlleycenalleycen trjtaj 28 may 1980 p 609009gog 2 ibid p 81 30 ben armstrong thetho J cc r IL mrchimrcliu r c h rastnasihastivilleHast114lillii as I1 I1ivillev et e tcnnece tliomas111ollicas nelson publisherspubl lsliors incJ nctrto11979 7 p 3 7

1 14 9

catholic bishop fultonfullpull on J Ssheenlleellllvell Wvaswascirclr 7 amongw1101 those clerics actively

involved in religious broadcasting on radio he ioj i also given credit for the first religious program on television a one tirotimetimotl 1asterfasterfashereasher slspecialecial broadcast in 1940 later lilini 1952 sheen cevelodevelodevelopedped hisillsliislils own television program called life is worth living 11 and vithwith thisflitsfilis became the first effective religious television personality 44 an experienced rfidioradiorodio speaker bishop sheen was not aiming to become a television star but to introduce modern men and women tto0 the bbasici si c principles of adhistoricstorstoristorlstoric d catholicism in contrast to other television programs of the period bishop sheetssheen s prograinprogram ignored the hollywood fflourisheslourishes of music scenic backgrounds changingchallchailchariging camera angles and a large cast Q essentially it was the same presentation as his long running radio program but now there was the extra dimension of visual contact viewers of all denominationsd enominat ionslons and viewers who had no church iidentificationdent ificat ionlonkon avidly folfollowedlovedlowed bishop sheetssheens program on NBC during his years on televiktelevigtelevisionionlon viewers sent lirhirlimhim1 as many as six thousand letters a day the potential audience for the early television ministries grew rapidly during the 1950s1950 in 1950 less than 10 of american households had television sets by 1955 that number had climbed to 65 and by 1960 90 of the nationnations homes were furnished with at least one television 6 today it is claimed that more people watch religious programs on television each week than attend the nationsnation s churches 7 As the major broadbroadcastcastcostcasL networks took their place in providing much of the programming avalavailablelabielable to indindividualJ vi dual radio and levisiontelevisionLe

4 jeffrey K hadden andcand charles K swswanninn primepri me time preachers 1 power jiinjii1llly3111the elsieisingnan& 0 ofz031168111 fe levangellevanger ism readReareajingreabingkeadmgKead jingmg massachusetts addison wesley publishingpublish ng co incintinelne 198198t appp 81 82 5 ben armstrong 01op cil p 82 6 raddenhadden and swann op citci t p 9 7 t B A m cs L 1 7 bendene n armstrongr s t r 0 n g 0opp 1 p 10

stations religious 0organjorganar g an J idt Jionslons0 11 S wrewore ddesignede s J g r 1I tto0 represent thehieoieole interests of the churstiechurctiechurches even before the days of televisiontelevikteleviolionllonsion thellietileeheeile NBC rcradloradioid io network asked the

i federal council of churches predpcessopredecessoipredecessor of the natnatinationali ollalbollal counc31colincj1 of churches to take tpsponsrespoiisaib1 il11 Ji I1 y florfor0 r establishing0 L 1 b 1 i S I1 I1 i 11 g the policiespolicjespolic iesjes1 es ffotfor0 r protestant catholic and lowish progrprogramsproga ms

by 1940 battles had begun between the federal cotuiboumcoum i 1 oiof CIILIchurchesrciies who had established the policiespolipolzleieslcies andalid the indepeiindependentident evangelistevangelistss who wanted to buy time for their religious programs while liberal elements progressively developed moiemore influence through thefileflipfilp federal council of churches during the 1930s there was no comparable organization to represent the many denominations and congregations that maintained the clasciasclassicic biblical truths since conservative churches weiewerewe ie growing and benefiting from radio ministries it was natural that a tthreat& reat to religious broadcasting would draw them together this conflict led to the formation of the national religious broadcasters NRB in 1944 this organization continues to be very powerful today and is made up of many of the bignamebig nailenallename evangelists because of the early strength and domination of the socalledso called it main line religions most religious television broadcasters of the

1950s19503 and early 1960s1960 verewerewetwer e clergymen of the protestant jewish and catholic faithsfaitfaiefale hs

i according to federal communicatcommunicatecommunicationsJlonstons commission FCC regulations

all stations had to allocate aca certain amount of public service timelime

119 lorfor relreireligiousig ous progranrningprograirnning tinshis publicservicepublicD service time was provided the

1 I A j various rereligiousjgioijs organiationsorganizationsorg z 0U ionsjons at no charge becatisrbecausedecatBecatisrI1 of policies

80 c Bbendenen Aarmstrongr ms tr 0 llorio110 0opp ceitelti IU p 494 9 frances FitzfitzgerlfitzgercfitzgeraldGerc1l I1al A reporter at large A disciplinedW scj pli i i e d N M kiy chargingch irgingdirging army neww ypjyoriyortype kcet 18 may2iy 1981 jrp 54 I111 I1 imposed by the networks ilanynanymany of the affiliates were not allowed to accept paid ligiousreligiousre brocadbrocadccbroadcastingcc i stingeting

by the 1970 s however thiselliseilis situations 1.1 1 uat1011 wasW 11s changing

the networks no longer dominateddom triatedstriated their affiliataffiliateaj fi 1 latesE S and the FCC had ruleruieruled thaithat itit would consider paid rere1reirelreligious1 iviousigious 3 1 broadcasts aasL sasatisfyingt I s f y A n g hieniellielile publicservicepublicpubl ic serviceservi ce rrequiremente lil111 i c efuent therefcherefthereforeore oioneie affaffiliateaffiljatei liate afafterlereer another lladtiad begun to seseidseldsellseliseiise1111 ofoffJ its sunday morning hourshoureboure since there waswos ini t ailyally 1 i ttleatle competition for tthee reireilrelrelireligiousi biousgious gheghrtto11L t 0 hours oiion sunday morning theelieeibe evangelists could buybuly tinsliitiitil is timeelmeeime cheaplycheapJy the new technology of levisiontelevisionte cablecabiecoblecobie systems communications satellites and UIIFUHF stations madiiiadeiliade aira J r timeeimeelme evelleverieverleven doreboreliloremore available and it made ilit even cheaper too since many cable stationstationsS would pick up thetiietile irlreligious19 1 0 us broadcasts fleefree loto10 fill their programsproprogrammprogramminggramm lilg1118 schedules A few of the well known evangelists billy graham oral roberts and rex humbardliumflum bard had been on television since the 1950s1950 but as americaalllericaamerjca entered the 70s70 the number of religious broadcasters increased rapidly thesenesemese were inenmen in their thirties and forties who in many cases created their own organizations to buy broadcast time anda n d acquire stributiondistributiondi stribution systems such as satellite and cable networks along with the older evangelists pat robertson jim bakker james robison jerry falwell and others bought up most of the public service time on sundasundayy morning TV shingJUpushing much of the main line religious programming off the air and making television evangelism a big business for the filstfirstfilse time in the nineteen seventies thetiietile annual expenditure of TV ministries for air time went from around fifty million dollars to six hundred million by the end of the decade there were thirty religiously oriented TV stationsstat ionslons more than

1 a thousand religious radio statscatstationslonsjons and four religreligiousY S networks all of them supported by audience contributions because of the changes in policy by both thetlletile FCC and the networks most religious broadcasting ilsis now done only by those organizations whowiiowilo

1 are willing to pay for t1tallielileh time very littlittle1e1 e freetfree11 public service air

10 ibid 11 ibid 12

time is available forfor re-religiousligiousLigious programs kenneth L woodward has summarized the reversal in this way in the infant daysdoysclayseloys of television evangelical precapreacherschers 114 felt like voices crying oi01oul0.1out of ththeI1 wilderness what littleai1i ttleatle free air time the nationalncationa networks verevecevocewerewore willing to devote to religion was divided principallypr incilaincipa 1 ly among roman catholics jews andan d the main linelirie ProUeprotestantprotestant denominationsd e nom ina t j-o n s independent evangelicals were frozen out so they raised moileymolleymoney bought their own air time andalid eventuallyeventuall I1ly created an electelectronicrollic 1 i churchchurch1churchy of their own todayroday wjwwithJ th such telegenic evangeevangelicallical preacherspreachersp t eachers as jerry fafalwelllwell and pat robertson dominating the rreligiouseli g JL 0 U S aira i-r wawavesv e s ofor eileuheflip Uunitedn j t e d states itJ is the mainstreamma in s 1 r e a m clergy ththata t feelsfeels fozenbozenfrozen out acedfacedpacedI1 with declining membership anioniandond infinfluenceluluemiceeniceemice theeheeileelle main liners are now 1 trying to get back intoinlo the Dtdtoraiiiegame the mainlinersmatimallmalimainmaln limlinersrs have finalfinaifinallyly realized tlthatlatlot illlif11.11 they dont do something fast they 1 will be left behind ssayslysaysiys ben Armstroarmstrongtig the diredirectoror of the evangelical national religious broadcasters NRB As the number of religreligiousiouslous programs and evangelical organizations producing them increases so alsoaiso the number of radio and television

i statstationsstaeseat ionslonstons and most recently cable networks owned by religreligiousi ous groups continuescontcone irliesirlues to grow between 1945 and 1019601.960 approximately ten radloradior idlidi o stationssLitlonsjons a y istaist1 ingang1ng two legious yearear started broadbroodbroadcasting at least hours of ligiousreligiousre LigiD ous programs prperp r day odaytoday there arearc more than a thousand stations in this category of these six hundred broadcast religious contentcontentcnt virvirtuallyLually full timetinie and alcatefirealreairearc owned by evangelical believers among these all religious stations approximately half levicyjeych loliolnolnoij sellseilseiiseij time but rely oiion the apportupportSsupportI1 of their listeners in 1972 pat robertsotiroberlsonroberdsonkoberRoberRobert lsonsoilsotisoll was operating the only religious television 14 station ini n america today however there are thirty six television stations with ullulifullfulif time religious schedulesschedulsduis some of which broadcast twenty four hours a day hundreds11 un d r e d s of0 f commercialco rumercial TV statistationsonsone are

12 n kenneth L1 woodward jl you cantcartt keatbeatkeah rmem neiswenewsweeknwsweekNwnewsweNewsweekswe k 9 feb 1981 p 101 13i ben Armstroarmstrongilgfig op lituitclelclew p 566 14 rodney clappwhoclapp choswhosWho riddingkidding who about thetlletile size of the electronic 11 church chripcheripchristianity today 6 Wsuisusausg 1981982 41 pD 4441 13

completely sold out on ijt1daysunday morningmurning or any other timelimecime they are willing to sell to religious telecastersteleteltejteie casterscoasters sunday evening is fast becoming asa lucrativelucijuci alive as the morning for those willing to sell to religious syndicators there is virtually no home in the united states into which the electronic church cannot syd its songs sermons and appeals in generous measure

writing for TV guide williamWill icam F fore said of this evangelical movement to the broadcast media the I1 electronic churchchuichichuich1 had to happen sooner or later fundamentalist preacherpreacherspreacheischerss convinced that they have a message for everybody were bound to merge their interests with the newest and most effective mass delivery systems TV cable satellite computerized mmailmalimallCillililil and WATS phone linesiinesnes out of it a whole new style of evangelism has emerged philosopjiisphi 1 0 so p h ie s andand objfctivesobjectives0 b jgctjcaj v e s assesassessingcaingping3ing the value of the elecelectroniccLec tronic church is a complicated issue which has been studied discussed and debated among broadcasters sociologists and theologians for the past several years in discussing the question of whether the electronic church is good or bad theodore baehr president of the episcopal radiotvRadio TV lounfoundationdation suggests that the answer is both

recently tthereh e r e iuslusimslicIICas1s been a hectic rush into telecommunicatilonstelecommunications by hicoieoletlle rereligiousadiousagiousAg iouslous community whetherwhet her this rush is the product oiof a sincesinceieI e commcommitment11juent to present the ggospelospe J through all media anandd to serve tiletlleelleelietine church or thelheaheehe ffabricatedabriabrl catedbated ssentimentse ntj m e ti t of a covetous desire tto0 becomebecome celebrity evangelisevangelistsLs presidingpr siding over billion dollar batcllitesatellite empires is impossibimpossiblete to sslysiyolyayiy what is tearclear iss thalthatchalbhat thislidstinselds I1 rush to tciecommun i catcot ionslons tiasacishcis both a jgoodood and a bad sidhidside thetiietile bad side of ourseourso is intricately relatedre 1 atedabed to theeheelleeile celebrity evcbevcevangelistgelistlngelistlnangelist intuloii whihwhichih h drives us loto10 elytry to get 1 I1 Canything oilon tietlethe electronic drdladedlamediaii i e d J 1 ritliwitliW 1 t i ttotal0 t ca 1 ddisregardisr e a r 1I forf0 r the ruinsrulies and grgrcimnidilumartmmalammal oj01 those memedlamediaddjadlodio J so vewe clog the

1 f 151.5 swymn haddenhodden and swfannswcmn upop r 11 1p 8

1.6iglg1 16 11 F pau n W williamwilwll HCHim F foteforepoteoteOT e tiitiljaiheitheltapicj1ihpicre isjb iono sucsue thing as a TV pastorPaCstor TV 1980 1 guideguldegume 19 25 july 98019801.980 p1 15 I1 it

airairwaveswaves satelsalelsauelsatellitelite transponder s and cabiec lbibleibie l channechannelsIs with 1 vanity video and m ake believebelleve missionmissioni in the interest of saying here we ateareaxe tlletiletheilie other side is related to a sincere conmutmenlcommitmenlcommitment lo10 the gospegospelA and involves understandinguitclersuc111ding the electronic medimedlmediamedlaa and working carefully and i titelnt e3ea elligenligontlagont J y to use them to proclaim ene fraly the gospel in its ententiiotyfrcly to call people into the calmhutcommunityty of believers and to ministermiilmiri isterieterleter to the needs of the church As baehr points out here are no simple answers to thiselmseims question of it good or bad there are arguments to supportsLipp orlorU both thetiletlle positive and the negative points of view which deserve further attention on the positivepositivejve side these broadcast religious messages can reach millions of people ben armstrong executiveI1 director oiof the NRB states 1 I believe that god has raised up this powerful technology of radio and television expressly to reach every man woman boy and girl on earth with the even more powerful message of the gospel 11181 armstrong claims that the major objective of religious broadcasting is to change lives through preaching the gospel message 19 some point out that the electronic church has the possibility to reach those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to attend church many elderly and shut ins are regular viewers others who would never set foot inside a church under normal circumstances may view programs which awaken their interest in religion dr willianwiiliamwilliam F fore a united thodisttheodistmethodistM thodist church minister and head of communication for the national council of churches cited a poll that indicated some 47 percent of amerlAmeriamericanscatis see at least one religious program a week on TV whilewhite only 42 percent would actuallyactualy leave their

17 n tlieodortheodore e boehr tangJ a ng I edd i lecoitmiutecommanecommuni Ai ons baehr 1 christianchr istianst ian teteltei caticatlcationscanions ijl1christianitychrist1anityali811 j jlyojlyybleyI1 oday 20 rovnovov 1981198.1i P 34 181 Q ben Aritiarmstrongstrong op it p

191.9iglg ibid p 137 15

homes to attend some lindrindkind of rellreliroliroligiomgiom service he also refrefersers to a

statement by sociologist williamwiiliam C martin whowiiowilo claicialclaimsims that electronic preachers are the contemporary fishers of men while the local churcheschurcliesciles

f tv2011 have become thetlletile custodians of tilelletice aquarium

tomrom bissetdissel generalgeneragenero L mangelmangeimnngeillmkanager ofoc a 50000CUOO watt christian radio

station in maryland pointsp 0 i I1 I1 ISI S out0 ut thatU 11 a L the subject ma-mattertter ol001f uiethehieule

electronic church has shifted tiomfromaiom the tradititraditiotiatraditionalotia L topitopicscs of atonement

justificaljustification10ti andwidmid sandsanu iiicat ionlon to doemodoremoemoree onteitipararycontemporalycontemporary subjects such as

caring loviovloving1118irig andalid undcistandunderstandingund cistand ing

what we are seeiseelbeelseeingseeiripilgrip todaytoddy thenchen is a prograirmiprogramminging drift awaylwe1weawely ffromr orli teachingt ea c 1i1 I i jij i g andnndra iii I d preacpreacepreachinghj ti ttoward0 wa r d counselicounselscounselingcounseliseilseii ilg interpersonal relationshipsrclationshipsrelatlot tottslilps holistic living and pilyphysicalicalicajbicaj i 1 I1 TODAYTUDAY healing not stisurprisingr 1 j i S I IF thetho christianity todastudas gallup poll shows a correcorrelationlationlatton betbetweenween hesethesef programming trends andalid 1yaythe felt needs of the christianchristiarichrisliarichrlsChris lialiliallLiari ladioradioradlo and television audieiicaudience through a network of proyerpr ayer aniand counselingcoun ee ling systems many lonely aliialiland

desperate people arearc comfo11comfojtoded and helped figure 2 1 is an example of one of the forms used by prayer line volunteers at the PTL club according to forbes magazine if you call the PTL clubsclub 5 prayer line and talk to someone you not only get sol-soireeice and biblical quotations but you also get your noiiionaiffle entered in PTLsPTTs computerized mailing list tt2222

people in the clctronicI1 f c tr 0 1 1 i C churchC 11u1 ch encourage their listeners and viewekieweviewers L S loto10 write or call and share their problems and needs the more persoitcapersonal1 informationjnformatioii available the easier is to I1 argotauget responses directly to individuals it 1 iftf the caller is facefaced1 with family or maritalmarimarlmardlaiLal problems difficulties with chicin idren 01or with managingii kalmkaim ging money etc most

20 wilwilliamklamkiamllam F11 fore op it p ji 2191 JJ thomas bisset religious broadcastingbroadcl i sting assessing the state of the art christianitychrhjstjjjodaistianity 12 d-uoccmbexember 1980 p 29 22f allan sloan with anneanno 1 agama etetyeryy thethetho Ellecelectronictronicuronic pulpit forbesforbes 7 july 1019801.980 p 118 16

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY partnerpaiirtwf

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dalcoholdialcoholealeaiDADAl kohocohol ddoubuD doubtsabts olnomniOlndintomniaomni elDAanxiety D u411drugs8sas elobejobglob earthdarthritisDArthDA rthritirth ritinitiritiss DEJ fareareor Trtroubletroubietubletubie dkidnrydkidrwy ailmentaliment cia3thrnacDAisthma reyeneye troubletroubie MaritaldmantalelmaritalEl rproblems eldad&lackbackdack problemsprroblerrrobleroi Fjakmilydfamhy Troubtroubleslesieslen fnervousnmnnervousrnesiness eiraptimDBapteaptm rn of holyH oly spirit Fchr1 iealea r focckcultdoccultDOcCkcult spiritualismS 0dad&knennedrworw frfractureitcturcP Ororvinalecjrmdilevinale oblfinipvoblrtnspi Udeaindpainim in ccahcvrDCahctr orGringrinanciainarvdalanclaancia frobkmxprobknu Fdsmoking15moking 000cooDClyrrlydyrr Trr walk with god crinsociallinnahcialLinnAhfinrinsocialcial hdptiripthrip USU tomachstomachustomach elcoldDC old alumluhflu dtoatoto beb savedS ved elcolonelcononDC olon uguktarktujgu1j8m in is problemhobltmoblom Ltltravelineltrivelingravelin mtftksmcfxkt elJOdrorewonDrorearrdehnenredepreprreuoneWoni4cm Lmemortholdsljhewofrholjia 0auictfulcer edlaediaodiabetesODiacJD betesabeleabete Mailennleartbeart troubhtrouble dakn0daanWr at krassrwsss DisbeliefeldisbeliefElJU i bileblief Illhighlehigh11figh bioddiodblodblood pressure dothfrdother00ther editcourwmentDacourlcour kieme mt ulnfrctionuinffction

doI1 you cvmntjycumently etivewtiverwtivt mailmallmaliejiumjiu from fili UVCTY inocinounoC would you likeilkeit fkr tot 07 mes encunceno3 mitmft litIIIlytiIIIEASEPLEASEEASE PRINT mrsMKS i misa LLU JJJJLA- UU ll1j finerkluiritiirfti UJLJJJJmiattmiaft illall AL ri REV 1ll cit11omekbomek 1 uLLLL U i LLLULU l LJ i armfrkrmrtnwt mdwf w ronnonnom hinburinbrr lui lulkul I1uJJLLU LLLUJ caycoyC y lllall ljjjjjjJ zJLLUJartoiprtoC 04f k PHONEr HCWE aceACPAGFage

ano CHANNELc H oneigneiWNEL you artareA wedredvingwedvingkingving Is thisth w a CABLECAHLE STATSTATIONlorlohN UYM 1no

F igureegurei g u re 212 1A

r SAMPLE PRAYERPRIA Y E R EMESTREQUESTR 17 likely there are enough other people with thetlletileehe same tytynen of01 problem so that materialsma ler have cairera beadyneadybendyidy been prepared

on the begatnegatnegativelveive side oileone 0ol01 the most predaleprevalepiepievalentprevalentvalentift criticisms of the electronic church is the competition it provides for local churcheschurchurchettchurchestchesT congregations and monetaiymonetarmonetarymonegar y contributions0 n tri buibul t j-o n s As one might expect ministers of many main lineitne protestant and catholic congregations are nolriotnot enthusiastic about the work of the electronic church forifor openersopenersyopen ersy thetlletile gleatgreat expansion of paidpa i d religious broadcasting ailallali but drove the mainliners who reliedre lied on free time from local stations for thelithelltheir programs off the air add to this the fact thatthalthae they profoundly disagree with what they consider to be the unlamentalistsfundamentalistffundamentaliststsT simplistic theological messages the main ririttrubtt however is a growing concern that thetheirtheirlr own constituencies arearc deciding to take their religion in the comfort of thedtheiri r living rooms and that they may be sending their offerings to the television preachppreachypreacherss instead of dropping them into the local collection plate 2

some advocates of organized malnmain line religion claim that true christian worship cannot take place through a broadcast electronic signal in this acknowledged battle between arganiorganizedrganirgani and media religion the church hashae one great secret weapon media religion may be ashierashlerflashieriJ but worship can onlyony take place in the gatheredr at1iered body of christ the pastor and the congregation must be present to one notheranotherca physicphysicaphysicalphysicalsphysicalyaly11yliylly as well as spiritually in the lordslord supper inilllil baptbaptibaptismi iiiisiii in people have 1 one A ardiordiordinationilationalation actually to toutoucilloucil1 another radioradlo church cannacannotcann A administer sacraments ben armstrong agrees hatthatthai the fellowship olof01 local congregations is important but heilellefie does riotnot think the electronice1eeieebe 1 ronic church takes people away from local churches

23 K I1 I I 1 L Jjeifreyjeofreye ff r e y haddenhoddenboddenia 1 1 e it 0up1 c it 1p 61uio0100 240 raddenhadden and swan up1 Clittituiti t p 25nr virginiaV i r g I1 ni asteiiistem oweloweir3i 11 he totaltol 1 inasimag or seiSeleljjjgselliezsellinzlinz jesus inln the Momdernmaderilmoderilderlideril a112A grand rapids chipinhichipinHiilc41c william B Ferdferdmatishcrdinausmatismolismolls nibpublishingi shing corpanyCompcompanyailyallyariy 1980 p 646 18

Rradioradloa d J 0 andan d tteleelteje 1 cve v Ji ssioneionelon0 i have1 ve broken through the valisvailswallswells olof01 tradititraditionollolioii we haveha V e builtbulit1 t1ta J J L up arounda r 0 ullutiuil 1I the hurch and have restoredres Lored condconditionslul ons remairemaikiblykibly similarsimil ar to the early chchinchchtirchtirch we may not like to healheat lhtinstinoJs I1lorforor wewo fearrear that theeheulieulle absence of 1 tiietileth e koinonia ttheeheh gatheringp at 1 ingy together in community olof01 believers willwiilwi suffer central to our understanding ofor the church is thisthicSI1 elemente 1 e m c fi t of feafe1fellowshiplowshi1 one ritliviahvlahwitliw lah another 11thatthota t must never be eclieblieclipsedlpsedlapsed by the electric churclchurchil but the electric church has leeileetseei1eeibeonbooni and isJs being used to draw people JL J 1 into that kindk n d of local0 c C I1 church worship when people substitute the elclecticlentiec L r 1icc chuichchulchchurch for a commitment to involvement locally it is nolnot the fault of the broadcast medium it becomes Vtheh 2 personal1 er 0 nal accountability ofoj the individual As in new testamentTe stanlestanie t times worship takes testaniedestanie2 9 place in the home spespeakerketker is alicglicguestguesest some support for armstrongs claim is ffound in a study forf or thetiietiletlleche national Clocaocounciluncil of chuinchesuncheschincheschurcheschincheeCh t ches in which electelectronicionic church consultant robert M liebert professprofesseiprofprofessedessorassorei of psychology and psychiatry at new york university stated there is little reason to believe that the eleclronicselectronicsejccironies are actually pulling people away from churches they would otherwise be attending ratherdathermather people have 1lefte f t the traditional denominationsdenominadenomina tionslons andlindbind their traditional services and then found satisfaction or identity with electronic church offerings there is some research suggesting that exposure to electronic services moves people to join local churches aand not to estrange themselves from community involvement further support for armstrongs views are found in william fores article for TV guide fore points out that for some the electronic church may serve as an easy option to church attendance but for others it serves to simply reinforce already held religious beliefs the electronic church doubtedlyundoubtedlyuiluri reinforces thethuhee religious convictions of many regregularulcar churcchurchgoerschuochgoers butdutB u t for others it provides an easy and convenient substitute for face to face church atloleotetendanceattendancedanceendanceen the electronic church is not a church there is no such thing as a TV pastor As robert schuller of the hour of

26c j ben armstrong 0op citc t 11.p 9 27Q 7 making the most of thethollieulieulle hiectrorncelecurotdc church chrcnristjchristianistiananityanjty todayloday 6 feb 1981 1p 15 19

power admits 1 I lailalualcan 1 t dpt1t j your chchildrenadrenjdren camfcomfcomfortort your sick or bury your dead one of fores major concerns is thethatity in their efforts to attract and maintain largelargo television audiences thetiietile broadcast preachers will

cautiously avoid direct conlconj i onlatiorisontout at ionslons with what might be called hard

doctrines 11 to maintain these huge audiences 1 says fore you have to please never offend or illetigechallengech lileille tige or put the hard questionsquesuions that itoiiotfx2 genuinegenu ine religioni requires ittf0 and if ben armstrong andond members of the NRB feel that the major objective of the TV evangeevangelislevangeliseevangojiistlisL is to changeciclaigeai ge iveslives those changes must come through thetiietlle kinds oiof1 halihallhajiengeshaJi enges and confrontations eluded to by fore however television iidayicaymay not be the proper media for such a challengechalchai lenge according to hadden and seamnswannswamn

L 1 ni01 U 11 I1 most massma s s ccommunicationscommunication&0 C 1I t 0 n s reseresearchcarch has shown that television is inefficientinefbinef ficlent as a vaywayday of changing peoples minds what it does best is reiffreinfreinforceorce the opinions and beliefs thatthalthae viewers already hold and thus the TV preachers whowiiowilo do no t challenge viewers beliefbellefbeliefsS are the ulouioniomosts t successful 30

another criticism leveled at broadcast religion is that sodesoniesodiesome ffeeeel the glossy commercialized piproductioneduction style is antithetical to the true spirit of Christiaachristianityityluy

according to some accounts advertisadvertisinadvertisingin 9 has been the largest component of the socicdocicsocial11 revolution in this country poor people saw and ailedjilediuelodIUsledslodELOd after whatwhalwholwhah1 they supposed to be the common lot of allailali average americans the sexually repressed and timid were bombarded with ideidealsaisbisals of beautiful accessible

bodies people everywhere began toL0 o expect and demand what they presumed everyone elseeiseeisee1seease had

28 william F forefocepore op cit p 161.6lgig 29 ibid p 18

30 swarm raddenhadden andadd shalmsharm 0op cit 1p 101 20

the sainesaidesaldesame dynamic scorns ILtoiloo be operating among christians they are universally pictured as successful svelte and integrated our current notions of0 both evangelism and edification are borrowed from image advertising the meek the misfit the poor in spispirspie jtt the suffering servant arearc not allowed inside the picturepictipiccielre despite the many pointing fingers of criticismcriticisill the big time

evangelists still feel tthatehathc 1 t they are working for a common obleobjectivectiveactive jerry falwell says god has allowed the development of modern technology in the electronic media to provide the chinchchurch with tools for the propagation of the gospel 0 1 religious broadcasting is used of god today to reachreaclireachi thousands who would never hear the gospel any other way and to be a source of ministry to the we sick and elderly lustdustmusti use these opportunities while they are availableaval labielabig to us and this comment comes fromcrom oral roberts religious broadcasting is designed to supplement the local church and not to bebo CaA surrogate church may we in the church seriously reevareevaluateluatecuate our responsibility to use thetiielile TV and radio medium ascas a real supplesupplemcsupplementmc nt to reach thosettiosc who can be attracted to the churchIi urch and to minister to0 them when they are confined away from the church services 3 with some of these objectives in mind as well as the differences in plipililosophicalphilosophical approachapproachess loto10 the lecleleceleee ironiesronicsconics church one might ask is thistilistills religion of the airwaves accomplishing its missionillissalliss ionlon

audience andan d accomplishmentsac c om p 1 islimetimeilme n t s

starting in uietheulenie predawn hours of cadieadieachcami sunday dorilmorrimorninging the largest

P Ai ca drawdrow liutiu 130 religious gathergatheringin in aiiiriamericaiiri takes place drawinglipC almost million people to their radio and leiteileale1televisionev lsionislonisionelsion sets 314

0 1 31 virginia stem owensowene op citclioilclecie appp 37 38 3200 J thomas bisset op cit p 31 33 ibid 34Q ben armstrong op cit p 77 21

1 so began ben armstrongarmstrongs book jjiilexlIlleilelie 1 hectricjectricS churchCJ jaj1 1979 so alsoaiso began a major media myth perhaps because Armstrarmstrongongy is a minister a good m2tmatmany and the executive director of the national religious broadbrooddroodj3iocilcastast ers most people who have wilttenwritten about or commented publicly on the phenomenon of electronic

evangelism seem to havehovehavo1 taken armstrong at some version of hishi s ador1dorwordd his estimateest imcateIm cate of the sizeM ze of the weekly audience for broadcast religionreligion has been repeatedrepealed uncritically by people who should havehovellave known bettelbetter similarly impressiveiitipiessive figures on specific television evarigeldstsevangel istsests jstryastryjcpry falwell is a prime example have been accepted as truth 3 this from sociologist william martin of rice university who has studied the actual surveys and statisticsslatisticsstatjsties of religious broadcasting for several years he explains further that claims such as these would be understandableundcrstandabj e ifjf we had recourse to nothing more substantial than faith hope and guesswork fortunately we can dodlodio better intn the course of a decade of research on the electronic church I1 have examined a substantial number of audience surveys some conducted by academics some by the harris and gallup organizatinsorganizaorganizationsorgani zatinsgatinstins and some by private market research companies TJ have also looked closely at several years of audience datadatcdaic1 published by arbitronArb itron and Nielsnielsencn the two major rating services for broadcast media the results are remarkably uniform and the conclusion loto10 which they point is that the audience estimates cited above however much they may differ from onone56 another have one feature in common theyuhey are all absurd 36 intn researching thelitheir book prime time preachpreachers hadden and swann also found discrepancies between the audience figures claimed by the

religious broadcasters andond those presented by the major audienceaudieliceerice measuring servicesservices virtually allaliaila11 teelLevangeevangelistslevangelistslists tggerateexaggerateex tg gerateaggerate their audiencealid lencetence i size many of thedthem slncerelysincerelysincerely belbeibellbelibelievebelleveJ eve that they do reach literally millionminionsY some confconfibonfiuseye potential audience with real audience they seem not to grasp the fact thalthatthau only a fraction of allal Lelevisiontelevistelevisionlonion setss ts inn a given viewing

350 C william martin theaheiheUK dirthbirthju r th of a media myth atlarilicajjrujcAtlarilic oritjljmonthly dunejunejuliejuilejurie 19811.981 p 7 36 ibidfind p 8 22

area are turned on alat oneon timetametidtim and of 3yioscthose only a very small percentage are tuned to their show

arbitronArb itron and A C Ntnielsennielsennieelseneisenlsenisen havellave both collected survey data about the audiences of approximapproximatapproximalilelyclelyely sixty syndicated religious programs

their findingsf conclude thatthaltholti i t both overall audiences Isns cited by armstrong and the estimates by individual television minisministerstersLers are muchiiiuch smaller than claimed like ailallali survey datadacadacodcitanua their figures are estimates based on samples and samplinsampling procedurespt ocedures thatthalehat as the rating seisciselservicesvices i freely acknowledge are subject to niinidminornor error FurfurtherLher the total audience for thetlle electronic ministries is somewhat larger than indicated since the ratings reflect average audiences not all viewers who ever walch a givengilven program or viewers who watch periodic prineprinleprimeprinie time specials produced by some of the ministriesmini sirstr leslosios also no audience figures are suppsupplieded if fewer than one percent of the television households in a given market were tuned to the program in question with the result that a small number of viewers arearcorcore not counted finally the rating service estimates do not include figures fortor audiences viewing the programs over some cable systems though several electronic preachers make much of their cable outlets claims of enormous audiences for cablecastcablecast religious programs should be regarded with great skepticism

figure 2 2 indicates the total number of syndicated religious television programs and their combined audience sizes from 1970 to 1980 according to arbitronArbitron note that the number of programs and size of

audience increased significantly until reaching a peak in 19781978 with 72 syndicated programs drawing a combined audience of 22538000 by 1980 the number of proprogramsprams had dropped to 66 with audience size falling to OQ 20538000 an average of311182of 311182 viewers per program 39 figure 2 3 shows tthehe audience ratings foror ten of the most watched nationally syndicated television ministries as measured by the A C

37 haddenbadden and swarinswarm 0op citciloil p 484

38 10 william martin 9 optopopa cit p 39 hadden and swann op4 ritcidCIT 1p 55 23

number of syiulicaledv i i J i at e 1I combined year programs audience size

1970 38 9803000918039000

1975 65 20806000208069000

1976 68 22812000

1977 62 21998000219998000

1978 72 22538000

1979 66 214770002194779000

1980 66 205380002005389000

SOURCE the arbitronArb itron coitCortcompanyyanywany

figure 2 2

rrotalTOTAL syndicated PROGRAMS AND AUDIENCE 24

rating of viewerviewer households in totatotal total ministry stations coverage areaarea audieraudleraudienceice households oral roberts 177 212.1 235100021351000 1553000115539000 robert schuller 161 202.0 2130000 142700019427000 rex humbard 209 181.8 20790002079 000ooo 130800011308tooo jimmy swaggart 207 151.5 197890001789 000ooo 114800019148000 jerry falwell 244 1351351.35 1440114409000000ooo 9860009869000 day of discovery 180 131.3 1267192679000000ooo 8790008799000

PTL club 193 131.3 190500001050 000ooo 7760007769000

700 club 123 9.9 7059000705 000ooo 569000 james robison 69 12lziz1.2 5751000575375 000ooo 3830003839000 ken copeland 69 7.7 3812381 000 2770002 000ooo 13767900013767 000ooo 9306000993069000

SOURCE A C nielsennie lsen company keportreportR on syndicated programs november 1980

figure 2 3

AUDIENCE DATA ON TEN syndicated television ministries 25

nielsen company this shows orutalucal11 pobeipobeerobbitsroboitsLs with thetlletile highest rating for

that period followed closely 1byy robert schullerSchuJ lerIer itjt is interestinterestinging to note that jerry P faivelisfalwellsalwelps program was bbroadcastr0 a 1 ca S L oilon moiemore levistelevistelevisiondeleviste on stations tthanehanhan 0oralral roberts but wawaswosS actually seen by a smaller percentage of the potentialpoten lialuialulai audiencecaudibaudience thistills was also the case with rex 40 humbard jimmy swaggart the PTL club andondcand day of discovery

A look at the demogiaphicsdemographicsdemo g L cajhics of these audiences reveals additional worthwhile information demographically this audience is predominantly female over fifty working and lower class and true to stereotype likeilkelikelyly to live in rural areas towns and smasmallsmailll11 cities injn the south and midwest it isiss also composed almost entirely of believers most of whomwh a are members of conservative protestant churches af4f this description of the electronic church audience is interestingly close to the demographics of those who attend regular church services for as long as sociologists llave gathered statistics on religious behavior it liasilas been consistently observed that women attend church inorelnoremore than niendiendlenmen also consistent is the pattern of greater church attendance among older people thanthailthall among the young in light of this it should not come as a surprise to Ilearniearnlearnearn that women also watch religious programs oiioilorion television more than men do and that older poisonspersons do so more than young people virtually ailallali thetiitil syndicated programs had audiences of which two thirds to three quarters arearcarg fifty years of ageCige ot01 over among those persons tiftyfiflyfiely and over who watch religious 1 41 eli television programs aboulabout two tintidthirdsrdsads arearp female in addition to lindden1 andaddoddoridorld swinn mporjsoncomparison of the demographics of church goers with electrotiel net J onic1 c chinch watc1ierlswatrherg it isis importimportantailt 101too note the principle strength of tiletlletlleilethejiethotjie electronic chuh is in the southernoutoul her11 and didmid western parts of the united latestatesslatesstalesstatesL tales figure 2 4 gives a breakbreakdownclown of

40 1.1 villiamwilliam martimarttmorttmartinmortinn op chcit papp J 1J 41 ibid

42 H sw hiddenhodden aniand swanninilanil 01op il appp1 p 61o02oiz06266261200262 26

Ffastkasteastra s t Mmidwestmidwest1 dwestawest south west oral roberts 10310.3 24624.6 53953.953970 liz11211.2j127o rex humbardliumflumbard 147 23823.8 46546.5 115015.00.0 robert schuller 24024.0 33233.2 30130.1 12712.7 jimmy swaggart 11511.5 23023.0 51351.3 14214.2 day of disdiscoverylcoveryll 10810.8 28328.3 43843.8 17117.1 jerry falwell 12912.9 26926.9 44944.9 15215.2

US population in region 22522.5 26726.7 324 18418.4

SOURCE the arbitronArb itron company february 1980

figure 2 4

PERCENT OF AUDIENCES BY REGION 27

four major regions in the USU and the percentage of the audience from each region which tunes in to the programs listed just less than one third of the population of thetiietile united states lives in thetlletile south and

yet both oral roberts and dimmsjimmydimmy swaggart draw more than half of their audience from there on the other hand 22522.5 percent of the total US populationpopulatpopulate llon lives in the east but mostmoet ofoc the organizatorganorganizationsizat ionslons listed draw only around half of that proportion as an atioiioilatidienaudiencedlendience only robert schuller coniescodiesconescomes close to r 1 43 being represented proportionatelypropotporopot li oiioiloll i L y in all four resionsgionslesionsresionsregions indeed iitt would seem that the electronic church is still heavily a bible belt phenomenon with lessjess tfI1 ianlannan half the proportional share of audience in the easteleasteinbasteinai1i region of the united stalesstates and considerable unden eptsenlat ionlon inlilill theiliechetlletile west as well virtually all of thetlletile proprogramsgranis have audiences in which two to fourths are 50 years of age and older thirds three arf44 they arearc also primarilyprimar llyliy women 44

according to a chichtchristianiistianitydanityty toda Yy gallup poll taken in 198010 80 it does not appear that lilellielile religious broadcasters are leachingreaching the unbelieving llonilonrionnon christianchristinn audiences theythe y are hoping to conconvertconvereverLvere rather it seems like a caecoecasecose of thellielile inisterministerT preaching to the choir compared to thetlletile public as a whole those who watch religious television or listen 1to0 o religious radio are more lilcealilcelikelyly to have hadllad a conversiconversionon experinceexperience believebelleve the bible is free of mistakes oppose abortion believe in a personalperpec sonai devil abstaaastaabstaintn from alcoholalcolalcoaiolloiand hold to or engage in aC1 host of other beliefsbaebje 1 ie f and practices characteristic of evangelicalsevangelicals 45

431 hadden and sicaniswcaniswannl op cit p 60

44 I1 william fore A criticalClAri tical eye orton teteievangelism1J evangelism theitieitle chraschristianchrjs tian stujcenturyntuj 23 sept 1981 p f140960940 45 J thomas bisbissetietbet3et CIPop cil io y p 28 28

william martin concludeconcludes thitthiethle since accordaccordinging to a gallupgalgai lup survey fewer than 5 percent of the 61 million americans not affiliated with any church could recall ever having watched a television preacher other than oral roberts 12 percentpei ceniconicent or billy orahamgraham 11 percent the usefulness of the broadcasts as tools of evangelismevangel ism the primary judustijustljusti ficatcationcatlonionlon used to raise money must be seriously questioned sUfisufication but these evangelists of the airwaves dontdon seem too concerned with the discrediacrediscrepanciesfanciespanciespanciescles between their own inflated audience figures and those considered to be much closer to the actual facts perhaps they are somewhat unconcerned wilhwithwi th the actual size of the audience as long as their bread of life 11 the money from viewers continues to roll in jerry sholes a fformerormer writer for oral roberts seriously questions how much real good comes of the contributions that are solicited by levisitelevisitelevisetetelevision on ministriministeriminiministriesstri es with thetlletile advent ofoj electronic religion the church hasliasilashos beenbeon artificially extended into our homes the offeringof fering plate that gets acaspcaspasseded by televised relreireligion1 gionglon hasliasilas grown so large that it inclincludestides the contributionscontributcontriconerl butionsbulbut ionslons of millions of dollars by millionsnulnuilions of people when you endeavor to trace the bocooogoodooc that thosthose1 oniccontonirjonirriiblitiIbbutelciLItIionslonsons do you begin loto10 rtinrun into muddy water A large television ministry tends to localize its funds iinn anda n d around whateverwild fever project the television minister wants to teushtpushush no real good ever finds its way back intinto0 o clehiemieflip communities of those millions who contribute loto10 largelargo 1sohwisioneelev1 cv ision ministries I1 i what does lihappenhapppnappen is thalthatthaiL television ministersiiiiidiiiiid citersaiters enjoy extremely high standnjstandardsds of iving11v1147 millioniiilil ilion dollar homes expensive catscotscarscis agbig business deals computerizedcampucompu terized mailing lists and cashcoshccish lowfflow patterns that boggle the mind you begin to SUSIesuspectCt thatthalehatthad thecliecile entire pattern oiof large electronic ministiminiati iesles isdisJIS much boicdorcdoreboremore closely rerelatedlateaateiate 7toatoto thellieulieulle ego of the television ministerminjsterniiiii ster than to anything else

but where does the money codecorriecome from that can support this kind of

46 william martin op citC it p 16 47 jerry sholes ameolvegivevmeme tilathatthia primeprjjne T ildendeudenne rrljor1jyionR new york hawthorn books 1979 p JXix 299 lifestyle the answer of ccurstcourtscourtn ists thaithatthalthau it comes from the viewers but it is not usually solicitsolicitedod directly over the air the FCC has sonicsome prettprettyy strict rules about soliciting funds over the air so most revenue is generated through direct mailamailmallmalimaliamalla a method the record companies haveilavellaveI lave found quite lucrative A segment of each program a commercial minute if you wdwillwiilwd1111 is set aside to offer a giveaway a book record cross bible thetiietlletine viewer IsLS urged to write in for his personal copy at no charge hisbisillsllis name then becomes paitpart of the mailing list most reputable reljoreljreligiousi biousgious organimationsorganizationsanizations do not sell their mailing lists neither are most of them charlatans or elmer Gantgantrysrys who prey on vulnerable folks then take the money and run 48 for many of the most notable personalities of the electronic church this system of direct mail solicitationssoLi citations seems to work extremely well on the surface one would assume that many worthy causes it are being helped by these millions of dollars in contributions A close look reveals that a very highillililit gh percentpercentagecage of the money collected simply goes to pay those involved in the money raising system for example in 1979 income raised by falwellsFalwells TV program was 35 million while its operating costs for direct mail appeals promotionpramotpromot ionlon anandd aadmidm innij sstrationtr a ti 0 ri includeJincludiincnc ludiludl1.1 ud i iingg maintainingmaimalmat ataintai ning faivelisfalwellsfalFaiweliswells 12 room house and private jet amounted to 26 lillionmillionii thus the fund raising vehicle itself spespentL noremoremorc than five dollars for every seven dollars it earned and falwell is not alone otherot her well known electronic preachers are alsoaisoeliso living more like celebrities than old fashioned ministers A lot of evangelievangelistssUs live nicely kexrex humbard and his two sons recently managed a 175000175000j75000 down payment oilon 650000 worth of floridaIi realorida recal estaleestate not long afteraflerofter helielleile vaswaswa pleading for donatdonations1011s to pullpulput ll11 his cathedral of tomorrow out of debt i most of tleleeietlethee bigbigtimetittimei me relirellreligiousg i otis show biz types are more professional managers thanehanuhan paopastorstorscors take jim bakker lieilelle and insllis wife tammy draw 5000agoo5goo iniiilit salsaisalaryiry betwbeawbetweenen them and their expense aldowaljowallowancein e iraisesITs t helietietle take to about 100000

48k 1 wendy marquardt I vejv e j y thingehing you always wanted to know about paid religreligionloti IPJVSIJOJ 4181188 march 1977 p 79 49iq william forepore op cit p 939 30

they live rent ffreetreer e io ni lavishtaviiavjiava h house provided by a PTLPTLJ supporter and they drive cars PTL owns PTL buys the fancy suits bakker uses on illslilsliisirt show employsemp loys his brotbrotherbrotlierbrollierlierlleriler and sistesisterr and gives his parentsparen Ls rentrr nt ireefreefree quarters bakker is not making poverty wages to be sure but he has never taken a vow of poverty what hes bakimakimaking iisntlsne ihltuiuhireasonabletuireasonableunreasonableunreasonable11 for someone vilowho hahass helpedI1 e 1 1 bubuildi I1 1I PITPTL into a 53 iiimillionmillmili ionlon T illion revenuesrevenuesreve duesnues business Is tiollono110 more I1 hanhonthin a good many fairly ordinary doctors 1lawyersa w y r Is ind midlevelmid levellevei business executives make these days 3M

what segalsegaisegmentent of thellielileuhe v lowerstowersviewers 0off the electronic church areareaarey actually

involved in providing filfinancialfinanciajlancial supportE according to one polpollpoi 38 percent of the viewers coiitributecentrjbute five percent or more of their income while we cannot lell precisely sheiesherewhere contributdcontributedcontributionsons to religious broadcasting come from we do know that members of the electronic church areace adlongamong those evangelicals whowiiowilo give the most money to church or other religious organizations accordaccordingng to christiantfyCHRIST LANJTY TODAY gallup poll data 26 percent of those who watch religreligiousiouslous television said they contributecolluribute 10 percent or more of t-heir income loto10 relreirelireltreitreligiousii biousgious causes an additional 12 percent reported ggivingi vi 11 g between 5 andalidaridarld 9 percent the ffigures are even higher fforor radio where 28 percent contribute 10 percent or more and anotheranotileranotiler 15 percent give between 5 and 9 percent even if one allows for considerable audience overlapping it isJLstisjis apparent that religious broadcastingbroad castAng is in touch with a sizeable group of generous contributors 51 with these kinds of estimates being discussed it is easy to see why many of the ministers of local community congregations feel that their own donation plates are suffering because of the rapid growth of the electronic church

this growth Is expected to increase at least for the next ffewew years already there are three religious television networks and plans are underway to launch the first christianIChrist ican satellite by 1985 this will be the first of thieethree planned for use by a world christian consortium

50 Bdipdig allan sloan with anne bipbagameryCip ame-r y op cit 1p 124 51 J thomas bisset op cit p 29 31 the first will broadcast to horthnorth and south america the second to en europe and africa and theuhe third to asia and the pacific islands 52

As tom bisset declared ij i an article for christianichrist i ani ty today ifitifftjt

must be apapparentP arent to even the usual3sualcasualc observer that religious broadcasting stands on the edge of a bravebravobrove new woidwoldworld ti53 the first definitive study ofoc the electronic church is inin progress NRB Is sponsoring a cooperativecooper atjvc survey by thetiletlle gallupgcallup olgrorganizationorgrmicationmizationmiza tioneionelon and

the annenberg school of comitlunicatcommunicationsTWIS at thetiletiie Univeuniveriuniveristylistyristysty ofor 54 pennsylvania this study is being financedfinanfinancedfinaneodcedcodeod by diverse sources1 jaj4

more than twenty five organizations cliocatecare paipoiparp irticipatjngtic i patingpaipat ing includingdincludjngnc luding clinCBN PTL andcand most of the catholic and mainline protestant groups as veilvellwellweil as 55 thebliebile electronic church groups Ciliatedrfciliatedrfaff I iiated with NRB the research wilwillwiliI include lourfour mainma in parts first an analysis of thetiletlleehe fordtforantfornntIL andaridarld content of relirellreligiousgiLous TV second an analysis of who watches personality profile rel181ousreiigjous involvement how otholother TV viewing social circuitlstanccircumstancess of C viewingD aniantand the relationship of viewers to church attenattendanceJance and funding and t-I1 heho support systems telephone ieltersfelterslet terstors third a study of the gratification received by the audienceaud Lence and the degree of increase or decrease in their social interinteractionictionactionic tioncionclon andcand fourtfourlfourthji the behavioralbebakbebav i oralorai effects how viewing relates to concepts of reality religion society values and to participation iiiniiiilli church and otheroilier social activities the project isis expected to cost about 150000 and will take 12 to 14 months to complete eight major reseresearchairchairich organizations have ruidmademode i official proposals and the ad hoc committee is expected to complete the funding and award the contract in the fall of 1981 so that data gathering can begin in early 1982 widthwvwipthh a joint release of the data hoped for about a year later 56

r 52 comes tom bisset religious broadcastbroadcastingaiguig of age christiani tyY totoday 4 sept 1981 p 35 53 ibid 54 rodney clapp p 46 55 william fore op cit p 940

56 1 ibidib d p 940 a 32

in hopes that this infinformationormtoratornt bori1ori vouwouldild be available forfor inclusion in this thesis project telephone calls were made to the annenberg school of communications in philadelphia on october 21 and october 24 1983 however due to unforeseen delays the statistics have not yet been compiled into meaningful data nancy signorielli stated that they hope to have the results of the study inikanikerpretedinterpreted into meaningful information by februarfebruary or march of 1984 57

57 telephone interview vithwith nancy signorielli she in philadelphia pa and I1 in provo ut 24 october 1983 CHAPITCHAPTERir THREETHREEJI1 A the mormon way historical bacigbackgbackgroundaundound the first message to bebo broadcast to the public from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints LDS consisted of a few verses fromcrom the doctrine and covenants a book that members of the church holdhoidho id as scripture the broadcast originated with radio station KZN in salt lakedakedokedalcedaice city utah on saturday may 6 1922 at 800 pm that evening president lieber J grant stepped to a microphone and read from doctrine and covenants 7640 42 23 24 and announced that this was his message to the world heilellelie was the first of several speakers on the broadcast program that evening As the technology continued to develop the LDS church took a very active interest in this new tool of communicationcomminicommuni cat ionlon radio broadcasting of the general conference sessions became a reality in october 1924 when KFPTKEPT now KSL ran a 0directrect wire loto10 the iiwdnniciinnickin ptiippulpitil of thehe tabernacle the 1 resultresuitresultingirig letters and telegrams that camecamocomecomo inin from alallaliI points of western Ainericaamerica and anadaanodacanadaCi weiewelewere very reassuring but perhaps the greatest thrillt to come to the radio men who sat at thetiletlle controls was kjkijowmjorjjowj ng thatthacouatbouat many elderly persons who eiI 1 could no longer come to conference inui thetiietile tabernacle Yyeree I e now having the conferericeconferconjetcrueconJeT clueelueericecrue brolbroughtlightkightwight 10inlo themthornehornthomm in theltholthoithelt t hodeshomes in an aricearticlearviclear elcieeicievicle published in ththe ddsLDS church magazine dateddoted apriapril L 1947 albert zobell jtjr posed a question that steerssteemsseems1 almost comical

1 n albert LI1 zobell jr radio and the gospel message theihasihjs E11 3 im J ra 1 1947 1p 2552 LinilinientlirilinimentbirirovemenentL I april 00JJ3 34

as we look back on it today floblohoweverueverwever the people of that day hadllad no idea what kinds ofoc complex oflmiunicationscommunications systems would further developdevejop from the early days of radio

what willwiliwiil the next quarter century bring for uiehieuletheL he church in the fieldf eideld of radiioradiosradicoradio7 what is thecliecile next great invention that I1 will encennenableibleibieablelble the churcchuocchinchli to0 o help il1fillf lilliiila thetlletile divine coj11111ancommand and challenge jo70 ye therefcherefthcicjoreore and leachteach allalial nations to observe allaliailaj 1 2thingsthings whatsoeveraliatwliat soever I1T have commanded youyou1youa matthew 2819 20220 the LDS church continued to daintamaintainan1n a very close relareiarelationshipLionship ritliwithwitliw1wa th the broadcast media and in 1925 sylvester 0 cannon presiding bishop of the church loaned krKEPTPI money as an investment by the church in the station during that year a regular sunday evening church service was broadcast consisting of a twenty five minute sermon and thirty five minutes of music from the stationsslationstation ts studios the stations call letters

KSL mormon were changedD to and the tabernacle choir started regular

Q broadcasts on KSL during their thursday evening rehearsals 3 in 1928 KSL became an NBC network affiliate and by 1929 the tabernacle choir broadcasts were being carried over the 1tworknetworkne on a regular basis weekday afternoons in 1930 as richard L evans became the announcer of the choir broadcasts it was estimated that ten million people were tuning in to the weekly program it was 1932 when KSL changed affiliation from NBC to CBS the choir broadcastbroadcastscs were moved to sundays and the program became known as music tta and the spoken word from temple square tt4

2 ibid 3Q robert donigan an oatlineoutlineoatoutline history of broadcasting in311 the church of jesus christ of latter day saints 1922 1963tt963 unpublished paper 1964 p 6

4 4 ibid 9 p 14 35

LDS church leaders began to rea-realizelize the valuevajuebajue of these choir broadcasts as a missionary tool and reports flowed into church

headquarters of nanymanymcany tourists wanting to visit the ft crossroadsftcrossroads of the west the phrase used ascas part of the introduction to music and thetiletlletiteehe

spoken word As missionaries wereworewece preparing to serve in their varivarlvariousollsouisOLIS areas they were given rainingtraining in the use of radio as a missionary tool and some missions in the LSUS were able to get local stations to carry these missionary orienorlenorientedcedLed broadcasts J5 television became a significant part of the mormons1mormons use of the media in 1949 when the october sessions of general conference were broadcast for the first time over KSJVksirKSJ TVV these broadcasts havellave taltaitakenrcenacen place twice each year evoiever since injn that same year the rilirillhillhi 11 cumorahcudGuncunlorah pageant was televised locally from its location near palmyra newnow york 06 by 1963 the general conferenceon ference sessions heldheid in april were broadcast by some 156 lelevisdelevistelevisionionlon stallonsstationsstalionsscallons and 30 radio stations lilJjilin11 thetileeheeileelle united states and canada also in 633 thetlletile LDS church purchased 7 controlling interest in KKIRO10 IO AM FM TV located in seattle washington

i during all of its hhistoryL sborystory iniiiiliill broadcasting thelileulie church of jesus christ of latter day saints hhadhudad relied primarily on the free air time made available by radio and televisltelevisetelevisioni an stations because of the FCC requirements discussed in chapter 2 As stations started filingfilling theltheiri x public service requirements with religious programs that were paid for by the early pioneers of the electronice church the amount of 11freefree public service time available was drastically reduced and the cormonsMormormonsmons

W arobert5robertjrobertw donigan op cit p1 54 bibid6ibid p 57

7ibid7tbidbibid p 88 36

if they were to continue to got effective public exposure needed to consider buying broadcast time for their messages the one major exception to this is the fact that music and the spoken word is still carrcarriedled by the CBS radio network without charge to the church heber G wolsey managing director of public communications for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints from 1978 to 1983 explained that by definition CBS does not consider the choir broadcast to be a religious program CBS has defined music and the spoken word as itailattaa public service program of cultural value for this reason it is aired as a public service while other retigionsreligionsgigionsti gions are not eligible for such free air time because of the purely religious nature of their 0 programs 8

trends and philosopliies1 P sophiossophigs in discussing the purposes of the LDS church in its broadcasting efforts richard L evans theoleehe original hoslhost of music and the spoken word and a former general authoriauthoraauauthoritythorii ty of thetlletilechurch stated that the churchchurchs jectivesobjectivesob jec tivescives in broadcastiibroadcastingig are the sauiesouiesoulesamesome as they areoreaxeate in allaliail other areas of activity to deserve the respect and earn the confconfidenceidendence of ailallali people and to present to them the nostmost important message on earth from a colcoicommonmilon ground of understanding roLighththrough cuituralcultural and artistartisticartistjcJCjc and intellectual and spirspiritualattical1ttical and all other worthy means john kinnear director of media planning for the ITSLDS church explains that we must use the mediamedlamedio effieffectivelyi clively and efficiently to get

8 interview with hebenebeheberneberlieberr RG wolseywohoiseyvolseyisey proveprovoprouo utah 28 sept 1983 9 V E limburg an analysis of pelitionships between rellrelireilreligiousgliouslous broadcast programming objectobjectiveslvesalves and methods of presentation used by selected major religious program producers as compared with the church of jesus christ of latter layday saints masters thesis brigham young university 1964 p 48 37

wewo 11 the inesmessagesage ofoc the church oulout 0 have a story to telteitoltcteliteil to preach the principles of the gospel tiloitlo1110 reberheberlieber wolsey explains that the major purpose of the media for a church is not conversion buthut to get people ready fortor conversion generally speaking the media does not do the whole selling job he also cautions that we must be careful not to preach only a social gospel 1 by this he means such things as the results of being honest kind helpful etc although he agrees that such principles are important he feels that the church must combine this social gospel with the very central most important part of religion which is jesus christ and his gospel 11 the church has done a respectably good job in the last 10 or 11 years of getting across the high concern that we have for families family unity and holding families together helping your children working oulolitout husband wife relationships all of those things and our research shows that that story is getting over pretty well people are beginning to recognize that the church ofoc jesus christ truly is concerned about holding families together and thats positive its good in luyinymy judgementjud gement wevewelve got to go beyond that to bring this central reason for allaliaila11 the good we have to oiferofferpifer and the central reason is jesus christ and his gospel As wolsey points out the church has achieved a strong reputation in areas that may be teritecitecltermedlied as thistins social gospel this has been done primarily through the exposure the church has received in free public service time the messages presented injnJ the romeHomehomefronthomcfrontfront seriesserles of 30 and 60 second public service announcements and the sermonettessermonettes given as part of music and the spoken word have all strengthened lillsflitsuhls image of

10 interview with john G kilklikiiinearKiiKJ inearlinear salt lake city rahotahutahmahmoh 17 october 1983 11 interview with heber G wolsey 12 ibid 38

the mormons as being family oriented believing in the standard principles of the social gospel

john kinnear explains that in using public service tinietimelimetidietidle we haveh iveave1ve to find a message that does us some good but that is also compatible

i with what the stations willwiil accept tilatil3 on a number of occasions according to wolsey people have said in effect therhe mormons do a great job of talking about family unity theretheres no doubt about it theyre concerned about holding families together its just too bad that some good christian organization doestdoesn1t do as well heilellefle uses this statement to pointpoiiit out his concern that people know the Mormormoristmormons1mormonistmorist feelings about families but they doitdoltdouttdonit know that mormons are christian 14

t i the social gospelgospeltgoppelt approach is importanti niportant but itsittslbsibs not enough to do that only we get millions of dollars worth of free time for the family oriented messages we should do everything we can to hold on to those theyrethey re highlyaly beneficial to the church theyre highly beneficial to the non member that weewere addressing they are top notch top quality type of messages that are nothing but good forfor people but even as good as we have done those weeveewe iretre not getting overov er that we are christ centered what im saying is that weeweve got to combine the two to let people know 4ntantthat the real valuevaluess of this church are centered in the savior this concern fforor stressing the more important part of the message of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is not a relatively new philosophy in the church as some might think in a letter to val limburg written in 1963 sterling W sill who was then serving as an assistant to the quorum of the twelve apostles wrote

131 interview with john G kinnear 14 interview with lieber G wolsey 15 ibid 39

lowell thomas was once telling about thetlletile great amount of money that people spend in the united states to get their messmessagescages sent out across the major radio networks somebody asked mr thomas what was the grecagreatesttest message he could conCEconceiveJve as being broadcast to the people of the world mr thomas said tthathlathiatchatchau the greatest message that he could conceive would be that god hadhodhild again spoken to thistilistiltsflits people upon the earth it is of coursecou arserse the message of the church that oodgodgrod has not only spoken againa alnain but he came in person andaridblidbild not only did helielleile come in person but he caused his message to be written down in three greatgr at volumes of new scriptures giving complete direction about how our lives might meet their maximum in accomplishaccomplishmentsmerits of course this message is of no value unless somesomebodybo dy understands it and it Jiss the obligationoblifya 16 on of the church to carry thisflits to the people of the world 10

by the mid 1970s churcchuocchurchli officials began to realize that if they wanted to have more contcontrocontrolro 1 over the kind of programming they could broadcast and the size of audience they could reach they would need to move into thetiletlle field of paid timetimeatime1 broadcasting buying time on television would allow thetlletilechurch to get its message to the public

during the prime time viewingv levingieving1 ewjngevingewing hours when the most people arearc tuned in heber wolsey discussed the challenges of creating a program that would hold the interest of these larger audiences if we can figure out ways to appeal to the broader audience and make religion more meaningful then were truly using the media in a way to helpheip the lords work the secret is to make religious concepts highly meaningful in peoples lives for exampleexam pitzpliz he asks how do you show that following the example of the good samaritan will really bring satisfaction into a personpersonsI1 s life today in 1983 we need the combination in the media of the religious precepts plus tthetlletilehe religioireligionreligiousis practices so that you can translate the precepts into dailydallydaliy living tt17

16 TV E limburg op citci t appp 43 44 17 interview with heber G hoiseolseyoiseyvjolseyVJ Y 40

john kinnear explains that perhaps the major difference between the churchchurchs useu e of public service time and paid broadcast time is ffound in what we hope to abcaccaccomplishaccomploinplishish with the messamessagegC lfif we are using the media as a tool for church expansion he says then paid broadcasting is most effective if we are using the media to simply make friends for the church and create a positive attitude toward the church we can be very

i p effective in public service 18 audience and accomplishments

1 in 1976 the LDS chinchchurch launchedlaunched1 its first major effort with paid broadcasting the program wawaswos a one hour special entitled the family and other living things and it featuredf several bignamebigW g namenome TV1 V personalities of thetiietile day according to lorry rylllugeyllRyllryte iiinglugg Directdirectoroi ofor communicationcommancommun tcation analysis for the church of jesus christchrise olof01 latter day saintsSEEints the program was seen by an estimated twelve million people inln thelilerheulie los angeles area alone the show received better ratratingsdigshigs than six other programs scheduled during the same hour in opinion polls conducted beforehe fore aidandald after the program was aired it11 was found that there was an jnincreasecrease in favorable attitudes toward thetlletile LDS lurchhurch as aca direct result of theelleeile show and there was also an increase in lileuheflip number of people vantwantwantingirig to leamlearnteam more 19 about the Mormorronmormontijon religion

the next television specialsp ecialectal that the church bought time for wasw Is mr kruegersKru egers christmas thefherhe showchow featured jimmy stewart in the leading role and included a special appearance by thetlletile mormon tabernacle

181 interview with john i Ki3nnearin n a lc19 interview with lorry E rytting salt lake clycilyC ly utulahutaholaha I1 i I1177 october 1983 4411 choir kruegersKrueg cisers christmas was airealrenireairedolred first in december of 1980 and again in 1981

figure 3 1 shows the audience sizes for the three major paid time 2090 broadcasts that have been spoiapoisponsoredisoredvisored by the church to date u with

kruegerkruegesKrukruegertsKrueegerisegertsges christmas the empemiliasempliasemphasisilaslias L S inlit111 thetlletile message content had changed from emphasizing the importance of faiiifabiifamiliesjilies to conveying the niesmessagesage that mormons are christians lnin surveys conducted for the church it was found that those who watched KrukrucgerskriegeriskruegeriskrueKrucegerisegertsgers christmas were more likely to associate the church with christ than those who did not in 1980 kruegersKruegers christmas was aired in 163 US television markets and 44 markets in canada when it was shown again in 1981 it was broadcast in the top 125 US markets and also on 37 TV stations in australia the australian audience included 2068866 people or approximately 13813.8 of the total population 2191 in addition to thesethose two earlier programs the church Is planning an easter special to be aired in april of 1984 according to reberheberlieber wolsey this program will star art carney who plays the part of an old

unsuccessful painter livliving111g injn new york the story is an adaptation of 0henryOllenollenrysahenryohenryryss the last leafleak the program itself will present aspects of the social gospel while the condeconmecommellcommeilcommercia1iallal inesibesmessagessages viliwjwill11 tieticlietle the church directly into the message of tthetilethieiletiehie saviorsavsov loy byy combining the two we ieeleeletleeiee the world know oatnatnotthatthaethoe wereweevere concconcerredcomerconcernedcomerpederreddedped about them as dividualiiidividualindividualsilliii and that followingfolcol lowing the teachings aidardand example of elleeile savior can bring people thetilctileehe

u 0 20 happinessliap piness that theyetheyre looking foifol 0O

20zu ibid 21 ibid 2299 wj lleileaie G wo intinterviewer view wi th beberheber1ie ber wolsey1 y 42

Progprogramraill alaj redr ed audience ofoff US households the family and other 1976 12000000 not avaavailableavallabjilableliablec living things mr Kruekruegexskruegerlsgerlsgerts christmas 1998u19801.98080 20300000 12512.5123 mr kruegerskruegerlsKruKrueegersgerlsgerts christmas 1981 12700000 8788.78

SOURCE ddsLDSLUS church PublpublicJc communications department

figure 3 1

US AUDIENCE SIZE FOR LDS PAID TIME television SPECIALS 43

in buying time for thelsthese spejals3pocinjs diedleJhojieie church hires linanbin agency and gives the agency direction os to how lanymanyii markets thetilctiles church would like to buy time inln for example they want to buy time in the top 100 US markets the agency then goegoes to each iiimarket and makes the best time buy in the best time slot flortoror theuhe best houthour and day they possibly can we buy access or early prime time to avoid heavy competition with the biggest strongest network programsprog rawsrams 3 another factor consideredconsid red in the overall design production and time buying is theehe churchurchchurclisclis target audienceau ldiej ice john kinnear explained that right ilowliownow we know thatthaeehat the majority of theche people whowilo join thetiietile

LDSIJDS church about 74 of the converts are between the ages of 14 and 34 that becomes our target audience 24

but thetlletile mormons haventcaventfi given up oilon the use of public service

it messages thetiletlle roirorHorhornetileflief rrent0 n L sellesse ri 1I S hashosh a s been extremely successuccessfsuccessfulsf u1ua according to john kinnear 48485252 of all commercial radio stations in the US are using thecliecile homefronhomefrontHome front11 series and as highighli as 90 of television stations have aired certain bomeromefloinefroifthome front campaigns heilellelie points out that some ofoc the free brochures ntionednotionedmentionedineinclne in sodeomesome of the early campaigns irearelreice stilstiistill being requested and he says for all dediadedlamedia radio and TV in the past five years over a million requests for brochures and about 58000 requests foifolt reresentativesrepresenlotivesrepresentativesT of the church have been received 2595 in the fall of 1983 the church announced that a new homefrontHome front campaign is soon to be released this campaign is designed especially

23 interview vithwith rebelreberhebelheber GCF wolsey 24 interview with john G Kinnekinnearax 25 ibid 44

for children and has been riamednamedam ed ode omefrontilomefcontome front jr these 30 and 60 second public service announceiiientsannouncementannounceannouncemenubenubenmmenU willwidiwidl teach the importance of honesty and are designed to be shown during saturday morning cartoons or whenever

0 C it261 childrens programming Is schedutscheduhscheduledsche duh d john kinnear suggests that in addition to buying time for the

broadcast specials some thought could b given to buying time for commercial type 30 and 60 second spot announcements

the danger there is we dont want to compromise our position with pubpubliclic j service were getting so much pubic service time already weve achieved such a reputation for excellence through our agency bonneville productionlproductions30 in producing the materials that are airedalredaj ed at no charge that we wouldnt want to compromise that for instance broadcasters may say well theyre buying time for these messages why cant they buy time fortor the others as well the answer to that is if were going to buy the time we want to get much more dirldirrdirectct with our message than we are in the Honiehoniefrontiiomefrontfront seriesserles I1T thdmhdthisi s lastlastI ast point is one tilctliateliateit seemssoems to point to some of thetileulle philosophy that may be involved in future productions of paidpa td broadcast specialspeciasspecialsspeciasclass produced for the LDS church kinnear mentions it in reference to the spot announcements and again in hisbisnisbnishisis discussion of future specialspeciralcical programs

we can certaiticertainlyly gelget much inorelnoremore direct vithwith our paid broadcast mcssjgcsmessaresmessagesmes saRes than we have in tiletllethoeheeho past I1 thinkthiiik weve leenbeen too nervous in terms of hovhowhiow direct weWP can get with our message in the time that we areoreaceoce bttybuyinging ifJ J we are buying thetiietile time ihenthen we can pretty much determine what the messamessageige is that wed like to go out ovelover thetiietile airairwaveswavesa ves itft hasliasilasilos to be packaged so that you never lose ihl of thetlletile audience youre trying to reach 28

262 cariacarla A schieveschleveSchieveoveovo new faces to compete for childrens TV attention ihurjdnjcwthe churcli news 13131.3 nov 1983 p 4 2797 interview with john G Klinnearkinnear 28 ibid aj1j 5

obviously the LDS churchcljln ch plans to continue its use of thecheelleeile broadcast medianied la what remains to be seen is to what extent they will use paid broadcast time and whether they will be able to continue their successful use of public service30 ervice time C HAPTPJCHAPTER1 R IV

fifind1 d Jings11 g S contrasts

there seeseemsllis to be no doubt that paid religious broadcastibroadcastsbroadcasting119 ists here to stay the mormons havebavellave learned that lesson and are well- on thetlletile road to making the best olof01 those circumstances by tryingtry inganglng to find successful formulas fortor attracting a significant audience and holdiholding118 their attenattentionllonulonLion iongjonglong enough to effectively accomplish their objectives the preachers of the electronic church have also realized the strength of relireligousreligiousgous broadcasting inlilill1111.11 our day and they too are trying to find the best possible formulas for insuring the success of their broadcasts As they strive to meet their objectives however there are some very basic differences between their approach and that of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints first of all the style of the paid electronic church programs is quite different inn many cases the electronic church has simply brought the television cameras and the rillsfrills of electronic staging into a slightly modified chapel setseelingseetingsettincytincy with a preacher and a congregation heber wolsey points out that thistills setsetupup may not be designed to best use the strengths of thetilctile broadcast imedlamediaredicanedjaqedned ica

As radio and TV were invented ligionistsreligionistsrelre j g ionistszionists were excited at the potential for codvertiiconvertingq the world with these new means of communicaticommunicatecomrnunicatj oiion but insteadj of asking themselves hatwhat are 1 the streiigt1strengthsjs of radio or what aleate tth1 ie strengths of TV thetheyy saw eachcacti as an txtrnsionextension oirl of theehemicmie pulpitIMI intIdt so they first put 4 6 474 7

a microphone on the pulpit olioiiarlrindcinddind lalerlolercater pointed a TV camera at it 1 the LDS approach to their paid broadcasts has been to use well known personalities and place theinthem in situations as characters in a well produced story that timI1 iletielle audienceCludie liceilcerice crincrin i elaterelcaterescate to and therefore learn a lesson from the 11 ommercialcommeicialcommercialommercialmerciol breaks that ailallair during the program are designed wilhwithwilli a somewhat diorebloremore direct message related to the beliefs of morinomormonismMurmormonismni sm thetiltii I1 wo work togethertogecoge Lher to leachloach a principle of the gospel andalidaridarld create further intesc&tintenanten est in thellielile church itselfit selfseif within the electronic church in matlymallymatiynanymany cases tlletile entreentire broadcast focuses thechecliecile audienaudienceaudiencesaudiencelscelss attention on one individualiridiciridiv idualbidual whose message is extremely direct such as otaluialotaioroloratorot roberts or jenyjerry folfoifaiwellFalweliwelA

i john kinnear expexplainslaiiallus iu another very basic yet veivelveryy importanti niport ant difference between the elect101llceleooleo tonicionic church andalidaridarld thetlletile LDS programs the basic difference between them andalidarid tisilsus injn that regard is yes they are asoalsoaiso buying tinietime to arlixCtidiid their message but in airing ththeE message they do something that we doitdortdontdone do f that is they solicit funds that helppayhelpheip 21aypay for the time so heythey1 can be self perpetuating we dont heilellelie points out that allailalialj ofot the paid broadcast time used by thetiietile LDS church is purchased with morteymoney fromfroin the tithing funds of the church these funds which represent tiietile voluntary contribution of ten percent ofot each church membermembers income are considered sacred and decisions concerning their use are made very carefully and with great deliberation by church leaders on the other hand electronic church leaderslecaders livelavelavo fortor thetiletiietlle most part extrerneextremelyly luxurious lives and arearcace able to pay all of

interview wilhwithwvithvichJ th hebernebernoberhober G wolsey 2Q interview vithwith john G kinnearIs innear 48

ang their production expensesexP ensesanses usingus inglng oneyroneymoney111 Senegeneratedrated through their broadcasts as discussed in chapter two public communications officials for the LDS church do keep track of what other christjan organizations are doing in the field of religious broadcasting just as these other organizatinsorganizaorgcanizatinsorganizationslinstins pay close attention to the work of the Morcormonsmormonsmons john kinnear points out that the mormons have many friends in other religious broadcastingbrocad casting circles theuieulenie LDS has been given eight gabriel awards from the national catholic broadcasterbroadcasters association for the romelHomelromejhomelfronthomcfront11front series the mormons arearc seen by other religious broadcasters as leaders in thelile fleidfield of public service messages in turn LDS leaders also try to keep abreast of what other religious broadcasters arearc doing simply to see whawhatL Jiss

Q happening and how well their approach is working 3

ieconffljidreconupendationsaatiajti ens based on careful analysis of thellielile many facts and opinions studied in the compilation of this thesis theeileelle following recommendations are made concerning the future use of television by the church of jesus christ of latter day saints

1 that the LDS church continues to lalemakeiilaie use of public service time wherever andcand whenever possible although for many religious groups thellielile doors to public servdservicenervdi ce imettimetimelime have been loscaloscdclosedc ever since the FCC started accepting paid religious prograrisprogrcimsprograris in fulfillfulfil1cu3fil1inentiiient of tiietiletlle public service requirements john kinnear hasliasilas pointed out thatthot ttheehe mormons aiare considered to be leaders in theehe field of public service announcements

30 interview with john G hinrickinrickinnearKinginyinlleric ir 1499 according to lorry ryttiryttjryttingng 500 percentper centcontconL of indiviindividualsduals surveyed in most areas of the united stales hadllad heard 01or seen the church messages such as the homefrontHome front series on ladiotadioradioradlo or television 4 this kind of audience certainly hchasIs positive implications for the church in terms of creating aA good public image and may be instrumental in the churchs proselytingprosely t ingy efforts as the PSAs pave the way for mormon missionariesmi slosionariesionarlenariE S to be accepted into non members homes and teach gospel discussions that may result in conversions ittt has already been pointed out that this process as described above has taken place unnumbered times as a result of the music and the spoken word broadcasts even though not considered a religious program the ffactact that the airaiailall i time is ffreetreeree of charge is in itself a strong positive factor but the other important elementclement to keep in3nan binddindmind is that the mormons have established a reputation for quality in the researching writing piproductioneduction and distribution of these public service announcements if they are to coLtincontinueue to earn this freefreallfreell time they must continue to stiessstress the sainesame type of high standards they have been known for and respected for jiiniliilli thecilccile past

2 thalthattholthialthiol the LDS churctchurcochurch not loliowfo low the pattern of otheroilier religreligiousrcligjousreliglouslous broadcasters especialespeciallyayiy in theeheelleeile electronic church and develop a progprogramyram that could air weekly and actoctlct as a formfoamfonm of01 ol competition for 1thehe audienaudiencee of the electronicelec ironic chuccichurchurchchuccl some people hashavhave suggested thatthaeehat the IDS church develop a program lilae is very Ssimilar to the style of elleeilecilechie electronic church but of0 roinuseroinse thetiietile teachtearhinstear hinsiiaiiq y s would be iai1ini I1linelidei n e vithviolwith the mormon faith

4 interview with leriiorrlerklorryborr i11aaa citingryleyleyt ainguing 500

john kinnear saidsaldsaisal d in icsponsorespotise to such a suggest ionlondoildoli were not

going to follow the pattern of other umrcheschurcties we want loto10 lindfind our own 5 pattern andcand have our own unique andind inspiredairedpired way olof01 using the medmediamedlala 0

with the talent iindmd technology available to the LDS church today undoubtedly it could create ai weeklwecklweeklyy program that would lookjock ververyy much11 u C 11

it like the otheroilier members olof01 thellielileulie electronic church after aEI while such a program broadcast during it paid time mayma y even receive good competitive audience ratings but the problem is that the LDS version would then be quite simply justust another church shoatshowshowt on sunday morning considering the boldness and uniqueness of the mormons message to the world it doesnt seem appropriate for them to be sponsors of just another religious program 1 3 that LDS church officials very calefcarefcarefulcarefullyullyJy monitor the accompliaccomplishmentsslimesilme ntsants of their paid television specials in an attempt to identify which program elements make the broadcasts successful and then try to use those elements in maximizing futuref paidpa id broadcasts there is no question about the fact that these paid broadcasts seem to be furthering the overall goals and objectives established by the church in its use of the media the challenge now is to determine which elements of the programs are mostmose effectivee As heber wolsey puts it their challenge is titoto adanalyzeilyzeblyze the things that arearcare most attractive to the audience out there about religion to analyze what we have to answer those desires and to use the media as a door opener to get people thinking positively about our concepts rather than trying to do the full job of conversion t166

5 J F interview xichvichwithwitnwatn john 7 kinnekinnecfjnnoatCar1r 6 interview vithwithwi th hebetleitette der G wolsey 51

helleilefie also tressesstresses hisillslils feelings thatthaethcattheat if the LDS church can continue

to let people know that tileytiietiletlleytiley y irearearcice really genuinely concerned about them

theirtiletiie i r lives and their families and that these positive aspects are centered in the gospel of jesusJ esus christ if we can combine those two

117 then I1 think aclvelveiwclwe al111l be more successful than weveveeweeveve ever been although the use of paidpa ld broadcast time does give the LDS broadcasters the freedom to be much doremore direct with their message they must be sensitive to the needs of0 L the audience and find ways to let their message offer the opportunity of filfilllingingting those needs through the teachings of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints

7 ibid bibliography

A BOOKS

armstrong ben the elcctr1ectrichectric churchiyl111l11 nashville thomas nelson publishers inc 1979

hadden jeffrey K and swann charleschariesch irlesiries E prime time preachers reading mass addison wesley publishing co inc 1981 owens virginiaviryir gi ni a stem the totaltot a image or selling jesusje sus in jjgjagthe modernmo derliderildcrridarri age grand rapids williamwliilamwi lliamlilamiliamhi am B eerdmansRerdreydmans publishing company 1980 parker everett C roliiousrelireilRoliRE I1 ilousQ 10IousU S XLJtelevisionj31 on what to do and lowhowilowrowliowI new york harper and drolbrolhorsbrolhorstBroL1 ro71hershorsi ers 1961

robertsRobercsberLs oral the call an Aautobiography11 ojoOJQ garden city doubleday and co inc 1972 kizkidKJZ sholes jerry givegjycgryc me thalthai pgprime time religion new york hawthorn books 1979

B interviews

rinnkinnearkinncarKinn earcar john G interview conducted 17 october 1983 salt lake city Uutahta h ryttingryltingrytRylrye ingtingt lorry ej interviewentcrview conducted 17 october 1983 salt lake city utah signorielli nancy telephone inlervininterviewLerv tew conducted 24 october 1983 phi ladel phiaphiophi a pennsylpennsyjpenn ylvatijavanicimanici wolsey heber G interview conducted 28 september 1983 provo utah

C arlaariaxr11ARTICLEScli 4JS AND periodicals4 baehr theodore tangled christchristianlanianjan telecommunicatelecommunicationst ionslons ghristianltchristianchristianityGhristianLty today nov 20 1981 bisset tom religious broadcasting comes of ages chrislianijchrjstianitychristianity idajdatodaltoday sept 4A 1981 bisset tom religious broadcasting assessing the slatestateplate oiof the art pecpea ChristjanchristlchristianitchristianitychristjanitychristianiaChristianitityluyY lotodar10todayalqlay decdea 12 1980.1980 clapp rodney choswhoswho kidding who about theeheutieulieulle size of the electronic church chsjjijazchristian c&acaa hugbugaugg 6 1921982 52 5533

editorial unsigned maling the most oiof the electronic church ceriichriichrlschrisrciaclatrainttiatjainttjtianjtianacianiclaniaintainunj today feb 60 19819811.981 fitzgerald frances A leporreporkoporrkoporoierwer at large A biscidiscidisciplinedi pliiied charging army1armyearmy the new yorker may 18 98119811.981

ford dennis S the electronic churchschurches aesthetic of vilevilkvilvii christianchrictianchristChrictianlan centuracenturyCentuEy oct 28 1981 fore william F A critical ryeeye on teievangelismtelevangelismteleveangelismTeL christianchr i s t i an centuryce n t u r y sept 23 1981 fore william F there is no such thing as a TV pastor TV guide july 19 25 1980 furlong william B the 700 club on screen and behind the scenes 11 saturdaysa turjiajevenevenining post november 1982 hadden jeffrey K soul saving v-viavlala video christianchri sti an Cencenturytuiltueltuey may 28 1980 krohn franklin B the sixty minute commercial marketing salvation thetjiunjiithumanist novdec 1980

C son mammon J martin william father and the atlantic monthly 9 march 1980 martin williamwllliamjllliamW coC the birth of a media myth the atlanticatlanallan ticelc monjlhlymonth june 1981 marty martin E fundamentalism reborn faith and fanaticism saturday1eviewsaturdjiy review may 1980 maust john critics electronicejelectroalectro nicnid church try two way communication jayebychristianichrischrlsjjytianicianiclaniajlllj Jtoday march 7 1980 marquardt wendy everyaverytverytflungiiii1iii tv you always wanted to know about piidpaid religireliga on teteelevyjonlklisiorii cllcilall LOafjjy1fdifdlfjay c march 28 19773 97719771.977 price robert M evangelismevange 1 isiiiishii As fnanentertainmenttertec taintainmenttaintmentdentment christianclerciercjjr ijan cajcnjcantuacentuau ry nov 1 4 1 1981198 schieve carlacaria A new faces to compote for childrenchildrens TV tentjonattentionattenlionhelenbelenAttenat tentionlentiontionlion LDS churchjhurch news nov 13U131.3 10831983 ldsjjhurdh1 silsslissills mark R the docetidocetic cliurchtghurcji qirjjnihristian cenluryCencenturyLury jan 22121. 1981 sloan alanhianblanbiati and bagamery airieanne tiietileahetheihetlie lloctronic pulpitpu opit1pit forbes jelvjulvjut tv 717 1980

1 lt woodward kenneth L lfif sotisotlyou gjitajitw bpatapat1131eal ein nowecknwweckwsweelcNwne weekweck febfub 9 1981

1.1 1 1 1 ibe zobell albert I 1 jr rr11kviio0 13lidiidund thoehrehoeole gospJ hessahessomessa message 110abieiteahbe 12rjvplncnt1jijrve1j1e1 1 gspl 1 jraara atrjbirlaprilatrabirj I 1947 545 4

D rijiwikREPORTS AND unpublishedUNPUI11ished ma1121MATERIALAL donigan robert W allailan outlineoutlan history ol01 broadcasting in the church of outltn tt jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saintssainessolnessoliSaIL litsrits 192192292219632191963 unpublished lermterm paper dept of history andondalidaridarld 111iilosophypiopinplo losophy ofor religion brigham young university 1964

donigan robert W A desbes riptiveruptive bnoanaanoanalysisysis olof01 the effectiveness of broadcasting by the chuichutchuichchurchch of jesus christ of latter day saints in the northern states fhmissionssionassion areaarecA unpublished masters thesis brigham young university 1964 limburg vavalvaiyai1 E14 itanan anaanalystsanalysislys ts of tationshipsrelationshipsre between religious broadcast programming objectives andalidaridarld memethodslliods of presentation used by selected major religrereligiouslig iouslous program producers as comparedcomp ired with the church of jesus christ of latter day saints unpublished masters thesis brigham young university 1964 wolsey reberheberlieber G religiousre 1 jg JOLIS broadcasting by the LDS mormon church unpublished masiermosiermustermasters thesis northwestern university 1948 A descriptive ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT STATUS OF PAID

RELIGIOUS broadcasting ON NATIONAL television

wayne R bills department of communications MA degree april 1984

ABSTRACT

in examining the use of paid television by various evangelical organizations the electronic church as contrasted with its use by the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints LDS several important differences were discovered first the programs of the electronicelectroiiic church are usually designed much like a normal sunday service with a1I it preacher and congregation the TV viewers the LDS approach hhasJs been to communicate religious criticpriticprinciplesiplesaples through the use of a story their productions are attractive to a large audience because they often feature a well known television or motion picture celebrity and are aired during prime time viewing hours the electronic church pays for its air time and production costs with money solicited from viewers A part of every broadcast is devoted to increasing the mailing lists of the particular organization the Morcormonsmormonsmons on the other hand do not ask for donations from the television audience their television time is paid for with the contributions of their church members

the study recommends 1 1thatnhat the LDS church continue to makemalmai e use of public service time wherever and whenever possible 2 that the LDS church not attempt to develop a program that could air weekly and act as a form of competition for theuhe audiences of the electronic church 3 that LDS communications officials carefully monitor the results of paid television specials in an attempt to identify which program elements make the broadcasts successful and then use those elementsclements in maximizinpmaximizingD the success of future paid broadcasts

COMMITTEE APPROVAL owenvenwen dlS rich committee chairman fc J s x L hebfhebofhebon 4S wolsey committee member

en S rich graduate coordinator