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W in d s o r, C arl D o u g l a s

RELIGIOUS RADIO IN THE 1970’S: A USES AND GRATIFICATIONS ANALYSIS

The Ohio Stale University P h .D . 1981

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University Microfilms International RELIGIOUS RADIO IN THE 1970's :

A USES AND GRATIFICATIONS ANALYSIS

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Carl Douglas Windsor, A.A., B.A., M.A. *****

The Ohio State University

1981

Reading Committee: Approved By

Dr. Goodwin F. Berquist

Dr. James L. Golden

Dr. Robert R. Monaghan A d v iser

Dr. Victor D. W all,.Jr. Department of Communication ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am indebted to numerous persons and organizations in my educa­ tional career and this research effort. While it is impossible to a d e q u a te ly commend them a l l , th e r e a re c e r t a in ones w hich m ust be m entioned.

My greatest debt is to my wonderful wife, Beverly, and family for their willingness to move half way across the country three times and then to work around my study schedule. Their continual support and prayers, especially when the obstacles seemed the greatest, served as a constant motivating force.

To my parents, George and Madelyn Guindon, I express heartfelt appreciation for their confidence and surety that this project would be successfully completed.

To the National Religious Broadcasters and Dr. Ben Armstrong I extend my thanks for encouragement and assistance. Appreciation is further expressed to the administrators of John Brown University and

Liberty Baptist College and radio station WEEC for providing release time and financial support to complete this study.

I am further indebted to Professors Lane Lester and Nabih Mikhail, colleagues at Liberty Baptist College, who provided computer program­ ming and statistical support for this research and to Mrs. David Heer- spink and Valerie Weidenmoyer for their tireless clerical assistance. i i Finally to my adviser, Professor Robert Monaghan, I extend my deepest gratitude. He was a constant encouraging and strengthening force in my doctoral program as were the other members of my committee - Professors Goodwin Berquist, James Golden, and Victor

Wall. I learned much from their expertise and personal example. VITA

October 2, 1942 .... Born ^ Peoria, Illinois

1966 ...... A.A., North Central Michigan College, Petoskey, Michigan

196 9 ...... B.A., Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

1969-1970 ...... Teaching Assistant, Television-Radio Depart­ ment, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

197 0 ...... M.A., Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

1971-1977 ...... Instructor, Assistant Professor, John Brown University, Siloam Springs, Arkansas

1978-1979 ...... Teaching Associate, Department of Communica­ tion, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1979-presen t ...... Associate Professor, Chairman, Television Radio Film Division, Liberty Baptist College, Lynchburg, Virginia

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Area: Mass Communication

Studies in Mass Communication. Professors John Dimmick, Joseph

Foley, Thomas McCain, Robert Monaghan, and Ellen W artella.

Other Areas: Studies in Research Methods. Professors Goodwin

Berquist, Michael Motley, and Joseph Pilotta,

Studies in Rhetoric. Professors Goodwin Berquist, William

Brown, and James Golden. iv Studies in Communication Theory. Professors Wallace Fotheringham,

Gary Hunt, and V irginia McDermott. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... i i

VITA ...... iv

LIST OF TABLES...... v i i

LIST OF FIGURES...... v i i i

C h ap ter

I . INTRODUCTION...... 1

Background ...... 1 Justification ...... 2 Methodology...... 6

I I . LITERATURE REVIEW...... 12

I I I . THE SOCIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT 1973-1979 ...... 37

IV. RELIGIOUS RADIO IN THE 1 9 7 0 s ...... 69

Research Design ...... 69 1973 Overview ...... 74 1976 Overview ...... 86 1979 Overview ...... 95

V. ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS RADIO TRENDS ...... 105

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 145 LIST OF TABLES

T able Page

1. 1973 Regional D istribution......

2. 1973 Radio Formats...... 82

3. 1973 Network A ffiliations...... S3

4. 1976 Regional D istribution ...... 89

5. 1976 Radio Formats ...... 91

6. 1976 Network A ffiliations ...... 98

7. 1979 Regional D istribution...... 98

8. 1979 Radio Formats...... 100

9. 1979 Network A ffiliations...... I 92

10. Station Power...... 109

11. Religious Radio by States ...... I 28

12. Religious Radio in the Ten Largest C itie s ...... 126

Vii LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. AM Station Power ...... i l l

2. AM Frequency D istribution ...... U S

3. FM Station Power ...... 1*4

4. FM Frequency D istribution...... H 6

5. AM-FM-FM Stereo Proportion...... 117

6. Year Station Began Broadcasting...... H P

7. Year Station Acquired...... 120

8. Regional Distribution...... 122

9. Regional Growth...... 123

10. Population of Market Served, 129

11. Religious Station Formats, 131

12. Stations per Market...... 133

13. Primary Network A ffiliation...... 135

14. Market Advertising Rate...... *36

15. Station Advertising Rate

v i i i CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background

Starting in the predawn hours of each Sunday morning, the largest religious gathering in America takes place, drawing 130 million people to their radio and television sets...reaching more people than all of the nation’s churches com bined.the •J electric church.

Religious broadcasting has expanded immensely since the in itial broadcast in January, 1921. Then, Westinghouse, seeking to attract buyers of Westinghouse radios with its newly licensed broadcast station KDKA, was looking for radio ’’firsts" with which to attract an audience. One of the KDKA engineers, a choir member at Calvary

Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, arranged to have the church’s vespers service broadcast to a potential audience of only about one thousand radio receiver owners nationwide. It was reported that the broadcast

"went over splendidly, making so favorable an impression on the radio audience that it became a regular Sunday feature of KDKA (and).., 2 by 1923 ten churches were operating stations."

Today, sixty years later, religious broadcasting is still well received, so much so that more people are now estimated to listen to or view a religious broadcast (at least "occasionally") than will attend a weekly church service, (47 percent of the adult population compared with 42 percent of adults who are weekly church-goers.)^ 1 2

Justification

In reviewing the growth of religious broadcasting, one is espec­ ially impressed by the recent rapid increase in the number of radio stations programming a religious format (over twenty hours of re li­ gious content each week). In 1973, the first year for which the definitive Broadcasting Yearbook listed religious radio formats, there were 111 such "religious-oriented" stations listed.^ This equalled

1.5 percent of the 7,331 AM and FM stations then licensed in the United

States. By the end of 1978, stations with a religious format had increased to 449 of the total 8,608 radio stations operating in the

United States at that time.^ (An additional ninety-eight stations programmed seven to twenty hours of religious content each week.) Not counting those stations airing less than twenty hours of religion weekly, or those whose individual listings did not specify a religious format, this figure represents a gain in the number of "religious stations" of 405 percent in six years, from 1.5 percent to 5.2 percent of all radio stations in the United States. Should this growth rate continue unabated, one in every five radio stations in this country will be broadcasting a religious program format in the year 2000.

Such a dramatic increase, when compared with sim ilar gains in the percentage of television stations airing a substantial schedule of religious programming each week, aroused a strong interest in the author to investigate the conditions under which the gains occurred.

In researching religious broadcasting, one soon encounters the

National Religious Broadcasters, a "theologically conservative" association incorporated in 1944 that reports present membership at

about eight hundred stations, program producers, performing artists,

etc.^ The NRB had its origins as an affiliate agency of the National

Association of Evangelicals (NAE), an organization stressing "coopera-

•7 tion without compromise" among Bible-believing Christians, The strict

interpretation of the Bible as being the literal, inspired Word of

God remains a doctrinal position of the NRB today, and all prospec­

tive members must sign a "statement of faith" reflecting adherence to

beliefs backed by the NRB. While this has prevented some organizations

in religious broadcasting from joining, it has been estimated that

80 percent of the nation's religious radio stations are members of

National Religious Broadcasters.^

The only other organization representing radio and television

stations broadcasting prim arily religious content is the newly-formed

American Association of Religious Broadcasters (AARB) — a profit- making organization incorporated in 1970 to represent commercial

religious stations primarily in music-licensing hearings. Because of

the limited appeal and impact of the AARB to date, the bulk of this

research will center on the NRB, the oldest and, by far, largest

organization representing religious broadcasters.

The 1970s, and especially the latter half of the seventies, have been characterized as an era of the "Born Again" religious

movement. In fact, the "Bom Again" segment of evangelical Protes­

tantism has always existed in America. From the fiery sermons of

Jonathan Edwards and George W hitfield in the early days of our nation, through evangelist D. L. Moody's crusades in the 1800s, to Billy

Sunday and Billy Graham's outreach in this century, evangelical

Protestantism has flourished albeit not gaining much widespread publicity except for some isolated rallies and crusades. The issue of religion seemed to come into focus though, in a more publicized way in the 1960 election campaign between Catholic John Kennedy and

Protestant Richard Nixon. Concerned Protestants circulated materials questioning how a person whose ultimate allegiance was pledged to the

Pope, could serve as President of a people whose votes put him into office. This did not seem to dissuade the voters, however, who elected

Kennedy to office by the narrowest of margins. Within three years

Kennedy was dead, killed by an assassin's bullets in Dallas and the nation was left to question this horrible violation of morality.

The question was even more forcefully raised in 1968 when Kennedy's brother, Robert, was gunned down in a Los Angeles hotel and Black leader Martin Luther King was felled by a sniper's bullet in Tennessee.

The nation again questioned, "Why?" This was the era of the Vietnam

War and mounting campus protests against the atrocities, real or imagined, that both sides were committing in southeast Asia. This was an era typified by the shootings of four students at Kent State

University during an anti-war demonstration in 1970, and, soon, the growing scandal surrounding the Watergate break-ins and Presidential cover-up in Washington. It was clearly a time of malaise, of uncer­ tainty, of searching for lasting values and meaning for life.

It was against this background that "Born Again" Southern Baptist

Jimmy Carter successfully launched his campaign for President, in 5

1976. This was the "Year of the Evangelical" as one leading news

magazine reported. With the inauguration of Carter, suddenly being g "Born Again" was "in." There were "Born Again" dress styles, mar­

riages, corporations, and virtually any and everything else to which

the label could be rightfully (or wrongfully) attached. Toward the

latter part of the decade the "Born Again" faction became united under

the leadership of evangelist Jerry Falwell into the political-action

group Moral Majority which, alongside other conservative groups and

aided by a growing move of conservatism in the country, successfully

routed an incumbent president (Jimmy Carter) whose judgment and

conservative religious leanings were increasingly called into ques^

tion. And, in a manner reminiscent of the religious controversy

surrounding the Hoover-Smith campaign in 1928, the small town

conservative Midwest-born candidate again won in a landslide over his

eastern liberal rival also sweeping into office a conservative majority

in both the House and Senate, at least in part, on his political

c o a t t a i l s .

The author's curiosity was stimulated by these and other events,

Involved in much of the decade in training college students for

careers in religious broadcasting, his interest was heightened by

the ever-increasing number of religious stations (and job opportune

ities) which seemed far in excess of the real growth of radio stations

overall. While the job market for college graduates of religious

colleges and others who applied to religious stations seemed to have

little trouble in finding employment. This, coupled with the author's direct experience as an employee of a religious station while 6 undertaking doctoral studies, piqued an interest in the topic. It

was at this station that he became impressed with the apparent size

and loyalty of the station's audience and its thirteen year record

of being solely supported by listener contributions. What was it that motivated these people (many of whom appeared to be elderly and

on fixed incomes) to send in their contributions every month, he wondered. The quest to understand the appeals in religious radio and

its growth as a format, then served as an underlying purpose of this r e s e a r c h .

Methodology

Recognizing that "what history reveals to mankind about its past does not uncover the cause...of an event...but only the conditions

attending its emergence",*® this study will consider both the

sociological and technological conditions existing in the 1970s as well as the characteristics of religious stations operational then.

This investigation will be limited to those stations which are

listed as having a "religious" format in the Broadcasting Yearbook.

(Specific sampling techniques are detailed in Chapter 4.) Three

listings to be compiled include one each from the following Yearbook

issues: 1973, 1976, and 1979, Each list will be compared with its predecessor(s) to determine the number and region of new stations to

the more recent list and which stations have been modified or deleted,

A tally of additions and/or deletions will be compiled for the 1973

and 1976 lists. This tally will then be analyzed to determine any

significant trends which might emerge. Once the above material has been processed, it will be reviewed in light of the conditions existing in the 1970s as outlined in Chapter

3. Efforts will be made to determine whether there may be any apparent relationship between these events and developments among the religious stations. Following the suggestions of Levine and Elzey, that one of the goals of behavioral scientists is to explain human phenom ena,this study will utilize the method of historical analysis to explain any possible media patterns which may be associated with these events. In conducting this analysis, the author has reviewed the significant developments in the field through research of Reli­ gious Broadcasting magazine, other NRB publications, files, reports, etc. This has been supplemented by queries to NRB officials and other sources, thus comprising the bulk of the primary data to be considered.

Secondary data includes trade press publications and the news media.

Because m aterials obtained from the NRB may reflect the organization's bias (uncontrolled interest ) , ^ efforts have been made to substan­ tiate, from independent sources, all key data. As for potential research bias, the author has strived to be "intellectually h o n e s t " ^ hereby acknowledging a positive interest in the NRB and religious broadcasting, though not currently an NRB member. The shared per­ c e p tio n s o f th e w e ll-e d u c a te d (common sen se) h as been u t i l i z e d in making Research decisions, because "the historical method ascertains the truth by means of common sense.

Barriers to the research have included difficulty in obtaining some primary data, most notably the early audience studies by Parker et. al. and Casmir. This factor has been compensated for by citing quotations of these sources in various available secondary sources.

Other barriers included apparent discrepancies between the listings of "religious" format stations under the programming section of the

Broadcasting Yearbooks and the individual station listings. After conferring with the publisher on the matter, it was decided to elimi­ nate from consideration any stations not appearing to have a "reli­ gious-oriented" format in both listings as outlined in Chapter 4.

Selective sampling will restrict the search for material to that related to the key issues and opportunities under study. Following the guidelines set down by Barzun and Graff (1977), the following questions have been asked:

1. Is this piece of writing genuine?

2. Is its message trustworthy?

3. How do I know?*^

The process of knowing the accuracy of a particular document is one definition of validity. In this research, validity has been determined, in part, through asking the following questions:

1. What do we know independently about the author and his credibility?

2. How does the statement compare with other statements on the same point?

The compiled data is then considered in light of Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch's "uses and gratifications" paradigm. Briefly stated, they theorize that: 9

1. The broadcast audience is active and goal-directed (searching for something),

2. The initiative in linking need gratification and media choice lies with the audience member. (There is no coercion involved in forcing audience selection of the media.)

3. The media compete with other sources of need satis­ faction. (Watching television or listening to the radio is not the only thing the audience can choose to d o .)

4. The audience can validly self-report their viewing or listening behavior, '

If Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch are correct, there should be evidence that the growth in religious radio was associated with the conscious audience selection of the programming from among other choices

(rather than through say a random process, or one forced upon the audience either directly or indirectly). As specified in Chapter 4, it is hypothesized that support for such a thesis will be found. NOTES

1Benjamin L. Armstrong, The Electric Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1979), p. 7.

^History of Radio to 1926, quoted in Armstrong, Electric Church, p . 20.

Armstrong, Electric Church, p. 7.

^Broadcasting Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publica­ tions ,'TW 3J71^T~r27-545^46, D50-51.

^Broadcasting Yearbook, pp. A2, D88-89.

^Armstrong, Electric Church, back flyleaf.

^The Story of Evangelical Cooperation, quoted in L. S. Saunders, "The National Religious Broadcasters and the A vailability of Commer­ cial Radio Time," (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1968), p. 3.

^National Religious Broadcasters, "Text of NRB Brief Opposing HR-41," Religious Broadcasting, August/September 1977, p. 48.

^Newsweek, 25 October 1976. The term "Bom Again" originates in the New Testament passage: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be bom again he cannot see the kingdom of God," (John 3:3) and refers to the act of faith in accepting God’s forgiveness of man’s sin through C hrist's death on the cross.

l°Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff, The Modern Researcher, 3d ed. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1977), p. 143. 11 Samuel Levine and Freeman F. Elzey, A Programmed Introduction to Research, expanded 2d ed. (Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1976), p. 14.

l^Barzun and Graff, Modern Researcher, p, 152.

13Ibid., p. 153.

10 11

•^Barzun and Graff, Modern Researcher, p. 129.

15Ibid., p. 128.

16I b i d . , p . 129.

*7Jay G. Bluraler, and Elihu Katz, The Uses of Mass Communication, (Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974), p. 21-22, CHAPTER I I

LITERATURE REVIEW

In contemplating studies available in the religious broadcasting field, it will be useful to first consider Korpi's "Inferences about

Religious Broadcasting"-^ which sets forth 15 propositions based on key findings from the literature:

I. It is fruitful to consider the history of religious broads casting as a continuing conservative versus liberal d e b a te . II. Religious groups begin to use broadcasting because they perceive important functions which are being ignored by the secular broadcasting system, or by presently available religious broadcasting. III. Religious broadcasting seeks to change individuals in order to change the world. IV. The churches’ idealistic goals for religious programs are often compromised by pragmatic considerations. V. Religious program producers have a naive view of the media with which they work and therefore have naive goals and expectations. VI. Religious programs can be effective in teaching values to children. VII. A surprisingly high percentage of the population reports listening to religious programs. VIII, Older people are more likely to view or listen to religious p ro g ram s. IX. Generally, women are no more likely than men to view or listen to religious programs. X. The higher a person's socio-economic status, the less likely he or she is to watch or listen to religious programs. XI. A person's cultural background seems to make a difference in the number and type of religious programs consumed. XII. The more important a respondent judges religion to be in his or her life, the more likely he or she is to view or listen to religious programs.

12 13

XIII. The more active a person is in his or her religion, the more likely he or she is to view or listen to religious programs. XIV. Viewing and listening to religious programs is strongly related to a person's denominational orientation. XV. The program format and the directness of the message affects how receptive the audience is to the program.

It is anticipated support will be found for all of these as our investigation unfolds.

Literature which might be related to the present study was re- viewed utilizing a three-fold method: 1) An investigation of lit­ erature available in the field of Communication; 2) An investigation of "Religious Broadcasting: 1920-1965, a Bibliography," compiled by

Donald Dick and published in the Journal of Broadcasting in 1965-1966; and 3) A compilation of available literature from personal and suggested resources.

In the first instance, four subject areas were selected for further scrutiny: religion, broadcasting, radio and television,

Dick's bibliography, containing well over 400 entries, seemed to contain a majority of rhetorical studies focusing on the. behavior of various religious broadcasters, Histories of individual stations and program producers also occurred frequently. Those studies addressing the needs and wants of the audience did so from the broad­ caster's viewpoint rather than that of the audience member prior to the broadcast. No studies were found which researched how the audi­ ence utilizes religious broadcasts on radio and television.

There have been three major studies of the audience for religious broadcasting. The first of these is entitled "The Television-Radio

Audience and Religion," by Everett Parker, David Barry and Dallas 14

Smythe, published in 1955. This research conducted in the New Haven market, was the first to note the impact of religious broadcasting, expressing the theory that "a (religious) program selects its own audience."^ In other words, each religious program contains unique appeals which attract a different segment of the audience. (What

Blumler and Katz would label "gratifications.") Parker seems to recognize these gratifications for the audience in his description of the widely aired Old Fashioned Revival Hour:

The Old Fashioned Revival Hour, upon appraisal, seems to be, as its title indicates, almost purely an adventure in nostalgia for the audience, a religious version of the old WLS Saturday Night Barn Dance. The entire content and format are a ritual evocation of a kind of religious exper­ ience that dominated Protestant America a half-century ago, and the audience appears to consist largely of working-class Protestants whose younger days were spent in an environment with such religious overtones. We may conclude from the evidence that this program also serves a purpose in satisfy­ ing the needs of this group for recognition in an urban c u l tu r e .^

Parker noted that no Roman Catholics listened to Fuller's broadcast but that this was not surprising as Catholics had no prior exposure to such a service or the appeals inherent therein. This agrees with the uses and gratifications paradigm which theorizes that the broad­ cast audience is active and goal-directed (searching for something) and that the initiative in linking need gratification and media choice lies with the audience member.^

A second, sim ilar study, was conducted in Los Angeles in 1957 by Fred L. Casmir. In his telephone survey he found "that 24 percent of the respondents listened 'regularly' to religious broadcasts while 7 another 24 percent 'never' listened." Being a telephone survey it 15 is assumed to be subject to some bias (however significant is unknown) in favor of the middle and upper economic classes who would be more likely to have a telephone. (Presumably the fact that many upper class homes today have unlisted numbers and are therefore also likely to be under-represented in phone surveys, was not as great a factor in the mid 1950s.) Another consideration in Casmir's research is that it, like Parker's two years before, was restricted to findings in just one city. Clearly there was need for a national study on the impact of religious programming on the American audience, and one finally was forthcoming but not until thirteen years later.

The first such national study on the audience for religious broadcasts was conducted by Ronald L. Johnstone and the National

Opinion Research Center in 1970. An article reporting his findings,

"Who Listens to Religious Radio Broadcasts Anymore?", was published in the Winter 1971-72 Journal of Broadcasting,^ In it, Johnstone reports on the research conducted for the Lutheran Council in the

U.S.A. Of a sample of 1,490, Johnstone notes, 48 percent (721) listened to a religious radio broadcast at least occasionally. These results seem remarkahly close to those of Casmir thirteen years earlier. That research found 24 percent of the Californians lis­ tened "regularly" (compared with 20 percent in Johnstone's study) and that 24 percent of Casmir's sample "never listened" Ccompared with 25 percent "never" in the 1970 national sampling), Beyond this, perhaps the most valuable information Johnstone provides is the composite "portrait" of a "frequent" or "occasional" listener to a religious broadcast: 16

An older person of either sex, likely to live in a southern state and in a small town or rural area, of relatively little education, of Protestant religious commitment, a Baptist Protestant in particular, who attends his church for religious services nearly every Sunday, and regards religion as an important feature in his life. Stated another way, religious radio broadcasts appear to be quite unlikely to reach the non-Christian or minimally committed or involved Christian, the young, the highly educated, and those of urban residence.

While not a uses and gratifications study, Johnstone does uncover some strong clues concerning the audience's motivation for listening.

He detected a "positive relationship between frequency of church attendance and frequency of listening to religious radio programs."

This coupled with a sim ilar "positive relationship between respond­ ents’ judgments about the importance of religion in their lives and the frequency with which they listen to religious radio broadcasts,"

There appears to be a religious "need" function which such programs provide, especially in light of the "relatively little contact" religious radio seems to have "with the (religiously) uninitiated and the minimally committed."

A review of theses and dissertations, however, did provide several studies on viewer preferences functioning with secular pro­ gramming. Jeffrey Simon studies television violence and the condi­ tioning effect it has, especially on young viewers. In viewing violence "the trouble is not that they (the audience) get(.s) fright­ ened, but that they do not get frightened,"1^ Quoting another study,

Simon related that television violence shows "the sins of aggression, brutality and illegal sex...under conditions of relaxation, comfort, 17 warmth (and) in the presence of food, sweets, cigarettes, and alco­ holic drinks, thus as far as possible, counteracting the unpleasant

1 1 reaction to such events."

In his research into viewer preferences for visual appeals in television programs, Rarick notes that program ratings tell us nothing of the motivation for viewing a telecast. He posits a perceptual framework in which "significances are attached to the object on the basis of the expected outcomes of attaching those significances...

(that) perceiving can be seen as a scientific process in which the organism forms hypotheses and tests them in terms of his actual experience.Thus we may be able to determine motivation through knowledge of the viewer's perceptions.

Cathcart conducted a Q-methodology experiment in which he researched the viewer's needs and desires in television newscasters.

He found support for knowledgeable news personnel who are unbiased and factual with smooth, sophisticated delivery.These were among the ten "ideal" qualities in newscasters he was able to isolate in his 1966 research.

Three years after Cathcartfs research was completed, a detailed history of the NRB was conducted by Lowell Saunders. Though his research was often hampered by missing records and lack of cooperation from some primary sources, Saunders was able to assemble the history of the early years of the NRB, focusing primarily on the long-running feud between them and the Federal Council of Churches (Federal Council) over access to the airwaves by religious broadcasters. As documented by Saunders, the NRB was organized by conservative religious 18 broadcasters in the early 1940s. They were concerned about being increasingly denied broadcast time in favor of organizations represe- sented by the Federal Council (predecessor to today's National Council of Churches). The founding fathers of NRB felt their view of the

Bible as being the literal, inerrant Word of God was not being communi­ cated through Federal Council broadcasts — a view they said was shared by their conservative followers who, they said, represented a substantial minority of Protestants. Many of these broadcasters were members of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), organized in 1942, and from which the NRB originated two years later.

The founding came about in response to the Mutual Broadcasting

System's decision to stop the sale of radio time to religious g ro u p s. ^ It seems the networks and many stations liked dealing with the Federal Council, allocating their sustaining (free) time for religion to broadcasts of that organization which they felt would satisfy a large constituency. The networks felt that giving time to individual denominations or broadcasters, including the

Conservatives, would only generate ever greater demands on the limited time available from' other "splinter" groups. It was within this context that the NAE invited about 150 conservative broadcasters to meet in Columbus, Ohio in April, 1944, in connection with the NAE's second annual meeting. There it was decided to organize the NRB as a separate, independent body, though, as Saunders relates, "the NRB was considered an agency- of the NAE and was largely subservient to it."^** Five temporary officers of NRB were elected at the

Columbus meeting. The following month they retained an attorney to 19

"give counsel and advice on a constitution, by-laws, and code of

e t h i c s . I n September, 1944, the NRB held what was to be considered their second annual convention in Chicago. There is no record of how many broadcasters attended this convention, though Saunders records there was no evidence of great growth in the NRB's earliest y e a r s :

The fact that (the first NRB officers and director)... had diversified interests may account in some measure for the slow numerical growth of the NRB. Broadcasting was not their basic concern; therefore, they gave little attention to th e NRB....It remained captive, for fifteen years, to the idea that its main purpose was to combat the Federal Council and later the National Council of Churches.^

There is much evidence for the dispute between the NRB and the

Federal Council over Conservatives' access to the airwaves. The Feder­ al Council did not appreciate the Conservatives' push for air time as the Council wished to be the sole representative of Protestantism be­ fore the stations and networks, and because they feared such action might jeopardize the "free time" enjoyed by Federal Council programs.

The Conservatives' drive to buy air time was then met not only by an attack from the Federal Council but also by refusals from the networks

(though Mutual by now had reversed itself and did not allow the sale of air time for religious programs). The refusals continued until the late forties when television began to seriously erode the finan­ cial base of the radio networks. ABC was the first network in the late 1940s to allow "paid religion." In June, 1949, ABC began to broadcast "The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour" and three additional paid religious broadcasts the following year,*® Thus, within five years of their organizational meeting, the NRB began to enjoy increasing 20

acceptance of their idea of "paid religion" on the radio networks,

and within ten years a national study showed that more than half of

all religious radio programming in the United States was "paid

time," with each radio station averaging five hours and forty-eight minutes of religious programming per week,19 These paid programs

were also drawing an audience, A Pulse radio audience survey of the

Los Angeles area in 1956 showed that:

Of the seven programs identified as being originated by the National Council* two received no ratings whatever, and none had a rating greater than .5. But such non-Council Conservative broadcasts as "Showers of Blessing," "Back to God Hour," the "Lutheran Hour," and the "Hour of Decision" drew as high as 1.8 (more than three times the highest National Council a u d i e n c e ) , 20

With the increasing acceptance of the Conservative programs

there came a new wave of criticism from National Council leaders:

Because we have the conviction that willingness or ability to pay for time should never be allowed to outweigh consideration of target audience and program effectiveness, we advised against the sale of or purchase of time for religious broadcasts.^1

But the one document which brought a vociferous response from

nearly every segment of the broadcasting community was the historic

"Advisory Policy Statement" issued by the National Council's Broad­

casting and Film Commission (BFC) in 1957. The seven-point document

re-stated the long-standing opinion of the National Council to dis­

courage the practice of paid time for religious broadcasts and would

probably not have generated the negative response it did had it not

been circulated to "appropriate officers of network and individual

radio and television stations, to the members of the (FCC), to members

*The Federal Council of Churches became the National Council in 1950. 21

of the appropriate committees of the House and Senate..."22 as well

as to the public. The boldness of the Council seemed to strike a

raw nerve in many broadcasters. Broadcasting magazine stated that

" ...no church has the right to dictate how religion should be broad-

O 7 cast." National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) President,

Harold Fellows, attacked the action as being "a rather misguided 24 manner in which to advance the overall cause of religion," while

the Conservatives also reacted negatively. The "Lutheran Hour's"

Dr. Oswald Hoffman wrote:

Our experience in radio leads us to believe that the only effective presentation in the medium is to buy time. In order to obtain favorable time and thereby attain the required frequency to make messages meaningful, we feel it is best accomplished through paid tim e,25

NRB President, Dr. Eugene Bertermann, called the Policy Statement 26 "a colossal blunder." Indeed, while some stations reduced or

dropped their paid religious broadcasts around this time, the NBC

Radio Network announced its acceptance of "paid religion" within

weeks following the Policy Statement. Only Mutual and ABC had sold

time for religious broadcasts until that time. The "Lutheran Hour" premiered on NBC, July 1, 1957.2? But as Saunders notes, "it would

seem likely that NBC had been considering the possibility of selling

time for religious broadcasts before the announcement of the BFC was issued."28

In concluding his research, Saunders promotes the view that the

availability of air time for the Conservatives' programs was less a matter of religion or politics than it was of economics: "less time

is available for sale of religious programs in periods of broadcast 22 29 industry prosperity." Saunders thus feels that because the networks in the mid 1950s were undergoing increasing financial setbacks while at the same time local stations were enjoying greater incomes, this could account for developments affecting the Conservative religious broadcasters. His conclusion: "commercial time availabilities to Conservatives are directly related to the economic health of the 30 broadcast industry."

In the past fifteen years, the Journal of Broadcasting has pub­ lished only a scant selection of articles relating to morality and/or religious issues in radio and televison, Two of these relate to a

"personal attack" broadcast on religious station WGCB, in Red Lion,

Pennsylvania — a case that resulted in the FCC's adopting rules concerning attacks on individuals and groups and the requiring of stations to give the one attacked time for a broadcast reply. Two other articles relate to the broadcast of obscenity, indecency and profanity on the air. One of these is the transcript of the Supreme

Court's ruling in the WBAI obscenity case in which a New York City station aired an explicit comedy album in a daytime broadcast.

While the station considered the broadcast covered by First Amendment

Freedoms, the court found WBAI guilty under federal laws banning the airing of obscenity, indecency and profanity,^1

Another Journal of Broadcasting article by Robert R. Smith, deals with "Broadcasting and Religious Freedom." In it, Smith argues that

"the practice of giving editorial control of religious programs to religious groups is inconsistent with the general pattern of American broadcasting."^ He states: 23

A news report is not prepared under the supervision of the person whose activities are reported...(and) the influence of team management upon sports reporting is generally considered undesirable. Yet, religious programs frequently are prepared under the supervision of churches.

He goes on to distinguish between religious "liberty" (the absence of restraint or coercion) and religious "freedom" (the ability to determine action), arguing that individuals only can possess the former and that institutions (including broadcast stations) should strive to regain the latter from religious groups using or wishing to use their facilities. In light of Saunders1' research, Smith seems to be echoing the National Council's attitude on the use of the air­ waves, though there is no indication either author had seen the other's work.

A review of topics covered in dissertations from 1968 to the present reveals ten related to religious broadcasting. Following

Saunders' 1968 study, J. Harold Ellens researched the formats utilized by nationally distributed denominational televison programs for twenty years beginning in 1950. He notes:

...in the entire history of denominational religious television there was a uniform rejection of sermon forms by all the denominations studied. There was a general denominational trend to short segment television programs and a growing conviction among church broadcasters that the spot (announcement) is the format for the 1970s.34

He concluded by noting:

When money was available, the denominations generally programmed in terms of their theological and technological objectives. When money was limited in supply, economics determined program format (emphasis a d d e d ). 24

Could it be that this was one reason why the National Council favored free air time — to give them more funds for flexible program formats?

Ellens does not deal with that issue, though his research did provide the basis for his 1974 book Models of Religious Broadcasting, In the latter work Ellens see four distinct models operating. The first he calls the "Mighty Acts of God" model which is characterized by such media events as dramatic staging, careful timing and altar calls.

He cites Billy Graham, Rex Humbard and Oral Roberts as being evange­ lists using this broadcast model. Less spectacular is Ellens’

"Pulpit" model using the sermon as its focal point, Bishop Fulton

Sheen, the "Lutheran Hour" and others, he says, use this style.

Another model is the "Instructional" model utilized by the Southern

Baptist Convention, United Church of Christ, and the Seventh-Day

Adventists. It is typified by use of documentaries, dramas and lec­ tures with a primarily instructional goal. Ellens' final model encom­ passes most other religious efforts and is labeled the "Leaven" model after the action of leavening in bread. As he sees it, the religious

"leavening," such as spot announcements, ’■’provide the viewer with a 7/" brief, but apparently effective, encounter with the claims of God,"

Ellens concludes that the latter two models are the key to "future success in religious broadcasting."^

A 1971 study in Onondaga County (New York) replicates some findings of Johnstone's research and adds more data on the audience for religious broadcasts. David Solt found that: 25

The regular religious listener tended to be a male who more frequently listened to the good music offered by the local FM stations and also tended to watch more frequently...the local educational television s t a t i o n .

Solt found, as did Johnstone, that the regular listener "had a high degree of religious activity, attended church on the average of once a week, but also made a practice of reading daily scriptural or devo-- ?g tional writings in the home." Teaching programs, Solt found, drew their audience from those highest on the religious activity scale.

He found that letter writers to stations and program producers,

...tended to be males with more than a high school education and an income of over $10,000 annually,,..regular religious listener(s)...not only deeply interested in church activities but who had an interest in civic affairs and wrote concerning th e m .40

Followup research to Solt's study should focus on reasons for the male interest in religion which was not found nationally by Johnstone.

Intuitively, it would seem that females are usually more involved in religious activities including listening to religious broadcasts.

There may be a factor present in Onondaga County not present elsewhere

(such as a disproportionately large male population, or a sample with an excessive male representation). Otherwise, Solt’s findings agree in essence with Johnstone’s research conducted the same year.

Further research seeming to provide support for the uses and gratifications paradigm is provided by John Robertson who studied the church’s use of the media, concluding that:

... (such) use of the mass media must begin with a consid-, eration of at least two theological themes,..creation and salvation.. .The church must,,.recognize in its media-planning that all of a person’s concerns (not just the soul) are to be considered, 26

The latter statement seems to recognize the concept of an active

audience free to choose from competing activities, the source to

which it wishes to attend.

Another study seeking to apply communication theory to the use

of radio by various religious program producers was conducted in the

1970s by Stuart Johnson. He also sees an active, goal-directed

audience looking to the media for some gratification and not neces­

sarily the one which the program producer intended. (One may wonder

how many listen to a particular program or view a broadcast to be

entertained by its nonprofessional approach, lack of talent or poor production techniques.) Johnson would agree with Johnstone's

finding that religious broadcasts appeal mainly to the already-reli-

gious member of the audience. This is among the findings Johnson reports in a 1978 study, "It has become evident that religious broad­

casting in a media-saturated free society will essentially reach only those who are predisposed to the beliefs held by the program producers."^2 Due to audience selectivity in both programs and in perception of program content, much filtering takes place — a fact

of which, Johnson asserts, the program producers are generally unaware.

Parker's finding in 1955 that program producers considered their pro­ ductions capable of reaching "everyone" holds true generally for re li­

gious program producers today according to Johnson's research.

Johnson suggests, "The religious broadcaster must examine whom he wants to reach, and how to reach them while still being able to main­ tain financial support for the organization producing the program."^3 27

While the historical aspects of religious broadcasting have been often researched, the factors motivating an audience to turn to a reli­ gious station or program are not well known. There appear to be no recent religious audience studies, and nothing relating the uses and gratifications paradigm to religious broadcasting.

There are, however, a number of principles generated in other uses and gratifications research that would seem to apply to this area.

Phillip Elliott discusses the fact that the concept of "needs" is based on the idea of deficit motivation:

If we must talk of needs in relation to media consumption, then, it seems clear that they are growth needs, not defi^ ciency needs, that they are learned, not innate, that media consumption is founded on growth rather than deficiency m otivation.^

This might lead one to inquire whether a motivation toward responding to a religious broadcast might be a desire to grow. Another possibility, set forth by Rosengren and Windahl ('1972, 1973)^5 is that "People less involved in actual interaction will become more involved in media consumption."^ They reiterated this finding three years later in Sweden, "The degree of involvement in mass media content consumed by the individual is seen as affected by the individual1 s degree of dependence on functional alternatives to real face-to^ace 47 communication," This would seem to lend support to the Johnstone study which showed the elderly (whose interaction opportunities are typically limited) to be greater consumers of religious broadcasting than their juniors. But McLeod and Becker caution the researcher against using the opposite approach (that is) "inferring needs and media gratifications from the requirements of a personas status and 28 role rather than from more direct methods."^® They then underscore the need for backing up social category (demographic) assumptions with self-report data by noting:

...that while the older adults spend considerably more time with television and pay more attention to television entertainment content, they do not differ very much from those under 25 years old in the reasons they give for seeking and avoiding television programs focusing on political candidates.^9

But while the elderly and young have sim ilar motivations to view political broadcasts, we cannot conclude that similar motiva­ tions apply to religious broadcasts.

In his research on "The Functions of Mass Media for Adolescents,"

Johnstone discovered two types of mass media uses operating,

These uses were identified in part by the social forms of media reception - individualistic or group - but mainly they reflect the perspectives that an individual brings to the media. The fundamental distinction between these patterns of usage rests on whether the individual uses the media to keep contact with or to escape from the realities of his social environment. (Emphasis mine) u

More than some other researchers, Johnstone considers the context in which the mass communication is received,

One general feature of (movie going, record playing, etc.) is that they are typically experienced with peers rather than with members of the family. When adolescents go to the movies, for example, they are much more likely to go with their friends or with dates than with their parents or by themselves. Listening to records, moreover, is an activity that high school students often do in groups, and while the same is not necessarily true of radio listening, the dominance of teenage music on American radio means than when an adolescent tunes in, he or she is exposed to content that has high salience in the teen world. These patterns, in short, seem to reinforce the generalization that media consumption is structured, at least in part, by the social setting in which one is situated. 29

It would seem that to reach teenagers with religious programming

one would need to especially consider the context in which it will be

received, realizing that teens usually listen in groups.

Context is but one of three origins of gratifications as Katz,

Blumler and Gurevitch point out: ’’audience gratifications can be

derived from at least three distinct sources: media content, exposure

to the media per se, and the social context that typifies the situa-r n tion of exposure to different media." The researcher needs to determine "what combinations of attributes may render different media

• ^ more or less adequate for the satisfaction of different needs." %

Thus, while most of the religious broadcaster^ attention

intuitively centers on the content of the programs, he needs to remem­ ber that the context in which reception takes place and the exposure

to the broadcast per se, are also factors which may affect an audi­

ence ’s mot ivat ion s .

In their 1977 article in Communication Research-, Lometti, Reeves

and Bybee call for further investigation of just this phenomenon:

Future research must develop strategies to separate channel gratifications from message gratifi-. cations. These two sources of gratification may be inseparably linked due to the content characteristically associated with communication channels. If this is true, we have what may be significant as well as interesting results. Whatever the case, however, this situation must be empirically examined before the uses and gratifications approach can increase the understanding of media effects.

It would be highly important to the religious broadcaster in planning his programming to know whether his audience is listening to his

station for the content, or just because they like to have the radio 30

on. What happens when the media is removed from the audience's

lives? Alexis Tan wanted to determine "what daily activities would

take the place of television viewing if TV were not available."

His findings: "Respondents spent more time in social activities

and more time reading when TV was not available.Tan found that people "missed TV more for its entertainment/escape value than for

its information/educational value," and he concluded "TV is a very

important force in many people's liv e s .T h is research could be of value to the religious broadcaster considering on which medium to present his message.

Stroman and Becker investigated "racial differences in g ratifi­ cations" and found that, among other things, " ,,,blacks are less

committed to newspapers than whites, and more dependent on television,"

The authors attributed such variations as being due to "differences between the black and white cultures,..not merely differences in the 57 social standing of the two groups,"

The distinctions between content and other appeals of television

consumption were investigated by J. Gutman, Using a Q technique to

avoid introducing researcher bias, he discovered that "non-content motives for viewing (such as 'facilitate interaction,' 'escape boredom') were not as highly chosen by people as content^related motives.'"*8 ('keeping current,' 'entertainm ent'). This could tell the religious broadcaster that at least in this study on television people seemed to watch for the content rather than for other motives,

Gantz researched recall of television news content from a uses

and gratifications perspective finding support for his hypothesis 31 that: "those seeking predominantly information acquisition gratifi­ cations from newscasts recalled a great number of news items, as 59 predicted, than those with other motivations." The findings were based on telephone interviews with 563 Michigan residents. This may be of interest to the religious broadcaster to the extent that it may reflect the motivation of a person seeking religious information from a broadcast, though one could safely assume that the audience for network television news and that for religious programs likely differs in some significant manner.

Three uses and gratifications articles were published in the

January, 1979 issue of Communication Research. Two have to do with communication theory or uses and gratifications would seem to be of interest herein. In the first of these, D. L. Swanson, noting the increasing popularity of the uses and gratifications paradigm states, "Some consider it less a 'grand theory' than a group of basic commitments comprising a research orientation orframework. In a later article in the same journal, Blumler argues that "there is no such thing as 'the' uses and gratifications theory, no 'grand theory'. . . Blumler notes that the concept of the "active audience"

(a fundamental principle in uses and gratifications) "is not totally ideology free, and should probably be converted to an empirical question and tested." Blumler further suggests that "there is a real lack of knowledge about which gratifications sought from which forms of content are likely to facilitate which effects." This could concern researchers of religious broadcasting who are interested in finding out whether or not the audience is receiving the gratifica­ tions they have sought from the media.

In summary, we have discovered much m aterial concerning re li­ gious programs, and religious broadcasters, but little on religious broadcasting and the National Religious Broadcasters in particular.

Likewise, the literature has much material on uses and gratifications but none has been found which attempts to apply the uses and grati­ fications paradigm to religious broadcasting as the author will attempt to do here. NOTES

^Michael Korpi, "Inferences About Religious Broadcasting," unpublished paper, 1980.

^Donald D. Dick, "Religious Broadcasting: 1920-1965, A Bibliography," Journal of Broadcasting, 9 (1965): 3, p. 249-279, 10 (1966): 2, p. 163-180, and 10 (1966): 3, p. 257-276. •Z Everett Parket, David Berry, and Dallas Smythe, The Television Radio Audience and Religion, quoted in Stuart P. Johnson, "Contem- porary Communication Theory and the Distribution Patterns of Evan­ gelical Radio Programs," Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1978.

^Ibid., p. 48.

5Ibid., p. 49. 6 ' ' Elihu Katz, Jay G. Blumler, and Michael Gurevitch, "Utilization of Mass Communication by the Individual," The Uses Of Mass Communica- tion, eds. Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz (Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974), p. 46. 7 Fred L, Casmir, "A Telephone Survey of Religious Program Prefer­ ences Among Listeners and Viewers in Los Angeles," Central States Speech Journal, 10 (1959): 36. O Ronald L. Johnstone, "Who Listens to Religious Radio Broadcasts Anymore?" Journal of Broadcasting, 16 (Winter 1971-72): 1, p. 92.

9I b id .

^ J e f f r e yH, Simon, "Viewer Types and Viewer Preferences for Kinds of Television Violence," Master*^ Thesis, Ohio State University, 1969,

11I b id . 1 7David L. Rarick, "Predicting Viewer Preferences for Visual Appeals in Television Programs," Master^s Thesis, Ohio State Univer­ sity, 1967.

33 34

13William L. Cathcart, "Viewer Needs and Desires in Television Newscasters," Master’s Thesis, Ohio State University, 1966.

■^Lowell S. Saunders, "The National Religious Broadcasters and the A vailability of Commercial Time," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1968.

15I b i d .

16Ib id .

17Ib id .

18Ib id .

19Ib id .

20Ib id .

2 l I b id .

22I b id .

23Ib id .

24Ib id .

25I b id .

26Ib id .

27Ib id .

28I b id .

29I b id .

30Ib id . 31 Quoted in Frank J. Kahn, ed. Documents of American Broadcasting, 3d ed., (Englewood C liffs, New Jersey! Prentice-Hall, 1978), p. 500—503.

32Robert R. Smith, "Broadcasting and Religious Freedomj" Journal of Broadcasting, 13 (Winter 1968-69): 1, p. 7. S^Ibid. 35

34J. Harold Ellens, "Program Format in Religions Television: A History and Analysis of Program Format in Nationally Distributed Denominational Religious Television Broadcasting in the United States of America: 1950-1970," (Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1970) in Dissertation Abstracts, 32 (1970): 01A, p. 6386,

35Ib id .

J. Harold Ellens, Models of Religious Broadcasting, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's, 1974), p. 170”

Ib id .

3®David C. Solt, "A Study of the Audience Profile for Religious Broadcasts in Onondaga County," (Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse Univer­ sity, 1971) in Dissertation Abstracts, 32 (1971): 03A, p. 1544,

39Ib id .

40Ib id .

4*John M. Robertson, "Mass Media and the Church: Creation and Salvation as Theological Motivations for one Church'? Use of Radio," (D.Min. dissertation, School of Theology at Clermont, 1977) in Dissertation Abstracts, 38 (1977): 03A, p. 1088.

42Stuart P. Johnson, "Contemporary Communication Theory and the Distribution Patterns of Evangelical Radio Programs," Ph.D. disser^ tation, Northwestern University, 1978,

43I b i d . 44 Philip E lliott, "Uses and Gratifications Research: A critique and a Sociological A lternative," The Uses of Mass Communication, (Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974), p, 257.

43Karl E. Rosengren and Swen Windahl, "Mass Media-Use: Causes and Effects," Communications, 3 (1977), p. 336^352, iit-Communication Abstracts, 1 (1978): 3, p. 346.

46Ib id .

47I b id , 48 Jack M. McLeod and Lee B. Becker, 'Testing the Validity of G ratification Measures through Political Effects Analysis,**The Uses of Mass Communication, eds. Blumler and Katz, (Beverly HiTls: Sage, 1974), p. 139.

49Ibid., p. 147, 36

John W. C. Johnstone, "Social Integration and Mass Media Used Among Adolescents: A Case Study," The Uses of Mass Communica­ tion, eds. Blumler and Katz, (Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974), p. 46.

51Ibid., p. 43.

3^Jay G. Blumler, Elihu Katz, and Michael Gurevitch, "U tiliza- tion of Mass Communication by the Individual," The Uses of Mass Communication, eds. Blumler and Katz, (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1974), p . 24.

53Ibid., p. 25,

5^Guy E. Lometti, Byron Reeves, and Carl R, Bybee, "Investigating the Assumptions of Uses and G ratifications Research," Communication Research, 4 (1977): 3, p. 321-338 in Communication Abstracts, 1 (1978): 1, p. 77. 55 Alexis S. Tan, "Why TV is Missed; A Functional Analysis," Journal of Broadcasting, 21 (1977)j 3, p. 371^380, in Communication Abstracts, 1 (1978): 1, p. 95.

56Ib id .

57C. A. Stroman and L. B. Becker, "Racial Differences in G ratifi- cations," Journalism Quarterly, 55 (1978): 4, p. 253.

CO J. Gutman, 'Television Viewer Types: A Q Analysis,"^Journal of Broadcasting, 22 (1978): 4, p. 505^515, in Communication Abstracts, 2 (1979): 2, p. 188.

CQ W. Gantz, PHow Uses and G ratifications Affect Recall of Tele­ vision News," Journalism Quarterly, 55 (1979): 4, p. 664-672, in Communication Abstracts, 2 (1979): 2, p. 182.

L. Swanson, "Political Communication Research and the Uses and G ratifications Model: A Critique," Communication Research, 6 (1979): 1, p. 37-53, in Communication Abstracts, 2 (1979): 2, p . 255.

^*J. G, Blumler, "The Role of Theory in Uses and Gratifications Studies," Communication Research, 6 (1979): 1, p. 9-36, in Communica­ tion Abstracts, 2 (1979): 2, p. 154.

62Ibid. CHAPTER I I I

THE SOCIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT: 1970-1979

One of the challenges confronting the communications researcher is the fact that communication in humans does not take place in a vacuum. In other words, a message given in one setting may generate a response which differs widely from that given by the same receiver in another place or time. Likewise human motivations, being affected by the particular environment confronted at that time may vary widely from those of another period. Thus in the present study we might intelligently ask what conditions existed during the 1970s which may have in some way affected the growth in the number of religious radio stations. Were there events occurring in this decade which appear to have so shaped the communications setting that in some way they may have contributed to this growth? Let us investi­ gate the evidence to see.

There is ample evidence that the 1970s were a period marked by worldwide turmoil and uncertainty. It was the decade of the Watergate scandal, the increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam, the nuclear mishap at Three Mile Island and the Guyana suicides. But of all these events which would be considered most significant; which most affected the lifestyles and attitudes of Americans? United Press International 38 conducts a year-end poll of news editors as to which stories they feel were most significant in the preceding twelve months. A review of these provides a revealing setting from which to consider the growth of religious radio.

The most significant story of the 1970s, according to the editors, was the resignation of Richard Nixon as President in 1974.

His story is remarkable from a number of aspects. Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower for 8 years in the fifties, he was then narrowly defeated by John F. Kennedy for President in 1960. A sub­ sequent race for the California governorship sim ilarly ended in failure for Nixon but he was not yet through. In a surprise announcement,

Lyndon Johnson said in 1968, he would not run for re-election for

President. The nation was wracked by dissent over the already^unpop­ ular war in Vietnam and Johnson painfully stepped aside, apparently realizing he scarcely had a chance at re-election due to the war issue. Voters, hungry for an end to the growing confrontation in

Southeast Asia, rejected Johnson's Vice President and Democratic nomi­ nee Hubert Humphrey, instead choosing Richard Nixon for President in an unprecedented comeback.* For the next four years, both the war and dissent at home continued to grow, yet when it was time to nominate Presidential candidates in 1972 it was Nixon who again got the Republican nod. By now Nixon had moved to reopen diplomatic ties with Communist China and promised a prompt end to the Vietnam War and resultant campus unrest, if only he was re-elected. It was this drive for re-election which ultimately led to Nixon's undoing. Running against Senator George McGovern on a peace platform,

Nixon or his associates in the White House and the soon-to-be infamous

Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) apparently became increas­ ingly suspicious of the other side. In a decision whose originator has never been firmly established, a number of characters with varying reputations were hired to plan and carry out a break-in of the Demo­ cratic National Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington,

The motive for the break-in was never publicly established, and police had little trouble catching the suspects in the process of removing various files from the Democratic offices. The Nixon administration responded at first with remarks about the "third rate burglary" and denied further knowledge of the matter (in a nearly unbelievable series of news "leaks," allegations, denials, firings and revelations in the following months). However before the significance of the

Watergate break-in became widely known, Nixon was re-elected to a second term by a resounding margin, Ironically the greatest evidence against Nixon was provided by his own staff in the form of transcrip­ tions made of all conversations in the Oval office. When the Special

Prosecutor learned of the existence of a recorded archive of conver­ sations made by the President to his aides, efforts were made to request and later subpeona them. It was only after a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court that Nixon could not use the argument of "executive privilege" as a defense against surrendering the tapes which were made at his request to provide a record of events for using as a historical record. Throughout the investigation into the

Watergate burglary Nixon consistently denied having any advance 40 knowledge of the break-in. The tape, however, revealed him discussing the break-in much earlier than he had heretofore admitted. This, coupled with a silence of eighteen minutes at a strategic point in one tape, and several other erased segments of others, led a majority in Congress to favor his impeachment. Faced with the inevitability of such action, Nixon tearfully resigned his office in August, 1974.

Nixon was succeeded by Gerald Ford who, ironically, was named Vice

President the preceding year to fill the vacancy caused by the resig­ nation under fire of former Vice President Spiro Agnew on charges of tax evasion not related to Watergate, Within one month Ford granted his predecessor an unconditional pardon for all federal crimes he 2 "committed or may have committed or taken part in" while in office,

The pardon was made by Ford in an effort to put the Watergate ques­ tion and Nixon's involvement out of the public eye. But it appears likely that this widely unpopular move contributed to Ford's loss of the Presidency to Jimmy Carter in 1976,

Thus the decade was marked by the resignations of its two top leaders under less than honorable conditions before it reached the half way point. But this was only one of many such stories involving immorality or crisis during this decade —> one also marked by unprec­ edented growth in religious radio,

UPI editors ranked the energy crisis, Arab oil embargoes and the search for alternative fuels as the second most significant event for Americans in the 1970s, The "energy crunch" began in the early seventies as a protest against the backing of Israel by the

United States in the Arab-Israeli conflict. An embargo was imposed 41 on oil destined to the United States by most Arab nations resulting in a sharp cutback in available fuels and a sharp increase in oil and gasoline products including home heating and industrial grade oils.

The crisis persisted throughout the decade with gasoline rising in cost from around thirty-five cents- to over a dollar a gallon.

Shortages for several years forced gas station closings on weekends and many stations ceased operation altogether. Long lines at the pumps and the dropping of premiums and motorist services became the 3 rule for many Americans.

The continuing conflict in Southeast Asia generated a third- place ranking by the editors. The Vietnam quagmire had been the nemesis of Americans and their leaders since the administration of

Lyndon Johnson. It was Johnson who, noting the buildup of activity by the Communist North Vietnamese along the borders of their non-

Communist neighbors, saw the possible collapse of the entire region to Communism. Thus, in the mid 1960s, Johnson froze the enlistments of American servicemen and began massive movements of Amer„ ;an m ili­ tary "advisers" to assist the struggling South Vietnamese forces.

This led to active involvement of American servicemen in the battle with the Communist Chinese and Russian--supported North Vietnamese,

Out of a lingering fear of not wanting to draw the two superpowers into direct conflict, it was decided to limit the involvement of

American forces in such a way that the war came to be considered a

"no win" situation. This left the United States in an awkward posi­ tion. Already committed to assist the South Vietnamese and faced with

»i rising challenges from the enemy, the political leadership was hesitant to approve any greater involvement for fear of touching off a much great conflict. This became especially true when American bombings of Hanoi touched off massive protests at home, especially on college campuses where the largest group of draft-age men were located. This seemingly interminable stalemate persisted for eight years until the beginning of a cease fire in January, 1973.^ Though the agreement won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiators Henry

Kissinger of the United States and Le Due Tho of North Vietnam, it hardly meant permanent peace in South Vietnam. While President

Nixon and other American leaders proclaimed the arrival of peace in Vietnam, Vietnamese officials pointed out that forty South Viet­ namese soldiers were being killed and 140 wounded on the average each day in the period between the cease fire agreement and September,

1973, a figure said to be higher than during the war itself except for the big confrontations of 1968 and 1972.^ Yet the South Viet­ namese were able to stave off a Communist takeover until 1975 when the nation was invaded and captured by the North Vietnamese,6 Sub­ sequently, both South Vietnam's neighbors, Cambodia and Thailand, also came under Communist dominance — the very fate President Johnson had so strongly feared at the outset. Thus the end of the United

States' involvement in Vietnam was a mixed blessing: American troops were withdrawn and the compulsory draft ended as President Nixon had promised in his re-election bid in 1972, but the nation had been wracked by dissention over the war, college campuses were vandalized sometimes ending in tragedy as in the shootings of four students in

1970 at Kent State University, It was at the end of the American 43 involvement in the war, in 1973, when our research begins, showing

111 r e li g io u s ra d io s ta t io n s on th e a i r .

The decline of the American dollar, along with domestic and worldwide inflation, were ranked fourth in significance by UPI editors in the 1970s. The economic pinch was beginning to be felt in 1973 when a New York Times survey of inflation in major regions of the world found that it had adversely affected the living standards "in many countries" and was "getting worse." Annual inflation rates of 10 percent and more were common in the decade which saw the mini­ mum wage rise from around a dollar an hour to over three times that amount for the same period of work. Inflation seemed to affect energy costs and food prices the most with the problem persisting throughout the decade. Unusual weather conditions cut back crop production and, along with higher fuel costs for farm vehicles, . added to the cost of food. Gold prices soared to over $700 an O ounce on the world market further stimulating the dollar's decline.

This was one event which affected all Americansj as well as most of the free world: inflated prices and deflated currency.

In what the New York Times' James Reston called "one of the most extraordinary occasions in the history of the WhiteHouse,Egyptian

President Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachim Begin signed a formal treaty ending a state of war between their nations that had existed for more than thirty years. Thus ended the bulk of m ilitary skir­ mishes involving Israel and various Mid-East Arab nations since the

1967 war. Though most of the Arab world opposed the agreement, it 44 was viewed by Reston as "a new triangle of power in the Middle East that might transform history."*® President Carter viewed it as one of the highlights of his administration and indeed it generated strong approval from Americans. This agreement along with the Mid-East battles that spawned it were considered fifth in significance by

UPI editors.

The sixth most significant event caught the world by surprise in 1978 when more than eight hundred followers of cult leader James

Jones died in an apparent mass suicide in their commune near Jonestown,

Guyana. The incident appeared to be related to the visit of a

California congressman to investigate charges of illegal activities taking place in the South American headquarters of People's Temple.

The Temple, started by Rev. Jones in Indianapolis, later emigrated to northern California where it grew before relocating to Guyana in the late 1970s. There Jones told his followers that they were being oppressed by the United States, a charge that apparently led to the death of several members of the visiting Congressional team as well as Jones and nearly all .of his followers in Guyana. The first visitors on the scene of the tragedy found several vats of poison-laced beverages surrounded by scores of bodies of victim s, most lying face down in the main area of the commune. The incident was labeled the Guyana massacre by reporters,** one of the greatest tragedies in the terms of human lives lost at one time to occur in modem history. By the end of that year there were 449 religious radio stations operating in the United States. 45

The normalization of relations between the United States and

Communist China took place in 1978, the seventh most significant event of the 1970s. The normalization process began in earnest in 1972 with President Nixon's visit to Peking. But it was not until

January 1, 1979, under President Carter, that diplomatic relations were established with the People's Republic of China and sim ilar relations terminated with the government of Taiwan. Reaction to the normalization was reported by the New York Times to be generally favorable though some Congressmen criticized the President for having 12 acted without consulting them, especially on the issue of Taiwan.

Senator Barry Goldwater and fourteen other Congressmen filed suit to

"bar termination of the mutual defense pact with Taiwan on grounds 13 that Congress has a constitutional role in ending treaties," An angry mob in Taiwan, meanwhile, attacked a United States delegation in Taipei but there were no serious injuries . ^

What could have become a tragedy was averted in eastern Pennsyl­ vania in March, 1978 at the Three Mile Island nuclear generating plant,

None-the-less, the nation awaited anxiously the word that the plant had been successfully shut down. The incident, attributed by the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission to human error, touched off a national concern over other nuclear plants either those existing or those under planning or construction. Though no one was killed or seriously injured in the Three Mile Island incident, the owner estimated the costs to repair the damaged plant at around $400 million dollars, with 100 million of that not covered by insurance. As a result of the accident at Three Mile Island, a number of new nuclear plants 46 were delayed, their licenses upheld by the Nuclear Regulatory Commis­ sion pending a finding on the accident's cause. Other power companies reconsidered alternative fuels instead of nuclear energy for their new plants. Meanwhile President Carter proclaimed that "atomic energy must play an important part in the (nation's) energy future.

It appeared certain that after the Three Mile Island nuclear plant incident, the nation would never again look at nuclear power in the same manner as before.

The ninth event in overall significance was the space explora­ tion story, or stories of the American Apollo, Skylab and Mars probes and the Soviet Soyuz space missions, Although Neil Armstrong had already walked on the moon by the time this decade had begun, there were some remarkable achievements in space none-the-less, Besides two more American manned landings on the moon in 1972, there were unmanned landings on both Venus and Mars later in the decade. Besides some breath-taking photos of the surface of Venus and Mars, there were new records set by the Apollo 17 astronauts of seventy-five hours spent outside the lunar module on the moon's surface,^

The decade ended with the departure, and subsequent overthrow, of the reigning Shah of Iran, The Shah who had ruled Iran since 1953, left Iran in January, 1979 for an "extended vacation" leaving the government in the hands of Prime M inister Bahktiar, Hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered in Teheran to hail the Shahls depar- 17 ture. Meanwhile Bahktiar, sensing the growing tension, agreed to call on exiled Muslim leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Paris,

His plans were thwarted, however, by violence erupting in Teheran 47

where thirty-five people were killed in a violent clash with Iranian

troops. Meanwhile, Khomeini said he would not meet with Bahktiar

until he resigned from office. The growing tension in Iran spread

to this country where Attorney General Griffin Bell was reported

to be angered by "rampages in the United States caused by Iranian

1 O students," and announced major changes in immigration control

laws. Khomeini returned to Teheran at the end of January, ending

his nearly fifteen year exile in France, A visit to the United

States by the Shah for emergency medical treatment for cancer led

to widespread protests in Iran and calls for his return to Iran for

trial. It was during this time that Iranian students seized the

United States embassy in Teheran and kidnapped scores of diplomats

and embassy staff members. The eventual release of all of these

hostages did not come until more than a year later. The Shah later

died of cancer in Egypt. The capture of the American hostages in

Iran triggered strong protests in this country and a resolve to never 19 again let such a thing happen. The story of the Shah being ousted

and the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iran was ranked

tenth in significance by the editors.

In reviewing the most significant events of the 1970s then, we

find that the majority were negative in nature. Only the space explo~ ration, Middle East peace treaty, and United States^China normalizing

relations stories might be considered positive and even these had negative aspects. Far more graved from an American viewpoint, were

the resignation of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew; the ongoing

energy crisis; loss of Southeast Asia to the Communists; the decline 48 of the dollar and growing inflation; the Guyana massacre; the accident at Three Mile Island; and the fall of the Shah and capture of Americans in Iran. Exactly the nature and extent of these events on the growth of religious broadcasting can only be conjectured, yet, if we are to believe communication theory, then we must also assume that there was at least some relationship existing between these events in the environment and the increase in numbers of religious stations. I would argue that an atmosphere of increasing turmoil and uncertainty would make more salient the perceived need for stability and surety that religion has been known to provide.

Not only were listeners being influenced by the world's events around them, but religious station owners and operators were sim ilarly influenced by various issues to arise during the decade as well as the news events cited. There were a number of significant challenges to religious broadcasting during this period which warrant our consideration.

Probably the greatest legal issue to confront religious broad­ casters during the past decade (in terms of long-range effect and impact) was the action to rewrite the long outdated copyright law.

The previous law, in effect since 1909, contained no mention of such media as radio and television, sound recording, motion pictures, wire services and cable television which were an everyday part of the 1970s, Clearly the copyright law was in serious need of revision,

NRB files on the subject of copyright rewrite date back to late

1969 and early 1970, At that time several religious broadcasters sought NRB assistance in combatting a drive by one music licensing 49

organization, the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers

(SESAC), to require payment of a fee for annual use of each song

aired on their programs. This ten dollar fee for each song compared

with a previous cost of just two cents per program for music use

(times the number of stations on which the program was aired, yet

still considered a substantial savings from the ten dollar per song

fe e ) .

The dispute between SESAC, smallest of the three music licensing

firms though holder of performance rights to much religious music,

and NRB-member program producers simmered throughout the rew rite hearings. The debate came to a head after controversial paragraph

112c of the copyright b ill was introduced. This twenty-one line

proposal simply exempted religious music used in non-profit programs

from copyright infringement, NRB Executive Director Dr. Ben Armstrong

presented the program producer’s case this way:

} Unlike a commercial record that is sold, a religious program is reproduced for limited use by a station*. The program producer either supplies the program fee, or more often, pays the station for putting it on the air. The religious program’s purpose is not to earn a profit but to b rin g th e Good News o f s a lv a tio n to p eo p le e v e ry w h e re ,.. On-air performance greatly enhances consumer sales, so it's in the best interests of composers to encourage the use of their works on the air. Christian artists particularly need the kind of widespread exposure they receive on religious programs.20

Religious program producers, led by the NRB, claimed this exemp­

tion was essential if they were to be able to continue using copy^

righted music as they had in the past. 50

According to a survey among NRB members, if program producers were forced to pay mechanical reproduction fees, some would not be able to use music by contemporary Christian writers. Other producers feel they would be compelled to discontinue their programs. Some say they would use music which is in the public domain.21

Dr. Armstrong placed the blame for the opposition clearly at

SESAC's f e e t :

Although program distribution by tape or disc follows the same principle as telephone transm ittal, SESAC has asked program producers to pay a yearly mechanical reproduction fee of ten dollars for each musical number, and this can be merely a starting amount. These fees would be paid on top of the performance fees paid by the stations.^2

In SESAC's view, program producers should have to pay the fee

on the grounds that they were benefitting from the use of copyrighted music on their programs. As SESAC saw it, such fees should be

considered a normal business expense, just as u tilities, rent and

costs of blank tape would be.

Following testimony by both SESAC and NRB witnesses, the new

copyright b ill passed both houses of Congress and was signed into

law by President Ford with the paragraph exempting religious programs

from mechanical reproduction fees still intact, in the fall of 1975.

While the NRB was formed to represent conservative interests

within the religious broadcasting community itself, issues faced by such broadcasters in the 1970s came largely from outside religious

ranks. Such was the situation in the Lansman-Milam case which proved

to be a landmark both in FCC support of the status quo with certain

religious stations and in the amount of mail generated in response to

a single issue before the Commission, more than ten million cards 51 and letters by the turn of the decade. 23 Nearly four years after the FCC had acted upon the issue, mail was still arriving at the rate of 16,000 pieces a day. It was so great a load that a special 24 firm was contracted just to answer the allegations.

The correspondence stemmed from a petition for rulemaking filed with the FCC by two broadcast consultants active in helping minority applicants for educational-licensed stations. It sought four changes in FCC rules:

1. Elimination of provisions allowing educational broadcasters more than one educational station in a community.

2. "Freezing" the granting of new construction permits "for educational radio and television stations to applicants owned or controlled by sectarian schools, colleges, or other institutions, and to grounds owned, controlled, or directly funded by state or local governments for other elective political bodies...

3. Launching of an inquiry into "restrictions on free-speech regularly practiced by (religious broadcasters) on existing 'educational' stations.

4. Pending results of the inquiry, seek divesti^ ture for religious stations operating on educational c h a n n e ls . ^

The first reaction from the NRB appeared quite mild. Writing in

Religious Broadcasting, the house organ published by the NRB, Dr, Ben

Armstrong said:

Actually Lansman and Milam have unwittingly done us a favor by allowing us (1) the opportunity for self criticism and (2) by letting us state the case for Religious Broadcasting so that the public (and our detractors) can clearly see the excellent public service record of the members of NRB.^6 52

But by the next issue, Dr. Armstrong was becoming more con­ cerned. Noting that the NRB had succeeded in getting a sixty-day extension for filing statements with the FCC on the Lansman-Milam petition, Dr. Armstrong wrote:

The attacks by these two Californians are partic­ ularly vicious and malicious and their charges are not supported by the facts.. .hopefully, this challenge to the basic rights of religious broadcasters offers an opportunity for religious broadcasters to investigate basic operations of the field. Admittedly, not every­ thing is being accomplished’ on the highest level of excellence to which the NRB Code of Ethics points.

At their convention in January, 1975, the NRB passed a resolu­ tion opposing the Lansman-Milam petition stating that sectarian groups and state colleges, universities, institutes and secondary schools are entitled to the same rights, privileges and amenities

Cincluding ownership) as non-sectarian groups and private colleges, universities, institutes (etc,),28

As the months wore on, the reaction became stronger and more frequent on both sides. Ben Armstrong:

The Lansman-Milam attack against religious broadcasting strikes at the freedom of religion, speech and the press, and would deny religious broadcasters these rights guaran^ teed under the First Amendment. The Lansman-Milam petition would turn the Federal Communications Commission into a censorship body.2®

Apparently seeking to underscore their case, Lorenzo Milam filed another lengthy document with the FCC. In one section he gave his reaction to broadcasts on Moody Bible Institute's WMBI in

C hicago: 53

For twenty-four hours they begged, pleaded, demanded, asked, requested, intoned, suggested, whispered that I should come to Christ. For twenty-four hours, without surcease (except from some tawdry UPI newsflashes and stories) without pause, without interruption, without any hesitation they told me of the happiness of Christ's world, the delights of the Bible, the pleasure of being a Christian, in love with a Christian god, the joy of being washed in the Blood of the Lamb, For twenty-four hours they chatted pleasantly about Him, about what He would mean to me, gave me friendly advice about The Lord's Way (which they saw, which they could give to me, if I wanted it); they told me of Hope for my Soul if I would get right with God and abandon my naughty ways. Intermixed with the voices were the songs. Dear God, the songs! I was washed in verses, rhythms, voices, dances, foot tappings that told me more about God, and Christ, and The Cross, and His Sacrifices for Us, and Me. For twenty-four hours I was jingled and jangled in the voices—not unlike Dean Martin or Judi Collins or Perry Como or Doris Day or Brazil 66--non-stop sing- in g , Fox T ro t, Mambo, E-Z L i s t e n in ’ , 2 /4 tim e m elo d ies of His Love, His Word, His Flesh, His Sacrifice, His Need for Me, My Need for Him, Everyone's Need for S a lv a tio n . I thought I should weep with the sheer tedium of it. It was a warm, tiny, cloying, non-stop peek into a very lim ited, narrow, miniscule vision of Man and his Godhead. It was a single, telescopic vision of religion: one based entirely on Back-to-the-Bible Christian Fundamental Religion; ignoring by definition 98 percent of the world^s religious thinking. What we were getting from WMBI was nothing more o r le s s th a n a s in g le long d i a t r i b e f o r th e Moody World View--a fulltim e, ongoing, nonstop, endless, open-ended twenty-four hours, seven days a week, fifty-two week year, year after year commercial for the Moody Bible Institute, their pin-hole view of humanity, and their dank view of the Divine.^0

As religious broadcasters and their audiences were becoming increasingly aware of the petition, the deluge of letters to the FCC increased. Many of them seeming to confuse the Lansman-Milam request with an earlier petition by atheist Madelyn Murray OUlair seeking to ban astronauts from quoting Scripture in space, (Madelyn 54

Murray O'Hair never was involved in the Lansman-Milam request)

and assuming Lansman-Milam wanted to abolish all religious broad-*

casting (which was never proposed),3* And the mail came rolling

in! More than 700,000 cards and letters on the (Lansman-Milam)

petition were received by the FCC by July, 1975.3^ The Religious

News S e rv ic e n o te d :

The 'deluge,' many of them form letters, is one of the largest out-pourings of citizen response to a single issue the FCC has ever received.. .The mass mailing (which included some referrals from members of Congress) is primarily the result of an appeal made last January during the annual (NRB) convention,33

The matter was resolved on August 1, 1975 when, by a unanimous vote, the FCC denied the Lansman-Milam petition. In a lengthy

response, the FCC noted:

We must reject their argument that action is required because the programming offered by governmentally sup** ported or religiously affiliated stations is stultifying and/or tim id...it would be necessary to show that a pattern exists before it could be said that we need to consider if remedial action were required. The part of this proceeding which has evoked the greatest public response is that which is concerned with the eligibility of religious organizations for channels which are reserved for noncommercial educational use. Petitioners would have us disqualify all religiously- affiliated organizations and institutions from eligibility to operate on reserved channels. In effect, they would have us practice discrimination against a school or university simply by virtue of the fact that it is owned and operated by a sectarian organization. As a government agency, the Commission is enjoined by the First Amendment to observe a stance of neutrality toward religion...Under principles of neutrality, a religious group, like any other, may become a broadcast licensee, and, like any other licensee, a religious group is subject to 'enforceable public obligations.*34 55

Petitioners have suggested that the Commission under­ take an inquiry into the programming practices of stations operated on reserved channels by 'sectarian institutions' or all government-supported institutions. We are not persuaded that new policies or new investigations are necessary in this area. The ad hoc enforcement of existing Commission policies appears to be the prefer­ able course of action. The broadcasters referred to by the petitioners are subject, just as all other broad­ casters are, to the Fairness Doctrine and the principle that a broadcast station may not be used solely to promote the personal or partisan objectives of the broadcasters. The Commission w ill continue to take appropriate action in specific cases where a prima "facie showing can be made that a broadcast station has violated these principles.33

The NRB's reaction was predictably enthusiastic. Writing in the August-September issue of "Religious Broadcasting Executive Director

Dr. Ben Armstrong stated:

Religious broadcasting has won an important victory. What is the impact of the Federal Communications Commission’s denial of the Lansman-Milam petition? This historic decision affirms the neutrality of the FCC in both governmental and religious programming so long as the Fairness Doctrine is supported and the community response supports any given station. In effect, the denial of the petition tends to strengthen local control of broadcasting...the decision indicates that governmental and religiously affiliated stations should be more deliberate in meeting legal requirements of the FCC. (Lansman-Milam)...have given religious broadcasters new incentives to be even more conscious of their public responsibilities...33

In noting the 700,000 responses the FCC indicated it had received to date, Dr. Armstrong replied:

This is an indication of an encouraging new, dynamic and articulate force in the U.S.A. with an incredible potential to support the fundamental beliefs of the historic Christian faith whenever these issues are challenged.3'7 56

It is difficult to measure the impact Lansman-Milam had on religious broadcasting. Broadcasters concede that there never was any serious doubt of the outcome of the request before the Commis­ sion. So the major impact seems to have come on the part of the audiences for religious broadcasting who have so far deluged with

70 more than ten million pieces of mail. Surely that has had a lingering impact on members of the Commission who might have won­ dered whether anyone out there listens to (or cares about) religious broadcasting.

In a sense secular broadcasting experienced an equivalent threat to their existence (as well as to religious broadcasters) in the form of challenges to their licenses by "strike" applicants.

What they perceived to be happening was that anyone who felt they could do a better job of serving the public than the present licensee could construct an idealized application and get a hearing before the FCC. The National Association of Broadcasters stressed the u rg en cy :

The survival of the free broadcasting is at stake. Every station is affected by the license renewal problem. A clear and reasonable license renewal policy must be developed and, in order to ensure a permanent national policy, it must be made law by Congress.39

The issue seemed to revolve around whether or not the existing licensee was providing his community with "substantial service." The

FCC was hoping to get a prima facie indication of what constitutes substantial service in the area of programming and issued a note of inquiry on that matter, requesting input from broadcasters. The

Commission suggested a range of 10 to 15 percent of locally originated 57 programming; a range of 8 to 10 percent of air time devoted to news for the network affiliate and 5 percent for the non-rnetwork station; and a public affairs program schedule ranging from 3 to

5 percent of a station's time on the air,^®

Writing for the NRB, Attorney John Midlen, Jr. stated "The licensee is and should be in the best position to make an intelligent judgment as to how he can best serve the public,He added:

(The NRB believes) it is a licensee's overall Public Service Programming (or Public Interest Programming) which should be looked to and evaluated if a Substantial Service test is to be met. NRB,..suggests that if a percentage Substantial Service test is to be adopted, there be two categories of programming: (A) News, (B) Other Public Seryice Programming. Within each of the above categories, in order that Substantial Service be demonstrated, the Commission should delineate that part of the News Programming and part of the Other Public Service Programming should be local.O ther Public Service Programming should include but not be limited to (1) Public Affairs Programs, (2) Children's Programs, (3) Religious Programs, (4) Minority Group Programs, (5) Editorials, (6) Agricultural Programs, (7) Broads casts of Local Events, (8) Foreign Language Programs (where applicable), and (9) Educational Programs... It is a fact of life that broadcasters will be influx enced in their programming by what the Commission regards as good or favored. ^

In the early 1970s the Pallatise Fathers in Baltimore were found to have raised over twenty million dollars with fewer than one million dollars of that amount actually going to charitable use,

This, and another case in which two fund raisers collecting aid for families of slain police officers kept 600,000 of the $800,QQ0 raised for "expenses," were cited by Congressman Charles Wilson of

California in re-introducing a Bill entitled "Charity Disclosing

Information"^ at the start of the Ninety-Vfifth Congress. This 58 far-ranging legislation, required "organizations soliciting charitable contributions from the public to disclose some basic information about how that money is to be spent."44 A similar b ill introduced in the previous session by Wilson cleared committee but did not reach th e f lo o r .

Charities in this country are truly "big business" with twenty- nine billion dollars given to charities in 1976 a l o n e , 45 which is about 2 percent of the gross national product. The NRB's Dr. Ben

Armstrong cites figures that 88 percent of Americans give to charity with 75 percent giving by m ail.46 However, not everyone appears to ‘be happy about it. MS magazine is quoted as saying that in 1973 the Better Business Bureau received over 10,000 inquiries and com­ plaints about non-profit organizations.

Congressman Wilson's b ill sought to remedy any problem areas for both secular and religious charities, it was the latter who tended to view it with the greatest suspicion, wary of the secular govern­ ment's role in reviewing giving to churches and mission boards as well as secular charities. The b ill's wording was indeed broad:

...any charitable organization which solicits in any manner or through any means, the remittance of a contribu­ tion by mail, shall include with such solicitation (among identification data)...the percentage of all contributions for the charitable purpose of the organization which were directly applied to such charitable purpose of the organi­ zation after deducting all fund raising and management and general costs during the most recent fiscal year of the organization....Further, within thirty days after request from any person receiving such solicitation, furnish to such person a pertinent financial statement...for the most recent fiscal year of the organization. 47 59

(The latter requirement would hold whether or not the writer actually intended to donate, thus opening the door for harassing correspondence to charities.)

Typical of the opposition among religious organizations was the following excerpt written by Harvard Law School graduate William

Proctor in Christianity Today:

Wilson's bill seeks to regulate any charitable organiza­ tion, including churches and other religious groups... asking in any way for money to be donated to it through the mail is subject to the disclosure requirements of the bill....A ny charitable organization, including churches, that falls under the bill would find its records subject to the watchful eye of the Postal Service. At the request of postal authorities, churches would have to supply 'audit reports, accounts, or other information as the Postal Service may require to establish or verify information which such organization is required to include in solicitations.48

Proctor goes on to state his opposition on grounds that the b ill,

HR-41, is probably unconstitutional under the First Amendment. At any rate, he states, the measure is "so vague that the courts would have to work overtime" to interpret the law in future lawsuits.49

Likewise, in an extended article, the National Religious Broad­ casters attacked the proposed b ill on three basic grounds: being

"Unwise, Unnecessary and Unconstitutional":

HR-41 would not catch the real crooks. Most likely the shady operators who solicit legally but unethically will not be disturbed by the provision of this b ill. These people own their own lists, mail under the privi­ lege of first class mail, and operate much the same as pomographers. They mail from blind 'drops,' collect their money and skip to another post office. (There is no) sim plistic way of measuring the efficiency of fund^ raising efforts.... Every charity has a different cost or postage or the cost of envelopes and paper. These are the^® 60

same for all organizations operating in a competitive environment. Yet that same expense for materials will return more money for one charity than another thus resulting in a higher percentage of cost of fund raising for one organization over another. Some causes, like feeding hungry children, are naturally appealing. Others, like buying radio time to evangelize New York City, are harder for many people to understand. As a result fewer people would be attracted by the second appeal and the cost of fund raising would be higher. In complying with the provisions of HR-41, the outgoing mailing pieces for each organization would carry different fund raising costs — ten cents for hunger and perhaps forty cents for radio time. It's not a sign that one organization is less reputable or efficient, or that the need for funds is less urgent. It simply means that the public gives higher priority to one cause than to the other.^1

The public seems to have a widely divergent view of just what appropriate fund raising costs should be as a percentage. Quoting

Dr. Armstrong:

According to a survey conducted by the Gallup Organ­ ization, six out of ten of those interviewed felt that 20 percent should be the ceiling placed on fund raising costs. Half of those interviewed think the figure should be lower. Among the better educated, 35-49 year old age group, 10 percent or less was the lim it. In a recent study of more than 1,400 organizations, Price Waterhouse § Co. found that the average cost ratio is (actually) 26 percent.^2

Again quoting Dr. Armstrong:

HR-41 will increase the paperwork of every Christian organization by requiring each potential donor to wade through financial statements with every appeal, creating additional costs and inevitably lessening funds available for its m ission... .Section 3012 paragraph (a) indicates that if a local m inister on a Sunday morning encourages the congregation, which usually contains non-members, to give to church operations or causes and if the offering envelopes have the church address on them, the solicita­ tions would be subject to the regulations and sanctions of HR-41. If any funds raised locally...are sent on to a state, national or international convention...the local 61

and national causes would both come under the reporting requirements for disclosure of each other's statistics. This would put postal employees in the role of super­ vising your offerings and monitoring the Way they are distributed....A local church...might well fail to solicit funds for worthwhile programs for fear the church would not be in compliance with the act. HR-41 is inconsistent with the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment. The burdens and effort that it will place on churches and religious organizations is intolerable. In the Report to accompany (a bill similar to HR-41) in the last Congress, there was addressed the inclusion of religious organizations. The Report stated: 'Religious organizations soliciting funds from the general public will be covered by this legislation since the First Amendment is not designed to provide religious-affiliated groups constitutional freedom to defraud the public'....If a religious organ­ ization is guilty of fraud it should be criminally prosecuted, sued civilly or both. By the same token, Members of Congress are not protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution from taking bribes. No one would contend that the freedom of speech provision insulates from prosecution a conspiracy to violate the laws of the United States. As written, HR-41 affects virtually every church in the United States in that it cannot go outside its own membership, as for example with a building campaign, unless it is willing to disclose the information required by the bill and is willing to conform to accounting standards prescribed by the Post Office.54

HR-41 would directly affect the many non-commercial religious broadcasters, including educational stations, who depend on their listeners for survival. Apparently Congress got the message as the measure never left committee. As a direct result of this drive by

Congressman Wilson, various Christian organizations established the

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a self-governing body to police religious charities in the evangelical camp. Numerous organizations joined the drive to become charter members of the ECFA and are already displaying its seal, which, they hope, will become the seal of good practice for such organizations. Other action was 62 taken within the NRB itse lf to set up and enforce meaningful finan-^ cial guidelines for non-profit charitable stations and program pro­ ducers. At the 1978 NRB Convention, delegates approved the lengthy

"NRB Financial Guidelines for Religious Organizations." The document, a major revision of the NRB Code of Ethics which dated back to 1944, specifies "the...steps for raising funds, supervision of fund-raising and disbursements, auditing, reporting to donors and reporting expenditures." Further, it authorizes the annual publication of

"Christian organizations which meet these high uniform standards 55 of accountability." These efforts seem to have defused the issue before Congress as no further governmental attempts at legislating charitable fund raising have been successful.

With the passage of the new copyright b ill in 19.75, one might think the issue of music licensing fees would be past for religious

i broadcasters, but such was not the case. In 19.78, the NRB filed a "friend of the court" brief supporting CBS in its suit against the music licensing firms: the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). Both firms issue only blanket music licenses, "meaning that the user can only buy from ASCAP and BMI the right to perfomr all of the composi-.. tions in their repertories."^ (emphasis added) Since the user is required to pay "a fixed percentage of its income regardless of the

r*7 number of uses it makes of copyrighted works,” the broadcaster must, in effect, pay for the right to air music which he is not likely to use (such as secular music for the religious broadcaster, or most music types for CBS Television), An NRB ad hoc committee, 63 the Religious Broadcasting Music Licensing Committee (RBMLC) com­ prised of eighty-four religious broadcasters, also brought suit against ASCAP, claiming ASCAP's five-year blanket license violated antitrust law. In October, 1978, the NRB Executive Committee sup­ ported the case of the RBMLC and authorized the NRB and its legal counsel to "give statistical information and legal support to this

CO just cause." NRB lawyer, John Midlen, in his Amicus Curiae brief before the Supreme Court summarized the problem:

ASCAP and BMI only issue blanket licenses, meaning that the user can only buy from ASCAP and BMI the right to perform all of the•compositions in their respective repertories. Thus, if CBS were to purchase from ASCAP the right to perform the music from Mass by Leonard Bernstein, it would also be required to purchase the rights to performance of, among others, every acid rock, country and rhythm and blues composition that ASCAP is authorized to license. The same is true of BMI. The only choice a user has when dealing with ASCAP or BMI is whether to buy the rights to their entire repertories for use only on specific programs. In neither event is the price negotiable, it having already been fixed by.formula By ASCAP and BMI, For these rights, the user, here CBS, pays a fixed percentage of its income regardless of the,number of uses it makes of copyrighted works....So, too, it is under a per-program blanket license where, even worse, 'it does not matter whether one bar or twenty full compositions are performed in each program, the fee remains the same. 13

In April, 1979, the Supreme Court, in an eight-to-one decision, reversed an earlier Appeals Court decision which held that blanket music licenses issued by both ASCAP and BMI were indeed price fixing and therefore violations of the Sherman Act.^l The high court asked the appellate court to "determine if the licensing system is unlawful under a different legal analysis (specifically)...'the rule of reason.'" Justice Byron White noted that blanket licensing 64 did not appear to be a "per se violation of the antitrust laws" but neither is it necessarily legal.^ White stated "when attacked, it should be subjected to a more discriminating examination under 64 the rule of reason. It may not ultimately survive that attack..."

While the networks were having their day in court, radio stations entered into an agreement with ASCAP and BMI on new licenses for music use which was expected to save the stations from $6.5 to 8 million over its life .^ Yet the question of blanket music licenses seemed little clearer at the end of the decade than when it began. NOTES

■^United Press International, ’Top Ten Stories of the 1970s, 16.

^Ibid., p. 12.

3New York Times, 9 September 1974, p. 1,

^New York T im es, 1 October 1973, p. 14 •

‘’i b i d . , p.. 5.

6 Ib id . 7 New York Times, 8 July 1973 j Sec. Ill , p . 1.

8Ib id .

^New York T im es, 28 March 1979, p. 25.

10Ib id .

■^United Press International, 'Top Ten Stories,M

*^New York Tim es, 17 December 1978, p. 1 .

*%ew York Tim es, 23 December 1978, p. 9.

l%ew York Times, 18 December 1978, p. 12.

^■SNew York T im es, 17 July 1979, p. 1.

*^New York Tim es, 15 December 1972, p. 1.

*^New York T im es, 17 January 1979, p. 1 •

*8New York Tim es, 29 January 1979, p. 17.

19Ib id . 66

^Benjamin L. Armstrong, ’Unto Everything There is a Season," Religious Broadcasting, September 1976, p. 7.

21Ib id .

22I b id .

23Benjamin L. Armstrong, "FCC Hires Agency to Combat Five-Year Old Phantom Petition," Religious Broadcasting, June/July 1979, p. 48.

24I b id .

25Jeremy Lansman and Lorenzo Milam, le tter to Federal Communica­ tions Commission, 1 December 1974.

^Benjamin L. Armstrong, "The Editing Block," Religious Broad­ casting, December 1974/January 1975, p, 3,

27Benjamin L. Armstrong, "The Editing Block," Religious Broad­ casting, February/March 1975, p. 2.

28National Religious Broadcasters, Resolution Opposing Lansman- Milam petition, January 1975.

2^Benjamin L. Armstrong, "The Editing Block," Religious Broad­ casting, April/May 1975, p. 3,

^Lorenzo Milam, letter to Federal Communications Commission, 2 June 1975.

3^Abbott Washburn, letter to John H. Midlen, 21 November 1977.

32pederal Communications Commission, memorandum opinion and order, 1 August 1975, p. 1.

33Religious News Service, news release, 8 July 1975.

34Federal Communications Commission, memorandum opinion and order, 1 August 1975, p. 9.

33I b i d , , p, 9 -1 0 .

3^Benjamin L. Armstrong, "The Editing Block," Religious Broad­ casting, August/September 1975, p. 1.

37I b id .

38Benjamin L. Armstrong, "FCC Hires Agency to Combat Five-Year Old Phantom Petition," Religious Broadcasting, June/July 1979, p. 48. 67

^National Association of Broadcasters, letter, 16 September 1971. 40 Federal Communications Commission, Second Further Notice of Inquiry, 3 October 1973. p. 1.

^National Religious Broadcasters, Inc., and National Association of Evangelicals, further comments, 19 December 1973, p. 3.

42I b id .

^ Congressional Record, Volume 123, Number 1.

44Ib id .

45I b id .

“^Benjamin L. Armstrong, "The Significance of HR-41 for Reli­ gious Broadcasters," Religious Broadcasting, August/September 1977, p . 16.

47Text of HR-41.

4% illiam Proctor, "HR-41: The State Demands Church Disclosures," Christianity Today, 4 November 1977, p. 15.

49Ib id .

^Benjamin L. Armstrong, "The Significance of HR-41 for Reli­ gious Broadcasters," Religious Broadcasting, August/September 1977, p . 16.

51Ib id .

52Ib id .

53Ib id .

54I b id .

35Text of NRB Financial Guidelines for Religious Organizations.

^National Religious Broadcasters, Inc., Motion for leave to File Brief Amicus Curiae and Brief Amicus Curiae in the Supreme Court of the United States, 18 December 1978, p. 2.

57I b id .

^^Religious Broadcasting, November 1978, p. 3. 68

^National Religious Broadcasters, Inc., Motion for leave to File Brief Amicus Curiae and Brief Amicus Curiae in the Supreme Court of the United States, 18 December 1978, p. 2.

60Ib id .

^ Religious Broadcasting, 23 April 1979, p. 38.

62Ib id .

63Ib id .

64Ib id .

65I b id . CHAPTER IV

RELIGIOUS RADIO IN THE 1970s

Research Design

Beginning with the 1973 edition, the definitive Broadcasting

Yearbook, the annual directory of information concerning the broad­ cast industry, began publishing a listing of radio stations categor­ ized by programming formats. (A format is defined as airing over twenty hours of programming in a given category each week as reported by the station.) The Yearbook is compiled by the editors of Broads casting magazine, the highly regarded trade journal of radio and television, and is the only centralized source for programming infor­ mation. The Yearbook published twenty-six major format types (with some similar categories collapsed), seven of these religious in nature. With these determined, the Yearbooks for 1973, 1976 and

1979 were obtained and all stations listed under the seven religious formats were recorded. This initial listing of religious stations taken from the seven formats in the programming sections of the

Yearbooks totaled 124 for 1973, 352 for 1976 and 478 for 1979.

To serve as a check on accuracy, stations were again screened for a religious format in the individual station listings and any addi­ tional formats were noted. Exceptions to this latter test were made for about ten stations each year which had no format information in

69 70 the stations listing but which were listed among religious formatted

stations. The lack of a format description in the station listings could be due to several causes: unfamiliarity with the format question or oversight on the part of stations completing the survey

(especially for 1973 when format information was first published),

or, more likely, in the case of co-owned AM and FM stations in the

same market, the second station simply carried the programming of

its sister. A solution in such cases would have been to merely duplicate the format listing for the first station. This was rejected as the Yearbook gave no indication that, in fact, the second station did carry all programming of the main station. Also there was a problem of determining the evening programming for an FM station

(licensed to operate twenty-four hours a day) when its sister AM station was authorized to operate only in the daytime. In such cases the stations listing "no format" were noted but were retained in the study as there was no evidence to contradict their inclusion among religious stations in the format listings. This cross-check, however, did reduce the universe under consideration to 111 stations

for 1973, 341 stations for 1976 and 449 stations for 1979. (It

should be noted that data for each Yearbook edition was compiled in the fall prior to the year indicated. Thus the 1973 Yearbook contained information current through about October 1972, but with a final publication deadline of January in the given year.) Also,

for the purposes of this research, a religious station is defined as

one which airs twenty or more hours each week of programming in a 71 religious category and/or is listed among religious-formatted sta- tions in the Yearbook.*

With the universe of 901 stations determined, data about each was entered into the computer along the following variables for each s ta t io n :

1. Station call letters. These were the four-letter combina­ tions assigned by the Federal Communications Commission. Most stations located east of the Mississippi have call letters beginning with "W," while those west of the Mississippi have call letters beginning with "K."

2. Zip Code. The five-digit zip code was separated into two columns, the first for the three-digit regional postal code and the second for the two-digit local code. Thus the zip code 89844 would be listed as ”898" "44."

3. AM/FM/FM Stereo. A code of "1" represented AM stations,

"2" stood for FM monaural stations and a "3" represented FM stereo

Stations. The latter two categories were collapsed for FM data unless otherwise described as nFM monaural" or "FM Stereo,"

4. Year signed on. This column listed the last two digits of the year the station first went on the air.

5. Year acquired. The last two digits of the year the present ownership acquired the station were listed here.

6 . Number of stations. The total number of stations licensed to serve the same community as subject station was listed here. The figure was later determined to be of only limited usefulness as 72

adjacent communities may also have stations with signals as strong

or stronger than stations assigned to serve locally,

7. Frequency, The operating frequency assigned by the FCC

was listed with AM frequencies being listed as a three-r or four-digit number followed by a decimal and a zero. FM stations contained three or four digits with a decimal before the final digit. (The

AM frequency being listed in kilohertz [1,000 cycles per second] and the FM frequency in megahertz [1,000,000 cycles per second].)

8. Power, The station's radiated power as authorized by the

FCC, l i s t e d in w a tts .

9. Operating Code, AM stations were assigned a two-digit code to represent whether they were authorized daytime-only operation;

same power day and night; reduced power at night; shared time with another station; or daytime operation with reduced power during

critical hours. The second digit related whether the station had a non-directional antenna, or a directional antenna operating days, nights or at both day and night. FM stations were assigned two

zeros in this column. This data was impossible to codify meaning­ fully as it was non-linear in nature and thus was not useful beyond the individual station listing,

10. Antenna Height. FM station's assigned antenna height was

listed here in feet. AM stations were assigned a zero in this colum n.

11. Station Ad rate. The highest one time, one minute advertising rate listed for this station was recorded here, rounded to the nearest dollar. Non-commercial stations were assigned a 999 code. 73

12. Market Ad rate. The highest one time, one minute adver­ tising rate listed for any station in, this same city listed in dollars rounded to the nearest dollar.

13. Network (primary). The first radio network or audio news service listed by the station, represented by a two-digit code.

14. Network (secondary). The second radio network or audio news service listed by the station (if any),

15. Primary format. The first format listed by the station, represented by a two-digit code.

16. Secondary format. The second format listed by the station

( i f a n y ).

17. Tertiary format. The third format listed by the station

( i f a n y ).

18. Population. The population of the market generally served by the station as coded according to the station's home county.

The figures are 1970 population, figures taken from the 1979Yearbook.

They remained constant in each year's listings (1973, 1976 and 1979) as the only readily available figures for all radio markets.

Data processing was done utilizing an IBM 5100 computer and a series of programs custom designed for this research. They were instrumental in providing a variety of information about formats, populations of the station's markets, and a listing by state, among other data. This is believed to be the first time such data has been compiled for religious stations on a national basis. 74

Because this is a trend study, the data will be considered in two phases: The initial consideration in this chapter will be an overview of ten aspects of religious broadcasting during each of the three years under consideration. Then, in Chapter v, the six-year data spread will be analyzed in terms of the uses and gratifications paradigm to isolate trends which would tend to support or refute the theory.

1973 OVERVIEW

As 1973 began, there were 111 radio stations which classified one or more formats as religious, 1.5 percent of the 7,371 stations operating nationwide. Religious stations were located in thirty-three states, with the D istrict of Columbia and seventeen states reporting no religious stations Csee Table 11, Chapter V). Fifty-nine of the nation's 4,381 AM radio stations were classified religious (.1,3 percent), while religious FM stations numbered fifty-two, for 1,7 percent of the 2,952 FM stations, The smallest market size having a religious stations was in the 10,000-24,000 population range which had eight commercial stations. The largest market having a religious station was in the 5,000,000-7,500,000 range with two stations, one of them commercial. Both the smallest and largest markets did not have a religious station in 1973.

AM Radio

Of the fifty-nine religious AM stations operating in 1973, nineteen (32 percent) were restricted to directional antennas for 75 at least part of their broadcast day, thus limiting their coverage areas. Less than half of the stations (44 percent) had a power out­ put of more than 1,000 watts further reducing their potential cover­ age. Fully 42 percent of all religious AM stations had power of

1,000 watts or less and were restricted to daytime-only operation.

Further reducing the potential reach of religious AMs was the fact that forty-five of the fifty-nine (76 percent) were assigned the less efficient frequencies of 1070 kilohertz (khz) or higher, (however, it must be noted that this percentage does not seem to differ signif­ icantly from the 74 percent of all AM stations assigned those higher frequencies).

FM Radio

Fifty-two religious FM stations were broadcasting in 1973, with nearly half (48 percent) being Class C stations giving them large coverage areas in contrast to many of the AMs. The lower^ powered Class A FM stations numbered only eleven of the fifty-tw o in operation for 21 percent of the total. Religious FM stations have a slight advantage over their secular counterparts nationally in that 38 percent of religious FMs are assigned to the less efficient upper dial frequencies while 40 percent of FMs overall are assigned those frequencies, though dial position is not as significant for

FM stations. All FM stations are authorized twenty-four hour-a-day operation. There are so few with directional antennas, that this fact is not noted in FM station listings. While religious AMs slightly outnumbered FMs in 1973, the FMs tended to be higher powered 76 with a slight tendency toward more efficient frequencies than AM religious stations.

FM S te re o

Of the fifty-r-two religious FM stations operating in 1973, twelve of them (23 percent) broadcast in stereo. This figure seems to be low, as stereo operation had been authorized by the FCC for some ten years prior to this time. Though there are no figures readily available as to the extent of stereo operation among secular

FM stations, it appears likely that they had more widely adopted stereo at this time than did the religious stations, Some of the reasons for this likelihood will be explored later.

Year Station Began Broadcasting/Year Acquired

A clue as to the financial success of a station is available when considering how long it has been broadcasting and how recently it was acquired by its present owners. The earlier a station began operation, in general, the more likely it is to have an established audience and following in the community. The year acquired is a less valuable indicator, as a recent acquisition could indicate either a newly authorized station, or a format change to make the station more financially successful, while a longer acquisition period could indicate stability and success. A more valuable indicator would be the number of times a station had been sold during its period of operation. But this data is not published. 77

For AM stations, the mean nsign-onT' (date when broadcasting first began) was 1954 and the average date AM stations were acquired by present owners was 1959. This indicates that, in 1973, AM re li­ gious stations had been in operation, on the average, for about twenty years. FM stations, on the other hand, were typically half as old. The average FM station began operation in 1963, and was acquired by current owners in 1964, It is not unusual for FM sta-^ tions to be newer as they were not authorized by the FCC until some twenty years after AM broadcasting began. The mean start-up date for all religious stations operating in 1973 was 1958, and 1962 the year acquired by current owners. This indicates religious stations are relatively new and have not been operated by present ownership for more than about eleven to fourteen years (as compared with the fifty^three years in which radio stations had been oper­ ating in this country by this time).

Regional Distribution

Utilizing zip code prefixes, the nation was divided into four major and nine subsidiary geographic regions as designated by the

Census Bureau.2 Table 1 illustrates the distribution of religious stations in 1973,

______Table 1. 1973 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION ______

Cn) Ok)

I, NORTHEAST ^ 11,7% New England 0 0,0 Middle Atlantic 13 11,7 78

Table 1 (continued)

II. SOUTH - 41.4% South Atlantic 28 25,2 East South Central 11 9 ,9 West South Central 7 6.3

III. NORTH CENTRAL - 24.3% East North Central 19 17.1 West North Central 8 7 ,2

IV. WEST - 22,5% Mountain 6 5 .4 P a c ific 19 17.1

(n = 111)

The findings substantiate Johnstone's 1972 research which found

"residents of Southern states, followed by those in the Midwest... tended to listen most heavily to religious broadcasts. Whether this

is due to greater availability of religious radio in the South or whether it is due to a greater demand from listeners which encour­ ages stations to program a religious format is subject to specu­

lation. Chapter V considers this issue further. Certainly the large number of religious stations in the South Atlantic states is signif­

icant, comprising over 25 percent of all religious stations in

operation in 1973 within eight primarily Southeastern states. This

is more than double the percentage of religious stations in the nine

Northeastern states, even exceeding the total in the entire North

Central and Western states. This is a statistic which will be con-,

sidered throughout the study.

Program Formats

In considering formats, there will be four categories: sta­ tions which are All-Religious (all formats listed are among the

seven religious formats previously indicated though this does not assume that the station airs no other programming than religious

[such as news, public affairs, etc.]), the Primarily Religious

(the first format listed is religious, the others religious or sec­ ular) and the Primarily Secular [the first format listed is not among

the seven religious formats though either the secondary or tertiary

formats or both are religious), and those which list no format in

individual station listings. In 1973, there were forty-nine All-

Religious stations (44.1 percent; which is lower than what one might

expect), Add to this twenty-nine stations which combined a primary religious format with a secular one(s), and there were seventy-eight

Primary Religious stations (70.2 percent). Another eleven (9.9 percent) have no specific format listed though they are presumed to be religious as they are listed elsewhere in the Yearbook as having

a religious format. This leaves twenty-two Primarily Secular sta­ tions (19.8 percent) which might not be thought of as being reli- gious other than the twenty or more hours of religious programming they schedule each week. Though there is no indication beyond this

of how many hours each week are devoted to a particular format,

a rather typical arrangement is for such a station to air a block

of religious programming on Sunday mornings and some period Monday

through Friday (such as 9-noon). Such a schedule six days a week would generate eighteen hours of religious programming alone. Also, religious programming would likely begin much earlier on Sundays

as there is no morning "drive time" on weekends. Thus it is not

difficult to see how the station could achieve twenty hours of religious broadcasting per week and still have much time left for other formats. However, competitive factors and a need for consist­ ency lim it most stations to one major format, especially in medium and large markets. (Stations, other than daytime-only broadcasters, typically operate around eighteen hours daily for a total of 126 hours "on-air" per week. Many stations, including all FMs, are licensed for twenty-four-hour-a-day operation. Those operating over eighteen hours a day would, of course, have even higher "on-air" h o u rs .)

Among all stations, the most common primary format listed is

Religion. Fifty-six stations (50.4 percent) listed this as their primary format. This was followed by Gospel, with twelve stations

(12.8 percent) listing it first. The third most common format, in 1973, was Country, named by nine stations (8 percent) of the total. There was evidence that these stations carried Gospel pro­ gramming as a secondary or tertiary format during certain periods of the day or week. Six stations listed Sacred as a primary for­ mat. Other primary formats were mentioned by less than 4 percent of the stations. (Table 2 has the entire listing of formats for each year.)

Secondary formats were listed by only fifty-four of the 111 stations. Fifteen stations (14 percent) listed Gospel as their secondary format. This was followed by Classical and Educational each listed by six stations (5.4 percent). Other secondary formats mentioned by four or fewer stations included Talk and Ethnic. 81

Only fifteen of the stations reported a third format, Five of these listed Religious with the others divided among Country,

Top 40 and others.

The 1973 format listings seemed to reflect general perceptions of the field with one exception, Country, being considered the major fo rm at o f 8 percent of the religious stations in 1973, Quite possibly these stations are located in geographic regions where Gospel pro- gramming is also popular. Regional distribution of religious sta­ tions will be considered later.

Network A ffiliation

The network affiliation (if any] of stations was also invest tigated. (See Table 3,) Of the 111 stations operating in 1973, nineteen (17 percent) had at least one network affiliation including one station which carried two networks. Six of these nineteen sta­ tions (32 percent) carried the Mutual Broadcasting System*s pro­ gramming while two stations carried ABC's Entertainment and two stations ABC's FM networks. One station carried ABC Contemporary network programming and another was affiliated with CBS. Five of the nineteen stations listed a variety of state and regional net­ works which were grouped together under an "other" heading, Clearly

Mutual appeared to be the network of preference in 1973 among re li­ gious stations which carried a network. This may be due in part to

Mutual's historic prevalence among lower powered stations and those in smaller markets. 82

T able 2. 1975 RADIO FORMATS______

Primary Secondary Tertiary

00 (%) (n) (%) (n) (%)

Farm 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 In d ia n 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 Beautiful Music 0 0.0 1 0 ,9 0 0.0 B lack 3 2 .7 1 0 .9 0 0,0 C h r is tia n 0 0,0 2 1.8 0 0,0 C la s s ic a l 2 1.8 6 5 .4 1 0.0 C ountry 9 8.1 3 2 .7 3 2 .7 E th n ic 0 0.0 4 3 .6 0 0.0 O ld ie s 0 0,0 1 0 .9 O' 0,0 Gospel 12 10.8 15 14.0 1 0 .9 Inspiration 4 3 .6 0 0,0 0 0,0 Ja z z o' 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 M-O-R 4 3 .6 2 1.8 0 0.0 News 0 0.0 1 0 .9 0 0.0 O ther 0 0.0 2 1.8 0 0.0 Progressive 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0 .9 R e lig io u s 56 50.4 3 2 .7 5 4 ,5 S acred 6 5 .4 0 0,0 1 0 .9 T alk 1 0 .9 4 3 .6 0 0.0 Top 40 1 0 ,9 2 1.8 2 1.8 Educational 1 0 .9 6 5 .4 0 0,0 Diversified 1 0 .9 0 0.0 0 0.0 Contemporary Christian 0 0.0 0 0,0 0 0.0 Christian Education 0 0.0 0 0,0 0 0.0 Public Affairs 0 0.0 1 0 .9 0 0.0 S p o rts 0 0,0 0 0.0 1 0 .9

(n = 111) 83

______Table 3. 1973 NETWORK AFFILIATIONS

Network Primary Secondary

(n) (%) (n) (%)

ABC Contemporary 1 0 .9 0 0 .0

ABC Entertainment 2 1.8 0 0 .0

ABC FM Network 3 2 .7 0 0 .0

ABC Information 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

AP R adio 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

CBS Network 1 0 .9 0 0 .0

MBC (Mutual) 6 5 .4 0 0 .0

Mutual Black Net 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

National Black Net 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

NBC Network 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

UPI Audio 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

Other (regional) 5 4 .5 0 0 .0

NPR (Public Radio) 1 0 .9 0 0 .0

Mutual Spanish Net 0 0 .0 1 0 .9

(n = 111) 84

P o p u la tio n

Religious radio stations were consistently found to be located in small markets (those with fewer than 250,000 population, Arbitron

ADI [Area of Dominant Influence], market size 158 and above). In

1973, fifty-one stations (46.3 percent) were located in small markets.

As seen in Figure 10, in Chapter V, thirty-four stations (30.6 per­ cent) were in markets ranging from 20,000-150,000 population. Some­ what unusual at first glance is the fact that no religious stations in 1973 were found in the nation's smallest radio markets (popula­ tions up to 10,000), Yet, on reflection, this might be expected as these areas likely have only one or two stations and would need more diversified programming to serve their captive audience.

The next highest population category for religious stations in

1973 was in medium markets (populations of 250,000-1,000,000 Arbitron

ADI market size 61 through 157). These markets had thirty-three religious stations (29.7 percent) in them, while the nation's largest markets (over 1,000,000 population, Arbitron ADI market size 1 through 60) had twenty-seven stations for 24.2 percent. Thus while most religious stations in 1973 were in the smaller markets, they were not in the smallest markets, Indeed nearly one in every three religious stations was in a medium market and about one in every four was in a major market. These population areas in which religious radio stations are located tend to reflect more clearly trends in the growth of the format and will be closely considered throughout this r e s e a r c h . 85

Stations per Market

An index of the competition, for both audience and sponsors',

experienced by a station is the tally of stations located in the market served. While this is not as complete an indicator as would

be desired (due to incoming signals from surrounding communities

and metropolitan areas), it does give some gauge as to direct compe­

tition experienced by the station. Significantly forty-six (41.4

percent) of the 111 stations in 1973 were located in markets having

only one or two stations. Since our earlier findings eliminated

the smallest populated areas for religious stations, we can only

conclude that these markets are primarily suburban locations with

higher populations yet with fewer stations authorized due to the

number of stations in nearby cities. These suburban stations com-:

bined with those in small and medium.markets account for the fact

that 75.6 percent of all religious stations in 1973 operated in

markets with ten or fewer stations, the mean being 7,67 stations

for religious stations nationwide.

Advertising Rates

The 1973 Yearbook did not list advertising rates for stations

so this data is unavailable except for 1976 and 1979 which will be

considered later. However, it was determined that in 1973, fourteen

religious FMs and five religious AM stations operated on a non^

commercial basis. Eleven of the FMs were restricted from adver-?

tising as they broadcast on reserved non-commercial, educational 86 frequencies. There are no such "non-commerical" frequencies in AM r a d i o .

1976 OVERVIEW

i Three years later, in 1976, there were 8,034 stations, up

8.9 percent from 1973. By then there were 341 religious stations in the country, an increase of 2Q7 percent compared with an increase of 8.9 percent for stations overall. Religious stations had grown to number 4.2 percent of all stations (up from 1.5 percent in 1973),

Stations were located in forty-six of the fifty states and Washington,

D.C. (See Table 11, Chapter V.) Five states reported no religious station (Delaware, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota and

Vermont) . A total of forty-four stations were either AM-FM combi-? nations owned by the same licensee or were the only station in their city. Most religious stations in 1976 were in small markets with populations less than 250,000. The nation's largest market (New York) continued to have no religious station, but seven markets with

9,000 population or less had gained a religious station as 1976 b eg an .

AM Radio

AM radio stations numbered 4,463 in 1976. Of these, 172

(3.8 percent) had a religious format. Eleven of these operated on a non-commercial basis. A number of these operate under a vari­ ety of limiting factors. Fifty-three percent were low power stations

licensed for daytime-only operation. Overall, 66 percent stations had a power of 1,000 watts or less and 26 percent had directional 87 antennas limiting the coverage area. Sixty-five percent of religious

AMs operated in the less efficient frequencies above 1070 khz, as compared with 75 percent of all AM stations which were assigned these frequencies. The frequency for AM stations dropped notably from 1254 khz of the average station in 1973 to 1200 khz in 1976,

Clearly stations changing to religious formats were broadcasting on more efficient lower frequencies in general, though this may have been offset by the slightly lower AM power average in 1976: 4,954 w a tts down from 5,499 w a tts in 1973,

FM Radio

FM radio stations numbered 3,571 with 169 of them religious

(4.7 percent). In the United States there were 804 noncommercial

FM stations, forty-six of them religious, (Though8 percent of all noncommercial FMs were religious, only twenty-three were assigned educational non-commercial frequencies,) Religious FMs tended to be powerful stations. Fifty-four percent of religious FM stations are Class C stations broadcasting with a minimum power of 50,000 watts. Only 32 percent of religious FM stations fit in the lowest power, Class A, category (3,000 watts maximum power output). Nearly half (.41 percent) of FM stations operated in the less efficient frequencies on the upper half of the FM dial, 100.1 mhz and up which compares with 37,6 percent of all stations assigned those frequencies.

The mean frequency for FM stations climbed slightly during this period, from 97.9 mhz to 98,5 mhz in 1976, This is not considered particularly significant though it does indicate a slight move to 88 the less-efficient dial positions. There was, however, a sizeable gain of 39. percent in average operating power for FM religious stations from 26,427 watts in 1973 to 36,737 watts in 1979, A trend of higher powered stations seemed evident. Total mean antenna height, too, showed an increase from an average of 418 feet above average terrain, to 435 in 1979, resulting in a slight gain in overr­ a n religious FM coverage,

FM S te re o

Fifty-eight of 169 religious FMs (34.3 percent) broadcast in stereo, up from 23 percent three years earlier. Apparently newer stations were starting out with stereo facilities and some of the established religious FMs, especially those specializing in a musical format, were switching to stereo, however still not in as great numbers as their secular counterparts.

Year Station Began Broadcasting/Year Acquired

A review of the average year of sign-on for religious stations operating in 1976 shows that the typical station began operation in

1958. The average religious FM stations first went on the air in

1964 and the average AM station in 1955. With newer stations begin­ ning religious programming in this period, the average year the stations were acquired has moved upward. In 1976 the figures for station-acquired averaged 1963 for AM stations, 1970 for FM stations and 1966 for all religious stations. Thus the typical religious

AM station licensee in 1976 has owned the station for thirteen years while the FM station owner had acquired the station only six 89 years earlier. This seems to be in keeping with expectations that newly acquired stations are more likely to have been on the air for less time (the stations will be younger). This information alone has limited utility, yet it does serve as an index of how many newer stations (less time on the air and newly acquired sta-^ tions) are entering religious broadcasting.

Regional D istribution

To help isolate where the largest changes have occurred in religious radio, between 1973 and 1976, the regional breakdown portrays the following:

T ab le 4 . 1976 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION

(n) (%)

I . NORTHEAST 10.8% ' '• - - New England 6 .01 Middle A tlantic 31 9,00

II. SOUTH - 48.6% South Atlantic 88 26.00 East South Central 45 13.00 West South Central 33 9 ,6 0

III, NORTH CENTRAL - 22,5% East North Central 43 12.60 West North Central 34 9,9 0

IV. WEST - 17.8% Mountain 17 4 ,9 0 P a c if ic 44 12.90

(n = 341)

There was a continuing growth in the South At.lantic states since 1973, which by 1976 had more than twice the number of religious stations than any other area except the East South Central states,

(also in the South). This growth may be due to the large number of

Country stations in the South which also appear to program Gospel 90 music. This growth w ill be considered again in 1979 to see whether it marks a trend or is just a one-time occurrence.

Program Formats

Station formats were the next variable considered, It was found th a t 172 (50.4 percent) of the 341 stations listed only religious formats for their stations. Again these were categorized as "All

Religious," Another forty-five stations (13,1 percent) listed a religious format first and were labeled "Primarily Religious,"

Nine others, mostly co-owned FM stations listed no specific format but were assumed to be religious. Finally, 104 stations (30.4 percent) listed a secular format first and were thus labeled "Pri- marily Secular" in their programming. Of the predominantly re li­ gious stations, 164 (48 percent) listed Religious as their primary format. The next highest primary format was Gospel, named by twenty-nine stations (8.5 percent). As a secondary format, Gospel was ranked even higher, tying Religious at forty-five stations

(13 percent) apiece. Educational was a distant third as a second format with eleven stations (3 percent). (Table 5 following and

Figure 11 in Chapter V, have the complete statistics on formats.)

Network A ffiliation

Network data showed a dramatic shift between 1973 and 1976,

Of the 341 stations, about a third (34 percent), had at least one network affiliation, which was twice the percentage of three years earlier. Nine of these also listed a second network, The most prevalent network again was Mutual with nineteen stations (5,5 91

T ab le 5. 1976 RADIO FORMATS

Primary Secondary T e r tia r y

(n ) (%) Cn) (%) 0 0 (%)

Farm 0 0,0 0 0,00 0 0.0 In d ia n 0 0,0 0 0.00 0 0,0 Beautiful Music 6 1 ,7 4 1.10 0 0.0 B lack 7 2,0 6 1.70 2 0 ,5 C h ris tia n 8 2 ,3 3 0,08 0 0.0 C la s s ic a l 8 2 .3 5 1,40 3 0.8 C ountry 50 14.6 9 2,60 5 1.4 E th n ic 1 0,2 9 2.6 0 1 0.2 O ld ies 1 0.2 1 0.20 0 0.0 Gospel 29 8,5 45 13,00 12 3.5 Inspiration 13 3 .8 3 . 0.08 0 0,0 Ja z z 1 0.2 1 0.20 1 0.2 M-O-R 21 6.1 9 2,60 4 1.1 News 0 0.0 2 0.50 0 0.0 O ther 1 0.2 1 0.20 0 0.0 Progressive 0 0.0 2 0.50 0 0.0 R e lig io u s 164 4 8 .0 45 13.00 16 4 .6 S acred 7 2,0 2 0.40 0 0.0 T alk 4 1,0 7 2.00 4 1.1 Top 40 4 1.1 5 1,40 6 1 .7 Educational 1 0.2 11 3,20 1 0.2 Diversified 1 0.2 1 0.20 2 0 .5 Contemporary Christian 4 1.1 0 0.00 0 0.0 Public Affairs '0 0.0 2 0.5 0 1 0.2 S p o rts 0 0,0 1 0.20 0 0.0

(n = 341) 92 percent), the same total as United Press International Audio, a news service which contains no commercials, an important consideration for some religious broadcasters. Fifteen stations (4.3 percent) were affiliated with ABC's Entertainment network in 1976. It appeared that network affiliation was becoming more prevalent on religious stations. Table 6 shows the listing of networks in 1976.

P o p u la tio n

Another variable in 1976 was that of the population of the city of license. Since the Yearbook did not begin to list populations before the 1979 edition, the figures can be utilized only to serve as a constant and as a growth indicator for years prior to 1979.

It was found that the average religious station in 1976 was located in a market of 705,592 (in 1979 figures). This compares with average market size of 876,927 in 1973. Since the population figures were held constant this suggests that many of the new religious stations

(since 1973) were located in communities smaller than 876,000. The average FM station clearly was located in the much smaller community:

422,896 in 1976 compared with 737,417 in 1973, while the mean AM figures were also lower: 811,559 in 1973 as compared with 650,976 in 1976.

Small markets again had the most religious stations (50.6 per­ cent up from 46.3 percent in 1973), followed by medium markets with

30.7 percent of religious stations and large markets with 18 percent of the total. There appeared to be a significant shift in religious stations being located in the largest markets in 1973 to the smallest 93

______T ab le 6 . 1976 NETWORK

Networks Prim ary S econdary

(n) (%) (n) (%)

ABC Contemporary 3 0.8 0 0.0

ABC Entertainment 15 4 .3 1 0.2

ABC FM Network 8 2 .3 1 0.2

ABC Information 12 3 .5 1 0.2

AP Radio 10 2.9 2 0 .5

CBS Network 0 0.0 0 0.0

MBS (Mutual) 19 5.5 0 0.0

Mutual Black Net 3 0,8 0 0.0

National Black Net 2 0.5 0 0.0

NBC Network 0 0.0 0 0.0

UPI Audio 19 5 .5 1 0.2

Other (Regional) 22 6.4 3 0.8

NPR (Public Radio) 2 0 .5 0 0.0

Mutual Spanish Net 0 0.0 0 0.0

(n = 341) 94 markets in 1976. This is attributable not so much to a decrease in the number of stations in large markets as it is to the great growth

in the smaller markets which reduced the percentages elsewhere.

Stations per Market

In general, stations operating in 1976 experienced slightly

greater competition from local stations. The average religious

station that year served a community of 7.8 stations, up from

.2 percent from 1973. And again, AM stations enjoyed slightly less

local competition (7.7 stations compared with FM's8 stations).

But while FM competition decreased by one station, in each market

(on the average), AM competition increased on the average by more than one station per market (7.7 up from 6.4 stations). The reason

for the decrease in competition among FM stations is likely due to

FM becoming more common in smaller markets which inherently have

less competition (fewer stations). This is another indicator of

the growth of FM religious stations in smaller markets between

1973 and 1976.

Advertising Rates

Though there were no advertising rates published in 1973,

and thus no means to compare with 1976 figures; never-the-less,

there were some key business indicators. For example, the total number of commercially operated religious stations rose by more

than 200 percent, from ninety-two in 1973 to 204 in 1979. The

greatest commercial growth came from FM stations which increased 95 their commercial operation from thirty-height to 123 stations -- much of it likely coming from the start-up of new commercial FMs.

However, AM showed almost as great a gain, rising from fifty-four commercial stations to 161 in 1976.

The 1976 Yearbook began listing advertising rates for each sta­ tion. These figures showed the average religious station was charging $4.58 for their most expensive minute of advertising time.

As a point of reference, the most expensive ad rate in markets with religious stations was recorded. On a national basis this amounted to $ 22.86 per minute — nearly five times the religious station rate. Because advertising rates are closely related to audience size, it is probably safe to estimate that the top-priced secular station in the market, on the average, enjoyed about five times as large an audience than did the religious station. This will be considered in more detail in the 1979 analysis and in Chapter

Breaking down these advertising figures further, AM stations charged $6.37, on the average, per prime minute while their top- priced secular competition was asking $24,22 for the same segment.

FM station rates were only about one-third of AM rates, probably due to the newness of many stations and the smaller markets served.

FM rates in 1976 averaged $2.24 per minute compared with $21.47, the average top price in FM religious station markets.

1979 OVERVIEW

There were 8,608 radio stations operating in 1979. Of these,

449 or 5.2 percent were religious. They were located in all but 96 three of the fifty states and Washington, D,C. Only Delaware,

New Hampshire and Vermont reported no religious stations that year. A total of fifty-seven stations were eitherAM tFM combi-* nations owned by the same licensee or were the only station in the

city of license. Most religious stations (57,5 percent] were in

small markets (less than 250,000 population),

AM Radio

AM radio stations had grown to 4,547 in 1979; 54 percent of all stations were AM. Of these, 241 or 5 percent were religious.

This is a gain of sixty-nine additional religious AM stations and thirty-one more FMs than in 1976. Eleven of these FMs were non-* commercial (no change since 1976), Sixty-three stations (26 per­ cent of all AM religious; no change) operated with directional antennas and 49 percent of the AMs were 1,000 watts or less and were licensed for daytime-only operation. Sixty-three percent

(a continuing decline) operated on the less efficient frequencies

of 1070 and above with a majority (69 percent) operating with

1,000 watts of power or less.

AM religious stations in 1979 continued, by the narrowest of margins, their move toward more efficient low frequencies, from a mean of 1200 khz in 1976 to 1198 khz in 1979. Power output showed a sizeable growth from 4,954 watts on the average to 6,164 watts

in 1979, FM Radio

FM radio stations numbered 4,061 with 208 of them religious

(5 percent). There were sixty-three non-commercial FM stations, thirty-three of these licensed only for educational, non-commercial use. One hundred and eleven (53 percent, down 1 percent from 1976) of the religious FMs operated with highest licensed power/antenna height while sixty-seven (32 percent) operated on the lowest authorized power/antenna height. Forty-four percent are licensed to operate at the less efficient frequencies of 100.1 mhz and up.

The nation's largest market, New York, still did not have a re li­ gious station licensed to serve it. In 1976, the average religious

FM station operated at 98.5 mhz with 36,737 watts of power and an antenna 436- feet above average terrain. In 1979 the figures were / s ' 98.7 mhz average frequency with power output o_f 36,567 watts and average antenna height slightly higher at 463 feet above average terrain. The only significant shift seemed to be the greater antenna height. An average twenty-seven foot increase on 208 stations is a sizeable change, especially considering the great effect increased antenna height has on FM coverage. A likely reason would be the move to smaller markets for newer FM stations where Class B and C

(the more powerful) frequencies were still available.

FM S te re o

Of the 208 religious FM stations in operation in 1979, ninety- six were broadcasting in stereo, thirty-eight more than the figure in 1976. Stereo operation grew in popularity with 46 percent of 98 all religious FM broadcasting being done in stereo. The gap between religious and secular stations operating in stereo appeared to be c lo s in g .

Year Station Began Broadcasting/Year Acquired

In 1979, the average religious station began operation in 1960, and was acquired in 1965. This differs slightly from 1976. AM stations operating in 1979, on the average, began operation in 1955 and were acquired by their present ownership in 1963, while FM sta­ tions began operation in 1965, on the average, and were acquired in

1967. There is solid indication that FM religious stations are much newer and have been under their present ownership less time than their

AM counterparts. This would indicate an innovative situation for

FM — one open to experimentation with new ideas and new formats.

Regional Distribution

The regional location of religious stations in 1979 showed a continuation of religious broadcasting in the South and especially the South Atlantic region. Table 7 shows the breakdown.

T ab le 7. 1979 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION Cn) (%)

I . NORTHEAST - 9.3% New England 6 .01 Middle Atlantic 36 8.00

II. SOUTH - 50.1% South Atlantic 116 25.80 East South Central 57 12.60 West South Central 52 11.50 99

Table 7 (continued)

I I I . NORTH CENTRAL - 23.6% East North Central 61 13.50 West North Central 45 10.00

IV. WEST - 16.9% M ountain 26 5,70 P a c if ic 50 11.10

(n = 449)

Again, stations in the South Atlantic region were at least double those of all other regions except the East North Central states. The growth of religious radio in the South Atlantic states has been phenomenal: from twenty-eight stations to 116 in six years.* The only comparable increase is the gain of forty-six sta­ tions (from eleven to fifty-seven) in the East South Central region and a gain of forty-five stations (from seven to fifty-two) in the

West South Central region. Again all three areas are in the South which Johnstone and others have historically found to be bastions of conservative religion (the "Bible Belt").

Program Formats

Format designations continued with little change in 1979.

About half (54.1 percent) of all religious stations listed Religious as a primary format. The second most frequently listed was, again,

Country with fifty-one stations (11,3 percent) designating that as their main network. Another twenty-three stations listed Gospel as their main programming format. There seemed to again be a rela­ tionship linking the three formats. Table 8 displays the entire format breakdown. 100

T ab le 8. 1979 RADIO FORMATS______

Primary Secondary Tertiary

GO C%) GO ( n ) (%)

Farm 3 0 ,6 1 0 ,2 0 0 .0 In d ia n 0 0 .0 0 0 ,0 0 0 ,0 Beautiful Music 11 2 ,4 9 2 ,0 2 0 .4 B lack 10 2 .2 2 0 .4 2 0 .4 C h r is tia n 6 1 .3 4 0 .8 0 0 ,0 C la s s ic a l 11 2 .4 2 0 ,4 3 0 .6 C ountry 51 11.3 20 4 .4 4 0 ,8 E th n ic 1 0 ,2 12 2 .6 3 0 .6 O ld ie s 0 0 .0 3 0 ,6 1 0 ,2 Gospel 23 5.1 40 8 ,9 7 1 .5 Inspiration 18 4 .0 4 0 .8 1 0 .2 J a z z 0 0 .0 2 0 .4 2 0 ,4 M-O-R 16 3 ,5 6 1 .3 2 0 ,4 News 0 0 .0 4 0 .8 0 0 ,0 O ther 0 0 .0 1 0 .2 0 0 .0 Progressive 2 0.4 1 0 .2 0 0 ,0 R e lig io u s 243 54.1 67 14,9 21 4 .6 S acred 3 0 .6 1 0 .2 0 0 .0 T alk 5 1.1 6 1 .3 3 0 ,6 Top 40 8 1 .7 6 1 ,3 7 1.5 Educational 6 1 .3 11 2 .4 0 0 ,0 Diversified 4 0 ,8 4 0 .8 1 0 ,2 Contemporary Christian 13 2 .8 0 0 .0 1 0 .2 Christian Education 3 6 .0 2 0 .4 0 0 .0 Public Affairs 0 0 .0 1 0 .2 1 0 ,2 S p o rts 0 0 ,0 1 0 .2 0 0 .0

(n = 449) 101

Network A ffiliation

Some significant developments occurred in the network affilia­ tion agreements entered into by Religious stations. Whereas Mutual network had heretofore been the network of choice for most religious stations, in 1979 it shifted to third place behind UPI Audio and

AP Radio. Neither of these are networks in the usual sense, but rather audio news services which do not carry commercials. This is likely an attractive feature to religious broadcasters who may fear that secular networks might run commercials which would not conform to the station's religious position or which would otherwise offend their listeners. The station might also be non-commercial and thus could not carry commercials. It could also reflect a hesitancy on the part of networks to affiliate with stations which have a reluctance about carrying the commercials (lifeblood of the net­ works) or which have such small audiences they are unattractive to networks. For whatever reason, stations seemed not to object to having to pay for the audio news services while the network would have been free (or nearly so), Table 9 shows the status of the net­ works in 1979.

P o p u la tio n

The average religious station was located in a market with a population of 608,612. This was down by nearly 100,000 from the constant community size of 705,592 in 1976. On looking more closely at the figures, it appears that AM stations were generally located in slightly larger communities (666,917 in 1979 compared with 650,976 102

T able 9. 1979 NETWORK AFFILIATIONS

Network P rim ary S econdary

(n) (%) (n) (%)

ABC Contemporary 3 0 .6 0 0 .0

ABC Entertainment 22 4 .8 0 0 .0

ABC FM Network 5 1.1 0 0 .0

ABC Information 15 3 .3 0 0 .0

AP Radio 42 9 .3 6 1 .3

CBS Network 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

MBS (Mutual) 35 7 .7 1 0 .2

Mutual Black Net 3 0 .6 2 0 .4

National Black Net 3 0 .6 0 0 .0

NBC Network 0 0 .0 0 0 .0

UPI Audio 55 12.2 7 1 .5

Other (regional) 33 7 .3 7 1 .5

NPR Public Radio 3 0 .6 0 0 .0

Mutual Spanish Net 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 103 in 1976) while new FM religious stations appeared to be located in much smaller communities, as the mean population figures dropped from 761,177 in 1976 to 541,057 in 1979 for FM stations.

Stations per Market

Religious stations appeared to experience about the same amount of local competition in 1979 as in 1976. Recording only a one-tenth percent change, 1979 religious stations operated in markets with

7.75 total stations on the average rather than 7.76 as in 1976, an insignificant difference.

Advertising Rates

The average advertising rates on religious stations edged upward in the three years since 1976, from $4.58 for the highest priced minute to $6.27. The competitive rate of the highest priced stations in the same markets continued but at a lesser rate of climb from $22.86 to $31.02 per minute, (an increase of 36.8 per­ cent for religious stations compared with a 35.6 percent gain for secular stations). This would indicate that the audience for commer­ cial religious stations continued to grow at only a slightly higher rate than the larger secular stations, though some of the price increase is no doubt attributable to continuing inflation.

In the next chapter, an effort will be made to focus on any trends which may have become apparent in the data over the six-year period under study. NOTES

•^Broadcasting Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publica­ tions, Inc., 1973), p. D-39.

^UPI Stylebook (New York: United Press International, 1977).

Ronald L. Johnstone, "Who Listens to Religious Radio Broad­ casts Anymore?," Journal of Broadcasting, 16 (Winter 1971-72): 1, p. 97.

104 CHAPTER V

ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS RADIO TRENDS

In Chapter I, the uses and gratifications theory was mentioned as having three key elements:

(1) The audience is active and goal directed, free to choose from a variety of inputs.

(2) "Much initiative in linking need gratification and media choice lies with the audience member." It is people who "use television rather than television that uses them,!'

(3) "The media compete with other sources of need satisfac­ t i o n . "

Stirred by the writings of Blumler, Katz and other proponents of the uses and gratifications paradigm, researchers are growing increasingly aware of the way in which the audience seeks out the media to satisfy an infinite variety of needs. Under this theory, if religious programming was not meeting an audience’s need (or perceived need) the audience would attend to programming on other stations. With an insignificant audience, no station is able to survive: The commercial station, because it has no audience to offer the advertiser, and the non-commercial station, because it has no audience to provide financial support (either directly through

105 106 contributions or indirectly through attracting grants from govern­ ment and foundations). Conversely, an acceptable audience level will encourage the status quo among existing stations in their programming and a growing audience will encourage additional sta­ tions to consider the format as a potential new means of making the station profitable. Thus if, in fact, the number of radio stations programming a religious format is increasing, the uses and gratifi­ cations paradigm suggests there must also be a growing audience for such programming spurred by some real or perceived need.

In analyzing this historical data, a series of research ques­ tions have been set forth:

(1) What evidence exists of the relationship key sociological developments of the 1970s (Vietnam conflict, Watergate crisis, campus unrest, etc.) may have had on audience desire/demand for religious radio programming? It would be expected that in times of socio­ logical turmoil there would be a growing desire for traditional values and absolute standards, in short, a preference for the stabil­ ity (real or imagined) of earlier days. Following this line of reasoning, religious broadcasting, having a traditional (conserva­ tive) appeal would be expected to enjoy expanded demand with accom­ panying growth in audience size and number of stations,

(2) In which regions of the country has religious radio shown the greatest increase in the number of stations? Is there evidence that this might be associated with the prevailing world view of the region? The South has been shown to enjoy greater percentages of 107

listening to religious broadcasts, thus it could be assumed that there would be more religious stations in that region due to the increased audience acceptance.

(3) Similarly, in which market size was there the greatest change in the number of religious stations: small (less than

250,000 population), medium (250,000-1,000,000) or large (over

1,000,000)? Does such change appear to have occurred in markets which would be categorized as more conservative (wishing to pre­

serve established traditions) or liberal (broad-minded) in nature?

Smaller communities have been typified as being more conservative in their outlook, thus it is expected the largest growth in reli­ gious radio stations would occur in small markets, yet with the growing conservative world view nationally, medium markets too should indicate a growth in the numbers of religious stations,

(4) What evidence exists in this data as to the financial success of stations as measured in growth of advertising rates, specifically what is the ratio of growth among religious stations to the reporting secular stations? It would be expected that there would be some increase in rates due to inflationary factors -- though presumably these would affect the religious and secular broadcaster equally. If the religious audience has risen appreciably, the ratio of religious to secular ad rates should have narrowed.

(5) What evidence do advertising rates on religious stations provide concerning audience growth? What is the apparent ratio of audience size on religious stations to that of the highest priced 108 commercial stations in religious station markets? The response to these questions should become evident as the data is analyzed.

Growth of Religious Radio Overall

The growth of religious broadcasting has been nothing if not dramatic. While the growth rate in the number of radio stations overall during the 1973-1979 period amounted to 14.4 percent, re li­ gious radio stations increased by 304 percent, from 111 to 449 stations. That amounted to an annual growth rate of 16.6 percent during the period. Clearly the period of greatest growth was between 1973 and 1976 when religious broadcasting grew by 207 per­ cent, a growth rate of 69 percent per year.

The early 1970s were a time of turmoil unparalleled in recent

American history: a three-faceted nightmare with a seemingly endless war in Southeast Asia, resultant campus unrest and destruc­ tion by students across the nation, followed by a leadership crisis which ended in the resignation of both the nation's President and

Vice-President under threat of legal action for dishonesty while in office. It seems safe to assume that, as never before, the radio audience in this era was searching for a message of hope, an explanation for how things could so suddenly turn sour for an entire nation. Operating under a system of free choice, there seems ample, though indirect, evidence to demonstrate many individuals turned to religious radio for that peace and consolation. Table 10 illustrates the characteristics of such a typical (mean) station during the study. 109

AM Radio

Amplitude Modulated (AM) radio stations have about twenty- years longevity over Frequency Modulated (FM) stations. Indeed the first religious radio broadcast was on KDKA AM in 1921. Histor­ ically, there have always been more AM stations licensed than FM

(52.8 percent to 47.1 percent in 1979) though the gap has been closing rapidly. This seems due mainly to FM's ability to broad­ cast a better quality (higher fidelity) signal, unlimited broad­ cast operating hours for FM, and a stereo signal (though AM is moving quickly to gain stereo capability). Among religious sta­ tions, AM accounted for 53.1 percent of all religious stations in

1973, dropping to 50,4 percent with the tripling of stations in

1976, then back to 53.6 percent of all religious stations in 1979,

Station Power

Station power is governed by various factors, among them: transm itter output, antenna gain, station frequency (especially in

AM) and antenna height (for FM stations). In considering such aspects, the nomenclature of Johnson (1978)* was utilized resulting in approximately equivalent pairings of station power categories in order of ascending power and potential reach.

______T able 10. STATION POWER______

1. Low Power, Local AM Class IV, less than 250 watts FM Class D, 10 watts

2 . L ocal AM Class IV, 250 watts FM Class A, up to 3,000 watts 110

Table 10 (continued)

3. Regional AM Class III, 500-5,000 watts FM Class B, 3,000-50,000 watts

4. Secondary Clear AM C la ss I I , 50,000 w a tts maximum (Wide Service Area) FM C la ss C, 100,000 w a tts maximum

5. Clear (Wide Service Area) AM Class I, 50,000 watts maximum

The descriptions are basically the designations for FM sta­ tions but provide a guide as to the potential coverage for AM stations as well.

AM Station Power

Figure 1 illustrates how regional (AM Class III) stations have been the predominant home of religious broadcasting on the

AM band, showing slow but steady growth throughout the period.

In contrast, the wide service area (AM clear) channels have de­ clined. This appears to be due, not so much to a decreased number of high powered AMs broadcasting religion, as to the rapid growth of regional and low powered AM stations in recent years.

AM Frequency D istribution

In considering AM frequencies, one quickly realizes how many have been assigned the upper frequencies at 1070 khz or higher.

As was discussed in Chapter IV, 76 percent of religious AMs were on those frequencies in 1979 which seems quite high until it is noted that 74 percent of all AM stations are assigned to this category of frequencies, which are reserved for many local and regional (lower powered) stations. Figure 2 shows that just as the AM STATION POWER 111

m m

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 (1973} (1976} (1979}

C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. AM I (50 KW Clear) 5% 5.2% 3.7%

2. AM 11(50 KW maximum) 38.9% 28.4% 26.5%

3. AM III (500 w.-5 KW) 49.1% 61% 62.2%

4. AM IV (250 w a tts) 6.7% 5.2% 7%

5. AM IV (up to 250 w .) 0% 0% 0%

F ig u re 1. 112 highest power AM stations were not well represented among re li­ gious stations, the same applies to stations with lower (more

efficient) frequencies. The greatest percentage of religious sta­ tions broadcast on the higher frequencies, though there has been a steady decline from the highest frequencies to the more efficient allocations.

FM Station Power

In contrast to AM power assignments, the vast majority (83.5 percent) of FM religious stations (Figure 3) operated on the two highest power categories in 1979. This seems to be the result of a number of religious broadcasters who have put high powered

FM stations on the air, many of them at a time when FM was s till a ’’second class" radio service and few in the audience had FM radios. As the popularity of FM continues to grow, (FM stations grew from 40.0 percent of all radio stations in 1973 to 47.1 per­ cent in 1979) the value and influence of these FM Class B and C stations will undoubtedly continue to climb.

FM Frequency D istribution

While the output of an FM station is not as greatly affected by frequency assignment as AM stations, Figure 4 illustrates the rather consistent pattern of stations in the third and fourth categories. The first category is significant as these channels with frequencies at the left side of the FM band are all reserved by the FCC for non-commercial, educational stations. Religious

stations during this study were consistently found on from 2-3 AM FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION 113

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 (1973) (1976) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. 540-640 khz 6.7% 4.0% 4.9% 2. 650-790 khz 3 .3 5 .8 5 .3 3. 800-1000 khz 8 .4 16.2 17.0 4. 1010-1290 khz 23.7 26.7 26.9 5. 1300-1600 khz 57.6 46.5 45.6

F ig u r e 2. FM STATION POWER 114

60

20

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 (1973) (1976) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. FM C Q00 KW max.l 25% 36% 35.5%

2. FM B (3000-50 KW) 61.5% 46.7% 48%

3. FM A (up to 3000 w„l 9.6% 11.8% 12%

4. FM D (10 watts) 3.8% 3.5% 2 .8%

F ig u r e 3 . 115 percent of all educational stations on these frequencies. In 1979, there were thirty-three religious stations on these frequencies

(15.8 percent) of all religious FM stations.

FM S te re o

The ratio of AM to FM stations and FM monaural to FM stereo is illustrated in Figure 5. The main trend noted is the growth of FM stereo, doubling from about 11 percent of all FM religious stations in 1973 to just over 20 percent in 1979. This growth could well be stimulated by the increase in new religious musical recordings which are released in stereo. This is one new aspect of religious radio emerging during this era: the contemporary religious station whose more extensive musical schedule would make greater use of the high-fidelity, stereo aspects of FM. On the other hand, most religious syndicated programs (especially the church-service, preaching-oriented programs) are produced in monaural.

This gives the station broadcasting a heavy schedule of such little incentive to invest in stereo equipment. Of course most new FM stations (since the early 1970s) are built with stereo capability adding to the higher percentage in 1979. On the AM-FM growth horizon, there seems to be no clear cut trend. Just as among all stations, AM has continued to lead FM in numbers, but by narrower margins. An exception in the religious area is the 1979 ratio which showed the margin of AM to FM to be almost identical to that o f 1973. Category 1973 1976 1979

1. 88.1-91.9 mhz 21.0% 13.6% 15.8% 2. 92.1-95.9 mhz 19.2 21.8 16.8 3. 96.1-99.9 mhz 21.1 23.0 23.5 4; 100.1-103.9 mhz 17.3 22.4 24.5 5. 104.1-107.9 mhz 21.1 18.9 19.2

F ig u re 4. AM-FM-FM STEREO PROPORTION 117

S i®

AM FM AM FM AM FM C19731 (1976) C1979)

------1------C ategory 1973 I 1976 1979

AM 53.1% 50.4% 53.6%

FM Stereo 8 10.8% 17.0% 21.3%

FM Monaural 36.0% 32.5% 25.0%

FM T o ta l 46,8% 1 49.5% 46,3%

F ig u r e 5 . 118

Year Station Began Broadcasting

A measure of the following a station has in a community is the number of years it has been broadcasting. This data is reflected in Figure 6. Here again a recent growth surge of religious sta­ tions is indicated, ranging from just over 60 percent of religious stations in 1973 beginning operation since 1960 to 61.3 percent in 1979 with the percentage of religious stations beginning opera­ tion staying at a rather consistent 61-62 percent. In light of the formation of the NRB in 1944 it is interesting to note how the initial surge in the beginning of today's religious stations came in and after that era. Yet we cannot read too much into this trend as no data is available indicating when a station began broadcasting a religious (or other) format. Thus, we can only speculate as to how many of these pioneer religious stations were actually broadcasting religion as a format in the 1940s,

Year Station Acquired

A clearer image of this emerges in Figure 7 which shows that very few religious stations of the 1970s had the same owners as in earlier eras. Most religious stations (74-77 percent) were acquired by their present owners on or before 1960. As might be expected, with the passing years, the trend is toward fewer stations being held by the original owners. Often an ownership change, especially on the lower powered stations with limited reach, results in a for­ mat change. Thus a station held a relatively short time by its owners might have recently switched to a religious format. Again, YEAR STATION BEGAN BROADCASTING 119

50

40

30

20

10

123456 123 456 123 456 C1973) (1976) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. Began 1920-29 5.4% 3.5% 4.0%

2. Began 1930-39 0.9% 0.5% 0.4%

3. Began 1940-49 15.3% 13.7% 13.1%

4. Began 1950-59 13.1% 18.0% 19.3%

5. Began 1960-69 49.5% 43.1% 37.1%

6. Began 1970-79 10.8% 19.6% 24.2%

F ig u re 6. YEAR STATION ACQUIRED 120

ftSlws 123456 123456 123456 (1973) (1976) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. Acquired 1920-29 3.6% 1.7% 1.7%

2. Acquired 1930-39 0 .9 0 .2 0.2

3. Acquired 1940-49 10.8 6 .1 4 .8

4. Acquired 1950-59 10.8 12.3 14.9

5. Acquired 1960-69 4 7 .7 41.6 34.5

6. Acquired 1970-79 26.1 37.5 43.4

F ig u re 7. 121 there is no way to be sure, as dates of format changes are not re c o rd e d .

Regional Distribution

Thus far it has been noted that religious broadcasting is expanding, but there has been no mention as to in which regions religious broadcasting is most prevalent. Figure 8 illustrates the areas of greatest religious broadcasting. Johnstone (1972) found that listeners to religious broadcasting were more prevalent in the South and the figures here certainly confirm that finding when it comes to stations broadcasting religion. There were twice as many religious radio stations in the South than in the North

Central (Midwest) region, and five times as many in the South than in the Northeast. To some extent this may be due to population variations from region to region, yet, if anything, the Midwest and South are less populous, in general, than the Northeast.

Looking at the sub regions, the image becomes even clearer, The

South Atlantic predominates in percentage of stations with New

England and the Mountain regions comparatively under represented.

Regional Growth

The extent and areas of growth are shown in Figure 9. The

West South Central region (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) emerge as leading the nation in growth over the six years, with an increase of 642 percent. Yet when we look at the numbers involved, we see that the increase was somewhat less dramatic, an increase EINL ITIUIN 122 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION

ABCD 12345 6789 ABCD 1234 56789 ABCD 1234S6789 (1973) (1973) (1976) ’ (1976) (1979) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979 C ategory 1973 1976 1979

A. NORTH 11.7% 10.8% 9.3* 3. South Atlantic 25.2% 25.8% 25.8% B. SOUTH 41.4 48.6 50.1 4. East South Central 9.9 13.1 12.6 C. NORTH CENTRAL 24.3 22.5 23.6 5. West South Central 6 .3 9.6 11.5 D. .WEST 22.5 17.8 16.9 6. East North Central 17.1 12.6 13.5 Sub Regions 1973 1976 1979 7. West North Central 7.2 9.9 10.0 1. New England 0% 1.7% 1.3% 8. Mountain 5 .4 4.9 5 .7 2. Middle Atlantic 11.7 9.0 8.0 9. Pacific 17.1 12.9 17.1 EINL RWH 123 REGIONAL GROWTH

ABCD 123456789 ABCD 12345678 ABCD 123456789 (76/73) (76/73) (79/76) (79/76) (79/73) (79/73)

C ategory 76/73 79/76 79/73 Category 76/73 79/76 79/73

A. NORTH 184% 13.5% 223% 3. South Atlantic 214% 31.8% 314% B. SOUTH 260 35.5 389 4. East South Central 309% 26.6 418 C. NORTH CENTRAL 185 37.6 292 5. West South Central 371 57.5 642 D. WEST 144 24.5 204 6. East North Central 126 41.8 221 Sub Regions 76/73 79/76 79/73 7. West North Central 325 32.3 462 1. New England 600 0 600 8. Mountain 183 52.9 333 2. Middle Atlantic 138 16.1 176 9 . P a c ific 131 13.6 163 124 from seven to fifty-two stations in six years. A similar finding occurred in New England where six religious stations began operation between 1973 and 1976 resulting in an increase of 600 percent, yet there was no increase during the next three years for a zero growth rate. Other than this, the minimum growth rate experienced was

114 percent during the three years ending in 1979, This record seems phenomenal — a doubling in the number of religious stations in all areas of the country, not once but twice or more in most cases within a comparatively short six year period. Again the greatest gains occurred in the South and the sub regions of the

South. This answers the question as to the area with greatest growth, the South and, predictably, the area with the least growth: the Northeast.

Religious Radio by States

In turning to Table 11 it is learned that some of the most populous states (such as Texas and California) had the largest number of religious stations in 1979. Yet surprisingly they were closely followed by such non-populous states as Tennessee and

North Carolina, While California had over 10 percent of all reli^ gious stations in 1973, its total had dropped to just over 6 per-r cent by 1979 even though the actual number of religious stations in California had doubled. Texas had the most religious stations in 1979, with thirty-one stations, (6.9 percent of the nation's total). Other states with over percent of the total in 1979 were

North Carolina and California also having 6.2 percent (twenty-eight 125

T ab le 11. RELIGIOUS RADIO BY STATES

1973 1976 1979

Cn) C%) (n) (%) Cn) (%)

Alabama 3 2 .7 12 3 .5 14 3 .1 A laska 0 0.0 2 0 ,5 4 0.8 A rizona 2 1.8 5 1 .4 7 1 .5 A rkansas 4 3 .6 5 1 .4 8 1 .7 C a lif o r n ia 12 10.8 27 7 .9 28 6.2 C olorado 2 1.8 5 1.4 9 2,0 Connecticut 0 0.0 2 0 .5 2 0 .4 D elaw are 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 D istrict of Columbia 0 0.0 1 0.2 2 0 .4 F lo rid a 6 5.4 21 6.1 21 4 ,6 G eorgia 4 3 .6 15 4 .3 21 4 .6 H aw aii 0 0.0 3 0.8 3 0.6 Idaho 0 0.0 1 0.2 1 0.2 I l l i n o i s 4 3 .6 7 2.0 10 2.2 In d ia n a 2 1.8 8 2 .3 10 2.2 Iowa 0 0.0 8 2 ,3 12 2.6 Kansas 1 0 .9 3 0.8 4 0.8 Kentucky 1 0 .9 7 2.0 12 2.6 L o u isia n a 1 0 .9 5 1 .4 8 1 .7 Maine 0 0.0 1 0.2 2 0 .4 M aryland 2 1.8 5 1 .4 8 1 .7 Massachusetts 0 0.0 2 0 .5 1 0.2 M ichigan 5 4 .5 11 3 .2 16 3.5 M innesota 2 1.8 6 1 .7 7 1 .5 M ississippi 3 2 .7 7 2.0 5 1.1 M isso u ri 4 3 .6 10 2 .9 13 2.8 M ontana 1 0 .9 2 0 .5 3 0.6 N ebraska 1 0 .9 5 1 .4 4 0.8 Nevada 1 0 .9 2 0 .5 2 0 .4 New Hampshire 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 New J e r s e y 5 4 .5 8 2 .3 7 1 .5 New Mexico 0 0.0 0 0,0 1 0.2 New York 1 0 .9 6 1 .7 8 1 .7 North Carolina 5 4 .5 22 6 .4 28 6.2 North Dakota 0 0.0 0 0,0 3 0.6 Ohio 7 6 .3 13 3 .8 20 4 .4 Oklahoma 1 0 .9 7 2,0 5 1.1 Oregon 2 1.8 5 1.4 6 1 .3 Pennsylvania 7 6 .3 17 4 .9 21 4 .6 Rhode Island 0 0.0 1 0.2 1 0.2 South Carolina 2 1.8 7 2.0 13 2.8 South Dakota 0 0.0 2 0 ,5 2 0 .4 126

T ab le 11 (co n tin u ed )

T ennessee 4 3 .6 19 5 .5 26 5 .7 Texas 1 0.9 16 4.6 31 6.9 Utah 0 0.0 1 0.2 2 0 .4 Vermont 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 V irg in ia 8 7.2 13 3.8 17 3 .7 W ashington 5 4 .5 7 2.0 9 2.0 West Virginia 1 0 .9 4 1.1 6 1 .3 W isconsin 1 0 .9 4 1.1 5 1.1 Wyoming 0 0.0 1 0.2 1 0.2 (n = 111) (n = 341) (n = 449)

T able 12. RELIGIOUS RADIO IN THE TEN LARGEST CITIES

1973 1976 1979

(n) (%) (n) (%) (n) (%)

1. New York 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 2. Los Angeles 2 1.8 3 0.8 5 1.1 3 . Chicago 3 2 .7 2 0.5 4 0.8 4. Philadelphia 1 0 .9 1 0.2 1 0.2 5. San Francisco 0 0.0 3 0.8 4 0.8 6 . Boston 0 0.0 1 0.2 0 0.0 7. D e tro it 0 0.0 2 0.5 2 0 .4 8. Washington 0 0.0 1 0.2 2 0 .4 9. Dallas-Ft. Worth 0 0.0 3 0.8 4 0.8 LO. Houston 1 0 .9 2 0.5 2 0 .4 127 stations). Two other leaders in 1973, Ohio and Virginia each with

6 percent of all stations or more in 1973, had both dropped to

4 percent or less in 1979 despite doubling or, in the case of Ohio, almost tripling the number of stations in six years. It was an era of widespread growth and the only states to lose stations were ones whose religious broadcasting expansion was less rapid. Not one state which had a religious station in 1973 failed to gain in percentages by 1979! Three small Northeastern states, Delaware,

Vermont and New Hampshire had no religious station throughout the period of study.

Religious Radio in the Largest Cities

Table 12 illustrates how religious radio has penetrated the largest cities in America. The second and third largest cities,

Chicago and Los Angeles have consistently shown the highest number and percentages of religious stations of any of the top ten markets with the possible exception of Dallas-Ft. Worth. The largest mar­ ket, New York City, recorded no religious stations during the period of study. While New York City presently has some suburban re li­ gious stations (WWDJ in Hackensack, NJ and WNYG on Long Island) either they were not operating with a religious format in 1979 or were not counted by Arbitron in the New York City ADI (Area of

Dominant Influence). Both Chicago and Los Angeles have at least one religious station which has been broadcasting that format for at least thirty years (WMBI and KGER). While it is not surprising, in light of past research, that a large Northeastern city such as 128

Boston did not have a religious station, (with the exception of one in 1976), it does seem incongruous that one of the cities with the highest number of religious stations is San Francisco which is not usually considered to be a conservative stronghold likely to welcome a religious format.

The large number of states and cities which recorded no re li­ gious station in 1973 seems to be inaccurately low, likely due to stations overlooking answering the format question which category appeared for the first time in that edition of the Yearbook. This view is supported by the massive increase in religious stations between the first and second reporting dates (1973 and 1976) and the much lower increase between 1966 and 1969.

Population of Market Served

In reviewing Figure 10 the predominance of religious radio in the smaller markets becomes apparent. This is consistent with research findings which have found greater audiences for religious radio in smaller communities and rural areas. Ranging from 46.3 percent of religious stations in the smaller markets in 1973, to

57.5 percent in these areas in 1979, most religious stations were located in this category throughout the study. The largest markets have shown an increasingly smaller percentage of religious stations, dropping from 24 percent in 1973 to 15.8 percent in 1979, due mainly to the greater growth of religious radio in the smaller urban areas.

This confirms previous research which implies there would be greater acceptance of religious broadcasting in smaller areas than larger, OF MARKET SERVED 5 .3 79 29.3% 76 7.0 5 .7 6 .44 .6 4.8 30.7% 73 5.0 6.0 . . 2,500,000 and up . . 1-1.5 million C ategory 7. 1.5-2.5 8 million 13.0 6 5. 250,000-1,000,000 29.7% % 2 . 79 2 11.1 36.9 % 0 . 76 8.5 2 33.4 % 0 73 4.5 6 .7 7.3 10.8 20,000 10,000 - 000 (1973) (1976) (1979) , 10 C ategory . . . . up to 1 2 3. 20,000-150,0004. 150,000-250,000 31.0 12345678 12345678 12345678 12345678

Figure 10. 130

and thus would provide greater listener support and encouragement

to religious stations in these areas. Another factor inhibiting

expansion of religious radio in the largest markets is the exis­

tence of greater competition for the audience. While the audience

for religious radio appears to be growing, it apparently is not viewed by large market station owners as being sufficient to warrant

them trying a religious format station themselves. This, coupled

with the general unfam iliarity with religious broadcasting on the

part of secular-oriented station owners, and the greater financial

stakes involved if it doesn't succeed, have apparently inhibited

greater growth in the larger markets. The unavailability of new

frequencies in these areas and the very high cost of buying existing

facilities have also discouraged expansion in these areas.

Primary Programming Format

Of twenty-six original formats, Figure 11 lists twelve including

the seven religious formats which were listed by five or more sta­

tions in this study. The general category Religious was the most prevalent being listed as primary format by 48-54 percent of all religious stations. As has been noted previously, the Country

format was second most common and by a much smaller percentage

(.8,1-11.3 percent). Gospel, Inspiration and the secular Middle

of the Road (M-O-R) formats trailed farther behind. The Contemporary

Christian format appeared to be on the increase, spurred by more FM

stereo stations and increasing quantities of contemporary religious music. This religious format promises to be the one with the 18838 EIIU SAIN OMT 131 FORMATS STATIONRELIGIOUS

w .V A M

2 4 89 10 1 23 4567 8 9 10 11 12 12 34 5 678 9 10 11 12 (1973) (1976) (1979) (zero percentages not displayed)

Jt<> ■■■.. — .....- M ------1

C ategory 1973 1976 1979 C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. Beautiful Music 0% 1.7% 2.4% 7. Inspiration 3.6% 3.8% 4% 2. Black/Soul 2.7% 2% 2. 2% 8. MOR/Conservative 3.6% 6 . 1% 3.5% 3. Christian 0% 2.3% 1.3% 9. Religious 50% 48% 54.1% 4. Classical/Concert 1. 8% 2.3% 2.4% 10. S acred 5.4% 2%. 6 % 5. Country-Western 8. 1% 14.6% 11.3% 11. Contemp. Christian 0% 1. 1% 2. 8% 6 . Gospel 10. 8% 8.5% 5.1% 12. Christian Education 0% . 2% . 6 % 132 greatest growth potential in years to come. Others, such as Sacred, appear to be steadily declining. Formats generally reflect the listener's taste, however they appear to do so less often in reli­ gious broadcasting than in other formats which rely more heavily on audience ratings. (Religious stations historically have ignored ratings as a measure of audience levels, relying more heavily on phone calls and mail to the station as a gauge of audience interest.

This is especially true at listener-supported [non-commercial] sta­ t i o n s . )

Stations per Market

Additional support for the prediction that most religious sta­ tions are in small markets comes in Figure 12, This shows the pre­ dominance of religious stations in markets of one to two total stations. These may not only be small markets where only one or two frequencies are available, but could also be in suburban areas in which many stations are received but only one or two from that specific community. This is to be expected as all major urban a re a s a r e p r e s e n tly a t maximum s ta t io n c a p a c ity . The o n ly p la c e for growth to occur is in the suburban areas and smaller markets.

It would be unwise to interpret such statistics to imply that religious stations generally prefer being in small markets, but rather that the major markets are exceedingly hard (and expensive) to penetrate as well as for the competitive frequency factors mentioned previously. STATIONS PER MARKET 133

12345678 1 2345678 12345678 (1973) (1976) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. 1-2 stations 41.4% 40.7% 41.8%

2. 3-5 stations 18.9 18.1 18.4

3. 6-10 stations 15.3 13.7 12.6

4. 11-15 stations 7.2 9 .6 9 .7

5. 16-20 stations 5 .4 4.6 5 .3

6 . 21-25 stations 4 .5 4.6 4 .4

7. 26-30 stations 4.5 5 .2 5 .1

8. 30-50 stations 2 .7 2.9 2.2

F ig u r e 1 2 . 134

Advertising Rate

As mentioned earlier, advertising rates are available for only the last two periods as they were not included in the Yearbook listings in 1973. Figure 15 indicates that most religious stations charged $10 or less for their most expensive one-minute commercials in both 1976 and 1979. As Figure 14 indicates, the average rate for all stations listed was $4.58 in 1976 and $6,27 in 1979 a 36.8 percent rate increase over the three year period. AM stations have much higher rates on the average ($6.37 compared with $2.24 for FM in 1976 and a mean AM rate of $7.63 compared with $4.11 for FM in 1979), historically religious AM stations maintained close parity with the highest market rate figure. Yet in both periods, religious station rates averaged only about 20 p e rc e n t of those of the highest priced station in the market. In general, then, it can be safely assumed that the commercial religious sta­ tion typically has only about 20 percent of the audience of their top-priced secular counterpart.

Summary and Conclusions

This chapter began with five research questions. In light of the evidence presented, some conclusions may be drawn;

(I) The extent to which key sociological events may have affected religious radio. Uses and gratifications theorists tell us an audience selects media as a result of some stimulus. There is ample evidence to suggest that the radio audience, especially in the early 1970s, was under unusually stressful circumstances RMR NTOK FIITO 135 PRIMARY NETWORK AFFILIATION

123456 789 10 1112 13 123456789 10 1112 13 123456789 10 11 12 13 (1973) (1976) (1979)

C ategory 1973 1976 1979 C ategory 1973 1976 1979

1. ABC Contemporary 0.9% 0 . 8% 0 . 6 % 8. Mutual Black Net 0 0 . 8% 0 . 6 % 2. ABC Entertainment 1.8 4.3 4 .8 9. National Black Net 0 0 .5 0.6 3. ABC FM Network 2 .7 2 .3 1.1 10. NBC Radio Network 0 0 0 4. ABC Information 0 3.5 3.3 11. UPI Audio 0 5.5 12.2 5. AP Radio 0 2.9 9 .3 12. Other (Regional etc.) 4.5 6 .4 7 .3 6 . CBS Radio Network 0.9 0 0 13. NPR Public Radio 0.9 0.5 0.6 7. MBS Mutual Network 5 .4 5.5 7.7 14. Mutual Spanish Net 0 0 0 MARKET ADVERTISING RATE 136

9-

40

30

20

10

2345678 12 3 45678 (I976) (1979)

C ategory 1976 1979

1. $l-$5 per minute 19.9% 19.7%

2. $ 6-$10 per minute 19.9 21.6

3.$ll-$20 per minute 16.1 16.3

4.$21-$50 per minute 22.8 21.1

5.$51-$75 per minute 11.2 6 .3

6.$76-100 per minute 3.7 5 .5

7.$101-200 per minute 4 .5 5 .8

8.$201-300 per minute 1.6 3 .4

F ig u r e 1 4 . STATION ADVERTISING RATE 137

Ill II

ill g:§i; IS v X v I!

II II SS_ 6 8 1 2 V} o\ 00 1 2 3 4 5 7 (1976) (1979)

Category 1976 1979

1. $l-$5 per minute 46.9% 38.4%

2. $ 6-$10 per minute 32.1 38.4

3. $ll-$20 per minute 10.4 17.0

4. $21-$50 per minute 6 .9 4 .4

5. $51-$75 per minute 1.7 0.8

6 . $76-$100 per minute 0.8 0 .4

7 $101-$200 per minute 0.8 0 .4

8. $201-$300 per minute 0.0 0.0

F ig u r e 1 5 . 138 which could motivate them to act in unusual ways. At about the time of the Watergate crisis, and the resignation of Vice-President

Agnew and President Nixon (which closely followed the protracted conflict in Vietnam with resultant campus unrest and violence) came the tripling in the number of religious stations. The growth of religious radio stations during this period (1973-1976) was

207 percent, compared with a growth rate of only 31,6 percent in the next three years, (a time marked by a period of comparative stability in the nation). While no one could cite a linkage or causality between the two, there seems to be more than just circum­ stantial evidence to suggest the real impact sociological events of the day had on listener behavior in stimulating the growth of religious stations in that era. Since stations cannot survive economically without listener support, and since they not only survived but increased during the periods under study, it appears to be more than coincidental that the events and the growth occurred at about the same time. Putting it another way, what other factors might have triggered such a dramatic increase? And why did the growth occur in this era and not at an earlier period since re li­ gious radio has been around for at least forty years. The evidence encountered here does not support claims for any other significant s tim u lu s .

(2) The regions with the greatest increase in religious sta­ tions. This study found strong support for Johnstone’s (1972)

finding that the greatest audience for religious radio was in the South. Indeed the South Atlantic states (Delaware, Florida, Georgia,

Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia) had the most religious stations, and, in 1979, had more than the two other sub regions in the South combined. There appear to be several explanations for such a phenomenon: The first is that the South has traditionally been thought of as being the "Bible belt" (that is, more religiously active, especially in conservative fundamental­ ist congregations which, Johnstone tells us, are more likely to listen to religious radio. The second explanation is the prevalence of Country and Western stations in the South and the frequency with which this and the Gospel format occurred on the same station.

Indeed Gospel music is often called "Southern Gospel." The South also has a number of ethnic stations, programmed prim arily for Black audiences, which combine Rhythm and Blues with a Gospel format, again demonstrating Gospel’s wide appeal to Southern audiences.

Looking to the future, the growing popularity across the nation of the Country music format, may bring even greater growth to religious radio if it continues to be accompanied by the Gospel format as seems to be the case often in the South.

(3) Market size where the greatest change in religious sta­ tion numbers occurred: The small markets clearly had the greatest percentage of religious stations throughout the study, increasing from 46.3 percent in 1973 to 57.5 percent in 1979. Also during the study, religious radio in large markets showed a decline from

24.0 percent, in 1973, to 15.8 percent, in 1979, of all religious 140 stations. Medium markets held almost constant with 29.7 percent of the religious stations in 1973 to 29.3 percent in 1979. The growth pattern clearly was in the small markets. This supports the literature which reports that rural and small markets generally have had a greater percentage of listeners and viewers of re li­ gious broadcasts than other communities. While the present research did not consider rural areas (only cities having religious sta­ tions) , it found that the greatest concentration of religious radio stations was in markets from 20,000-150,000, When combined with stations in cities below 20,000 population, the percentage in 1979 was 46.4 percent of all religious stations which were in markets under 150,000 population. This pattern stayed consistent across the six years.

(4) What is the financial success of religious stations as measured in the growth of advertising rates? During the study, religious radio showed a slightly greater (though not a signifi­ cantly greater) growth rate (36.8 percent increase on religious stations as compared with 35.6 percent on secular stations). How much of tT increase is due to economic inflation is unknown.

It can safely be said that religious stations have a long way to go before bypassing their secular counterparts in advertising revenue growth, as advertising rates on the typical religious sta­ tion in both 1976 and 1979 were only about 20 percent of what the secular stations were charging for the same prime one-minute seg­ ment. Commercial religious stations are, at least on the average, 141

keeping pace with the most expensive (and likely) most listened

to stations in their markets. All evidence here points to the

financial health and strength of commercial religious stations

throughout the period 1976-1979 for which commercial advertising rates were available.

(5) To what extent has the audience for religious stations

grown as reflected in advertising rates? Using the advertising rates in 1976 and in 1979 (the only data available) there is no

evidence to support a significant growth in the audience for the

average commercial religious station, at least when compared with their most successful secular counterparts. (There is no available

clue in this study as to the audience for non-commercial religious

stations.) For while advertising rates on religious stations rose

36.8 percent in the three-year period leading up to 1979, a 35.6 percent increase was reported by secular stations. A 1,2 percent difference does not appear significant in light of such other potential influences on rates as economic inflation, varying levels

of competition from market to market, etc. About all that can be

safely said is that the audience on commercial religious stations

seems to be at least keeping up with the growth rate of their more

successful secular counterparts and may be slightly exceeding the

latter by the narrowest of margins. Clearly more data and research

is needed in this area before it is possible to make a definitive

statement about average audience levels. 142

What can be said as a result of this research? First, there

is evidence to support the claim that an active, goal^directed

audience, stimulated by an era of uncertainty, particularly in the

early 1970s, increasingly sought religious radio programming,

This created an environment which encouraged the adoption of a reli-r gious format among many existing or new stations. Secondly, this phenomenon seemed especially to occur in smaller cities of 150,000 population or less, and though appearing nationally, was more prevalent in the South. Thirdly, the audience levels of religious

stations, as reflected in advertising rates, increased during the

last three years of the study (1976-1979), but exactly how much

cannot be determined due to various other influences affecting

advertising rates. In any case, the growth rate does not seem

to be significantly greater than that of the more successful secular

stations in the community.

As for additional research, potentially fruitful avenues for

further exploration include national audience studies of religious

station listeners. What are the audience levels experienced by religious stations nationwide? In what way do these audiences compare with those of secular stations considering such demographic variables as age, educational background, church affiliation, political persuasion, etc. Motivational studies could be done to determine the nature and extent of audience appeals inherent in various elements of programming on religious radio. S till other

studies could focus on the extent of religious content on stations 143 with a religious format and the possible relationship between the increasingly conservative mood in the country and religious radio, for "to ignore the aspirations of the religiously committed in this country (we are told) is to make a dangerous mistake."'*'

In this study we have seen religious radio stations increase from 111 in 1973 to 341 in 1976 and 449 in 1979. Thus while the number of U.S. radio stations increased by 9 percent between 1973 and 1976, the number of religious stations increased by more than

207 percent. Lesser gains were recorded between 1976 and 1979,

(a 7 percent overall growth rate compared with a 32 percent growth in the number of religious stations). [The Broadcasting Yearbook which served as a data base for this research, while admittedly not perfect, was considered to be at least as valid a source as the daily newspaper which is often relied upon for historical a n a ly s e s .]

In conclusion, psychologist William J. McGuire, a uses and gratifications theorist, writes: "the extent of mass communication 2 consumption suggests that the media must be doing something right."

The evidence discovered in this research demonstrates that, in the case of religious radio in the 1970s, stations indeed must have been doing something right. NOTES

■^George W. Cornell, "Leaders, public views different, poll says," Lynchburg News, 31 March 1981.

^William J. McGuire, "Psychological Motives and Communica­ tion G ratification," The Uses of Mass Communication, eds. Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katx, (Beverly H ills: Sage Publications, 1974).

144 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Armstrong, Benjamin L. The Electric Church. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1979.

Barzun, Jacques, and Graff, Henry F. The Modern Researcher. 3d ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1977,

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, 1973.

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, WlT.

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, 1975.

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, 1976.

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, TWfT.

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, 1978"]

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, 1979.

Broadcasting Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Broadcasting Publications, 1980.

Ellens, J. Harold. Models of Religious Broadcasting. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's,, 1974.

145 146

Ellens, J. Harold. "Program Format in Religious Television: A History and Analysis of Program Format in Nationally Distributed Denominational Religious Television Broadcasting in the United States of America: 1950-1970." Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1970. Quoted in Dissertation Abstracts, 32 (1970): 01A, p. 6386.

E lliott, Philip. "Uses and Gratifications Research: A Critique and a Sociological A lternative." The Uses of Mass Communication. Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974.

Kahn, Frank J ., ed. Documents of American Broadcasting. 3d ed, Englewood C liffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1978.

Katz, Elihu.; Blumler, Jay G.; and Gurevitch, Michael. "Utilization of Mass Communication by the Individual." The Uses of Mass Communication. Edited by Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz. Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974.

Levine, Samuel, and Elzey, Freeman F. A Programmed Introduction to Research. Expanded 2d ed, Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1976:

McGuire, William J. "Psychological Motives and Communication G ratification." The Uses of Mass Communication. Edited by Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz. Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974.

McLeod, Jack M., and Becker, Lee B. "Testing the Validity of G ratification Measures through Political Effects Analysis." The Uses of Mass Communication. Edited by Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz. Beverly H ills: Sage, 1974.

Robertson, John M. "Mass Media and the Church: Creation and Salva­ tion as Theological Motivations for one Church's Use of Radio." D.Min. dissertation, School of Theology at Clermont, 1977. Quoted in Dissertation Abstracts, 38 (1977): 03A, p. 1088.

Rosengren, Karl E., and Windahl, Swen. "Mass Media Use: Causes and Effects." Communications, 3 (1977), p. 336-352. Quoted in Communication Abstracts, 1 (1978): 3, p. 346.

Solt, David C. "A Study of the Audience Profile for Religious Broadcasts in Onondaga County.” Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 1971. Quoted in Dissertation Abstracts, 32 (1971): 03A, p. 1544.

UPI Stylebook. New York: United Press International, 1977. 147

PERIODICALS AND UNPUBLISHED WORKS

Armstrong, Benjamin L. "The Editing Block." Religious Broadcasting. December 1974/January 1975, p. 3.

"The Editing Block." Religious Broadcasting. February/ March 1975, p. 2.

"The Editing Block." Religious Broadcasting. April/May 1975, p. 3.

"The Editing Block." Religious Broadcasting. August/ September 1975, p. 1.

______. "FCC Hires Agency to Combat Five-Year Old Phantom Peti- tion." Religious Broadcasting. June/July 1979, p. 48.

______. "The Significance of HR-41 for Religious Broadcasters." Religious Broadcasting. August/September 1977, p. 16.

______. "Unto Everything There is a Season." Religious Broad- casting. September 1976, p. 7.

Casmir, Fred L. "A Telephone Survey of Religious Program Preferences Among Listeners and Viewers in Los Angeles." Central States Speech Journal. 10 (1959): 36.

Cathcart, William L. "Viewer Needs and Desires in Television News­ casters." Master's Thesis, Ohio State University, 1966.

Congressional Record, Volume 123, No. 1.

Cornell, George W. "Leaders, public views different, poll says." Lynchburg News. 31 March 1981.

Dick, Donald D. "Religious Broadcasting: 1920-1965, A Bibliography." Journal of Broadcasting. 9 (1965): 3, p. 249-279.

______. "Religious Broadcasting: 1920-1965, A Bibliography." Journal of Broadcasting. 10 (1966): 2, p. 163-180.

______. "Religious Broadcasting: 1920-1965, A Bibliography." Journal of Broadcasting. 10 (1966): 3, p. 257-276.

Federal Communications Commission. Memorandum opinion and order. 1 August 1975, p. 1, 9. 148

Federal Communications Commission. Second Further Notice of Inquiry. 3 October 1973, p. 1.

Interview with Dr. Ben Armstrong. Morristown, New Jersey. 18-19 June 1979.

Interview with John Mercurio of Broadcasting Publications. Washing­ ton, D.C. 11 June 1980.

Johnson, Stuart P. "Contemporary Communication Theory and the Distribution Patterns of Evangelical Radio Programs." Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1978,

Johnstone, Ronald L. "Who Listens to Religious Radio Broadcasts Anymore?" Journal of Broadcasting. 16 (Winter 1971-72): 1, p . 92 , 97.

Korpi, Michael, "Inferences about Religious Broadcasting," unpub­ lished paper, 1980.

Lansman, Jeremy, and Milam, Lorenzo. Letter to Federal Communications Commission. 1 December 1974.

Milam, Lorenzo. Letter to Federal Communications Commission. 2 June 1975.

National Association of Broadcasters, Letter. 16 September 1971.

National Religious Broadcasters. Resolution Opposing Lansman-Milam petition. January 1975,

National Religious Broadcasters, "Test of NRB Brief Opposing HR-41." Religious Broadcasting. August/September 1977, p . 48.

National Religious Broadcasters, Inc. Motion for leave to File Brief Amicus Curiae and Brief Amicus Curiae in the Supreme Court of the United States, 18 December 1978, p. 2.

National Religious Broadcasters, Inc., and National Association of Evangelicals. Further Comments. 19 December 1973, p. 3.

New York Times. 15 December 1972, p. 1.

New York Times, 8 July 1973, Sec. Ill, p. 1.

New York Times. 1 October 1973, p, 14,

New York Times. 9 September 1974, p. 1. 149

New York Times. 17 December 1978, p. 1.

New York Times. 18 December 1978, p. 12.

New York Times, 23 December 1978, p. 9.

New York Times. 17 January 1979, p. 1,

New York Times, 29 January 1979, p. 17.

New York Times. 28 March 1979, p. 25.

New York Times. 17 July 1979, p. 1.

Newsweek. 25 October.1976.

Parker, Everett.; Berry, David.; and Smythe, Dallas. The Television Radio Audience and Religion. Quoted in Stuart P. Johnson. "Contemporary Communication Theory and the D istribution Patterns of Evangelical Radio Programs," Ph.D, dissertation, Northwestern University, 1978.

Proctor, William. "HR-^41: The State Demands Church Disclosures." Christianity Today. 4 November 1977, p. 15,

Rarick, David L. "Predicting Viewer Preferences for Visual Appeals in Television Programs." M aster's Thesis, Ohio State University, 1967.

Religious Broadcasting. November 1978, p. 3.

Religious Broadcasting. 23 April 1979, p, 38,

R e lig io u s News S e rv ic e . News r e le a s e . 8 July 1975.

Saunders, Lowell S. "The National Religious Broadcasters and the A vailability of Commercial Time," unpublished Ph.D. disserta­ tion, University of Illinois, 1968,

Simon, Jeffrey H. "Viewer Types and Viewer Preferences for Kinds of Television Violence," Master's Thesis, Ohio State University, 1969.

Smith, Robert R. "Broadcasting and Religious Freedom." Journal of Broadcasting. 13 (Winter 1968-?69) : 1, p. 7.

The Story of Evangelical Cooperation. Quoted in L. S. Saunders. "The National Religious Broadcasters and the A vailability of Commercial Radio Time." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1968. 150

Text of HR-41.

Text of NRB Financial Guidelines for Religious Organizations.

United Press International. "Top Ten Stories of the 1970s." p . 16.

Washburn, Abbott. Letter to John H. Midlen. 21 November 1977.