How would you like a half-hour commercial? You would scream. Your sermon is your commercial. Don't make it too long. Professionally "that ain't good." A radio sermon that lasts more than fourteen or fifteen minutes gets wearisome.
First of all, if you want people to listen, you have to do something to make them listen. Most people don't listen to the radio; they just hear it. You have to do something fast and with great impaa. Use -lots of colorful words—action words, words that create an image, word pictures, words that the listener doesn't have to search around in his mind for the meaning. Use one- or two-syllable words, seldom three-syllable. Your listener has to get the meaning instantly. He cannot go back and read paragraph one, if he has gotten as far as paragraph three. There is a difference in the kind of writing you do for print and that used for radio. Use short sentences, easily understood, for there is no going back in radio to check, if the meaning is not clear instantly.
The program should be accurately timed. The studio would prefer that you have too little material rather than too much. It is easier to fill in with music than to cut. If the program is too long, it does not make for good studio relations.
What should be included in a religious program? How should you start it? What is the atmosphere you want to convey? What effect do you want to have on the people?
First, make them realize that this is a religious service, and generate an atmosphere of reverence and worship. I think the first thing I would do would be to open the program either with organ music or with a choir, very, very softly, bringinc, it in gradually. After you have used your established theme you have a short announcement perhaps, and then a little more thethe, and then your sermon. Tell the name of the church, what they are doing, and the name of the minister; speak of the choir; and announce their first hymn.
I think when selecting your first hymn you could do a lot worse than to follow the principle as established by the regular commercial radio program—have "a bright opener." Do something to get attention, and in the first minute. One of the easiest ways is to use music that is well known and well performed. Then have another hymn, or a solo, the Scripture reading and the sermon, and a hymn.
All these elements may be varied. Your sermon is your commercial. It takes a lot of devotion to listen through fourteen or fifteen minutes. Make the sermon as attractive as you possibly can.
Be particularly careful in the selection and rehearsal of your choir. Rehearse choir before coming to studio. Give names of songs to the station ahead of time. This is very important, for the station needs to check the music and the copyrights. It can be very expensive. Give a copy of the sermon to the station, so they can check it too. Have your hymns well rehearsed, with a good organist and good "showmanship."
Here is an idea for arranging a chorus—set them up in teams of quartets. Have a special program for Christmas, Easter, and other holidays. To give the effect of a vaulted ceiling in church, have the chorus sing facing the wall, with microphone behind, getting the sound on the rebound.
Remember, you have to compete with commercial programs that have a lot of money to spend for talent. You are under a handicap. Produce an air of professional know-how. Do not make involved announcements. Give your sermon in story form. You might have a children's corner in the program. Forums or discussions usually catch the interest. In using others on the radio, remember that listeners have to identify voices with personalities.
Who Should Be on the Air?
What method should a conference use in selecting broadcasters? Who should be on the air? Should radio take precedence over all the other activities of a pastor or evangelist? What factors should guide a conference committee in directing the radio work in their territory?
T. E. UNRUH: Keep the air saturated with our message. Blanket the whole area. Radio is here to stay. We should keep a strong and permanent work going. Not all expect to broadcast. Select the very best you have, and strive for as complete coverage as possible. The radio work should not take precedence over all other activities, nor should it be submerged and neglected. There is no substitute for preaching the Word. Our efforts are wasted when no follow-up is planned.
D. A. OCHS: Instead of asking who should be on the air, we should ask who shouldn't be. Too many want to go on the air, but not every minister is cut out to be a broadcaster. Choose the right men, with good voices, who can make proper use of the king's English, and who can produce something worthwhile. There has been too much overlapping, with five or six men broadcasting in an area of a hundred miles or less. The conference should have an over-all picture of radio for its field. Broadcasts should not overlap in one section, and another section be without any radio work at all. Make recordings of a man's voice. Take his personality into consideration, his background, reading ability, and why he wants to go on the air. Have the conference committee invite him in to talk it all over. Direct the man rather than have the man direct the committee.
D. S. W.ALLACK: The more responsibility the conference takes, the larger the responsibility on the finances. We should avoid overlapping in the Bible schools especially.
H. J. DETWILER: There should be a properly planned program by the conference committee. Take a long-range view. Give your men a chance.
W. G. GIBSON: In Gideon's army he gave the men the pronunciation test. They were alert men, chosen of God, who kept their objective centered in Him. They knew when to use their lights, and what to do. This is the type of men needed for broadcasting the message.
W. A. FAGAL: Let us get the right perspective. Radio is not for the sole purpose of entertaining. Neither is it the whole, but a part, of the work. Some ministers make radio a substitute for evangelistic and pastoral work —a way to keep busy. But radio is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We must be willing to study hard and regularly—not just a hit-and-miss program. We must recognize our responsibility, and prepare for our audience.
In radio, results are not so quick as in some lines, and some are inclined to hide behind that. Evangelism must be coupled with the radio, and the radio coupled with a Bible course, to bring results. There is no substitute for preaching to large congregations, no substitute for Bible studies, or for calling on the people. There must be a lot of follow-up work. These are tried methods, and are here to stay. I don't believe radio can take precedence over other methods, but radio should be given its rightful place.
Utilizing Church and School
W. F. TARR: Children's programs are always welcome on the radio, especially in small towns and rural areas. Radio stations know this. The children are not expected to attain a high degree of perfection in their performance, and this helps. In a church school of twenty or twenty-five there are likely to be four or five with talent that can be used in radio.
L. H. LINDBECK: Tremendous possibilities lie here. Everyone loves children. We can say things "out of the mouth of babes and sucklings" that we could not otherwise. We can get free time for children's programs. What are we doing to reach children of the radio audience?
C. E. WENIGER: We are missing a big opportunity in not including more in our programs to attract children. It is a good training for the children of the church to take part in radio programs. I would suggest a radio workshop for church school teachers. Pastors should be led to widen their horizons, and see the possibilities. There is need for adult education. Instruct the members in simple technique of radio production. Have the Missionary Volunteer Society participate.
R. A. ANDERSON: Utilizing the ease and poise of children may be one way of helping finish the work during the time when adults cannot work. Make the church a part of the program by participation. Personal appeal multiplies. One tells another to listen, and that one tells several others, and so on, thus multiplying the interest.
PAUL WICKMAN: We are working on a program now, a home and health broadcast, dialog fashion. This would be free, and accepted as a public service. At the end we will offer free lessons on health, and the last of these lessons will offer a free Bible course. We would enlist the aid of some of our doctors to correct the health lessons. We should accept the challenge of getting millions of dollars worth of free time, both in radio and television.
This plan is working in Mexico successfully. Our church schools, along with other denominational activities, can find free access to air channels if they discover the right vehicle of approach.
W. G. GIBSON: I lean heavily on lay help. Get the youth to enroll people in the Bible course. I would make a plea for a junior Bible course that we could all use.
NOTE: The Pacific Press Publishing Association has published an excellent set of fifty-two children's lessons with a quiz sheet for each lesson. Although these were originally intended and designed for the first year of a branch Sabbath school, they could be used effectively for a Bible school. As a set of lessons for children to use in connection with a radio project, we have nothing better for the present.
P. W.
