With all the thrills of radio broadcasting there are also certain dangers at tending every honest effort to build programs of merit. I like to think of them as the yellow cautions on the boulevard of religious broadcasting. You can get by before the light turns from the green of go, by watching that yellow light, but you cannot go on indefinitely on a yellow light. There is a place and time where you have to halt for the red. Those yellow lights are ever flashing. You see them when writing your script, when producing your program. To ignore them is foolhardy. Just because a minister enjoys the respect due the cloth, he cannot afford to impose upon copy rights or music restrictions.
Let us consider a few of these amber lights. The first is the right of quotation. The radio omnibus has to observe this, and the religious driver carries no heaven-sent diplomatic immunity in its violation. Poetry especially is subject to copyright limitations. If a selected poem appears in an author’s copyrighted collection, advance permission for its release should be se cured. Check with your station or network management if in doubt. Infringement carries possibility of a fine, and your station is just as anxious as you are to be free of any involvement. A good rule to follow, if you arrive with material in your script unchecked, is to halt with caution. If in doubt, don't! Maybe you are not aware of it, but there are two poets whose works cannot be used: Henry van Dyke and Rudyard Kipling. Use of Van Dyke's writings on the radio was specifically prohibited" in his will and Kipling's works are under rigid copyright. Only two exceptions are allowed, and those involve musical arrangements of Recessional and Road to Mandalay. Most authors, upon written request ahead of time, will allow use of their material for religious broadcasts, provided both author and publisher are given credit.
Having paused at the poem intersection, we travel on to another caution light—the direct quotation of prose. Any direct quotation of more than fifty words from a copyrighted source deserves a caution—not only because of copyright fears, but because any lengthy quotation is foregone boredom. Instead of stimulating a listener the drape of disinterest brings a rejoinder, such as, "O.K., but who cares who sez what?" We more often weaken than strengthen by quoting extensively.
Generally speaking, unless an outstanding authority is being cited, it is best to assemble the gist of the idea in a succinct statement or two, and give a passing wave of recognition. If we read widely, we will not feel the urge or need of quoting extensively. Quoting a long list of authorities takes away the fluid drive of delivery, and replaces it with the jerk of the clutch-worn transmission. But even here a caution is to be noted. Assimilation of materials in reading leads to their re-creation at time of writing. Though there is always some adaptation of others' thoughts, there is danger of masquerading under the garb of originality when actually we are plagiarists. So then, as broad casters, whose tools are books, we must do more reflective thinking, less out-and-out lengthy quoting, and more creative designing. Genius is chiefly infinite attention to details.
Another warning amber beam is music clearance. Most commercial stations have contractual arrangements with copyright owners through one or another of the organizations formed for the protection of authors, composers, and publishers. For use of materials covered by such organizations a fee for broadcast privilege is stipulated, and is worth the cost to free one from fear of infringement. The fee covers a specified number of performances over a predetermined period of time. Information on right to use songs or music should be secured from your local station well in advance of airing. You should supply the name of the musical selection of names, composer, author, arranger, name of hymnal and edition used, and the name of the publisher.
Many of the hymns are in public domain, and need no clearance. A copyright entitles the holder to exclusive control of a song for twenty-eight years. Within ninety days of the expiration of the twenty-eight-year copyright period the owner may secure renewal for another twenty-eight years. At the end of these two periods, totaling fifty-six years, the song becomes public domain, and anyone is free to use it without fear of penalty. However, some hymnals have inserted extra stanzas to public-domain hymns which are copyrighted, and the broadcaster does not have the right to use these additional stanzas without securing clearance ahead of time.
The one and only way to be sure is to make early selections of music, and get full clearance on any numbers that are under control of copy rights. For North American broadcasts information on musical numbers can be furnished from one of the three following sources: Associated Music Publishers, 25 West 45th Street, New York 19, New York; Broadcast Music Incorporated, 580 Fifth Avenue, New York 19, New York; and the Rode heaver Hall-Mack Company, Winona Lake, Indiana (the latter specializes in gospel music, and is very cooperative in furnishing information). In a last- minute crisis a telegram or telephone message will settle matters hurriedly.
Fortunately for ministers, most stations have transcription libraries with religious numbers available for use. The station pays either a rental fee or outright purchase price for such transcriptions, and there is no extra cost to the religious broadcaster who wishes to use them over that station. A card index of such a library is worth thumbing through, if not duplicating for later use, for selection of organ or vocal numbers.
What we need is more preprogram planning. The bane of broadcasting is scanty preparation. It leads to hurried superficiality at time of de livery that cannot be disguised by any means thus far devised. If a man has not planned his broadcast period ahead of time, he is undeserving of a hearing or of receiving gratuities to keep him on the air.
BACKGROUNDS— To secure pleasing recorded backgrounds, the religious broadcaster would do well to note that both Columbia and Victor have transcribed music for transitions and moods. These furnish endless opportunities for support in the telling of stories, the reading of poems, or the creating of special listener attitudes. They are doubly useful if you have no organist to assist you in your programming. The Victor records worth noting are numbers M-744, AM-643, M-929, AM-706, M-291, 12034, and 12035. Further information on procurement may be secured from R.C.A., Victor Division, Camden, New Jersey. The following Columbia records may be secured from the Columbia Recording Corporation, 779 Seventh Avenue, New York City: M-372; MX-2io; and Columbia 350. The MacGregor Recording Co., Hollywood, California, supplies a series of Mood Music Cuts. Standard Transcriptions, 6404 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California, has compiled a Mood Music Album worth noting.
Perhaps there are some unusual sound effects that you have needed from time to time. The radio evangelist will use these aids with caution and quite sparingly. In youth and special participation programs they have natural use and adaptation. Besides the Victor and Columbia companies already noted there are five other sources for sound effects: Gennet Records, 67 West 44th St., New York; Major Records, 1660 Broadway, New York; Masque Sound and Recording Corporation, 1790 Broadway, New York; Speedy-Q Records, 1344 South Flower St., Los Angeles; and Standard Radio, 6404 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California
There's your highway straight through hill and dale of Radioland. You have the lights in your favor if you know their timing, and observe their flashing signals.
The joy of discovering a new thought, a fit ting poem, an overlooked text, a just-right song, always inspires the minister at his radio workbench to renewed endeavor. The construction of these materials into a dynamic spiritual program that sustains interest and compels response is as the fruit of Canaan to listeners.
