Religious programs have been a part of the broadcasting environment since the early 1920s. Mennonites have offered both condemnation and praise of broadcasting. On one hand, radio and television programs were condemned as dangerous to spiritual life and as promoting materialism, immorality, and questionable theology. On the other hand, Mennonites recognized the potential for evangelism, inspiration, and nurture through broadcasting. The earliest radio programs produced by Mennonites in North America featured sermons and singing. Some were broadcasts of church services. Two of the earliest programs continue in the 1980s. In 1936 pioneer broadcaster, pastor William Detweiler began "The Calvary Hour." The program, carried on by his sons, could be heard on over 30 stations in North and South America in 1988. In 1939 Theodore Epp, a former General Conference Mennonite minister, founded Back to the Bible, Inc., an independent, nondenominational broadcast ministry based in Nebraska. The program, "Back to the Bible," was heard on nearly 600 stations around the world in 1988.

The second broadcast was established in 1940 by a Mennonite layman in Kitchener, Ontario. He offered a musical program by the "Nightingale Chorus" for shut-ins, but the program ended after six months. The Mennonite Conference of Ontario sponsored a "Mennonite Hour" broadcast in 1945, directed by a committee chaired by Oscar Burkholder. A Mennonite Brethren broadcast began in Saskatoon in 1940, followed by a General Conference program in 1948.

During the 1950s, Mennonite broadcast activity expanded. Three Mennonite colleges operated FM radio stations during the 1950s: Bethel College, Goshen College, and Eastern Mennonite College. Numerous local broadcasts were produced by General Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite Brethren, and Mennonite Church (MC) congregations and colleges in the United States and Canada (Shelly, 1952; Rempel, 1952). These included Mennonite Brethren congregations in Kitchener and Virgil, Ontario. Western Canada had nine broadcasts by 1952, including two in Manitoba, five in Saskatchewan, one in Alberta and one in British Columbia. Four were by Mennonite Brethren congregations, four by General Conference congregations and one by the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren.

During the decade, various Mennonite conferences and mission boards became active in broadcasting. In 1951 the Mennonite Church (MC) authorized the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities to establish a national Mennonite broadcast. In association with Mennonite Crusader, Inc., a Harrisonburg, Va., group, Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc. (MBI) was founded to continue the operation of the "Mennonite Hour," with B. Charles Hostetter as speaker. (By 1988 Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc., had become Mennonite Board of Missions Media Ministries.) By the end of the decade of the 1950s, Mennonite Broadcasts was producing programs in English, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Navajo, German, French, and Russian. They also sponsored a weekly women's program, "Heart to Heart," established by Ruth Brunk Stoltzfus in 1950 and carried on by Lila May Miller from 1958 to 1977.

A new development in Canada, and the only one of its kind, was the establishment of a Mennonite-owned and operated radio station, CFAM, in Altona, Manitoba, by the Southern Manitoba Broadcasting Co. (A.J. Thiessen, pres., D.K. Friesen, sec.-treas.). It went on the air on March 13, 1957 and was intended to serve "the economic, cultural, and religious needs of Southern Manitoba." It furnished an outlet for religious broadcasting by Mennonites of various conferences. The Mennonite Radio Mission sponsored broadcasts in English, German and Low German.

The Canadian Mennonite Brethren also embraced a broadcast. In 1954 they officially sanctioned the "Gospel Light Hour," a broadcast begun at Mennonite Brethren Bible College in the late 1940s. Gospel Light (later known as Mennonite Brethren Communications) developed programs in English, German, Low German, and Russian for adults and children. Mennonite Brethren Communications continued in the 1990s under the direction of the Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba, and began to consider new forms of broadcasting, including the Internet.

The General Conference Mennonite Church expanded a local devotional broadcast in Newton, Kansas, called "Faith and Life," to a conference-wide project in 1953. The General Conference Mennonite Church effort was ultimately lodged with the Commission on Home Ministries. It became known as Faith and Life Radio and Television in the late 1960s, and as the Media Division in the 1980s. The Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba also continued a Faith and Life Communications division in the 1990s.

During the 1960s Mennonite organizations and independent producers concentrated on refining production techniques and expanding distribution of the programs. Many of the ongoing programs featured choirs or quartets in addition to speakers. Music and speaking tours in the churches were common, along with the distribution of printed messages and other literature to listeners through the mail. Staff sometimes purchased air time, often sought free time, or found local congregational or business sponsorship.

By the mid-1970s, the North American broadcast industry presented religious broadcasters with several challenges: free or sustaining time was hard to find or available only for undesirable hours; the cost of air time was increasing; broadcasters were interested in shorter programs; television presented a challenge that could no longer he ignored.

Mennonite Broadcasts, Inc. began experimenting with seasonal specials and radio spots in 1964. The first series of 30 to 60-second spots were designed to speak to the pressures and problems facing men. "Minutes for Women" spots, released in 1966, spoke to the needs of women and families. The "Choice" spots, developed by David Augsburger, grew out of this initial experimentation. "Choice" was designed to fit a 13-week block of station programming with daily spots, five days a week. These spots were well received because they were issue-oriented and fit the flow of commercial radio formats. In the 1970s "Choice" was used on 300-500 stations. In the late 1980s, Up to 1,000 stations used the program. The 11th edition of "Choice" was produced in 1988. Most "Choice" series were interdenominational productions with participation from the General Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite Brethren, and Church of the Brethren.

Mennonites also experimented with television spots for the first time in the late 1960s. The Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church together produced four 60-second spots on family life in 1969. By 1970 the Mennonite Brethren joined them to produce a second series of "Family Life" spots. In 1975 the Inter-Mennonite Media Group (IMMG) was formed to carry out inter-Mennonite broadcast activities. IMMG spearheaded the joint production of such multimedia campaigns as "Invitation to Live" (1976-77). In addition to radio and television spots, "Invitation to Live" messages were carried through posters, paperback books, newspaper advertisements, calendars, postcards, T-shirt transfers, pens, and stickers. A Media Handbook for congregations accompanied the media materials, offering ideas and suggestions for how congregations might use the materials in their local communities.

The 1970s were thus characterized by inter-Mennonite cooperation and a growing emphasis on spot production, along with the production of ongoing radio programs. The only ongoing television program from this era appears to be the children's program, "Third Story," produced by Mennonite Brethren Communications for release on Canadian television. With the exception of television spots, Mennonites have generally been unable to afford to do full-length television program production for commercial markets.

The 1970s were also characterized by growing concerns about the impact of television programs on traditional Mennonite values. These concerns were renewed in the 1980s with the penetration of video cassette recorders into Mennonite homes.

During the 1970s, philosophies of mission underwent a metamorphosis that had direct impact on broadcast activities by Mennonite mission boards in North America and beyond for the next decade. Concerns about cultural imperialism and indigenous leadership development led to increased sensitivity about exporting North American programs overseas and to production partnerships with local churches and conferences around the world. In 1977, for example, Europäische Mennonitische Radiomission was formed to carry responsibility for the German broadcasts conducted by the Mennonite Board of Missions (''Worte des Lebens" [Words of Life] founded in 1959; "Quelle des Lebens" [Fountain of Life] founded in 1976). The committee was formed with representation from the Swiss, German, and French (Alsace) conferences and the European Mennonite Bible School (Bienenberg) board. In 1988 it included members from Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren churches in West Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France.

Mennonite Board of Missions Spanish broadcast ministries were initiated through missionary efforts in Puerto Rico in 1947 ("Luz y Verdad" [Light and Truth] founded in 1947; "Corazon a Corazon" [Heart to Heart] founded in 1964). In 1972 the 10 Latin American conferences took responsibility for the expanded broadcast and literature ministries with the organizing of junta Ejecutiva Latino-americana de Audiciones Menonitas (JELAM; Latin American Executive Council for Mennonite Broadcasts). JELAM produced and distributed internationally radio, television, and print materials until 1984. With a shift in conference activities, Agrupacion Menonita Latinoamerica de Comunicaciones (AMLAC; Latin American Mennonite Consortium for Communications) replaced JELAM in 1983 to provide resources and consultation for conferences and congregations who were involved in program production in their local communities. Programs were local and national instead of international. AMLAC holds regular conferences for Latin American communicators and published a newsletter, Informa to offer resources and to promote the use of media among Latin American churches.

With the 1980s came sweeping changes in the configuration of the communi cations scene. The diffusion of cable television offerings and the addition of home video recorders gave North American consumers more choices and more control over what they could watch. In the United States, radio and television were deregulated and broadcasters were no longer obligated to offer free time for public service programs and spots. Sponsored broadcast time became increasingly expensive. Instead of mass audiences, programs were targeted to specific audiences for specific purposes. The "electronic church" was rocked by a series of scandals, precipitating a decline in both viewers and in support, as well as a decline of the public image of religious broadcasting in general.

On the Mennonite front, both the General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Brethren in the United States closed their media divisions because of budget squeezes and shifting institutional priorities. As a result, inter-Mennonite production activities declined, and IMMG was replaced with the Council on Church and Media (CCM) in 1985. CCM holds an annual conference; serves as a media thinktank and clearing house for ideas and plans; and brings together both audiovisual and print communicators from church agencies, schools, and publications. Increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques have also influenced program planning and philosophy. Broadcast productions are now considered part of an overall communications strategy, often combining print and other communications media to accomplish specific tasks, including evangelism, training, nurture, inspiration, interpretation, promotion, and fundraising.

Internationally, MBM in 1988 produces just two international broadcasts. Both are Russian-language programs. All other Mennonite programs outside North America are produced by national church organizations in various regions of the world. MBM's focus internationally is now on training. consultation, and financing in partnership with local groups. For example, Indonesian Mennonites own and operate a radio station that serves their region of the world. Japanese Mennonites are involved with two ecumenical broadcast operations and have placed their first missionary in the Japanese department of the international station, HCJB, in Quito, Ecuador. Many national church media projects are inter-Mennonite in sponsorship. (Descriptions of current activity are found in the annual reports of the *mission boards.) Domestically, MBM's focus has shifted from doing radio evangelism for the denomination to helping congregations use the media to enhance their local evangelism activities. Ongoing broadcasts have given way to the production of special packages that are designed to help congregations with local outreach. "Art McPhee in Touch," the program that succeeded the "Mennonite Hour," ceased production in 1984. "Your Time," the program that succeeded "Heart to Heart," ended production in 1987. Media staff in 1988 are devoting energies to training local congregations to use local media, to creating packages of spots and other resources for congregations to use in their local communications efforts, and to producing video resources for the church. Video recordings are perceived to be the medium of the future. Nevertheless, programs that identify who Mennonites are and what they believe continued to be produced for the public media.

The number of evangelistic radio programs produced by Mennonite mission agencies and Mennonite-affilated parachurch organizations has declined since flourishing in the 1950s. While a number remained in 1988, listed in MC Yearbook (1988-89), mission agencies have expanded their media activities beyond broadcasting, sometimes using radio for news and information, and sometimes combining broadcast activities with other media efforts in a multimedia approach. Denominational resources in the late 1970s and 1980s have emphasized church planting and church growth. Rather then producing programming in the name of the denomination, media agencies have reflected denominational priorities, increasingly becoming consultants and producers for local congregations. They attempt to match what is produced with the needs and priorities of the local congregational activities, both in North America and around the world. While radio production continues, denominations resources have shifted toward multimedia approaches with an increasing emphasis on the production of video resources. Ongoing broadcasts with an evangelistic emphasis are produced mainly by parachurch organizations with both formal and informal relationships to denominational agencies. The productions of Mennonite agencies have diversified in purpose, in audience, in language, and in form in the 1980s.

See also Radio

Bibliography

Additional Information

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To cite this page:

MLA style: Bender, Harold S. and Diane Zimmerman Umble. "Broadcasting, Radio and Television." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 09 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B761ME.html>

APA style: Bender, Harold S. and Diane Zimmerman Umble. (1989). "Broadcasting, Radio and Television." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 09 May 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B761ME.html>