Ep. 373: Kirk Farney Discusses Radio Pioneers Fulton Sheen and Walter Maier
Their influence on Christian radio still shapes the medium today
For the past 100 years, radio has proven to be a persistent medium. Television, podcasts, and other digital media have taken their slices of the market, but radio has not gone away. In some ways it is as strong today as ever. About eight in 10 Americans over the age of 12 listen to terrestrial radio in a given week.
And as long as there has been radio, there has been Christian radio. In fact, Reginald Fessenden, a radio pioneer who held hundreds of patents, claims to have made the first radio broadcast, in 1906. And it was arguably a Christian radio program. He broadcast on Christmas Eve. Fessenden the carol O Holy Night on the violin. He closed the broadcast with a biblical passage: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will” (Luke 2:14).
Today, radio ministries are among the largest ministries on the MinistryWatch 1000 list. Even those ministries that are not radio ministries often have a radio component. Relief and development ministries such as World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse use radio as part of their marketing, communications, and fundraising efforts.
A new book looks at two pioneers of Christian radio: Fulton Sheen and Walter Maier. Sheen, a Catholic, and Maier, a Missouri Synod Lutheran, were unlikely prospects to become the biggest radio personalities in America, but that’s what happened, and the techniques they pioneered in the 1940s and 50s are still being used today.
A new book examines these men, and provides a fascinating history of the rise of Christian radio. The book is Ministers of a New Medium, and it’s written by Kirk Farney. Farney is the vice president for advancement, vocation and alumni engagement – as well as a member of the faculty – at Wheaton College. We had this conversation via zoom.
The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get technical, database, and other support from Christina Darnell, Casey Sudduth, Heidi Allums, and Stephen Dubarry. I’m your host, Warren Smith. Until Friday, may God bless you.
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