Fred Rogers – A Legacy Bar None – Part 2

Read Part 1.

By today’s standards, Rogers’ show would be considered quite tame. But, back in the 60’s and 70’s, he presented some radical, often Biblically-based ideas.

In an unscripted episode, Rogers had a heart-to-heart conversation with a young quadriplegic boy named Jeff Erlanger. Jeff captivated the audience as he explained to a curious Rogers how his electric wheelchair worked and why he needed it. Then the two of them broke out in a song called, “It’s You I Like.” Jeff had been a longtime fan of the show and it was his parents that arranged the meeting. Then in 1999, Jeff Erlanger made a surprise appearance to introduce Rogers as he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.  Rogers didn’t see it coming and literally “leaped” out of his seat, running to the stage to meet Erlanger onstage.

Just like humans, Roger’s make-believe characters were created with flaws and foibles. Lady Elaine Fairchild was often a prideful, selfish brat. But she always accepted Mister Rogers’ stern, loving correction.

Daniel the Striped Tiger was painfully shy and extremely insecure, but Mister Rogers helped him realize that he was valued, accepted and loved.  King Friday the Xlll wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, even though he was King. But Mister Rogers always paid him the respect he deserved.

“We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are.” ~ Fred Rogers

His shows dealt with some sensitive subjects and he explored these themes each week. Some were complex social issues that parents rarely discussed with their children, including Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, racism and the ever-growing problem of divorce. He even took a trip to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to teach kids not to be afraid of hospitals.

During the Gulf War, after promising his TV family that all children in the neighborhood would be well cared for, he called parents to task on the air, asking them to make a promise as well, to take care of their children. In response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, Rogers aired PSAs for parents and teachers, explaining how to discuss tragic events with young ones.

“We at Family Communications have discovered that when children bring up something frightening, it’s helpful right away to ask them what they know about it. Probably what children need to hear most from us adults is that they can talk with us about anything, and that we will do all we can to keep them safe in any scary time.” ~ Fred Rogers

HIS MUSIC
Fred’s goal was to teach children to love themselves and others, and to not be afraid. He composed nearly 300 songs with those ideas in mind.  One particularly comforting song explained to worried little minds that no, they can’t in fact be sucked down a bathroom drain, because they will not fit.  Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’s closing song, “Tomorrow”, was a song of hope. A song that promised his children that he would indeed be back, and that he hoped they would all be feeling happy and “snappy” until his return.

HIS ADULT LIFE
In the adult world, Fred Rogers was dedicated to putting children first. He believed that children should be allowed to legally record his show, and successfully advocated for fair-use TV show recording. He also testified before a U.S. Senate committee to push for government funding of children’s television, and got it to the tune of 20 million dollars. Wikipedia reports that he went on to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 40 honorary degrees, and a Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and was recognized in two congressional resolutions. He was ranked number 35 of the TV Guide’s “Fifty Greatest TV Stars of All Time”. The Smithsonian displays one of his trademark sweaters as a “Treasure of American History”. Those TV sweaters were knitted by his mother. Just by donning her handmade sweaters, he was making a statement about the value of a parent’s love.

NOT THE END
Fred Rogers was diagnosed with stomach cancer in December 2002. He passed away on February 27, 2003. But his legacy lived on. His widow Joanne Byrd Rogers became a champion for children, encouraging them to take on leadership roles. She helped preserve his legacy by staying active in leadership roles within the Fred Rogers Company and at the Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, PBS aired a special in March. A new documentary film, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” directed by Morgan Neville, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.

“The way he led his life, I believe dad tried to follow the example of Christ — and did in such a fabulous way.” ~ James Rogers 

No doubt about it, Fred Rogers intentionally allowed himself to be emotionally honest and vulnerable for all children. In honor of his unique integrity and unparalleled contributions, The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 111 “for his legendary service to the improvement of the lives of children, his steadfast commitment to demonstrating the power of compassion, and his dedication to spreading kindness through example.”

And no doubt about it, a life well lived.

REFERENCES: 

THE FRED ROGERS CENTER

FRED ROGERS PRODUCTIONS

LITTLETHINGS.COM

BIOGRAPHY.COM

PBS.ORG

URBAN MILWAUKEE

FOCUS FILMS

KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL

PITTSBURG CITY PAPER

It’s a beautiful day. A clean cut, professionally dressed man hurries home from work, looking forward to the time he can spend with the local children. He gently opens the door and sheepishly ducks to fit under its frame. His eyes seem to enter the room first, sparkling with joy and anticipation. He is genuinely happy to see everybody.

Hurriedly but methodically, he removes his work-a-day suit coat and puts on an old fashioned, comfy sweater. He exchanges his stiff, shiny work shoes for sneakers, which he ties carefully in a perfect bow. His pet fish scramble to the top of the tank, anticipating and knowing that they will indeed be fed. The children too, watch his every move, anticipating and knowing that he will indeed feed them with all good things. Food for their weary souls. Words to lift their spirits high and help them feel special. Quality time to play and pretend and dream and forget about the adult world for a while. As he goes through his routine, he sings a song about how happy he is to see each and every child. How he always wants to spend time with them. How very special they are.

“When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.” ~ Fred Rogers

You want to talk about positive, encouraging, engaging broadcasting? This is your go-to guy.

LET’S ZOOM OUT AND SET THE SCENE
The year is 1968, onset of the “Me Generation”. Yet, this neighborly guy seemed to put the needs of childrenfirst. Notably, that he cheerfully sacrificed his “after work downtime” for playtime. This friendly guy, surrounded by a captive audience of little children, was humbly educating them about unselfish love. While there is no such thing as the perfect human father, Fred Rogers was attempting, through his own human imperfection, to show the love of a perfect Heavenly Father to his beloved young audience.

His legacy, as it turns out, was extremely significant because he was essentially a television role model in many of America’s households. He demonstrated to his young “neighbors” how to be good fathers, trusted friends, respectable, unafraid, non-judgmental, all-inclusive, compassionate, understanding and above all, honest.

“One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self. I also believe that kids can spot a phony a mile away.” ~ Fred Rogers

Fred Rogers didn’t want to be a “father figure.” He frequently explained to his viewers that his TV show was notreality, that make-believe was notreality, that TV house was nothis real house at all. He had a real family, and therefore didn’t refer to his viewers as his own children.  He emphasized that each viewer should be grateful for his/her own reality, because each life story was equally valuable. But for those whose realities were dysfunctional, filled with unrest and confusion, they found solace and stability in Mister Rogers’ TV house. They couldn’t wait to get on “Trolley” and go to the Land of Make Believe. For half an hour, they pretended that Mister Rogers was their father and that his beautiful neighborhood was theirs.

Most of us never imagined that Fred Rogers was actually portraying a Heavenly Father who always wanted to spend time with us, had a mansion prepared just for us, and would be thrilled to welcome me to His neighborhood with open arms anytime.

“Anything that we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings … that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds. Life is for service.” ~ Fred Rogers

THE REAL MISTER ROGERS? SAME AS THE TV GUY.
Fred McFeely Rogers is somewhat of a legend. He was born on March 20, 1928, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania to James and Nancy Rogers. While his parents enjoyed a small amount of success due his father’s good business sense (he was president of the McFeely Brick Company, one of Latrobe’s largest businesses), Fred himself had humble beginnings. He was well-acquainted with shyness. His awkward and introverted personality may have been why he was bullied as a child. In the 2018 documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Rogers is depicted as a lonely kid.  His childhood friends, through his own imagination, consisted of a ventriloquist dummy and other various toys. Out of these he would create skits and worlds right there in his bedroom.

He discovered what he needed to fill his own void – a void that so many children typically have in their hearts.  So naturally, he was able to share what he learned with thousands of children later on.  His mom Nancy knitted sweaters for American soldiers and was also a regular volunteer at the Latrobe Hospital. Fred also had an adopted sister, Elaine. Still he spent most of his childhood alone, playing with puppets, spending time with his grandfather, and playing the piano.

OUT OF THE SHELL, INTO THE VISION
Fred’s awkward season diminished significantly after he entered high school. “It was tough for me at the beginning,” Rogers told NPR in 1984. “And then I made a couple friends who found out that the core of me was ok. One of them was the head of the football team.” He was elected president of the student council, became a member of the National Honor Society and was editor-in-chief of the school yearbook. He graduated college with a degree in music composition, and from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary as an ordained a minister. He was devoted to God and willing to preach His word, but he had an even stronger burden. He was disappointed with the way television shows talked to children.  He believed that with such a strong emphasis on commercial marketing, education had taken a back seat. He told CNN, “I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there is some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen”. Fired up with a righteous anger, his goal was not only to improve children’s television, but to demonstrate the unconditional love of an all-inclusive, yet totally righteous Father.

True to his vision, Fred Rogers never stopped educating himself. He continued to pursue his theological and child development studies. While studying at Rollins College, Rogers fell in love with Sara Joanne Byrd. Fred and Joanne (as she is now known) married in 1952.

ON WITH THE SHOW
In 1953, Fred became a puppeteer / program developer at public broadcasting station WQED. Developer and host Josie Carey hired him to help create “The Children’s Corner”.  Many of the puppets, characters and scenes from Mister Roger’s Neighborhood were developed at WQED. Daniel the Striped Tiger, King Friday XIII, Queen Sara Saturday, Henrietta the Owl and Lady Elaine Fairchild all made their TV debut during this highly creative time. The Children’s Hour won the Sylvania Award for best locally produced children’s show in 1955.

Fred Rogers made his own TV debut around 1963 in a black and white children’s program called Mister Rogers. It enjoyed a healthy 4-year run on Toronto’s CBC. After acquiring the rights to the show, along with its sets and characters, he returned to Pittsburg with his wife and two young sons, James and John. He continued to seek the advice of many experts, including child psychologist Margaret McFarland, who became his “key advisor, collaborator and child-education guru”. The two of them created scripts and songs for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. This invaluable collaboration lasted for nearly 30 years.

THE RADICAL MISTER ROGERS
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ran for 895 episodes. It aired on National Educational Television, which later morphed into The Public Broadcasting Service.  At the height of its popularity in 1985, eighty-five percent of all US households watched the show. His songs, his speech and his stories were carefully seasoned with Biblical truth, God’s love and God’s promises. Jesus’ message was radical, and so was Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.  If you listen to the overarching message in his songs and show themes, the seeds of God’s word are carefully and obviously sown.

Next time, we’ll dig further into the uniqueness of the ultimate “Family Man”.

REFERENCES:

THE FRED ROGERS CENTER

FRED ROGERS PRODUCTIONS

LITTLETHINGS.COM

BIOGRAPHY.COM

PBS.ORG

URBAN MILWAUKEE

FOCUS FILMS

KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL

PITTSBURG CITY PAPER

If you’re a Christian, nothing jumpstarts your day better than Christ-centered words or worshipful music on your radio.  Christian radio steers your mind and your heart in the right direction. We also have satellite radio and streaming.  If my station loses its signal, I have options. But back in 1910, just after The U.S. Patent Office awarded Marconi a patent for the invention of radio, (later revoked and awarded to Tesla), people were lucky to get any signal at all – certainly not in their cars, and especially not in their horse-drawn buggies!

In this blog, part two of our series, we go back to the beginning. Take a look back at Part One.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
From 1906 to 1920-ish, a hodgepodge of wireless systems began cropping up under the common name “radio”. Many of them were church owned. Remember the old saying, “The Devil Is in the Details?” Well unfortunately, it was true for Christian Broadcasting. With the expansion of God-centered radio came untold torrents of legal wrangling. Education-based broadcasters and religion-based broadcasters fought over frequencies and struggled to define nebulous terms like “common good” and “entertainment”. Federal battles took place over such terminology, resulting in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, along with creeds, faiths, and the (still controversial) distinction between religion and education. The need for law and order was obvious. Out of necessity, federal regulation was finally defined by The Radio Act of 1927, which eventually lead to the formation of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC).

In the 1920’s, as the battle for radio frequencies raged on, Secretary of Commerce Herbert C. Hoover, made valiant attempts to try and rectify regulatory power, commercial domestic broadcast services and interference problems, but his efforts were nearly fruitless. The Department of Commerce simply didn’t have enough political power. There seemed to be no way to restore order. These were “wild west” times for radio.

The Radio Act of 1927 was created to lasso everything into a neat, comprehensible package, transferable after one year to the Secretary of Commerce.  Radio regulation was handed over to the Federal Radio Commission, which gave them the power to deny broadcasting licenses, and to assign frequencies and power levels for each licensee. In 1934, the FRC was replaced by the FCC, which allowed for greater control and accountability to Congress.

GOD’S WORD, GOD’S POWER, GOD’S PLAN, GOD’S WORK
Here’s a tip of the hat—or a high-five—to some of the first radio stations to reach their community for Christ. Many of the hundreds-plus early stations sold out to commercial interests or simply folded, but there are a few who remain.  We’ll cover a sample of these hardy entrepreneurs.

KDKA:It was a cold December morning in 1920 when the Calvary Baptist Church of Pittsburgh broadcasted its first Sunday worship service over KDKA. Hot on their heels were Paul Rader, Charles Fuller, Donald Grey Barnhouse and other pastors and evangelists.  Fast forward five years. There were 600 radio stations operating in the United States by 1925 and only sixty-three of them were church owned, generally established by neighboring congregations specifically to strengthen local ministries.

PILLAR OF FIRE INC.– 880 kHz / 1500 watts. KPOF AM91 is Denver’s oldest local, listener-supported Christian radio station. They broadcast from the Big Red Castle which was built in 1893. Pillar of Fire Church acquired the castle and surrounding property in 1920 and they’re in full swing to this day.

FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF LAPEER– 1500 kHz / 100 watts. They began broadcasting on December 6, 1926, via a homemade transmitter in the Methodist Protestant Church. Many radio ministries only operated on Sundays, and FMC was no exception. They are now WMPC, owned and operated by the Calvary Bible Church of Lapeer, Michigan. (Hence the letters WMPC). The church moved to its current location and changed the name to Calvary Bible Church. People still credit WMPC for being the oldest continuously operating Christian radio station in the United States.

KFGQ – A husband and wife operated a small radio station out of Boone Biblical College at 1310 kHz / 100 watts. Former resident Mary McConnell remembered them fondly on Ancestry.com:

“I grew during the 1940’s and 50’s across the street from the Boone Biblical College. This was a orphan’s home, and a home for the elderly. They had their own church and radio station called KFGQ. I believe they still have an FM radio station.”

MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE started on 1080 kHz with 500 watts. They began broadcasting experimentally on September 5, 1941. Many credit them with being the country’s first non-commercial FM station.

KIIS FM: Have you heard of KIIS FM in L.A.? Believe it or not, they used to be KRKD, dedicated to evangelistic programming for the International Church of the Four Square Gospel. The Church continued its programming on KFSG-FM, which it purchased in 1949.

FAMILY LIFE RADIO– Listener-supported from the start
For young Warren Bolthouse, bringing Christ-centered Christian radio to his community in Jackson, Michigan was an exciting challenge. He had rigged together a transmission system with telephone wires, and the extent of his reach was limited to his neighborhood. In 1961, Warren began producing programs out of their basement. Shows like “Teen Time,” and “Happy Day Express” made up 20 hours of weekly programming on WIBM. In April 1966, Warren launched the Family Radio Evangelistic Corporation which would eventually become Family Life Radio. Today, Family Life Communications is alive and well.

BOTT RADIO NETWORK – Making a Difference
Dick Bott was practically born with a microphone in his hand. He started singing for a Child Evangelism group as a small boy in churches throughout Minneapolis. For money, he sold apples out of a wagon. His father was making $100 a week at a defense plant, and being a post-depression kid, he needed to figure out a way to make money too. After marrying Sherley Patterson at age nineteen, he began working for her father’s radio station selling advertising. Bott eventually caught the radio bug, and had visions of owning his own station. They sold their home and everything in it and purchased a station in Salinas, California for $250,000. And so began the story of Bott Radio.

K-LOVE– Humble Beginnings
K-Love started as KCLB, a single radio station that stood out for a number of reasons. It was one of the few full-time contemporary Christian music radio stations. Furthermore, KCLB was not easy to acquire. Radio personality Bob Anthony, in Middletown, California tried to purchase a station in San Francisco. After several unsuccessful tries, he ended up with a small, non-commercial radio station just north of San Francisco.  The first song Bob played on KCLB was “Praise the Lord” by The Imperials. God used a tragedy for good on September 12, 1988, when a 9,000-acre brush fire destroyed KCLB’s main transmitter.  KCLB relocated to Mount Saint Helena, where a more powerful transmitter was erected. The new location carried their signal as far as 125 miles away, and the rest is history.

THIS IS THE LORD’S HOUSE
Radio is part of God’s plan. The essential ingredients for transmission have always been built into His creation. God allows us to invent the technology we need to carry out His plan, but in His perfect timing. As broadcasters of God’s Living Word, Ambassadors of Christ Himself, we might consider asking ourselves on a regular basis, “Is our conduct as a Christian broadcasting entity bringing You glory in the way You intended? What part am I playing in Your history, Lord?”

ASV James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.

REFERENCES:
blogs.loc.gov/law
Gary Richard Drum
ancestry.com
en.wikipedia.org
myflr.org
JF PTAK
spiritualpilgrim.net
nrb.org
moodyradio.org
afr.net
bottradionetwork.com
bbn1.bbnradio.org
klove.com

Andre-Marie Ampere (1775 – 1836), discovered the fundamental laws of electricity:

“How great is God, and our science is just a trifle!”

GOD’S PLAN
Christian Radio History wasn’t born of religious programming. Christian radio was part of God’s creative plan. He put into place the necessary elements and forces that we use to transmit messages over great distances, eventually fulfilling the prophecy that knowledge would move to and fro about the earth. His timing is in direct correlation with the development of technology, and only He determines when those new facets of technology are discovered and put into place.
INVISIBLE FORCES

“Smith” Radio Commentator (1922) ‘Radio has caught and brought to the ears of us earth dwellers the noises that roar in the space between the worlds.”

Legend has it that when scientist and Christian apologist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) witnessed an apple fall from a nearby tree, he had been searching for further evidence of God. God rewarded his pursuit fruitfully, you might say, by displaying His awesome power of gravity. It eventually proved what only crazies of the age had been proclaiming thus far … that there were indeed “invisible forces” in the air.

In the same manner, Christian physicist James Clerk Maxwell began studying God and light, which led him to formulate the Electromagnetic Theory of Light. That, in turn, helped him to prove that radio waves can exist. Around 1885, the Lutheran-born German scientist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) actually detected and produced those radio waves. Hertz didn’t believe that his work would ever have any “practical application”. Of course he was wrong, and we use his name today to describe frequencies of electromagnetic waves – including sound waves.

British physicist and mathematician Oliver Lodge was also curious about harnessing invisible forces. In 1888, he conducted experiments that revealed electromagnetic waves could indeed travel along wires, which confirmed Maxwell’s findings. He went on to extensively to the development of the radiograph receiver.

By 1890, Édouard Branley, a devout Catholic, had always felt that he was in a profound union with God, especially while at work in his laboratory at the Catholic Institute. It was there, in his communion with God, that he discovered how to convert incoming signals to direct electromagnetic current … a crucial ingredient for true radio reception.

When Kentucky Christian-raised farmer, fruit grower, electrician and inventor Nathan Stubblefield (1860 –1928) conducted his “battery operated wireless telephone” transmissions, people took notice. His invention became the first to be used on a “mobile” platform. You might say, he invented the wireless phone. In 1908 he received a U.S. patent but was not successful in commercializing his invention, and he claimed it was stolen from him. Stubblefield did open the floodgates however. It is because of his work that people became thoroughly convinced that transmitting a wireless signal was possible.
REACHING GOD WITH PRAYER

“The more I work with the powers of Nature, the more I feel God’s benevolence to man; the closer I am to the great truth that everything is dependent on the Eternal Creator and Sustainer; the more I feel that the so-called science, I am occupied with, is nothing but an expression of the Supreme Will, which aims at bringing people closer to each other in order to help them better understand and improve themselves.” (Marconi, as cited by Maria Cristina Marconi).

Around the same time, a member of the Anglican Church named Guglielmo Marconi stared into the horizon and pondered about how the human mind could bridge any distance, even reaching God in prayer. He was constantly writing about his amazement of God’s creation, and how it was intertwined with science. You might say, Marconi was the first to envision religious broadcasting. With that goal in mind, he began to experiment. Incorporating ideas from Hertz and Branley, he was able to transmit a radio signal across the Atlantic in the form of Morse code. He was also the first to record reception of a Morse code signal. Although the technology existed to transmit human voice, the amount of power needed just wasn’t available yet.
THE RACE FOR RADIO
Encouraged by his success with Morse code, Marconi went back to the drawing board. After much hard work, he was awarded a patent for radio for his improvements in transmitting electrical impulses, signals, and the device by which they were sent. Then, acting quickly, he established the first patented radio “factory” on the Isle of Wight, England. But, he wasn’t the only one to jump the starting gate.
In Australia, an Anglican believer named William Bragg was conducting transmissions as early as 1897. And in Colorado Springs, an exceedingly brilliant scientist and inventor named Nicola Tesla had discovered a way to transmit electrical power wirelessly, and was preparing to build a transmitting tower at Wardenclyffe on Long Island.
The race for radio was on.

“The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible.” – Nicola Tesla

(Prior paragraph introduced Tesla, so this is redundant.) One day Tesla detected a series of repeating signals that he thought were from outer space. Experts say he picked up Marconi’s signals all the way from England, but Tesla attributed them to possible communication from another planet.
AND THE WINNER IS …
Tesla did build his Long Island transmitting tower, but ran out of funds. He eventually went bankrupt and couldn’t continue his research. The jury is out on whether Tesla actually beat Marconi, and a patent battle ensued which lasted for years. After Tesla’s death in 1943 the US Supreme Court ruled that Marconi’s radio patents were invalid and awarded the patents for radio to Tesla.
A VOICE IS HEARD
Robert Millikan (1868 – 1953), great American physicist, Nobel Prize 1923:

“I can assert most definitely that the denial of faith lacks any scientific basis. In my view, there will never be a true contradiction between faith and science.”

On December 23rd, 1900, Canadian born inventor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden sent his voice over a 3+ mile distance. School textbooks are clear that he was the first to send audio through the air via electromagnetic waves. This was not, however, a public broadcast.

Textbooks report that On Christmas Eve, 1906, Fessenden became the first person to make a public radio broadcast. But the textbooks may be wrong. While he did make the broadcast, he never intended it to be public. It was supposed to be an invitation-only demonstration. The legend states that ships at sea picked up Fessenden’s signal (on 5 kHz AM) as he played O Holy Night on the violin and read a passage from Luke Chapter 2. Public or not, the heavens did indeed declare the glory of God on that night.

His transmission proved that it was possible to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) … to share the gospel to the ends of the earth. Unfortunately, historians haven’t been able to find the official ship’s log or any written record. So, although Fessenden’s Christmas Eve message is widely believed to be the first radio transmission of this nature, the written record credits New Yorker Lee De Forest (and other lesser-known men) with this honor.

Around the same time in Australia, Ernest Fisk of Amalgamated Wireless conducted an isolated experiment in which, some claim, the first music was transmitted.

In part two, we’ll delve into the fascinating stories behind Christian Broadcasting networks.

REFERENCES
encyclopedia.com
oldradio.com
Kimberly A Dusendorf
Gary R Drum
famous scientists.org
radioworld.com
wikipedia.org
aleteia.org
history.com
bbc.com

MAP OUT YOUR COURSE
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.~ Matthew 6:33

As Christians, our aim above all else, should be The Kingdom of God. We seek it above all things, and then all things will be added unto us. That’s because as Christian leaders, we are representatives of Christ. And, Christ is the headship of all.

What does that mean? The answer is more difficult than you think. It is diametrically opposed to much leadership advice you will ever hear anywhere, except one place … the Bible.

Here it goes. You have to remove yourself, your desires, your emotions and your attachment to certain plans from the navigational process. Only by emptying ourselves of all personal penchants can we truly love others as God intended, and lead them into everything God has for your company. This step usually takes awhile to get it right. The next step is even more difficult. Once you’ve emptied yourself, you show up, stand in place, a humble and empty vessel, and God does the rest.

TAKE STOCK

When taking stock of the people placed in your charge, you would do well to first examine the skills of the twelve disciples.  As a Christian broadcasting entity, the content you broadcast will help make disciples of both your team andyour listeners. They will, in turn, then spread the Gospel to all nations.

Let’s look at the disciples. Andrew and Peter were fishermen. James and John not only made fishing nets, they owned their own business. Matthew was a tax collector, otherwise known as a publican. At the time, a publican was despised by the people and considered a traitor. A tax collector’s money couldn’t even be tithed at the temple. Simon the Canaanite was a zealot. He was fiercely loyal to his faith and Israel. Thomas, Bartholomew (Nathanael), Philip, James (the son of Alphaeus), and Judas (Thaddaeus) were either tradesmen or fishermen, but the records don’t reveal anything specific. You’ll want to take note that Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus entrusted as treasurer, is the only disciple who had financial security issues.

A CREW OF EXCELLENCE

Okay … You’ve analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of your current crew. Maybe you’ve even had them take a survey or two. Most companies and ministries stop there. But that’s not even half of the equation. According to the Bible, the gifts₁ are important. But they are small, small things, compared to a “more excellent way”. Paul nearly negates the gifts in his letters to the Corinthians.

“But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”
~ 1 Corinthians 12:31

The Bible doesn’t stop at the gifts, and neither should you. Paul goes on to say that there is a more “excellent way” to operate as a Christian.

Of course, the dividing line is LOVE. Since we can’t see or judge an employee’s heart, we look for the Fruit of the Spiritas evidence of God’s love. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Bible says that if these are evident and increasing, they will keep a person from being ineffective in the Kingdom of God.  (2 Peter 1:5-9).

Bearing fruit is NOT the same as exercising gifts  (1 Corinthians 13:1).  Only those who humble themselves and become empty vessels can truly do the will of God  (2 Corinthians 4:7), (Matthew 7:21-23).

Pray and ask God to do His work in your life and in the life of your team.