Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

forty States, the District of Colum- bia and Hawaii, including one short wave station broadcasting to the entire world. These outlets vary in number from seventy-seven to 107 and are all affiliated with the Na- tional Broadcasting Company. The National Council of Catholic Men, under whose guidance the series is presented, arranges the schedule of speakers and music, and handles the tremendous volume of audience mail—about 16.000 letters a month, averaged throughout the year. When the late Cardinal Hayes appeared on the inaugural program of The Catholic Hour he said: "The purpose of the National Catholic Hour is not to triumph or to boast; not to attack or to blame; but to serve. . . . With good will, with kindness and with Christ-like sym- pathy for all, this work is inaug- urated . . . this work of dedication voices, therefore, the hope that this Hour may serve to make known, to explain with the charity of Christ, our faith, which we love even as we love Christ Himself . . ." Subjects discussed on The Cath- olic Hour are usually doctrinal, moral, or historical and the priest- speakers are chosen from many sec- tions of the United States. The music is provided by the Paulist Choir in New York. The current speaker is the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen who has won for himself a unique place in religious radio. During his last three series alone, this speaker received 642,227 pieces of audience mail. NBC's interest in the activities of the Jewish religion has been no less active. Having been instru- mental in the establishment of the weekly series of the Message of Israel, which is now carried by the Blue Network, at that time a part of NBC, the Company is not only devoting a good deal of time to tra- ditional Hebrew chant in its weekly We Believe program, but also is try- ing to "cover" all the major events in the life of the Hebrew congrega- tions of America such as Rosh Ha- shonah, Yom Kippur and Shabuoth. A special broadcast was recently devoted to the United Jewish Ap- peal for Refugees, Overseas Needs and Palestine, and again this year a Passover program is scheduled under the auspices of the Syna- gogue Council of America, which last year sponsored the Festival of Freedom program with Rabbi Israel Goldstein, Judge Irvin Leh- man and Sam Jaffee, noted star of stage and screen, as the speakers. "Radio" In Talmud All these broadcasts devoted to the Jewish faith are indeed memo- rable events when we remember Rabbi David de Sola Pool's state- ment that some 1500 years ago it was written into the Talmud that the sound of "radio" goes from one end of the earth to the other. The word radio stood for the spirit of rainfall, and yet the meaning of this writer in the dim past has as- sumed a truly modern significance now that wireless waves constantly span the globe. \'arious programs are also planned by NBC from time to time in cooperation with the National Conference of Christians and Jews. This year, NBC carried a program in connection with Religious Book Week sponsored by the National Conference. Dr. Henry Noble Mac- Cracken. President of Vassar Col- lege, Mrs. Roger W. Straus and Francis J. Sheed talked about pres- ent-day Protestant, Jewish and Catholic literature. However, NBC has not confined itself merely to a national task in promoting audience interest in re- ligious topics. The company has DR. RALPH W. SOCKMAN OCCUPIES THE •'NATIONAL RADIO PULPIT," BROADCAST ON SUNDAYS BY NBC. also been a real pioneer in world- wide religious broadcasting. The Christmas Day broadcast from the Roman Catacombs of St. Domitilla in 1937 is a case in point. To those who were present in the chamber fifty feet beneath the soil of the Eternal City, this broadcast remains an unforgettable experi- ence. The soft glow of flickering candles revealed a scene of classical splendor. Austere Roman pillars supporting the vaulted roof, ancient inscriptions in Latin and Greek carved on the walls and floor, sym- bolic religious emblems traced upon the marble slabs of the altar and on the primitive oil-lamps, stone coffins richly adorned with sculp- tured biblical figures—indeed it was an inspiring setting for a Christmas broadcast, fittingly car- rying the listeners back to an age which, like our own, had its free- dom of worship challenged by brutal tyrants. Quite different in character though hardly less interesting was NBC's broadcast of the Oberam- mergau Passion Play. It was not the easiest thing in the world to secure permission for this exploit. The whole world sends pilgrims once in ten years to this charming Bavarian mountain village, whose folk think of their Passion Play as an act of religious veneration. Would not the radio introduce a hostile new note? Fortunately everj'thing could be arranged, and one bright day a great radio motor- van, carrying all the necessary equipment, arrived in Oberammer- gau. There was no end of excite- ment. The village children were bursting with curiosity, suppressed and otherwise, and even their elders watched developments with an eagle eye. Broadcasting time finally came and the program which encom- passed the basic scenes of the Play from the stage itself was a complete success. Possibly a third program may be adduced to demonstrate the wealth of material that has been offered. Remembering that the whole world loves Silent Xight. Holy Night, NBC thought of bringing this beautiful folk song by air straight from its Austrian birthplace. Ac- cordingly, we investigated Hallein, a sleepy little town not far from [16 RADIO AGE)