Because of repeated calls for support, the average Christian unwittingly builds a shell around himself against appeals. Like the proverbial turtle, the more the appeals, the deeper the listener retreats into this shell. Consequently, more dramatic, almost embarrassing, ap peals are made, in order to get him to respond to the endless solicitations, The next thing which needs to be done is to render proper counsel to Christian business men and pastors who are thinking of going into the radio station business. Such help will also be necessary for those who are already in the business and are facing some of these problems. Before a vast expenditure is made, an honest appraisal needs to be given, not of what radio has been in the past five years, but what it will be five years from now. Few significant stations can be purchased for less than $ 100,000 at the present time. One of the last frontiers for Gospel broadcasting is in the field of FM radio. It is true that most Christian broadcasters have had from mediocre to poor response from FM stations. This medium, however, is just begin ning to get off the ground. It is moving rapidly ahead now every month. AM Christian stations which do not have FM frequencies should be urged either to secure available channels or purchase now, at lower prices, channels which might be for sale. The Harvard Graduate School of Business made a recent analysis of the field and reported that by 1973, FM will exceed AM in the total volume of business, value of stations through pro perty sales and in the total listening audiences. When one realizes that the spectrum of AM broadcasting is 1.1 megacycles wide and that the area of FM broadcasting is 20 megacycles wide, there is little basis for comparison as far as quality broadcasting is concerned. New tran sistorized car radios are coming out with three buttons for FM stations and two buttons for AM. This is only 1964. Motorola, General Electric and Zenith are now advertising sets that are FM-AM combinations (rather than AM-FM). These are more than mere “ straws in the wind.” An FM radio station also has the distinctive quality of being able to send out three completely separate programs at the same time and all over the same transmitter and antenna system. This is what is known as “multiplexing.” Both of Biola’s stations, KBBI, Los Angeles, and KBBW, San Diego, are broadcasting stereo. This requires two of the three channels. An additional third subcarrier can be utilized for a different type of programming or leased out with added revenue coming to the station. As an example, one FM radio station in Southern California has leased its third channel to an organization which programs only to the Japanese peo ple. In. the first few months of their operations, they placed 12,000 of these pre-tuned sets in homes of Japan ese-speaking people. For a subscription price of $2.00 per month, Japanese programs are released six hours of the day. Simple arithmetic shows how lucrative this type of specialized broadcasting can be, while at the same time not interrupting or interfering with the regular channel of operation. As in all fields of endeavor, there is a great need for radio stations and broadcasters to do something in the realm of developing new talent both in the management, programming and engineering phases of radio station operation. Without question radio is still the most effec tive and yet inexpensive means of sending forth the Gospel message. While it may be taking a verse out of context, since it deals with the creative handiwork of Almighty God, yet in a very real sense, the 19th Psalm is the broadcasters’ theme. It 'states, “The heavens de-
a prayer to guide one on the doorstep of old age
by Dr. W a lter C. A lvarez
Some years ago I read a prayer for the aged which, as I remember, went something like this: Dear Lord,' I realize that I am growing old. Help me to keep from getting too talkative— and from get ting positive and vehement about many subjects about which I know little. May I keep remembering that simply because I know one subject well, this does not mean that I am equally an expert on other subjects. Help me to watch the faces of those about me so that I will know when I have said enough. Help me to keep from developing the monologue habit. Teach me to listen as well as to speak. Help me to get quickly to the point of my story and then to quit. Help me to avoid giving a biography of all the persons whom I mention. Help me to avoid giving minute details about everything. Help me to realize that if I am to have young friends, or even old friends, I must not drive them away by long recitals of my discomforts and hardships and the in justices that have been done to me. May I never speak of the ingratitude of my children; may I never describe my backache— except to my physician. Help me to see that, if I am to keep my old friends and find new ones, I must be friendly, and I must make it worthwhile for people to come and see me and chat with me. As we visit, I must give them some pleasure and some mental stimulus, or they will not come back. Help -me to have a real interest in my guests, sympathy for them, and concern over their problems. Teach me to listen patiently to their tales of woe. Help me to keep up some correspondence with my relatives and my friends. Help me to keep from getting the idea that I can— and must— direct the lives of those about me. Help me to mind my own affairs and not to tell other people what to do. Help me to keep from being bossy. Help me to see that I will be lucky if I take care of my own life wisely. Above all things, oh Lord, help me to remain kindly; keep me from becoming bitter; keep me from going into tirades about the actions of others whom I dislike. Help me, dear Lord, to keep what redeeming sense of humor and self-criticism I may once have had. Help me to make allowances for the weaknesses and Irrita bilities of some persons I may meet; goodness knows, they will have to make allowances for the defects and irritabilities they will find in me. Amen. Reprinted by permission from The Register and Tribune Syndicate clare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” In Ephesians 2:2 we read that Satan is the prince of the power of this air. That means, with radio using the ionosphere, his region, we are in his very dominion. No doubt Gospel broadcasting is the particular target for concerted attacks of the devil and his hordes. No wonder in these last days, before the return of our Saviour, an increasing pressure is felt. But how wonderful it is to realize that, as Scripture states, “ If God be for us, who can be against us?”
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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