evening when the first broadcast went out over the air on WMBI. President James M. Gray spoke and T. J. Bittikofer sang the plaintiff strains of the gospel song which has typified the de sires of program personnel o f the station to the present— “ I have a Saviour I want you to know . . .” It was begun! WMBI, radio voice o f Moody Bible Institute, was broadcasting on a new communications medi um which would mark it as a pio neer and leader in the gospel broadcasting field. The early programs were un pretentious, but they set a prece dent for religious broadcasting followed today in a great many cities — that of programming variety, for the family. Of course, many of the early broadcasts were extensions of the ministry of MBI staff members and gave the station its “ religious” image. WMBI pioneered the field of radio education as well. Its “ Ra dio School of the Bible” (by home correspondence study) was start
Interest and excitement couldn’t be extinguished now. Someone pledged $2600 for ra dio development. A used 500- watt transmitter was bid on and bought—on faith—since the In stitute knew at the time there was no available frequency over which they could broadcast! Since that day in October, 1925, when the students played, people prayed, more earnestly than ever now. The transmitter was ac quired early in January, 1926, but still no frequencies were avail able. But, since January first of that year the entire system of claiming radio channels had been challenged. During the next few months, a legal tangle resulted in Washington and the entire radio picture shifted. A single channel opened and the Institute quickly asked for it. Official authoriza tion, giving the Institute permis sion to broadcast on this channel, came on July 27, 1926. In less than 24 hours, WMBI went on the air with its dedication broadcast. It was 7 :00 p.m. on a hot July
Is radio drama coming back? It never left WMBI. Local high school junior Jan Froemke provides the “ galloping hoofbeats” to be incorporated as sound effects in “ Teenage Chicago,” a pro gram produced jointly by WMBI and Chicagoland Youth for Christ. ed in September, 1926. In Sep tember, the broadcast will com plete 40 years of uninterrupted ministry. Another program — “KYB Club,” a children’s broad cast—shares this distinction. The early days were not with out their troubles. Dur ing a broadcast of a boxing match from Soldier’s Field one night on an other Chicago hookup, a techni cian got his wires crossed. For a few frantic minutes, rabid fight fans were soothed by the quiet, reverent strains of gospel music, while confused WMBI listeners were given the blow-by-blow ac tivities at ringside. Through the two-score years there have been many responses of people listening to WMBI. Hundreds of persons across the country became Christians and evidenced changed lives as a re sult of WMBI’s programming. Here was a medium that could search them out—in bars, lonely tenements, and penthouse apart ments—to confront them with the gospel message. One such listener was pretty young Frances Youngren. This young Chicagoan listened and re sponded to an invitation by the announcer to “ accept Jesus Christ as her .Saviour and experience the reality of a changed life He
Last minute script conference in Studio B finds Wendell Borink, supervisor of production and talent, conferring with Sherm Williams, right, and Jack Daniels, Chicagoland YFC director, center. OCTOBER. 1966
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