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years, I have said many times that you can reach people with a
message about ten times more effectively through the eye than
through the ear. This Work started out as a "Three-Point Campaign"
-- radio, The PLAIN TRUTH, and personal evangelism. It was a most
effective combination, and it grew 30% a year.
Then we started with ONE tiny radio station, with only 100
watts of power, and ONCE A WEEK. Today we make a NEW START with
more than 300 radio stations, many of them the most powerful on
earth, and broadcasting DAILY -- seven times a week. Then, The
PLAIN TRUTH was a small mimeographed "magazine" of about 350
copies. Today it is one of the finest magazines in the world, 52
pages full color, and more than 2,100,000 copies. Then, I had to
speak in one-room country schoolhouses to an average of about 36
people. Today my son Garner Ted and I can fill the largest
auditoriums in major cities.
Through the years, we have continued to reach the people
with Christ's Message by daily radio and by monthly publications,
besides booklets. As I said, we probably reach people ten times
more effectively through the eye -- by our literature -- than
through the ear, by radio -- BUT we have been reaching people
DAILY -- 30 times a month -- by radio, and once a month by the
printed message.
In 1955 -- 17 years ago -- after we had been broadcasting
coast-to-coast in the U. S. over the ABC network once a week, we
thought radio was becoming a thing of the past, and television was
reaching the people, so we cancelled out the ABC network and went
on weekly TV, with eleven stations from New York to Hawaii.
You see, the BIG advantage of television is, YOU REACH
PEOPLE THROUGH BOTH THE EYE AND THE EAR SIMULTANEOUSLY!
But we discovered two things: 1) radio was NOT dead, and
2) it had been proven by our experience in radio that it was the
DAILY impact that was most effective of all. We had been broad-
casting DAILY on a limited number of stations before 1955. It
became apparent that DAILY broadcasting by radio, on MANY stations,
was more effective than once a week on a FEW TV stations. We could
not, then, afford both, so after 27 weeks on TV we went off
television and began gradually adding radio stations with DAILY
broadcasting. This built up, in time, to around 300 stations.
And what did we think about TV? For several years we could
not afford it, and besides, it appeared UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE to get
any TV stations to clear time for a "a strip across the board" --
that is, DAILY time, with the SAME TIME EVERY DAY. Finally, as you
know, we did go on TV again, but with a DOCUMENTARY format.
But now, what do you think has happened?
Last Wednesday, with my son Garner Ted returned, in a
conference with members of our Executive Committee in my office,
our advertising agency advised us they believed that it might be
possible to open up a DAILY STRIP ACROSS THE BOARD on one or two TV
stations. Immediately we all said, TRY IT! I felt it would surely