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producer told me they were as disgusted as I at the way the station
put it on, and said they were demanding a 2/3 refund on the cost of
the program. They tried to encourage me by telling me the film was
of the very finest quality, with finest quality sound, and should
have been perfectly all right on all other stations. Incidentally,
we did find that adjusting needed to be done at the station in
Hollywood, which was done this week so that we HOPE tonight's
program comes out sharp and clear and with good quality sound.
Tuesday morning about 168 letters and cards came in from the
KTLA telecast, and about 60 or 70 from Portland. In the afternoon
mail they kept coming. I couldn't believe it! But here were the
letters, some of which I'll reproduce below! The nightmare now
turned to HOPE! If that off-quality telecast, with EVERYTHING
against it, could bring in a response like this, I knew that we CAN
make Television the medium that really reaches the nation and
solves all our problems.
But, as Wednesday and Thursday came along, although mail
continued to come in good from the Los Angeles and Portland areas,
very little came from the telecast at Denver, Chicago, and Tyler,
Texas---the only other stations we were on last Sunday.
So we immediately began to search for the reason. In
Chicago our present time is no good---9 AM. We only took this
time, however, because it was the ONLY time available on any
station in Chicago, and we had to take that now in order to get and
hold the time of 11 PM beginning in September.
In Denver we found that stations have been signing off early
---at 10:30, and our station there is staying on the air 30 minutes
longer for our program. That's why we had so few listeners there,
the first time. However, 10:30, our time in Denver, is the very
best TV time in other cities, and we believe a few newspaper ads
there will soon develop a big audience for us. I think the same
thing is true at the Tyler, Texas, station, where our time is 10:45
PM, following what has been the good-night news. We think this
will develop a huge audience there in a short time.
So, we are not discouraged after all. I will say this---
from these two cities, Los Angeles and Portland. we did receive
more than TEN TIMES as many letters as Net-work RADIO broadcasts
have brought.
At the last minute, KOA, Denver, changed their policy again
and decided not to accept any religious programs. The same thing
happened on our New York station, so we are not yet on in New York.
However, God works all things out for our good. We now have the
unbelievable time of 8:30 or 9:30 PM offered us on one of the big
New York stations, at a cost lower than we were to have paid for
the very late time from 11:30 PM to midnight.
Well, Co-Workers, that's the story. Yes, we believe now
that WE SHALL REALLY SUCCEED in this television effort. The
American people are now looking at their TV sets. About 90% of all
homes now have TV.