The first radio station in the United States to air religious programs was KDKA in Pittsburgh. The station, owned by Westinghouse, was started in 1920. It was the first radio station to have a regular schedule. It aired a variety of programs including music, news, and sports. The programming also included features about local church services, sermons from the Presbyterian Church, and a religious program from Reverend Lewis B. Whittemore. Whittemore’s program was aired on Sunday mornings. It was aired on a frequency that could be heard on a regular radio receiver. The program was sponsored by the Pittsburgh Council of Churches.
The success of Whittemore’s program led other organizations to sponsor their own religious broadcasts. The Episcopal Church on October 2, 1920, began broadcasting the sermon from the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. A number of other organizations including the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church followed with their own broadcasts.
The Roman Catholic Church was the first denomination to make radio into a major tool of its ministry with the establishment of the National Catholic Radio Council in 1927. The council issued a code of standards to guide programming. It called for programming that was “wholesome, dignified, free from cheap sensationalism and indecent speech.” It also said that programming should avoid “any semblance of proselytism and any attempt to gain followers.”
The National Council of Churches was the first interdenominational agency to establish programming. The council began its radio work in 1927.
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