Trying for a little non-modern amusement while slaving away on dull alt-text work. Randomly sampled the latest uploads at American Radio Library and came up with a gem immediately.
From a 1962 trade journal aimed at broadcasters and advertisers. At that time the Fairness Doctrine was firmly established and ensconced. Broadcasters hated every minute of it, constantly burned and yearned to get back to Machiavellian fun. They were FORCED TO BE OBJECTIVE by federal censorship, so they did it expertly, in both politics and religion.
After the Doctrine was repealed in the 80s, broadcasters instantly snapped back into their old newspaper ways, stoutly defending one officially assigned Deepstate “side” against the other Deepstate “side” in every possible way.
The piece was about a new series of religious programs by Westinghouse Broadcasting, which never quite made it into the Big Three.
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In past, networks have generally used formula of making religious airtime roughly equal to percentage of adherents to a particular denomination, and aiming their religious shows (apart from sponsored religious packages) squarely at particular segment. WBC’s tack is based on broad appeal for all such shows, and to play the “equal time” matter by ear.
Latest example of WBC thinking is Legacy of Light, 10-episode, 30-minute taped series produced in association with Union of American Hebrew Congregations. It makes little or no attempt to be “Jewish” TV. Instead, it borrows (with lower budgets but with possibly better taste) from Cecil B. DeMille’s book of dramatic tricks by relating series of dramas and other works (“Faust,” “Everyman,” “Anna Karenina,” etc.) to Biblical Ten Commandments. Series will be offered in syndication.
WBC’s philosophy concerning show is that “the program content appeals to all religions which have the Ten Commandments as a beacon precept, and to all Western cultures which have the literary heritage from which the books and plays have been selected.” Host of program is Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, pres. of UAHC, but there’s no attempt to proselytize in religious vein.
Previously, WBC has used a similar approach to Catholicism with the syndicated Face of the World series, 3 half-hour shows done in conjunction with Jesuit Mission, which are much more TV travelogue series than religious show. Protestant faiths are represented in “Man and His Problems,” another low-pressure series done in conjunction with Protestant Council of Churches. A WBC official told us last week: “We’ve found, in practice, that the wider the entertainment and cultural appeal a religious show has, the less likely it is to arouse any interfaith TV jealousies.”
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Polistra's Mill 