An experimental and descriptive study of the comparative effectiveness of two religious radio broadcasts

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AN EXPERIMENTAL AND DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO RELIGIOUS RADIO BROADCASTS

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Speech The University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts

by Walter Theodore Crandall June 19 50

UMI Number: EP66025

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T his thesis, w ritte n by

WALTER THEODORE CRANDALL under the guidance of hi-.M... F a c u lty Com m ittee, and app ro ved by a l l its members, has been presented to and accepted by the C o u n cil on G ra duate Study and Research in p a r t ia l f u lf i ll ment of the requirements f o r the degree of

_________

MASTEROF ARTS......... H .J.Deuel,Jr. Dean

D ate

..........

Faculty Committee

hairman

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I.

PAGE

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM,........... The problem

1

....................

Statement of the problem . . . . . . . .

1

Significance of the study

1

..........

Organization of remainder of the thesis II.

1

.

3

HISTORY OF THE LUTHERAN HOUR AND THE b

' VOICE OF PROPHECY RADIO PROGRAMS ........ The Lutheran Hour

. . .

The Voice of P r o p h e c y ............ III.

b

.............. 7

EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS, SUBJECTS PROCEDURES.........

12

Choosing two religious radio programs of contrasting styles ................... Choosing two transcriptions......

12 1*+ 15

Choosing a measurement technique ........ The mail r e s p o n s e ..............

16

Commercial audience measurements . . . .

19

The shift-of-opinion ballot

..........

20

Measures of emotion

..........

20

Test for recognition and immediate recall of factual materials

........

Constructing a multiple-choice test

...

21 22

iv CHAPTER

PAGE Choosing groups of subjects ...........

2b

Lutheran audience ...................

25

Seventh-day Adventist audience

25

...

University of Southern California

26

a u d i e n c e .............. The experimental procedures ...........

IV.

Order of playing transcriptions . . .

27

The testing environment .............

28

Administering the tests .............

28

Audience reactions

29

EXPERIMENTAL DATA:

. .

...........

AUDIENCE RESPONSES

TO THE TWO B R O A D C A S T S ................. V.

26

DESCRIPTIVE DATA:

31

CONTENT AND DELIVERY

OF THE TWO B R O A D C A S T S ............

36

Program resemblances

.................

36

The Lutheran Hour c o n c e p t ...........

36

The Voice of Prophecy concept . • . .

37

Materials offered listeners ........

39

Program differences . . . .

..........

Gestalt of The Lutheran Hour

39

. . . .

Gestalt of The Voice of Prophecy

39

. .

*fl

Differences in speaking methods . . . .

*+3

Method of physical delivery ........

V3

Maier’s vocal d e l i v e r y ..........

.

bb

V

CHAPTER

PAGE Richards’ vocal delivery ................

VI.

M3

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, SUGGESTIONS FOR •FURTHER R E S E A R C H Summary



.

52

..............................

52

C o n c l u s i o n s ..............................

53

Suggestions forfurtherresearch ...........

55

BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................

56

APPENDIXES

58

.......................

Appendix A.

Test t a b l e s .........

59

Appendix B.

Word count f i g u r e s .

66

Appendix C.

Listening tests ...............

69

Appendix D.

Program shifts and timing . . .

78

Appendix E.

Sermon s c r i p t s ........... ..

.

82

LIST OF TABLES TABLE I.

PAGE Mean Number of Errors and Standard Deviations for Three Audiences on Two T e s t s ...............................

II.

32

Responses of Members of Immanuel Lutheran Audience to Test on Lutheran Hour Transcription ..............

III.

60

Responses of Members of Seventh-day Adventist Audience to Test on Lutheran Hour Transcription ..............

IV.

6l

Responses of Members of University of Southern California Audience to Test on Lutheran Hour Transcription

V.

..........

62

Responses of Members of Immanuel Lutheran Audience to Test on Voice of Prophecy Transcription

VI.

...

............

63

Responses of Members of Seventh-day Adventist Audience to Test on Voice of Prophecy Transcription..................

VII.

6*+

Responses of Members of University of Southern California Audience to Test on Voice of Prophecy Transcription ..........

65

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1.

PAGE

Word Count in Sentences of Lutheran Hour S c r i p t ...............................

2.

67

Word Count in Sentences of Voice of Prophecy Script ...........................

68

CHAPTER I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM -Obviously, the possible use of radio for religious broadcasts is of significance to ministers, religious educators, and others who are active in church work.

That

this would be true, irrespective of denominational affili­ ation, seems equally evident."" I.

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the problem.

It was the objective of

this study (1) to establish experimentally the comparative effectiveness of two radio religious broadcasts employing grossly different radio techniques; (2) to account for dis­ covered differences in effectiveness by description and analysis of the content and delivery of the two broadcasts. Significance of the study.

No conclusive studies

have been made to determine either the exact or the approx­ imate degree to which sponsors of religious broadcasts have adapted their programs to the radio medium. ^However, those authors who consider the problem in their texts on religious broadcasting, seem convinced that too little has been done fully to exploit radio as an integral and effective medium in the accomplishment of their objectives. ^

2 ^The lag has been, not so much in the failure to use ■ radio— the large number of religious broadcasts belies this view— but in the failure to adapt the program techniques to the broadcast medium* ^ ./Weaver expresses the view that: Sponsors with repetitious commercials, comedians with unfunny jokes, politicians with blustiferous ha­ rangues are not the only ones who err in the use of ■ radio. Preachers, zealous in their labors, sometimes reveal startling unawareness of the medium. They exhort, they harangue, they shout at us in our living rooms. Most listeners like to be talked with, not at. Too many religious programs do not give them this opportunity.1 / This indifference to radiofs inherent potential is the more pronounced when seen in contrast to the success attending its use in other fields.

For example, journalism

made a notable success with the March of Time program. Almost every conceivable type of business has utilized radio to advantage.

Educational agencies have found radio

to be a medium for successfully propagating their views. Political speaking has witnessed a phenomenal change in style, with Franklin D. Roosevelt revolutionizing the political approach.

In all of these areas enormous strides

are to be seen wherein their materials have been made palatable to the public. ^

^ Luther Weaver, The Technique of Radio Writing (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 19^8), p. 3^3 •

‘4/hat advice, then, might he given one who planned to build a series of religious broadcasts?

Should the program

ming. methods approximate those techniques found successful in other fields?

Or should the program consist simply of

the "straight** broadcasting of a regular church service?

II.

ORGANIZATION OF REMAINDER OF THE THESIS

In the next chapter a brief history is given of The Lutheran Hour and of The Voice of Prophecy radio programs. Chapter III considers the choice of experimental materials, construction of the test, choice of subjects, and the experimental procedures.

In Chapter IV the experimental

data are presented based on the findings of audience responses to the two broadcasts.

A description of the con­

tent and delivery of the two programs is given in Chapter V and Chapter VI gives summary, conclusions, and suggestions for further research.

CHAPTER II HISTORY OF THE HUTHERUN HOUR AND THE VOICE -OF PROPHECY RADIO PROGRAMS Two religious radio programs were chosen for use in this study.

Why they were chosen will become clearer if

highlights of their history are understood.

Therefore, a

brief history of these two religious radio broadcasters will present.some dates and figures associated with major steps in their growth.

Included will be data showing the

status of the programs as of April, 1950. The Lutheran Hour. The Lutheran Hour broadcast is officially sponsored by the Lutheran Laymen’s League.^ Emanating from St. Louis, Missouri, the program has com­ pleted sixteen seasons on the air.

Its official name is an

identifying denominational mark on every broadcast. Dr. Walter A. Maier was the regular Lutheran Hour speaker from the inception of the program series in 1933, until his death January 11, 1950.^

Eugene R. Bertermann, personal correspondence, April 1950. Unless otherwise footnoted, all facts used in this section are taken from this source.

p

The Dr. Walter A. Maier Memorial Booklet. (St. Louis, Missouri: The Lutheran Laymen’s League, 0-9503), p. 6^*.

5 In 1922, Dr. Maier became professor of Old Testament Interpretation and History at Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.3

Believing that radio should be

used as an avenue for preaching the Gospel, he convinced Seminary authorities of its possibilities.

A radio station

was set up in the attic of an old building, and in 1927 Dr. Maier made his first religious broadcast. In January, 1935, he opened a two-station hookup between Detroit, Michigan, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and by October of the same year, this had been expanded to a twenty-station network of the Mutual Broadcasting System.^ Besides independent stations, two major networks, the Mutual, and since October, 19*4-9,^ ^ e American Broad­ casting Company, now release the programs, providing a total of twelve hundred station outlets.

Of these five

hundred eighty are in the United States. The six hundred twenty stations in territories and countries outside the United States include the followings Alaska, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgian

^ The D r . Walter A. Maier Memorial Booklet, (St. Louis, Missouri: The Lutheran Laymen1s League, 1950 ), p. 63.

^ Hartzell Spence, ffThe Man of the Lutheran Hour,11 The Saturday Evening Post. 220:89, June 19, 19*4-8 . 5 The D r . Walter A. Maier Memorial Booklet. on. cit. , p. 5*?.

Congo, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Guiana, British West Indies, Canada, Canary Islands, Chile, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Dutch Guiana, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji Islands, Formosa, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Martinique, Mexico, Monaco, Mozam­ bique, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippine Islands, Portuguese China, Puerto Rico, Spanish Morocco, Tangiers, Tasmania, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Sermon materials for all station releases, both live and recorded, were prepared by Dr. Maier. The Lutheran Hour has always paid regular commercial rates for radio time. $27,000.

Total station time a week costs

The 19^9 operating budget was #1,500,000.

Of

this amount, $1,^50,000 was contributed by listeners. Two advertising agencies are employed by the organ­ ization.

'The Gotham Advertising Company handles domestic

contracts, and foreign contracts are handled by.the Pan American Broadcasting Company. A correspondence course, ”The Fundamentals of the Christian Faith,” was first announced in September, 19^7* MSunday School by Mail,11 a similar course designed for children, was made available in October, 19^8.

Diplomas

have been issued to 3,8^7 students who completed the "Fundamentals of the Christian Faith” course.

7 While many letters received by the sponsors testify to the influence of the programs, no record has been kept of the average number of conversions a year,

A conversion is

interpreted to be an acceptance of Jesus Christ, rather than membership in the Lutheran Church. An average of three thousand two hundred letters are received daily.

Since the program first went on the air,

approximately four million five hundred thousand letters have been received.

Based on a yearly average, twelve

thousand seven hundred pieces of mail are sent out daily from The Lutheran Hour headquarters. Because the hours of the broadcast fall during the time of Sunday morning church services in many parts of the country, Dr. Maier directed his sermons toward those who normally do not attend c h u r c h , ^

Bertermann stated that the

main objective of The Lutheran Hour programs was:

HTo

bring Christ to the nations, to save blood-bought souls through the preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.H The Voice of Prophecy. The Voice of Prophecy, Inc., is an organization of the General Conference of Seventh-day

£ Hartzell Spence, "The Man of The Lutheran Hour,” The Saturday Evening Post. 220:89, June 19, 19^8.

8 Adventists.7

Headquarters for the broadcasting personnel

are in Glendale, California, but incorporation is in Wash­ ington, District of Columbia.

The sponsoring organization

is not mentioned in the broadcasts * Until mid-19*+8, The Voice of Prophecy speaker was known to his listeners only as "The Voice. u

Beginning in

that year he was regularly introduced by name— Elder H. M. S. Richards. As an ordained minister, he had for several years prior to his radio career been engaged in holding evangelq istic meetings in Canada and Western United States. During a series of preaching services in Fresno, California, in 1928, Elder Richards first presented his sermons on the air. He moved to Southern California in 1929? and. from Los Angeles began a broadcast of devotional programs on a weekly schedule.9

in 1937 he purchased time on seven sta­

tions of the Don Lee System.^

January *+, 19*+2, marked the

7

H. M. S. Richards, personal correspondence, April 15, 1950. Unless otherwise footnoted, all facts used in this section are taken from this source. ^ Roy F. Cottrell, Forward in Faith (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 19*+?), pp. 31-33. 9 Ibid., p. 35. Ihid., p. 38 .

first broadcast on a nation-wide basis when the program was released over eighty-nine stations of the Mutual Broadcast­ ing S y s t e m , A t this time the name, The Voice of Prophecy, was adopted for the programs, replacing the "Tabernacle of the Air," by which name his programs had been known, ^ Programs are-now released over nearly seven hundred fifty stations.

These include independents, Mutual, and

since June, 19**9, the American Broadcasting Company.

Sta­

tion outlets in the United States and Canada number four hundred eighty.

Foreign stations are located throughout

Europe, the British Isles, Bermuda, India, Australia, the Philippine Islands, and Central and South America.

Seven

stations air the program in Alaska and Hawaii. Like The Lutheran Hour, The Voice of Prophecy has always paid commercial station rates. ating budget was $ 920,000.

In 19*+9 the oper­

Listener contributions during

the year amounted to $629,000. The Western Advertising Agency of Los Angeles is employed to contract station time in the United States. Arrangements for foreign broadcasts are made through Paul

Roy F. Cottrell, Forward in Faith (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 19*+?), p. *+0. 12 Ibid.. pp. 35-38.

10 Wickman, secretary of the General Conference Radio Commis­ sion of Seventh-day Adventists.^ Elder Richards prepares the sermon materials used on all United States and foreign broadcasts.

However, these

materials are revised by nationals for the foreign broad­ casts, and it is planned that Europeans will soon prepare their own programs. The Voice of Prophecy claims to have been the first religious broadcaster to offer a free Bible correspondence course on a national radio program.^

The course for adult

listeners began in April, 19^2, and the Junior Bible Corre­ spondence Course began in November of the same year.

Over

seventy-five thousand listeners who have enrolled for one or the other of the courses have completed it to become " g r a d u a t e s . L e s s o n s are prepared in English, nineteen foreign languages, and Braille for the blind.^ Between three and four thousand conversions are estimated to result from the broadcasts each year.

This

1^ Ben Glanzer, "Past, Present, and Future with The Voice of Prophecy," Voice of Prophecy News. 8:2, February, 1950.

19^9 .

^

Ibid., p. 1.

^

Ibe Story of The Voice of Prophecy, leaflet:2, Loc♦ cit.

11 number represents those actually baptized into the Seventhday Adventist faith by Seventh-day Adventist ministers. Records also show a total of over fourteen thousand"'juniors who have accepted Christ as their Savior since the junior course was first offered. Incoming mail averages eighteen hundred letters a day, with an estimated total between four and five million since the first Voice of Prophecy broadcast.

Outgoing mail

averages five thousand pieces daily. Elder Richards stated that the main objective of The Voice of Prophecy broadcasts was to proclaim Christ to the millions.

The objective is further clarified by the

announcement opening each broadcast:

’’From Los Angeles,

California, The Voice of Prophecy comes to you--a voice crying in the wilderness of these modern days--’Prepare ye the way of the Lord. 1,1-*-7

^

Infra. p. 80

CHAPTER III EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS, SUBJECTS, PROCEDURES To find a program that would come anywhere near exemplifying adaptation to radio, on a basis comparable to that being achieved in other fields, was an initial consid­ eration.

To choose another program, wherein an acceptable

parallel could be observed in the basic concepts, but with what appeared to be a minimal adaptation to radio, was the next consideration. I.

CHOOSING TWO RELIGIOUS RADIO PROGRAMS OF CONTRASTING STYLES

As a basis for the experiment, choice was made of two programs that appeared to use extreme contrast in pro­ gramming, but at the same time compared favorably in (1) being well-established programs; (2) with national network coverage; (3) both representing either a fundamentalist or a modernist Protestant denomination; (b) with a reasonably similar.plan of financial support; (5) giving their pro­ grams during comparable broadcast periods; (6) with the same frequency of broadcast and program length; (7) and with similar broadcast objectives. In considering programs available, The Voice of Prophecy, produced in Glendale, California, and released

13 over the Mutual Broadcasting System, seemed to he one of the best in terms of attempted adaptation to the radio medium.

While no assumption was made that The Voice of

.Prophecy ws3 the best adapted, informal interviews with radio production personnel indicated that this broadcaster

I made a purposeful attempt to employ radio programming tech-l/ niques.

The program was under the auspices of the Seventh-

day Mventist Church, with Elder H. M. S. Richards as the regular speaker. The Lutheran Hour program, produced in St. Louis, Missouri, and also released by the Mutual Broadcasting System, seemed to represent a conventional religious pro­ gram on the air.

It demonstrated an observable contrast

to The Voice of Prophecy concept, being essentially a ser­ mon, with music to open and close the broadcast period. Dr. Walter A. Maier was the regular speaker, and .the broad­ casts were sponsored by the Lutheran Laymen1s League of the. Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. The evaluation of similarities indicated that these programs would provide suitable materials for the experi­ ment.

Although comparable program materials were to' be*

observed in both broadcasts, such as free gift offers, the over-all forms showed a pronounced difference. Since the limitations of this study precluded consid­ eration of more than two broadcasters, no attempt was made

j

l^f

to find other religious program sponsors whose broadcasts /

might show, either closer parallels in programming materi­ als, or greater contrast in broadcasting techniques. Judging by their years of radio experience, and-by the stability of their organizations, it- seemed feasible to choose these programs as suggestive of the two broadcast procedures. II.

CHOOSING TOO TRANSCRIPTIONS

It was first planned to secure the transcriptions of two broadcasts from each sponsor.

The sponsors were asked

to supply one program which had been highly successful, as shown by their own measures of effectiveness, and a second that had been noticeably less successful.

Neither sponsor,

however, was in a position to do this. The Lutheran Hour supplied two complete transcrip­ tions, and The Voice of Prophecy supplied four.

After

studying both sets of programs, the two with closest resem­ blance in sermon subject matter were chosen for this study. A comparison of the programming of the transcriptions with live broadcasts over a period of time, and observation in the studios during a broadcast by each sponsor, gave satis­ faction that the two chosen recordings were at least approximately typical of their respective series.

The two

recordings also showed a pronounced contrast in broadcast

15 methods*

The Lutheran Hour was somewhat typical of a ser­

mon on the radio, and The Voice of Prophecy was somewhat typical of a religious program adapted to radio. To have studied several programs from each sponsor would not have been feasible.

It was not within the com­

pass of this study to compare all broadcasts. III.

CHOOSING A MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE

Given two contrasting techniques of radio presenta­ tion, what measure could be applied to show the effective­ ness of one as compared with the other?

Effectiveness

depends on the attitude in, or the purpose for, judging. Should the answer be sought in terms of which pro­ gram provides the better entertainment?

Should information

value be the determinant— concerned with the proportion of ideas actually implanted and retained by the listeners? Should conviction be the desired objective, with evidence of a shift in point of view?

Or should the program be

judged in terms of the degree of inspiration that is achieved? It seems patent that religious broadcasts are not designed to entertain, even though the entertainment factor may contribute toward the ultimate ends in the sponsor*s mind.

Are the purposes, then, primarily to inform, to

inspire, to convince?

What testing devices are available

16 for measuring achievement in terms of such purposes, either independently of each other, or in combination? The mail response. Each sponsor has utilized a variety of devices over a period of several years to build a sustained listener audience*

This has been done through

(1) the offering of free materials to those writing in; (2) the solicitation of letters in response to program interest; (3) the offer of advice on personal problems; (*f) the offer of a series of correspondence lessons on Bible teachings; (5) the invitation to support the program with mailed contributions* Each sponsor has then kept a count of correspondence received, year by year, and the accumulative count over a period of years.

TheLutheran Hour sponsors have no totals

available to show the known instances of conversion to their teachings*

The Voice of Prophecy sponsors keep a

pin-pricked map of the United States showing the known instances of conversion to their teachings. ^ While these measures undoubtedly assist the sponsors to appraise their over-all results, they have not made possible a definite evaluation of a specified program.

^ Cameron Shipp and Frank J* Taylor, "California’s New-Fashioned Religion," Collier 1s . 123s52, January 15,

19^9.

17 It was not feasible to consider the volume of corre­ spondence, the amount of the contributions, or the number of items mailed in response to listener request.

The accumu- .

lative effect of a broadcast series brings uncontrollable factors.

Requests for free gifts may continue to come in

long after the program was broadcast. A gift offer, repeated on several consecutive broad­ casts, would make an accurate tabulation of listeners to a particular program, a problem for which there exists no present solution.

A specific gift offer might solicit a

greater response without necessarily implying a wider lis­ tening audience.

It would indicate, not a reliable index of

audience size, but just that the program stimulated more listeners to respond. The volume of correspondence resulting from any broadcast has long been discredited as a scientific measure of the listening audience.

According to Parker, et al.«

uTo the scientific pollster, one letter indicates just one thing— one listener.

Twenty letters mean twenty listeners,

one thousand letters a thousand listeners, nothing more."

2

Everett C. Parker, Elinor Inman, and Ross Snyder, Religious Radio: What to Do and How (New York; Harper and Brothers, I9VS), pp. 22-23 .

18 Again, some sermon topics elicit more response than others.

Elder Richards of The Voice of Prophecy wrote:

I might say, that as far as our response goes, it is just about the same for every program, unless we put on some subject such as marriage and heaven, or some sub­ ject that is red hot with public interest at the time. Then we will see more requests for that sermon. Other­ wise the requests stay just about even right through, all the time. Eugene R. Bertermann, Director of Radio for The Lutheran Hour, in commenting on this same factor, wrote; . . . I believe that it would be extremely difficult to try to determine that particular thing C o ne program that was demonstrably more successful than another] you have in mind. On any given Sunday we have a number of different programs on the air, and it is very difficult to tell which response comes in ansi^er to which pro­ gram. Bertermann also pointed out that there are ,falso many other variable factors involved.

Such as the weather,

the season of the year, etc.” 5 The following considerations might with some justi­ fication be added to the list of variables affecting the particular program;

(1) the number and power of station

outlets for each sponsor;

(2) the potential listening

audience within range of each station; (3) the suitability

H. M. S. Richards, personal correspondence, February 7, 19^9 • ^ Eugene R. Bertermann, personal correspondence, April 23, 19*+9• 5 Loc. cit.

19 of the broadcast time in relation to a maximum possible audience; (*+) local or regional sports programs, or holiday festivities, influencing the movement and activities of home listeners at that broadcast hour; (5) national or international states of emergency that at the time may have impelled listeners to dial in a program that would bring information. It must be apparent that in a situation with so many variables over which no controls could be imposed, the reli­ ability of any common measure of program popularity would be subject to endless questioning.

Consequently, the

equating of the comparative size of the two listening audiences was judged to be beyond the limits of this study. Commercial audience measurements.

No acceptable

Hooper-Broadcast Audience Measurements were available. While The Lutheran Hour uses the nHooperatingfl service, The Voice of Prophecy does not.

A reason for this is that The

Voice of Prophecy network programs are released earlier in the morning than Hooper begins its s u r v e y . 6

The Voice of

Prophecy made a brief trial of the Nielson Radio Index, with inconclusive results.'7

Milton Carlson, Western Advertising Agency, per­ sonal interview, June, 19^9. 7 Loc. cit.

20 It was felt, therefore, that the use of these meas­ ures would not be feasible for the present study.

One

would be very dubious of any results arrived at through a medium primarily constructed to measure entertainment values* The shift-of-opinion ballot *

The measurement of

attitude changes where the speaker’s purpose is "to con­ vince,” was considered*

However, a shift-of-opinion ballot

as used in other studies did not seem to be useful in indi­ cating a change of deep-rooted convictions in a thirtyminute religious broadcast*

In the first place, one

program would not be expected to accomplish a pronounced change in moral standards or in religious sentiments*

Such

change one would expect to be dependent on a long term drive.

Second, it would be extremely difficult if not

impossible to construct a ballot that would adequately measure a change in basic conviction and belief* Measures of emotion. The construction of a test to measure the comparative inspirational values of the pro­ grams might have been tried.

But how to know what is meant

by ”inspiration” raised the problem of what to look for* It was felt that if evidence of an emotional response was the end to be detected, then no practicable technique was available.

The use of a galvanometer, or of the

21 Lazarfeld-Stanton Program Analyzer was not deemed feasible for this purpose. Test for recognition and immediate recall of factual materials.

The construction of a set of fifteen multiple-

choice questions was ultimately determined upon.

In

finalizing on this testing procedure it was hoped to secure a measure of the recognition and immediate recall of factual items in the programs.

There was no desire to

measure the retention of particular facts over a period of time. In any religious broadcast, it could be presumed that some points would be remembered by the listener.

That

the sponsors expect successfully to convey such information as the station address, free offers, and salient points made in the sermon, seems probable. Obviously if the listener doesnlt recall the address, or the method of securing free materials, to that extent the program fails of achieving its objective.

To this

degree the multiple-choice test measur-es, not only the in­ formation value of the program technique, but its over-all effectiveness.

Assuming that two sets of questions of

equal weight for the two broadcasts could be compiled, it appeared that the best measure of recall on the program address, give-aways, and other factual items, would be found in the question-answer method.

22 Succinctly stated, the test was constructed to meas­ ure the attention value of the programs.

If those

undergoing the test found that the program failed to hold their attention, they would he unable to answer questions based on factual data within the program.

To the extent

that the listeners could remember specific items, to that extent a ceiling was placed on the amount of activation, stimulation, and persuasion inherent in the methods of pro­ gram building. IV.

CONSTRUCTING A MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST

For each of the two programs, a multiple-choice test was c o n s t r u c t e d . ^

Each test comprised fifteen items.

For

each of the fifteen statements there were five possible answers.

Nine of the statements tested for factual mate­

rial mentioned in the sermon. address of the sponsor. free gift offered.

One statement tested for the

Another statement related to the

The nature of the music was tested by

another. The three remaining statements on the tests did not parallel in content.

On The Lutheran Hour the statements

tested for the opening theme song; number of letters received; the audience to whom the broadcast was directed. Q Infra, pp. 69 ff

23 In The Voice of Prophecy test, the statements related to the speakerfs opening prayer; title of the "book-of-the-month" offer; motto of the program. Instructions on the cover of the test booklet asked the examinee to circle only one answer for each q u e s t i o n . 9 To encourage complete returns, the instructions asked the examinee to try to answer each question.

If, however, he

was sure that he did not know the answer, he was cautioned not to guess. In numbering the fifteen statements, the order in which the answers had been first given in the program followed a sequence of 1 , 7 , *+, 2 , 6 , 15, 5 , 9 , 13, 12, 8 , 11, 10, 1*+, 3 for The Lutheran Hour. sequence was

The Voice of Prophecy

1 , 6 , 9 , 3 , 5, I1*, 12, 7 , 13, 15, 2 , 8 ,

U , 10. Opportunity for guessing was lessened by bringing related facts together from widely separated points in the program.

In the first statement on The Lutheran Hour test,

relative to the theme song, the answer could have been chosen from any of the three songs used in the entire pro­ gram, or from the two titles given which were not sung on the p r o g r a m . ^

9

Similarly in The Voice of Prophecy program,

Ibid., pp. 70, 7b. Infra. p. 71.

2b with reference to the motto in the tenth statement, choice could have been made from two expressions that were in the beginning of the program, two that were given at the close, or one that did not occur in the program. 11 V.

CHOOSING GROUPS OF SUBJECTS

The choice of audiences for the experimental phase of the study took Into account the elements of denomina­ tional affiliation and familiarity with the broadcasts.

It

was presumed that a Lutheran audience would make the best score on The Lutheran Hour broadcast, and that a Seventhday Adventist audience would make the best showing on The Voice of Prophecy program.

The possibility of having in

these audiences members who regularly listened to their own program was recognized.

The cover page of the test book­

lets provided for a check on the frequency of listening.-^ To offset the element of religious affiliation and program familiarity, it was decided to use one audience in which these influences would not be decisive, and for this purpose a group of graduate students of speech and drama at the University of Southern California was secured.

11 Ibid., p. 76. Infra, pp. 70, ?b

25 Lutheran audience.

There were twenty-two members in

the audience at the Immanuel Lutheran Church of Riverside. Three members returned incomplete tests and were therefore eliminated in the scoring.

The remaining nineteen included

nine men and ten women, with an age range from seventeen to fifty-three years, or an average age just under thirtyfour years. Listening frequency to The Lutheran Hour was three regularly, six most of the time, eight only once in awhile, and two very seldom.

Their listening frequency on The

Voice of Prophecy program was one most of the time, six only once in awhile, seven very seldom, and five never. Eighteen in the audience were members of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, and one was a member of the Eden Lutheran Church. Seventh-day Adventist audience.

Students of La

Sierra College, Arlington, comprised the thirty-six members in the Seventh-day Adventist audience.

One of them listed

membership in the Baptist Church, and three indicated no church affiliation.

The age span was from nineteen to

thirty-one, with an average age of not quite twenty-three. One woman did not record her age. Five members reported as regular listeners to The Voice of Prophecy broadcasts.

Listening most of the time

26 were five, twenty-one listened once in awhile, two listened very seldom, and three stated that they never listened.

On

The Lutheran Hour the frequency ran four, only once in awhile, seven very seldom, and twenty-five never. There were twenty-four men and twelve women in the audience. University of Southern California audience.

The

university audience was composed of twenty-three men and nine women, excluding the four men and one woman who either came late or left early, thus invalidating their response to the test.

Church affiliations were as follows:

three

Baptist, three Catholic, one Church, of the Nazarene, one Covenant, four Episcopalian, two Jewish, two Lutheran, four Methodist, seven no church, four Presbyterian, and one Protestant. Ages ranged from twenty-two to forty-two years, with the average just under thirty years.

On The Lutheran Hour

test, twenty-four stated that they never listened, six replied very seldom, and the remaining two indicated only once in awhile.

Response on The Voice of Prophecy showed

twenty-three who never listened, and nine who very seldom ■listened. VI.- THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Before conducting the experiments an evaluation was

27 made of the influence of the order in which the transcrip­ tion should be played. Order of playing transcription.

It seemed logical

to presume that there would be some improvement.in listen­ ing to the second program, and a corresponding advantage in answering the questions, since the type of question could have been detected from the first test. However, the factor of fatigue might also influence the outcome.

Listening to two half-hour religious broad­

casts in succession suggested that there might be some loss of attention during the second half-hour. With these variables considered, it was felt that if any appreciable advantage should accrue, it would result from the knowledge of testing method gained from answering the first set of questions.

It was therefore decided to

give all the advantages of program familiarity, denomina­ tional affiliation, and knowledge gained from the first test, to the audience representing the sponsored broadcast in each experiment.

The advantages to that audience would

tend to lessen the measurable difference in the persuasive appeals of the two programs.

If the difference was still

pronounced its significance would be heightened. Since these factors might not hold to the same degree in a neutral audience, the order of playing to the

28 University of Southern California group was decided by chance. The testing environment. The test was given to the Lutheran audience in a chapel of their church between eight and nine-twenty o ’clock at night.

The Voice of Prophecy

transcription was played first and The Lutheran Hour tran­ scription second. In administering the test to the Seventh-day Advent­ ist audience, the order was reversed, The Lutheran Hour being given first and The Voice of Prophecy second.

The

test was given between six-forty-five and eight-ten o ’clock in the evening, a period corresponding approximately to the regular evening assembly period for the students.

It was

given in a student assembly room. At the University of Southern California, the experi­ ment was conducted in the afternoon between four-thirty and six o'clock.

The Voice of Prophecy transcription was

played first, and then The Lutheran Hour. Administering the tests.

Tape recordings of the two

programs were made on a Brush Soundmirror Magnetic Recorder to facilitate transportation of equipment, and to provide as faithful a reproducing medium as was available. Before playing the first program in each instance, the examiner briefly stated the nature of the study, and

29 the ends "being sought.

The audience was told that it was to

hear the transcriptions of two actual religious broadcasts. Members were encouraged to listen, in so far as an audience situation would permit, as though they were in their own homes.

The elimination of conversation was recommended for

best listening results. The audience was instructed in the method of ans\*/ering the questions in the test booklet that would be given it immediately at the conclusion of each recording.

It was

requested to follow the first page instructions exactly; to read each of the statements in the fifteen multiple-choice questions to observe whether it was stated in positive or negative form. The first recording was played, the test booklets distributed immediately at the close, and then collected after they were completed.

The time for returning the com­

pleted test booklets varried from seven to ten minutes. The second recording was then played, and at its

,

close the tests for that program were distributed, filled out, and returned.

No intermission was provided for the

Lutheran or Seventh-day Adventist audiences.

The Univer­

sity of Southern California audience was allowed a tenminute intermission between the two recordings, its usual break in the two-hour class period. Audience reactions.

The listening attitudes of the

30 three audiences deserve comment.

Of the three, the Lutheran

audience appeared most attentive, giving the least visible reaction to any of the program materials.

No member was

observed to engage in any distracting activity.

Three

latecomers entered during the playing of the first tran­ scription. In the Seventh-day Adventist audience, one member was observed to be knitting during a portion of the two recordings.

Some whispering was noticed.

There was overt,

though non-vocal reaction to some of the intended or imagined humor in the sermon content.

One member joined

the audience after the first recording had been started. She returned no test. It appeared to the examiner that the most critical attention was given by the neutral audience of students at the University of Southern California.

This was evidenced

by the rather frequent overt responses to the sermon con­ tent of the two programs.

The responses took the form of

subdued laughter at some of the intended or imagined humor in the programs, and communication with other audience members through "knowing looks," or whispering.

Three

members joined the audience after the first program was under way.

CHAPTER IV EXPERIMENTAL DATA:

AUDIENCE RESPONSES

TO THE TV/O BROADCASTS In order to try to establish differences between the two programs in each of the three experiments, the data were statistically treated as follows:

(1) means and standard

deviations were computed in terms of the number of questions marked w r o n g (2 ) pairs of scores were correlated for each of the three audiences, using the conventional Pearson product-moment formula;2 (3 ) the significance of the difference between means was calculated using the formula ____________________________ 3

(M-) additional checks for significant differences, where correction for r was impossible, were made by means of chi, / square Table I presents the mean number of errors and the standard deviations for the three experimental audiences,

-*• Omissions were counted as wrong answers,

2 J, P, Guilford, Fundamental Statistics in Psy­ chology and Education (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 191+27, pp. 202 ff. ^ Ibid., p. 137. ^ Ibid.« pp. 167-73*

32

TABLE I MEAN NUMBER OF ERRORS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR THREE AUDIENCES ON TWO TESTS

Audience

The Lutheran Hour

The Voice of Prophecy

Lutheran

h.3

- 2.1+5

5.9

-

2.80

S. D. A.

6.5

t 2.53

3.5

t

2.06

U. S. C.

6.85 t 2 .71+

4-.1

t

1.66

33 Scores for tests on both The Lutheran Hour and The Voice of Prophecy are shown. Table I shows that the Lutheran audience made fewer errors on The Lutheran Hour, while the Seventh-day Adventist audience made fewer errors on The Voice of Prophecy. of these differences were tested for significance.

Both In the

ease of the Lutherans, the difference was 1.6; the t ratio was 3-33 where 2.878 is significant at the 1 per cent level of confidence.

In the case of the Seventh-day Adventists,

the difference was 3.0; the t ratio was 6.51 where 2.72b is significant at the 1 per cent level.

Thus, both differences

were highly significant, and it might be concluded that these scores were at least partially a function of the reli­ gious denomination to which the listeners belonged. Table I also indicates that the Seventh-day Advent­ ists were proportionately better on their own program test than the Lutherans were on theirs.

This would seem to

indicate that, if the denominational factor was held con­ stant in these two groups, The Voice of Prophecy broadcast was more effective than The Lutheran Hour.

When chi square

tests were applied, however, these differences between the Lutheran audience and the Seventh-day Adventist audience proved not great enough to be statistically significant. In the case of the scores by the University of Southern California students, 1 . e . , the “neutral11 group,

3*+ the denominational factor was constant.

Here the difference

was 2.75 and favored The Voice of Prophecy; the t ratio was

6.71 where 2.75 is significant at the 1 per cent level. Thus, this difference was decisive, and it was concluded that The Voice of Prophecy broadcast was more effective than The Lutheran Hour as judged by, and within the limits of, the present experiments. It was thought that the scores on either test by any audience would in part be a function of the general ability or intelligence of the subjects.

To throw possible light on

this, the two sets of scores were correlated for each of the three audiences.

It was felt that the size of the coeffi­

cient of correlation would tend to indicate the extent to which subjects who were good on one test would also tend to be good on the other, or vice versa.

Results of these cal­

culations revealed a great difference among the three audiences.

The r values were as follows:

Lutheran g r o u p ................................ 70 Seventh-day Adventist group . . . . ........... 31 University of Southern California group . . .56 The foregoing divergencies are difficult to inter­ pret.

The only obvious conclusion would seem to be that the

programs affected the three groups

quite differently,not

only in regard to scores, but also

in regard to inter­

relation between scores. A final statistical treatment was a comparison of

35 men's with women's scores for both tests.

Differences were

not significant. Complete data for all six tests are presented as Tables II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII in Appendix A.^ Given these significant results from the experimental phase of the study, what differences in programming methods might account for the greater persuasive effectiveness of one broadcast over the other?

Consideration of program

resemblances and differences will be made in the next chapter, with emphasis on the adaptation of broadcast tech­ niques to the radio medium.

^ Infra, pp. 59-65.

CHAPTER V DESCRIPTIVE DATA:

CONTENT AND DELIVERY

OF THE TWO BROADCASTS A study of the elements composing each of the pro­ grams revealed certain pronounced resemblances and dif­ ferences,

The resemblances were found primarily in the

fundamentalist concept in both sermons, and in the devices used to attract listeners to write the sponsors for free materials.

The differences lay in the adaptation

to radio programming techniques. I.

PROGRAM RESEMBLANCES

The Lutheran Hour concept.

Evidence within the

sermon script revealed the fundamentalist attitude of The Lutheran Hour speaker.-*-

Dr. Maier stressed the need for

purity of moral behavior; importance of family solidarity in religious views; sanctity of the marriage vows; value of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a Safeguard to peace.

He

deplored juvenile delinquency; cocktail parties; divorce without Scriptural sanction; abortion; teaching of evolu­ tion in public schools; increasing prevalence of pre-marital experience.

Also enjoined on listeners as the realities of

^ Infra. pp. 82-9?.

37 belief and experience were filial devotion; acceptance of Christ as head of the household; morning and evening prayers; grace at meals; life after death. This particular sermon well supported the fundamentalist view ascribed to Dr. Maier by Spence.

2

From the beginning, Maier has hewed to a line that his colleagues prophesied would fail. They told him his viewpoint was too narrow, that the constant repe­ tition of a single theme would not attract listeners in a modern world, even when that theme was the might Biblical concept of the power of faith to redeem sin­ ners. But Maier holds doggedly to a stern, unyielding, absolutely fundamentalist doctrine. Divorce, birth control, intoxicating liquors, luxurious living and easy morals are particular targets of his invective. With biting scorn he.dismisses all modern religious notions which cannot be sustained by chapter and verse from the Testaments. The Devil is his personal enemy. And sin is SIN, not just a difference of opinion over right and wrong. Dr. Maier quoted Scripture seven times in support of his appeal to listeners to follow its teachings, and so secure their future reward.

The power of Christ to succor

man was also expressed in the songs presented by the choir. The Voice of Prophecy concept. Elder Richards' sermon, while more limited in compass, gave several in­ stances of fundamentalist doctrine, paralleling those of Dr. Maier.3

Since his sermon treated of marriage and

^ Hartzell Spence, "The Man of The Lutheran Hour," The Saturday Evening Post. 220:88, June 19, 19I+8. ^ Infra« pp. 96-105.

38 heaven, he set forth these principles for improving mar­ riage relationships on earths unfaithfulness to marriage vows does not bring lasting happiness; young married people should live together away from parents if at all possible; current literature, radio, and motion-picture attitudes toward marriage tend to disrupt family life; lack of religion in the home brings unhappiness; Christians should never marry outside the faith. The creation concept was inherent in his historical summary of the beginnings of family life.. A complete statement of the beliefs of The Voice of Prophecy sponsors is contained in Cottrell1s history of the broadcast.^ Scripture was quoted with references eleven times, twice it was quoted without a reference, and one reference was given with a text paraphrase in the speaker's own words. It seemed evident from the foregoing items found in the two broadcasts that both Dr. Maier and Elder Richards introduced into their programs matters of national interest and concern.

This provided not only interest devices, but

permitted the speakers to propagate their ideas of a solution to current family evils.

^ Roy F. Cottrell, Forward in Faith. (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 19^5), pp. 125-27.

39 Materials offered listeners.

Free offers made on

The Lutheran Hour included a luminous picture of the head of Christ; enrollment in The Lutheran Hour Bible Corre­ spondence Course; enrollment of children in Sunday School by Mail; confidential answers to individual spiritual problems; supply of copies of the day’s sermon. The Voice of Prophecy offers included a free super­ vised correspondence course, and a book-of-the-month. II.

PROGRAM DIFFERENCES

In view of the statistical findings, what methods of programming may have contributed to the varying effective­ ness of the programs?

The difference in methods between

The Lutheran Hour and The Voice of Prophecy seemed to be largely differences in program building and production. Gestalt of The Lutheran Hour.

The gestalt of The

Lutheran Hour broadcast appeared to be that of a wellplanned, carefully-timed Sunday morning church service. Except for its thirty-minute program limit, as contrasted with the usual eleven o ’clock ’’hour” of a conventional church service, it evidenced minimal adaptation to the radio media. No background music and no bridge music was employed, so that a pause was discernible between each part.

All

bo choral numbers were sung a cappella, so that any feeling of body support or continuity was absent.

Twelve separate

program shifts were n o t e d . ^ Dr. Maier offered the pre-sermon prayer, one minute and twenty-five seconds in duration.

f.

Its length would

compare more favorably with the morning prayer in a church service than with radio timing.

The chorus supplied the

amen, but it was clean-cut from any musical bridge affect. Dr. Maier opened with an anecdotal story from cur­ rent events.

He made a quick application of the incident

to his sermon topic,, and then referred to his Scripture text. The sermon continued without interruption for eight­ een minutes and thirty-three seconds.'7 That this was obli­ vious of usual radio timing was remarkable in the light of o

Weaver’s recommendation: A maximum limit for a talk on the air has never been fixed; however, if you took a secret ballot among sta­ tion and network managers, you might find that 5 min­ utes was considered too long. The average listener would undoubtedly agree.

^ Infra. p. 79^ Loc. cit. 7 Loc. cit. ^ Luther Weaver, The Technique of Radio Writing (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 19^+8), p. V 7V

bl The chorus sang two stanzas of a hymn following the sermon, and the announcer then made several offers of free materials to listeners in the remaining program time* An over-all appraisal would■indicate that The Lutheran Hour was a well-organized church service trans­ ferred to the air. Gestalt of The Voice of Prophecy. Elder Richards employed a radio technique similar to that of the fireside chats made prominent by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

He spoke

with a quiet, subdued tone, that gave an air of conversa­ tional directness and intimacy.

It had a sense of moderate

restraint, such as one might use in speaking privately to an individual at one!s side. Except for the sermon proper, a background of vocal or instrumental music was always used, giving a full-bodied and rounded presentation. There was consistent use of the musical bridge, either with the quartet, the organ, or the chimes, between each part.

Very close timing was observed, with the music

swelling in and fading out to make a positive tie with each program change.

In this broadcast, there were twenty-two

specific program shifts, each modulated from one to the other over the musical b r i d g e . 9

^ Infra. pp. 80-81.

V2 The longest sustained part was in the sermon.

Elder

Richards spoke for nine minutes and ten seconds, and a quartet number provided a two-minute and seven-second interval.

He then continued, completing his sermon in

another two minutes and fifty-eight seconds. ' The sermon totaled twelve minutes and eight seconds.^® This frequent change of program material allowed for a shorter attention span.

At the same time the

variety of parts was an aid to sustaining listener interest. Excluding the sermon time, the parts ranged in length from seven seconds, to two minutes and fifty-eight seconds, with eleven parts less than thirty seconds, and two parts between thirty seconds and one minute. The 'six quartet numbers averaged one minute and thirty-five seconds, with a range from thirty-four seconds to two minutes and forty-three seconds. In contrast to Dr. Maierts opening prayer of one minute and twenty-five seconds, Elder Richards1 opening prayer was thirty-two seconds in length. Adaptation to an individualized audience; consist­ ent use of background and bridge music; frequent shift of program content; and short rather than long duration of

10 Ibid., p. 8l. ^

Ibid., p. 80.

*+3 each part indicated a significant attempt on the part of The Voice of Prophecy to conform to the radio medium. III.

DIFFERENCES IN SPEAKING METHODS

Concerning the integrity and sincerity of the two speakers there could he no doubt.

And as has been pointed

out, there was a close parallel in religious belief §nd Scripture support for that belief.

The differences were

assumed to lie, then, in the manner of program building, and in the sermon delivery. One unidentified listener in the Lutheran audience summarized his interpretation of the two speakers, at the . close of the experiment, by saying that he felt Dr. Maier followed a preaching style, and Elder Richards followed a teaching style. Method of physical delivery.

Observation of the two

speakers during a broadcast of their programs revealed a marked contrast in the method of sermon delivery.**-2 Dr. Maier spoke from a studio in which he permitted no audience.

12

In preparation for his delivery, he removed

Both speakers were observed in their regular Sun­ day morning broadcasts on October 3, 19^ 8 , over the Mutual Broadcasting System, station KHJ, Hollywood, California.

Mf coat, vest, tie and shirt, and stood before the microphone in an undershirt and trousers during delivery. freedom of attire he used gestures liberally.

In this Pointing

finger, clenched fist, and waving arms were directed toward the microphone as though it were his audience. In contrast, Elder Richards was seated at a table for his sermon delivery.

He spoke with a calm, quiet,

conversational tone throughout.

While he permitted a

studio audience, he did not lift his voice at any time to give a clue that he was speaking to more than one listener. There was an occasional wave of the hand such as one might use in stressing a point in face-to-face conversation. Maier *s vocal delivery.

Dr. Maier spoke with a sure,

firm voice that at times approached a strident tone.

The

quality was that of a preacher who, believing in his message, meant by a steady, constant force to convey the impact of his conviction to each hearer. While positive suggestions for individual and nation­ al betterment were prominent throughout, the over-all tonal cast of the sermon inclined to be negative.

Illustrative

materials pictured the discouraging elements in modern life. An example of this was noted in the introduction:

HNow,

not all young folks are shielded from harm during their high school years; many, indeed, find themselves surrounded

if5 by destructive influences which seek to destroy them and their p u r i t y .11^3 The resultant impression of the entire sermon on the examiner was one of sober concern over the ultimate end of society. . Because of the high pitch level sustained in delivery and the constant force with which his words were uttered, the impression was given that he used a rapid speaking rate. This effect was strengthened by the careful enunciation of every word.

Spence credited him with "the machine-gun

delivery of a Billy Sunday . . . .H A delivery rate of from one hundred ten to one hun­ dred fifty words a minute, depending on the material to be read, and the individual speaking style, is generally con­ sidered within the effective range of radio speech.15

That

Dr. Maier came just within this range, with a rate of l*+9•*+ words per minute, leaves the impression of rapid delivery to be accounted for by other factors. These factors included a While

minimum change of pitch.

some change was noted, it was the slight modifications

13 Infra. p. 8*+. Hartzell Spence, "The Man of The Lutheran Hour," The Saturday Evening Post. 220:88. June 19, 19^8. ^-5 Everett C. Parker, Elinor Inman, and Ross Snyder, Religious Radio: What to Do and How (New York: Harper and Brothers, I9U-8), p. 203.

b6 in force and volume that provided variety rather than an appreciable change in pitch level. Throughout the delivery the pace was fairly constant. A study of the script, in relation to the actual broadcast, showed heavy cutting in many places.

The spoken sermon

included 2,739 words, while the written script included 5,058.

This is a cutting of 2,309 words, or *+5 per cent of

the prepared sermon.

It would seem logical to conclude

that the speaker was under pressure to complete his sermon within the prescribed time limit, indicating a need for haste that precluded a satisfactory changing of pace. A number of sentences were added that were not indicated in the script. The over-all pattern was that of the pulpit delivery. The frequent use of "you11 and “your*1 gave some individual direction and application.

But volume, force, rate, and

pitch'were at no time on a conversational plane.

The

whole tone of delivery seemed better designed for a ready­ made church audience, than for the radio listener who, less serious of purpose, could with a twist of the dial tune the program out. Word usage was simple, but sentence structure was sometimes long and involved.

The seventy-eight sentences

totaled 2,*+37 words, or a sentence average of 31*2

Infra. p. 67*

*f7 Forty-six sentences, or 33 per cent of the total, were more than thirty words in length*

Twenty-one sentences, 27 per

cent of the total, were longer than thirty-five words. Eighteen, or 23 per cent, were longer than forty words. The sentences ranged from a one word "amen,11 to one sentence of two hundred words. While an exact average of sentence length for good radio delivery could hardly he fixed upon, it appeared that the script was better adapted to be read silently than listened to.

Loveless recommends the use of short sentences

for religious radio.

"Many radio writers," he says, "are

tempted to use much longer sentences than would be used in conversational speech.

The message over the air should be '

modeled as closely as possible upon a spoken style.11

On

this point, Parker, et. al. , state: On the radio one way of meeting this problem of the meaning of words in their contexts is to write short, forceful sentences and phrases rather than long, in­ volved ones. The radio listener is greatly handicapped in his process of understanding by the fact that he cannot skip back and review what has gone before, as can the reader of a book. Even a well-written sentence con­ taining, for example, two or three qualifying clauses may hopelessly .confuse the listener. By the time he has digested what has been said, the program will have moved on to another point— and the listener to another station.lo

^ Wendell P. Loveless, Manual of Gospel Broadcast ing (Chicago: Moody Press, 19^6")", p. 9 ^ Parker, et_ al., op. cit. , p. 91*

>+8 The punctuation in the script seemed a better aid to a grasp of the meaning in long sentences than did inflec­ tion, pause, and contrast in the oral presentation. Richards1 vocal delivery.

A quiet, conversational

manner was used by Elder Richards in his Voice of Prophecy broadcast.

Change in inflection, in phrasing, and in vocal

timbre, contributed to a sense of being talked with and not at.

There was a feeling of earnestness and sincerity in

his voice that reflected a confidence in the truth of his words. While a serious mood was maintained, in at least two instances he used either conscious or unconscious humor. Introducing the sermon, he used an interest device that made an unexpected play on words.

He said, "Someone has

said that marriage as it ought to be is a harbor in the storm of life, but marriage as it ought not to be is a storm in the harbor of l i f e ." ^ 9 Again, about midway in the sermon, this paragraph occurred: What about Solomon who ha'd a thousand wives? He himself said that it was all vanity--and he ought to knowj Think of the quarrels and troubles he had to settle.1 It was finally too much for even the wisest

^-9 Infra, p. 96.

1^9

man who ever lived, and he said, 11It is better to dwell in the wilderness.” Proverbs 21519*^0 These instances of apparent humor did not neutralize the serious vein of his reasoning.

They did, however,

represent a positive approach to his sermon subject.

This

was further illustrated in a sentence in his introductions ’’The vast majority of marriages are happy, but the ones that are unhappy get the most publicity,lf21 The dominant feeling impressed on the examiner was that the problems of modern family life, while serious, could be met and alleviated by the bond of religion in the home • Elder Richards1 conversational style had a deceptive­ ly rapid rate.

He spoke 2,102 words in the sermon, in

twelve minutes and eight seconds.

This was an average of

17^ words a minute. Attention to his manner of speaking showed that he often spoke the introductory phrase of a sentence with accelerated rapidity, slowing then to a more deliberate reading of that part of the sentence that conveyed his meaning.

This change of pace within a sentence, and some­

times between sentences where a short sentence occurred

^

Ibid.. p. 102.

^

Tbid., p. 96.

5c between longer ones, provided a variety that relieved the tension and tedium of a long-sustained rate* A fairly definite impression was gained after noting the volume, force, rate, and pitch, that the sermon mate- ■ rial was delivered to radio's audience of one.

In the

words of Parker, et, al. * . . . the radio audience is always one person, never a crowd or a congregation in the sense of an audience in a theater, a hall or a church. Even where radio programs have millions of listeners, the audience at whom the writer must aim his message is one person, multiplied as many times as there are individuals p tuned to the program--a collection of individuals. Although word choice was on a level of average listener comprehension, the word polyandry was caught and understood by only fourteen of the eighty-seven participat­ ing in the experiments.

Eleven of the thirty-two in the

neutral audience scored correct; three of the thirty-six in the Seventh-day Adventist audience were correct; none in the Lutheran audience returned a correct answer. Elder Richards used ninety-three sentences.

In both

his sermon and that of Dr. Maier's, any sentences including quoted material, Scripture texts, references, and sentences with partial Scripture, quotes, were excluded from the com­ putation. op

Sentence length in quoted material would not

Everett C. Parker, Elinor Inman, and Ross Snyder, Religious Radio: What to Do and How (New York: Harper and Brothers, 19^-87, pT 85*

51

always be subject to control by the script writer.

Hyphen­

ated words, as thirty-four, were counted as a single word. The ninety-three sentences totaled 1,638 words, or a sentence average of 17*6*23

Only fifteen sentences, or *■

16 per cent, were longer than twenty-five words; ten sen­ tences, or less than 10 per cent, were over thirty words in length; five sentences, or under 5 per cent, were longer than thirty-five words.

Sentence length varied from four

to sixty-three words. An average of 17.6 words to a sentence would seem to contribute to a better comprehension of meaning than sen­ tences averaging 31*2 words each, as used in The Lutheran Hour script.

In contrast to each other, The Voice of Pro­

phecy script seemed to be in closer accord with the opinions of Loveless,^ and Parker, et al.^5 This sensing of the radio vehicle of expression would seem then to add to the effectiveness of The Voice of Prophecy program.

It seemed, at least, that to the degree

to which the experiments showed a more successful radio presentation, The Voice of Prophecy benefited from the use of techniques recommended by writers on religious radio.

Infra, p. 68. ^ Loveless, loc. cit. 2 S’ ^ Parker, et al., loc. cit.

CHAPTER VI SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH The .purpose of .this study was (1) to establish experimentally the comparative effectiveness of two radio religious broadcasts that employed grossly different radio techniques; (2) to account for the discovered differences in effectiveness by description and analysis of the content and delivery of the two broadcasts. Summary.

Transcriptions of a Lutheran Hour broad­

cast, and of a Voice of Prophecy broadcast, were chosen as somewhat typical of two contrasting radio techniques.

These

were played before a Lutheran audience, a Seventh-day Adventist audience, and a '■neutral11 audience of graduate students in the University of Southern California. A multiple-choice test was administered to each group immediately after it had listened to each recording, to determine if possible the differences in immediate recall on a program by each sponsor. Data from the three experiments were treated statis­ tically:

(1) means and standard deviations were computed

in terms of the number of questions marked wrong; (2) pairs of scores were correlated for each of the three audiences; (3) the significance of the difference between means was

53 calculated; (M-) additional checks for significant differ­ ences, where correction for r was impossible, were made hy means of chi square. The Lutheran audience made fewer errors on The Lutheran Hour, and the Seventh-day Adventists made fewer errors on The Voice of Prophecy.

Tests for significance

determined that the differences were highly significant. While the Seventh-day Adventist audience was propor­ tionally better on its own program than the Lutheran audience was on its program, application of chi square tests proved the differences between the two audiences not to be statistically significant. Scores by the "neutral" audience of graduate students showed a decisive difference, indicating that The Voice of Prophecy broadcast was more effective than The Lutheran Hour as measured by, and within the limits of, the present exper­ iments. Correlation of the two sets of scores for each of the three audiences to discover the influence of general ability or intelligence of the subjects, proved widely divergent and difficult to interpret definitively. Comparison of men’s and women’s scores for both tests showed no significant differences. Conclusions.

Differences of programming techniques

in the two programs that seemed to account in part for

these significant differences shown in the experimental findings were:

(1) use of music on The Lutheran Hour was

as distinct parts in the program; (2) music as background for the speaking parts, or as a bridge between parts, was lacking; (3) the sermon was much longer than recommended for effective radio usage; (*f) comparatively few program shifts were used; (5) sentence structure of the script was long and sometimes involved. On The Voice of Prophecy:

(1) music was modulated

between program parts; (2) music was used both as bridge and as background for spoken parts, with exception of the sermon; (3) a musical interlude was used to shorten the attention span in the sermon; C3*) several program shifts were employed; (5) sentence structure was short and rela­ tively simple. Dr. Maier‘s vocal delivery was what is generally thought of as a preaching style, using a high pitch level, with a relatively constant degree of force.

Little change

in speaking rate was noted, and volume, force, rate, and pitch did not approach the conversation plane. Elder Richards' vocal delivery showed an apparently purposeful attempt to employ radio programming techniques. The conversational, fireside chat style, was used through­ out.

Changes in speaking rate were observed.

While the

rate was rapid, a quiet tone, and frequent change of pace

seemed appropriate to radio delivery. From the experimental findings, and analysis of programming techniques, it seemed a proper assumption that The Voice- of Prophecy program, in terms of attempted adaptation to the radio medium, achieved a higher degree of effectiveness than did The Lutheran Hour program. It might be assumed, therefore, that sponsors of religious radio broadcasts whose programming methods ap­ proximated the techniques found successful in other fields, could reasonably expect more satisfactory results than would attend the 11straight” broadcasting of a regular church service. Suggestions for further research.

It is suggested

that further studies be made on the problem of effective­ ness in radio religious broadcasts, employing (1) one or more of the measurement techniques considered, but not deemed feasible, for this study; and (2) that new and improved testing devices be developed for measureing broad­ cast effectiveness. Further, it is suggested that a combination of the experimental and descriptive methods of research proce­ dures, as employed in this study, be applied to other prob­ lems, and in other fields of research,

A fresh approach to

research problems might prove both stimulating and worth­ while .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bertermann, Eugene R . , personal correspondence, April 23, 19*4-9 •



_ _ _ _ _ _ personal correspondence, April *4-, 1950. Carlsen, Milton, Western Advertising Agency, personal interview, June, 19*4-9• Cottrell, Roy F., Forward in Faith. Mountain View, Calif­ ornia; Pacific Press Publishing Association, 19*4-5. 128 pp. Glanzer, Ben, "Past, Present, and Future with The Voice of Prophecy,11 Voice of Prophecy News, 8; 12, February, 1950. Guilford, Joy Paul, Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education. First edition, New Yorks McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 19*4-2. 333 pp. Loveless, Wendell P.. Manual of Gospel Broadcasting. Chicago: Moody Press7"~lW57 352 pp. Parker, Everett C., Elinor Inman, and Ross Snyder, Religious Radios What To Do and How. New Yorks Harper and Brothers Publishers, 19*4-8 . 271 pp. Richards, H. M. S., personal correspondence, February 7, 19*4-9. _______, personal correspondence, April 15, 1950. Shipp, Cameron, and Frank J. Taylor, "California's NewFashioned Religion," Collier.1s , 123:lV-53, January 15, 19^9 • Spence, Hartzell, "The Man of the Lutheran Hour," The Saturday Evening Post, 220sl7-9*S June 19? 19*+8. The Dr. Walter A. Maier Memorial Booklet. St. Louis, Missouri: The Lutheran Laymen's League, C 19503. 6*4- pp. The Story of The Voice of Prophecy. The Voice of Prophecy, leaflet :2, 19*f9 . Weaver, Luther, The Technique of Radio Writing. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 19*4-8 . 593 pp.

New Yorks

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A.

TEST TABIES

60 TABLE II RESPONSES OF MEMBERS OF IMMANUEL LUTHERAN AUDIENCE TO TEST ON LUTHERAN HOUR TRANSCRIPTION

r—■ y A £ ty 3

03 © 03 CD © © 3 © cy O* cy

*4

1

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1

2

1

5

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2

1

2

4

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

5

2

2

2

4

2 2

2

4

1

1 1 1

5

5

1

3

5 5 5

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

3

4 3 4 4 3 4 4

12

3-

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

3 4 5

11

© © 3 cy

3 3 3

2

10

© © 3 cy

3

2

2

1

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5

1

9

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2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 3 5 5 4 3 3 5 3 4 4 3 5 3

2

3 5 2 2 2

5 3 3 3 2

1 1

3 5 3 3 3 3 5 3 3

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

1

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5 3 3

2

1

5 5 5

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1

2

3

1

2

1

2

1

1

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5 3 3

3 3

1

2

1

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4 4

1

2

2

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3 7 3

5 7 5

2

2

5 5

6 2

2 2

2

1

5

5

1

2

1

2

1

1

2

1

2

3

1

2

2 1

2

3

2

4

2

1

2

1

1

2

1

2

1

2

3 4

2

3 6

9

1

2

2

1

2

2

2

1

2

1

4 82

Total

^Correct Answer Key.

£Q

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3 25

57

61 TABLE III RESPONSES OF MEMBERS OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST AUDIENCE TO TEST ON LUTHERAN HOUR TRANSCRIPTION

r~/

c\?

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5

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1

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7

1

1

2

3

.8 9

4

1

1

3

2 2

10 11

5 4

1

2 2

12

1

1

2

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

4 4 3 4 4

1 1

4

1

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2



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2 2

1

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20

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62 TABLE IV RESPONSES OF MEMBERS OF UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AUDIENCE TO TEST ON LUTHERAN HOUR TRANSCRIPTION

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Total

*Correct Answer.: Key.

5

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10 4 3 5 3 7 4 8 1 7 3 3 8 5 3 4 3 7 107 112 219 2

63 TABLE V RESPONSES OF MEMBERS OF IMMANUEL LUTHERAN AUDIENCE TO TEST ON VOICE OF PROPHECY TRANSCRIPTION

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2 3 4 5 6

7

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