LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 339

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

EES: A CG, OSS

336 CHURCH LITERATURE AND COMMUNICATIONS

Suggestions in the future resolutions of the TV Board.”
(April 1973)

Your TV Board would like to summarize the chief recom-
mendations of the conference here for the record. Partici-
pants in the study are listed at the conclusion of this report
to the convention.

First of all, we are very pleased to report that there was
a most positive reaction to the Synod’s television ministry.
Our church has enviable rapport and a high reputation
among professional telecasting people. Of prime importance
is the reaction that our church has no need to “soft-pedal”
theology. In fact, the conferees were very comfortable with
the content and religious approach of This Is The Life.

Evaluation of “This Is the Life”

There was general consensus that This Is the Life (Life)
is an excellent product, that it stands apart as a leader
among religious TV programs, even after 22 years, and that
it is better than some commercial programs aired in after-
noon or evening time. It was the unanimous feeling among
the conferees that the Missouri Synod would be making a
serious mistake if it cut back, weakened, or dropped Life.
They strongly encouraged the Church to continue the pro-
gram and to enhance its impact.

“This Is the Life is a credit to the industry, to religion, as
well as to The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod,” they
said. Life communicates well, and “the name Lutheran Tele-
vision on a product is like sterling on silver!”

The evaluators divided the majority of good religious
television into three categories:

1. The personality-variety program for prime time, i.e.,
Billy Graham, Oral Roberts. They do well; it would be
foolish to compete.

2. “Other” commercial, religious programs, i. e., Katherine
Kuhlman, Day of Discovery, etc. Most buy time locally
and are not a strong national factor. They are all dif-
ferent in format, but none are primarily drama.

3. Dramatic programs like This Is the Life, and Insight.

The conferees felt that This Is the Life is distinctive, and
it stands almost alone in the field of religious drama. “If
there is an abiding succesful format over the past 25 years
of TV history, it has to be the dramatic story, and This Is
the Life is good drama! Don’t look for new formats; you
have a unique series now. Keep it, but refresh it!”

This Is the Life is over the 20-year mark and can be
strengthened. In a strengthening process Lutheran Tele-
vision would, in essence, release a “new” and fresh show
like the “new” Perry Mason, which would carry Life to new
penetration and success.

There were five specific recommendations to achieve an
expansion of This Is the Life penetration, to renew the
show, and to make it more effective as a witness to the
Gospel on behalf of Lutheran congregations,

1) The Missouri Synod should produce more episodes, up
to 26 per year.

2) We should introduce “continuing characters” — “per-
sonalities” to allow This Is the Life to be carried by a
personality a la Billy Graham or Marcus Welby, or an
updated Pastor Martin.

3) We should promote the package much more heavily
in local print advertising, both within the church
and with general public.

4) We should consider purchasing time in certain areas
to reach new, different, and larger audiences,

5) We should take advantage of the “booklet offer” to
gain financial support for our work from those out-
side the church who watch.

The first priority is to keep new production high. By
cutting back to 13, 18, or even 20 new episodes annually, the
church runs a real risk of “killing” the program. The point
was made that improving the format would not insure its suc-
cess if funds could not be obtained to release the program in
sufficient quantity — that a weekly public service dramatic
show cannot keep audience and station interest if the ma-
jority of its programs are reruns. Twenty-six new episodes
make a full complement for each season,

A nearly unanimous recommendation for freshening the

format was that Life might be strengthened by including
personalities around which stories could be built . . . the
“continuing characters” so commonly seen in most success-
ful TV programs. The conference saw the following po-
tentials:

A) Better identification for The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod.

B) A larger continuing audience (people tuning in week
after week to see a personality they have come to
know and identify with).

C) Better air time as stations see the enhanced audience
interest of Life.

D) Better promotion and PR potential for Life.

Lutheran Television was also urged to begin a more ag-
gressive national and local promotion effort for Life as a
means of counteracting new competition from locally pro-
duced religious programs.

The question was raised as to how Life could combat a
growing trend of stations placing sustaining (public service)
religion programming in earlier Sunday morning hours. Pur-~
chased time was mentioned as a possible solution, but some
conferees suggested that if Lutheran TV purchased time in
one market, we may be forced to purchase time in all
markets. There was a consensus that the question of pur-
chased time should be approached with caution, but re-
searched carefully as policies are changing daily in this area
and there is a real potential with purchased time to reach
different and greater audiences.

Evaluation of Seasonal Specials

There was very strong endorsement for the board's “fam-
ily special” activities for prime time evening television.

The evaluators were very complimentary about “Christ-
mas Is,” referring to it as “prime evening time program-
ming.” There was favorable comparison to evening network
progams such as the “Peanuts— Charlie Brown” specials,
and the Hallmark specials. They felt that Benji and Waldo
as “personalities” were very winning.

There was consensus that the Synod should place pri-
ority on “Easter Is” as a second special and that we utilize
“Christmas Is” as a “Christmas Classic” in prime time again
for 1973.

There was hope that the Board would add “seasons” (i.e.,
Christmas, Easter, Summer, or Thanksgiving) to the specials
lineup.

The general consensus was that children’s specials offer
an added dimension to the impact of Lutheran Television,
but that primary emphasis should also continue to be placed
on Life because of the importance of weekly impressions and
audiences.

Evaluation of the New “Tension Point” Series

The conferees saw very strong possibilities for using
Tension Point in congregations, but saw some challenge in
gaining widespread weekly use of the program as a half-
hour public service panel television show. “The idea of
Tension Point is excellent! Proceed, but expect only 13
weeks maximum in any given year.” It could be that three
or four episodes might be integrated into an existing panel
format carried by the station.

Evaluation of Television Spot Announcements

After viewing the experimental thirty-second “spots” for
children, the opinion of the conferees was that more study
should be done on how unchurched children are presently
being attracted to church. Should “spots” be aimed at un-
churched parents, motivating them to bring children to
church? (Should they be aimed at children alone? Should
they be aimed at one through the other?)

It was the unanimous consensus of the broadcasters that
Lutheran Television should not give up the basic concept or
the basic goal of these TV commercials in a “media-mix”
setting utilizing TV, print, and other media to focus the
theme.

Evaluation of Ten-Second Commercials

Lutheran Television’s ten-second 1971 Easter, July 4, and
Christmas slide commercials were viewed favorably with
the suggestion that they be continued.