The Lord's Radio ─ Gospel Music Broadcasting and the Making of Evangelical Culture, 1920-1960

Evangelical Christianity—the faith professed by one in four Americans—exerts an enormous influence in American society. Believed by some to have originated as a reaction to the social revolution of the 1960s, Evangelicalism as a distinct subculture dates to the advent of radio. The Christian faithful flocked to the airwaves, developing a nationwide mass culture as listeners across denominational lines heard the same popular preachers and music. Evangelicals left behind the fundamentalism of the early 20th century as broadcast ministries laid the foundation for the culturally engaged New Christian Right of the late 20th century. This ethnographic history presents the era’s major radio evangelists and songwriters in the own words, drawing on their writings and recordings, as well as songbooks, liner notes and “song story” anthologies of the period.

Mark Ward Sr., is an associate professor of communication at the University of Houston-Victoria in Victoria, Texas and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Communication and Religion and executive council of the Religious Communication Association.