35 subscribers
Gå offline med appen Player FM !
Podcaster värda att lyssna på
SPONSRAD


1 Edita Birnkrant and Tracy Winston: The Horse Who Collapsed in the Street 37:03
#080 SPECIAL: The First Religious Broadcast: Re-enacted
Manage episode 391454863 series 2711511
Welcome to 2023's Christmas special/2024's Epiphany special. (Come on, what podcast doesn't have an Epiphany special?)
It's all just a chance to turn episode 80 into a re-enactment of this remarkable untold tale of Britain's first religious broadcast. Contrary to what some records say, it wasn't the BBC who began religious broadcasting in Britain - it was lone Peckham pioneer preacher Dr James Ebenezer Boon, on 30 July 1922.
Thankfully he wrote everything down - from the words of his sermon to the gramophone record hymns he played, to the feedback received from listeners, to his thoughts on the opportunities of future religious broadcasting.
We'll also tell you about America's first religious broadcast (1921) and the first non-radio religious broadcasts - via the Electrophone (in the 1890s!). And we'll propel forward to look at the BBC's first church service on 6th January 1924 (and why it wasn't quite the first after all), with its centenary round about now-ish.
We discover too the BBC's first Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist broadcasters. Have a guess now roughly when each debuted on air? Then find out in this episode. (It was surprisingly early...)
Whether your religion is religion or radio, I'm sure you'll enjoy this episode. It's different to others we've done, as at its centre is a full re-enactment, so expect a 15min sermon, and hymns - sung along to by the live audience (including several religious broadcasters of note) at Christ Church Evangelical, McDermott Road, Peckham. This was Dr Boon's church, that he wired up back in summer 1922, then left to broadcast INTO it from five miles away - but reaching Coventry and the east coast (who offered to send in a collection, bless 'em).
Huge thanks to Christ Church Evangelical, especially Adrian Holloway, for allowing us access (I even went to see the roof, where Dr Boon put his aerial!) for that rare thing - recreating a landmark broadcast where it occurred.
Thanks too to Dr Jim Harris and Andy Mabbett for their help in bringing the story to life. Branden Braganza and Riley King recorded it (a video will appear on Youtube soon - details here when that happens). Will Farmer composed the original music. Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC.
Make sure you've also heard our other episode spinning through a century of 'God on the air' - episode 60: A History of Religious Broadcasting.
And if you'd like to read along to the sermon, or read Boon's full notes, you can, on Wikisource. (Thanks Andy Mabbett)
Thanks for listening. More info on this project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio, and find me on tour with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at paulkerensa.com/tour. Or book it for your place?
Support the show on patreon.com/paulkerensa - where videos and writings await for you £5/mth (cancel whenever, I'll never know). It all helps support the podcast.
Or support it for free by sharing on your social medias, or with your pals and acquaintances.
Bless you for listening.
NEXT TIME:
Season 6 begins! With the BBC leaving Marconi House for Savoy Hill. More re-enactments are coming...
101 episoder
Manage episode 391454863 series 2711511
Welcome to 2023's Christmas special/2024's Epiphany special. (Come on, what podcast doesn't have an Epiphany special?)
It's all just a chance to turn episode 80 into a re-enactment of this remarkable untold tale of Britain's first religious broadcast. Contrary to what some records say, it wasn't the BBC who began religious broadcasting in Britain - it was lone Peckham pioneer preacher Dr James Ebenezer Boon, on 30 July 1922.
Thankfully he wrote everything down - from the words of his sermon to the gramophone record hymns he played, to the feedback received from listeners, to his thoughts on the opportunities of future religious broadcasting.
We'll also tell you about America's first religious broadcast (1921) and the first non-radio religious broadcasts - via the Electrophone (in the 1890s!). And we'll propel forward to look at the BBC's first church service on 6th January 1924 (and why it wasn't quite the first after all), with its centenary round about now-ish.
We discover too the BBC's first Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist broadcasters. Have a guess now roughly when each debuted on air? Then find out in this episode. (It was surprisingly early...)
Whether your religion is religion or radio, I'm sure you'll enjoy this episode. It's different to others we've done, as at its centre is a full re-enactment, so expect a 15min sermon, and hymns - sung along to by the live audience (including several religious broadcasters of note) at Christ Church Evangelical, McDermott Road, Peckham. This was Dr Boon's church, that he wired up back in summer 1922, then left to broadcast INTO it from five miles away - but reaching Coventry and the east coast (who offered to send in a collection, bless 'em).
Huge thanks to Christ Church Evangelical, especially Adrian Holloway, for allowing us access (I even went to see the roof, where Dr Boon put his aerial!) for that rare thing - recreating a landmark broadcast where it occurred.
Thanks too to Dr Jim Harris and Andy Mabbett for their help in bringing the story to life. Branden Braganza and Riley King recorded it (a video will appear on Youtube soon - details here when that happens). Will Farmer composed the original music. Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC.
Make sure you've also heard our other episode spinning through a century of 'God on the air' - episode 60: A History of Religious Broadcasting.
And if you'd like to read along to the sermon, or read Boon's full notes, you can, on Wikisource. (Thanks Andy Mabbett)
Thanks for listening. More info on this project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio, and find me on tour with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio at paulkerensa.com/tour. Or book it for your place?
Support the show on patreon.com/paulkerensa - where videos and writings await for you £5/mth (cancel whenever, I'll never know). It all helps support the podcast.
Or support it for free by sharing on your social medias, or with your pals and acquaintances.
Bless you for listening.
NEXT TIME:
Season 6 begins! With the BBC leaving Marconi House for Savoy Hill. More re-enactments are coming...
101 episoder
Alla avsnitt
×
1 #103 Sept 1923 on the BBC, Rob Roy and Gavin Sutherland 49:12

1 #102 SB: Simultaneous Broadcasting... and Mary English 49:52

1 #101 The Sykes Report + Early Recordings Association 48:21

1 #100 The Century! British Broadcasting's Story So Far, 1895-1923 53:49

1 #099 Godfrey Isaacs - The Man Behind The BBC Idea 56:14

1 #098 Ireland's First Radio Station... and the BBC News theme album 44:00

1 #097 Manchester, Birmingham, Gardening, Radio Circle + a Wireless Elephant: The BBC in August 1923 34:55

1 #096 Books on Broadcasting - and the Bodleian Library's 'Listen In' Exhibition 49:39

1 #095 Five Gold Airings: Vintage BBC Christmases 1922-42 25:25

1 #094 Wireless Manhunts on the BBC - in 1923 and 2023 46:03

1 #093 On-Air Symphonies and 'Seeing By Wireless' in June 1923 - and Stuart Prebble 39:59

1 #092 The First Sports Broadcasts: from 'Yachts Slowly Drifting' to MCR21 39:57

1 #091 The Electrophone: The 1890s' Streaming Device 40:12

1 #090 The BBC's First Shakespeare (part 2) & John Henry: First Radio Comedy Personality 36:33

1 #089 A History of Election Night Specials: 28 in 102 Years 48:29
Välkommen till Player FM
Player FM scannar webben för högkvalitativa podcasts för dig att njuta av nu direkt. Den är den bästa podcast-appen och den fungerar med Android, Iphone och webben. Bli medlem för att synka prenumerationer mellan enheter.