Radio Program Format

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Mr. Hill suggested that the Radio Church of God program be like a Sunday morning church service in a 30-minute format. Mr. Armstrong agreed. The format involved: singers (at first, it was a duet of Claude and Velma Ellis; then it became a mixed quartette of Mrs. Armstrong singing alto, daughter Beverly soprano, Mr. Ellis tenor, Alfred Freeze bass, and Mrs. Ellis on piano) singing church hymns. Then Mr. Armstrong would give his message.

Over the years, the format was eventually changed in order to attract a much wider audience of both the religious and non-religious.

Since he had remained puzzled as to what form of government should function in God’s Church, Mr. Armstrong went along with the status quo—democratic government, in which the lay members had at least as much a voice in things as the ministry did. For example, when Mr. Armstrong was first offered radio time, he brought the decision before the Church, which unanimously approved.

God did not reveal to him His true form of government until the winter of 1952-53—after many trials, tests and acts of persecution forced Mr. Armstrong to see that democracy never worked in God’s Church. In order to feed, protect and lead the flock most effectively, he would learn that God’s government must be administered from the top down by loyal, faithful ministers and leaders, beginning with one leader.

Government is just one of many truths that God revealed to Mr. Armstrong one step at a time.

By the spring of 1935, morning Sabbath services were alternatively held at the Jeans and Alvadore schoolhouses, with afternoon services at Mr. Armstrong’s house in Eugene. The three groups needed to be combined into one local congregation. This reality led Mr. Armstrong and the brethren to buy a small church house (for $500, with a $100 down payment), which had been built by Elder Taylor four years earlier. The building was in much need of work, so Mr. Armstrong asked the membership to contribute to a special offering fund to supply lumber and paint. Then he and the other brethren made all the necessary repairs. When it was finished, the Church of God at Eugene, Oregon held its first Sabbath service there, on June 1st of that year.

Soon after, Mr. Armstrong held an evangelistic campaign at this location, attracting a sizeable audience every night. At the close of one service, a young woman spoke with Mrs. Armstrong. She said that she was an atheist, and had come with two other friends in order to laugh at how “ignorant” and “backward” ministers were. But this young lady was amazed by Mr. Armstrong’s explanation of the prophecy of Daniel 11 ALL, showing its biblical fulfillments through history. This woman—who was the secretary of the local Communist Party—continued attending the meetings, and eventually repented and was baptized! (Of course, she resigned from the Communist party.) Her example led her mother to be baptized also.

Establishing Headquarters Offices for God’s Work

Following the campaigns he held at the old Masonic Temple in downtown Eugene, Mr. Armstrong used one of its smaller rooms as an office, free of charge. But when the owner found a tenant for the entire building, Mr. Armstrong had to move. The owner offered him a room in the Hampton Building, which was across from the Post Office. This new office cost $5 per month. It had no windows, only a transom over the door to the hall, and one over the door leading to the Labor Union Hall. Mr. Armstrong and the other office staff could only work two hours at a time before having to retreat for about an hour due to stale tobacco smoke that drifted in from the Labor Union Hall.

A few months later, they were able to afford a small fan, which circulated the stale air. The office did have a skylight, but it was so filthy with dirt and grime that sunlight could barely filter through.

There were not enough funds to buy desks, so Mr. Armstrong used a table for his office desk, while other tables were used for printing, folding and mailing the magazine. Instead of filing cabinets, they acquired cardboard cartons from grocery stores, using them to store correspondence folders and records. The cartons had to be pasted with plain wrapping paper to cover up their whiskey labels.

Mr. Armstrong wrote articles on a used typewriter, and then cut the stencils for headlines. Mrs. Armstrong hand-cranked sheets of the magazine on the Neostyle, assembled the pages, folded them, and then addressed them in pen and ink. She also maintained The Plain Truth mailing list. Before carrying them across the street to the Post Office, Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong always knelt down, prayed and laid hands over the magazines, asking God to put His blessing on the copies and their readers.

Beverly Armstrong worked as office secretary. Many others volunteered their time in the office on various occasions, wherever there was a need.

For a time, Mrs. Helen Starkey worked as an unpaid secretary. She later received a salary of $5 per week. In 1937, Mrs. Starkey sent a letter to co-workers, without Mr. Armstrong’s prior knowledge, asking them to contribute to buying the Armstrongs a car. (Their previous car had just “given up the ghost.”) Without a reliable car, Mr. Armstrong could not make the weekly circuit to and from Portland—the radio program would die out. The co-workers responded by sending in enough money for Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong to buy, on monthly payments, a 1934 Graham.

A Test of Faith

In December 1934, Christ opened the door for the gospel to be preached, via radio hook-up, from KORE in Eugene to Portland’s KXL and Salem’s KSLM. Mr. Armstrong wrote a letter to co-workers, asking them to pledge enough money—$50 per month for both 100-watt stations—to finance this wonderful opportunity. Portland had the potential to expand the listening audience tenfold!

However, as before, only half of the amount needed could be guaranteed (at least, humanly). Unfortunately, like other servants of God before him, Mr. Armstrong wavered in faith and did not walk through the door Christ had opened to him. To teach His servant a lesson in faith, God withheld other opportunities to expand the Work for two years. Mr. Armstrong and the Radio Church of Godprogram remained limited to one tiny 100-watt radio station.

In addition, The Plain Truth ceased to be published for 2½ years! After July 1935, not another issue of the magazine was published until January 1938. Mr. Armstrong knew that this was because he had walked by sight instead of by faith. After 2½ years of witnessing the Work being affected by that decision, Mr. Armstrong was determined to never again doubt where God was working.

Despite these two setbacks, Mr. Armstrong’s estimated listening audience grew to 8,000 every broadcast. And, by August, the radio audience grew to about 10,000 people.
In late 1936, Mr. Armstrong tried to get the program on Portland’s most powerful station—50 times more powerful than KORE—reaching throughout Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The cost was $110 per month, and the pledges fell short by more than half. It was obvious to him that this door was closed. Mr. Armstrong had to learn to wait on Christ to open each door according to His time schedule.

In the meantime, after being on the air for almost two years, the monthly income of the Work grew to about $40 to 45.

In November, the door was opened in Portland—but only on KXL, a tiny 100-watt station. Salem’s KSLM was added to this hook-up, creating the Work of God’s first radio network.

In early 1937, mail response indicated that the program’s audience had leaped to 40,000-50,000 listeners, and by spring, 60,000. In November, this mushroomed to 100,000 weekly listeners! (And yet, the Philadelphian Era of God’s Church only had a membership of a relatively small number of people, with a few co-workers. Just like today, God was using a tiny flock to reach an audience many, many times its size.)

In September 1937, the radio program left KXL to step up to 500-watt station KWJJ, also in Portland. Along with an increase in broadcasting power, this meant an increase in travel. Mr. Armstrong would broadcast live from KORE each Sunday at 10 a.m., simultaneously broadcasting over KSLM. Then he would drive north to Portland for the 4 p.m. broadcast—a roundtrip of 200-plus miles every week. Combine this with conducting two Sabbath services, weekly Bible studies, magazine writing and publishing, answering letters, running an office, holding evangelistic campaigns, visiting and counseling with the brethren, raising a family—Mr. Armstrong was a very busy man!

He decided to launch a few short campaigns—a two-week campaign at the Clear Lake schoolhouse, between Eugene and Alvadore, and at another schoolhouse near Globe, Oregon, about 40 miles north of Eugene. There was also a three-week campaign held at the Eldreage schoolhouse, 12 miles north of Salem. It maintained a nightly turnout of 50 to 70 people.

Back in Operation

Finally, The Plain Truth magazine was back in operation, beginning January 1, 1938, with a mailing list of 1,050 subscribers. With that many copies to make, the magazine was becoming too large to mimeograph. The Plain Truth had to be reduced to only three pages per issue—and only seven could be sent out that year.

By early 1939, the old, worn-out Neostyle was ready to be “put out to pasture.” A new mimeograph had to be obtained or the magazine would cease to exist. The Plain Truth was being read by several thousand people, and the Radio Church of God program was being heard by 100,000 people—yet only a few took the next step and contributed to God’s Work. (Remember, at no time did Mr. Armstrong ever ask for money from the general public, only from those who gave regular contributions.)

By this time, Mr. Armstrong was driving 600 miles a week in order to get out Christ’s true gospel—a message that had not been preached to the world at large since the apostle Paul’s ministry!

The February-March 1939 issue of The Plain Truth featured an article about the coming final resurrection of the Roman Empire under a unified European government. It also warned that God would use that resurrected government as His instrument of punishment against the modern-day descendants of the “lost tribes” of the house of Israel—largely the American and British peoples.

The following month, about 1,000 extra subscription requests came in for the magazine.

Not long after the article was published, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini emerged on the world scene, with Hitler, culminating the prophesied sixth “head” of the beast of Revelation (Rev. 17:9-10).

By March 1940, the magazine, though still mimeographed, reached a circulation of 2,000.

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Back to Herbert W. Armstrong

Radio Program Format

Contents

Purchasing a Church Building

Establishing Headquarters Offices for God’s Work

A Test of Faith

Back in Operation