Charles E. Fuller: America’s Radio Preacher by Chris White

  Charles E. Fuller (1887-1968) was born and raised in Los Angeles California.  Today, Los Angeles is the 2^nd largest city in America attracting an ethnically diverse population so great that one sociologist has dubbed it the capitol city of the Third World.  But the L.A. Charles Fuller grew up in was far more rural, mostly white, and was known for fruit-growing and oil production.  The entertainment industry and glamour of Hollywood was a long ways in the future and local residents were more concerned with expanding the water supply and excited about the recent discovery of the La Brea tar pits. 

  After working several years in the citrus growing business, Charles Fuller sensed a call to Christian ministry and began studies at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles ( known as Biola University today).  Biola as an institution was only 10 years old when Fuller began attending.  It was founded by the former president of Moody Bible Institute Reuben Andrew Torrey along with the help of two oil tycoons who were strong Christians.  During his years there, Fuller studied theology under R.A. Torrey and was greatly influenced by him.  

  Upon completion of his studies at Biola,  Fuller was ordained and began pastoring a  Baptist church in 1925.  A few years later he started a small radio show in 1929 that aired locally in Los Angeles.  Every time letters of support exceeded expenses he would add yet another station and soon was broadcasting his program over several states.  The original name of the show was the Heart to Heart Revival hour.  Over time he gradually bought time through the Mutual Broadcasting System until the show reached coast to coast.

  After several years of being a national broadcast, his show faced cancellation because a national tobacco company was willing to buy the entire network during his time slot.  This pressed Charles Fuller to take a step of faith.  He bought full use of the network even though he didn’t have any of the finances in reserve.  He had no denominational or institutional support, but he did have a loyal audience who through the Great Depression kept this show on the air with nickel, dime, and dollar donations sent through the mail.

  With the expansion of the program it was renamed “the Old Fashioned Revival Hour” (OFRH) and it ran from 1937 until Fuller’s death in 1968.  The program began on the Mutual Broadcasting System but eventually migrated to ABC where at its peak was aired on 650 stations.

The show was originally produced in a studio, but during WWII and until 1958, was done live at Long Beach Municipal auditorium.  While the show was live, during the war years, it was also recorded on LP records and aired all over the world for the benefit of our soldiers and other Americans serving abroad.

  Because this was such a widely listened to radio program and because so many of our G.I.’s were sent to the Pacific theatre through Long Beach, the OFRH became a huge Southern California attraction for soldiers on their way to the war who wanted to be part of the huge studio audience.  Other out of state listeners often planned their vacations around being in the studio audience hoping when Charles had them call out where they were from, their family and friends back home would hear them on the show.

  George Barna, the pollster and researcher, credits Fuller with introducing the phrase “personal savior” in reference to Jesus into the evangelical lexicon from his constant use of the phrase in his broadcasts.  Although the program went into decline during the 1960’s as television began overtaking radio, it was by every measurement a great success during its entire history.

  Fuller said his philosophy of broadcasting was to speak to individuals not crowds.  Always when he spoke on the program he had in his mind’s eye people sitting in lonely places listening to their radios for good company and a comforting word.  He was so effective at this that during the program’s hey-day he garnered a weekly audience of about 20 million people.  Every week thousands of letters were received from these listeners, some of them leading quite dissolute lives, but nevertheless loved the program and thought of it as their church.

  Part of the success of the program was Charles Fuller’s sound gift of preaching, but equal to that was its music.  More than half of the program was music which was performed by very talented musicians who worked for the show.  Many who wrote in to the program said they initially didn’t care to hear any preaching but ended up listening to the sermon because they enjoyed the music so much.   Another feature that set the program apart was that Mrs. Grace Fuller would read some of their listener’s letters over the air.  Her calm and reassuring voice was a personal touch that connected with a lot of people.  In fact, if she was not on the program for some reason, many would write in out of great concern.

  Some have suggested that one of the largest factors that helped the OFRH was that it was located in Southern California.  There were several other religious shows on at the time of similar format and length but never as successful.  The fact that Los Angeles California was known as the entertainment capital of America and the world meant Charles Fuller had access to many of the most talented singers, musicians, and producers in the nation.  His show quickly became the one that others imitated.

  Jerry Falwell claims to have been greatly influenced in his conversion by this show when he was a teenager in the 1950’s.  When he was later to rise to prominence in the media, his television show the Old Time Gospel Hour, was greatly influenced by the OFRH.

  In the 1960s the program’s audience went into sharp decline, but so did all radio audiences as well as movie audiences, as television emerged as the leading form of popular family entertainment.  But by every measurement, OFRH remained a successful program until its final broadcast which coincided with Fuller’s death in 1968.  Reruns of the program still continue on the radio today and now there is an online library where you can listen 24 hours a day.

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