To the men of radio—to the makers of music— and to you the listeners – Sunday, July 19, 1959
In a significant sentence Sir Richard Livingstone once said: “The young, whether they know it or not, live on borrowed property.”1 At all ages, young or old, we all borrow much, and we are deeply aware today, at the beginning of’ our thirty-first year on the air, of’ the borrowing we have done, and of the debt we owe to too many to mention.
To begin with, we are borrowing much today front the music of Handel—and how could one really pay for his immortal and moving music—or for all the other music of these many years—for glorious hymns and anthems, classic and contemporary, for the comforting and meaningful words, of great men and great minds, for the inspired words of scripture that the Lord God has given, all of which we have freely used and freely shared for thirty years on the air.
How could we really pay the debt we feel to the men of inventive minds whose discovery and use of God-given physical laws and forces have made possible our presenting “music and the spoken word” through radio’s marvelous medium.
How could we pay the debt for the time and investment of many men: of the Columbia Broadcasting System and others also: the affiliated stations, the managers, the owners, the operators; for the time and talent of conductors and organists, for the God-given voices of those whose sweet singing stirs our souls.
To all of you, too numerous to mention, you the men of radio, you the makers of music, to all of you we owe a debt, and here acknowledge it—not forgetting you the listeners who have been so gracious in your warm and wonderful response, and in your permitting us each week to come into your homes and into your hearts. Well, we know that entering another man’s home or heart, by any means, with any idea or influence, is a trust that is sacred and sobering.
Thanks to all of you—and to the Lord God, the Father of us all, whose children we all are, and who has given us so much in common, so much of beauty, so much of truth, so much of opportunity, with the blessed assurance of the everlastingness of all that is most meaningful, with life and loved ones, always and forever, all of which we acknowledge most gratefully.
In the spirit of the hymn which now we hear: “Praise God, From Whom all Blessings Flow.”
1 Sir Richard Livingstone (quoted by Robert Redfield in Creation and Education)
July 19, 1959
Broadcast Number 1,561