It was on November 12, 1941 that the Reformed Witness Hour went on the air for the first time. The program was known as the Protestant Reformed Hour and Rev. Hoeksema spoke upon the theme: God is God. Sunday, November 17, the Reformed Witness Hour will be broadcast for the 200th time. Perhaps some of you may wonder why in six years of broadcasting we have reached only the 200th mark. It was our custom for several years to broadcast only during the 26 week winter period, going off the air entirely for the summer months. Since this is now impossible due to crowded radio schedules, the Reformed Witness Hour is aired 51 times a year.
200 times! God has privileged us by allowing the Reformed Witness Hour to go out 200 times in the past six years. We have sent it out with humble hearts, praying that God may use it in the interest of His kingdom. We have sent it out as precious seed, knowing that the increase is God’s.
For the period between the first broadcast up to the last broadcast in 1945, the Reformed Witness Hour was sponsored by the Young Men’s Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church. However, on Jan. 1, 1946, the program passed under the control of the Consistory of the First Church, which has retained the old committee to take care of the technical details of the program.
It is interesting to note how a transcribed program such as the Reformed Witness Hour, as in the main, can shift from place to place. We have broadcast in several localities in which we can no longer be heard because of termination of contract by stations unsympathetic to religious broadcasting. At present we are using station W.P.A.T. in Paterson, New Jersey, 8:00-8:30 AM. W.A.A.F., Chicago, Illinois, 8:30-9:00 AM. K.V.O.S. Bellingham (Lynden district) Washington 8:00-8:30 AM. W.H.B.L. Sheboygan, Wisconsin 8:00-8:30 (9:00-9:30 in Michigan) and W.L.A.V. Grand Rapids, Michigan 4:00-4:30 PM.
Looking back we can say Ebenezer, for surely God hath helped us. Looking forward, we pray that God will make us faithful also in this respect, so that we may be faithful and work while it is day, ere the night cometh in which no man can work.