July 28, 1926.
7:30 p.m.
A voice rises from a Chicago studio microphone and spills through the airwaves, crackling to life on radios across the region:
“I want you to know Him.”
One hundred years later, Moody Radio continues to invite listeners to know Christ through 69 full-power stations and translators alongside a growing digital media ministry. Throughout the decades, Moody Radio has remained faithful to its purpose while advancing Christian communication into new mediums.
That same vision helped shape NRB from the beginning, with Moody playing a key role in establishing the association in 1944.
On-air production in 1940. // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
“It’s always been about biblical truth,” said Wes Ward, vice president of Moody Radio. “And the hero of the story is God and the person and work of Jesus. Those that came before us rose to the occasion, and they had courage — so should we.”
In honor of the ministry’s 100th anniversary, NRB sat down with Wes Ward as well as Phil Shappard, a retired Moody employee who has spent years exploring the ministry’s historical archives. Shappard recently published “This is Moody Radio” with colleague Kevin Mungons, a coffee table book telling the stories that shaped the ministry through each decade.
Ward and Shappard shared the stories, innovations, and insights that have shaped one of the nation’s longest-standing religious radio networks and continues to influence generations of Christian media professionals.
A DNA of faithfulness
Ward worked for a Moody affiliate station in Texas before coming to the Chicago headquarters in the 1990s as the national program director for WMBI, its flagship station that debuted in 1926.
“I love the arts and media, but I also want to reach as many people as I can with the Gospel,” said Ward, who returned to the organization in 2022 to serve as vice president. “Moody’s missional DNA, their history, drew me in.”
While Ward cannot remember his first day on the job, he remembers feeling awestruck by the legacy he was stepping into.
“Those people that came before me were faithful — will I be found faithful?” he wondered. “It’s funny, that was day-one feelings and now it’s how I feel day-to-day, still.”
Moody Radio’s history of faithfulness is animated by an innovative and evangelistic spirit.
Shappard’s exploration of the archives sheds light on how it all began.
“The greatest pioneering spirit was the start of the station,” Shappard said. “There were three men — Mr. Olson, Mr. Gaylord, and Henry Coleman Crowell — these three started praying in 1923 for a radio frequency. They called it a ‘wavelength’ back in those days.”
When a transmitter went up for auction, Crowell bought it for $6,500. The men established the transmitter and two supporting towers on the rooftops of buildings on the Moody Bible Institute campus before they even acquired a frequency.
Months later, they leased broadcast time from WENR. Several months after that, they got a license to begin their own broadcast, and the first WMBI broadcast went on the air on July 28, 1926.
Moody Radio towers, Feb. 18, 1926. // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
Moody’s early leg-up
“In those days, if you had a frequency on the radio band, you had parity with all the other radio stations,” Shappard said. “Musicians had to be sweet-sounding to catch and to keep the ears of people going across the dial.”
While a few Christian radio stations had launched before WMBI, Moody had two advantages.
The first was Crowell’s engineering experience at Yale University.
From the beginning, Crowell ensured that Moody Radio used quality and innovative broadcasting equipment. The pure sound of the station caught the attention of listeners, including the Chicago Tribune which published a piece that called WMBI’s first program “high class in every sense of the word.”
First WMBI studio. // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
The second advantage? A wealth of talented students from the Moody Bible Institute.
“They were right there on campus, and they would sign up to perform on the radio station,” Shappard said. “Other Christian radio stations … didn’t have the deep reservoir of talent to pull from.”
In the earliest decades of radio, audiences criticized recorded programming as lower quality, dubbing it “canned radio.” Regulators responded by banning records, favoring stations that could afford performers around-the-clock. Many small stations suffered from a lack of content.
Moody Radio, however, filled the airwaves with performances by students of varying experience, many of whom went on to distinguished careers. Among them was perhaps the youngest person ever accepted at Moody, 16-year-old Bob Cook who played his violin on air in the station’s earliest days. Dr. Cook later served as president of NRB from 1985 to 1988.
WMBI trombone trio, early 1950s. // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
The practices behind the endurance
How has Moody Radio remained faithful to its founding purpose — to help people know Christ — through 100 years of leadership transitions, technological advances, and cultural challenges?
Both Ward and Shappard credited the educational institution, its faculty, and its trustees with giving the station a broader foundation and long-term vision than radio alone could provide.
“That really helps steer,” Shappard said, “and it keeps everybody in the organization all on one track, which is a challenge in a culture that’s constantly changing.”
1930 Morning Glory Club // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
Ward also emphasized the character and faith of every employee.
“I care more about depth over breadth,” Ward said. “We have to authenticate the faith that we proclaim, so behind the scenes, I’m listening for people to be just like they are on the air. Microphones and platforms are occupational hazards for anybody in media, and I think Moody has always taken it seriously.”
Pride is a pitfall at the edge of any public platform. While the people at Moody readily confess their imperfection, they also take seriously the responsibility to steward their stations.
Within a year of the station’s first broadcast, a hand-lettered sign hung on the studio while preachers recording over the air could see it: “The Holy Spirit May Use Your Message to Save a Soul. Deliver It Prayerfully.”
A matching sign hung where singers could see it: “Your Song May Be Used to Save a Soul. Sing It Prayerfully.”
Question Hour, 1929. // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
As the station moved locations over the years, these words moved with it.
Dependence on God permeates Moody’s history. A few months ago, Ward added daily prayer opportunities to the office calendar to foster a culture of prayer.
Shappard also recalls annually signing a statement of faith during his time at the organization. At the bottom of the statement were the words: “Approved by the Board of Trustees of Moody Bible Institute, 1928.”
The challenge of a changing culture
As the surrounding culture has gone through innumerable transformations and trials in the last hundred years, Moody’s mission and faith have never wavered.
Ward has witnessed a shift in popular worldviews since coming on staff at Moody in 1986. Things that once seemed stable — biological reality, family structure, etc. — now seem unstable.
“We’ve been messed up since Adam and Eve,” Ward said. “But I will say from 1986 to present, culture is rough. … [It] doesn’t matter which side you’re on, everybody can see something’s not right here.”
Through the ups and downs of cultural turmoil, Christian radio offered hope and stability to listeners. The team at Moody Radio strives to connect with a changing world while remaining anchored in the unchanging truth of God’s Word.
Know Your Bible Club rally in 1938. // Photo courtesy of Phil Shappard, Moody Radio.
“I’m wanting to make sure that the communicators I have on Moody Radio and the communicators I’m raising up in social media or podcasts are truly equipped to be helpful to the church, believers, and non-Christians right now versus just adding more noise,” Ward said.
Moody Radio’s staff today lean on the example of those who lead the station through difficult seasons in the past.
When the Roaring 20s crumbled into the Great Depression, Moody Radio continued broadcasting despite dwindling funds.
When families sent their sons to the South Pacific and Europe to fight in World War II, the station focused on the comforting promises of the Bible.
Shappard recalls gathering with his crew to watch the news on Sept. 11, 2001. A normal program was out of the question. Instead, the team walked with their listeners by offering their own feelings, regular updates, and interpretation of the national events, reminding listeners that God is present even on the darkest days.
“At the intersection of hurt and deep need, Moody Radio has been there,” Shappard said. “It’s like having a friend step beside you in a crisis to hold your hand and remind you that things are going to be okay.”
The next 100 years
Throughout its history, Moody Radio has been pioneering new ways to reach people with the Gospel. From live performances to cutting tapes to satellite broadcast, the radio program has seized opportunities to use new technologies for Christ. Today, the radio program is one branch of the broader Moody Global Media which has programs on almost every digital platform.
“When I came, part of the assignment was: keep your hand on the Moody radio plow — we’re not done with radio — but also re-engineer and help bring up a Moody media mix,” Ward said.
Ward encourages his team to be “channel agnostic, people centric, and Gospel driven.” He looks forward to strengthening Moody’s presence online while always keeping an eye open for new formats and opportunities.
WMBI “Tower Studios” that were in use from 1939-2019.
“My vision has been that within 10 years, we could be reaching 100 million people weekly with the Gospel,” Ward said. “Wherever people get their content, that’s where Moody needs to be.”
With 100 years behind it, the ministry plans to continue faithfully sharing the Gospel as long as people need Jesus, with a continuing emphasis on quality production.
Ward believes Christian media should be excellent on its own merits while also being “infused with the goodness of Christ where people want know more about Him, because of the quality of the media and the truth of the Gospel.”
When asked how friends can be praying for Moody, Ward asked for more opportunities to serve the Spanish-speaking community and to work with global partners. Shappard also asked friends to pray for wisdom and support for the ministry, especially as the Moody Bible Institute welcomes Rick Melson as its new president.
“Time is short; people need Jesus,” Ward said. “We need to be nimble and modernize, not to be trendy or to be shiny but to reach more people effectively, faster.”
Moody Radio is a founding member of NRB. To learn more, check out “This is Moody Radio,” or visit moodyradio.org.
A constitutional convention was called for September 21, 1944, at Chicago’s Moody Memorial Church. As delegates assembled in the cavernous auditorium of the historic church, President Wil Houghton of Moody Bible Institute, the unofficial host of the meeting, suggested all discussion be put aside for the moment. “Let us give ourselves,” he said, “to prayer.” On that day, National Religious Broadcasters was literally born in prayer as delegates each brought the new organization before the Lord according to their own manner of praying. “The very presence of God,” said one awestruck broadcaster, Glenn Tingley of the Radio Revival Hour program, “seemed to come down upon us.”
– Excerpt from Mark Ward, Sr.’s “Air of Salvation: The Story of Christian Broadcasting,” 1994.