OUT OF THIN AIR

was particularly anxious for the broadcast to work. His wife, a chronic invalid, had not heard him preach for several years.

When Sunday finally came, it was snowy and cold, but the church was packed. All over the Island, those who owned radios turned them on. Because the broadcasters were known personally, and the program was of great local significance, the excitement was intense. I wonder if many people dressed in their Sunday best to listen.

From the moment the choir sang the Doxology to the closing hymn, the program went off without a hitch. It was the second church broadcast in Canada, and the first east of Winnipeg. The first actual Canadian church broadcast originated from Winnipeg a few months earlier.

The response was overwhelming. Mail came from all over the Island and from the mainland as well. Remarks made by Miss Marion Ryan, the daughter of Rev. Ryan, who preached the sermon, capture some of the feeling generated by that broadcast:

...mail began to pour in. . .from places in P.E.I., NB., NS. and the New England states. These letters were from shut—ins and people who, for various reasons were not able to attend church. All spoke of the clarity of reception and of the happiness and blessing it was to be able to share in a service of worship... nowhere did it mean as much as it did in our home. Mother was confined to bed in the parsonage for almost three years. The women of the congregation presented her with a radio—the kind one listened to through earphones...she was able to hear my father preach for the first time in many years. . .I will never forget her joy. . .in being able to share in the music and the messages from the church so near at hand— yet so inaccessible to her.

The future of church broadcasting on the Island assured, the demand for radios increased. As people clamoured for sets, the demand for batteries and parts grew. So did the number of broadcasts. Increasingly, radio was becoming a part of life.

A number of manufacturing concerns were buying up patents and getting into the business of mass producing radios. One of these, the DeForest-Crossley Corporation, approached Dad to carry its line, as did other manufacturers. His new letterhead shows how much he had

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