Turn the Television Off Week

M.D. Perkins AFS Director & Producer MORE

Sex, violence and profanity on television. It was there for anyone to see. Don Wildmon—and everyone else—had simply chosen to ignore it. But not anymore. Don was fed up. He wasn’t quite sure what needed to happen next but he was done looking the other way.

That December evening around the TV in 1976 was a point of reckoning for the Methodist minister. What images had been passively watched by his children on television? What attitudes toward sex, violence, and profanity were being presented in these programs? In more Christian terms—how was the world discipling people through the medium of network television? Whatever the answers to these questions, Don knew it would be good for the souls of Christians to take a step back from their TV sets.

Despite his personal convictions, Don also knew what he needed to say would be unpopular. There would be some—perhaps many—in his congregation who would resist the message. What he had was a hunch and he went to the local library to see if he could flesh out his concern in more detail.

As it turned out, many social scientists were talking about television. Psychologists especially had become very concerned about the impact of TV violence on children. Numerous studies existed, with articles in Newsweek and Ladies Home Journal and more academic publications. There was even a 1974 report by the scientific advisory committee to the Surgeon General. The studies weren’t all straight forward because some studies were paid for by TV networks in order to discredit any criticism they received—but there was plenty of material to read.

It was shocking to see it in cold, hard numbers. In the late 1970s, the average American television set was turned on for at least six hours a day with most adults devoting more time to television viewing than to any other activity besides sleep or work. Preschoolers averaged about 23 hours of TV a week. At the time of graduation, a teenager in the 1970s would likely have spent 15,000 hours in front of the television as compared with 12,000 hours in class.ⁱ However, for Don, the concern wasn’t merely the quantity of TV viewing but also the quality of the content being broadcast.

The average kindergartener in 1976 was likely to view between 11,000 and 13,000 TV killings by the age of fifteen.ⁱⁱ This figure didn’t even include other violent acts such as fist fights, muggings, or beatings that were a mainstay on network TV. “No wonder the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that my wife and kids are 50 percent more likely to be victimized by violent crime today than they were 10 years ago,” Don observed.ⁱⁱⁱ

With data in hand, Don was ready to present the church with his response: “Turn the Television Off Week.”

The concept was simple: avoid watching TV for an entire week in order to cultivate other interests, especially time spent with family. No Johnny Carson. No Fonzie. No Starsky & Hutch. No college sports. No evening news. No Saturday morning cartoons. For one week, people would go completely cold turkey.

The campaign was planned for February 27 through March 5, 1977 at First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi. But there needed to be another step. Personal convictions are fine—but they give no opportunity for public witness until you tell somebody about them. Don told his people to call each Memphis network affiliate to explain why they would not be watching TV during that particular week. And on the Tuesday after Christmas, he wrote up a one-page press release and sent it to all the media outlets in the Memphis area.

The next day, Don went about his normal Wednesday activities. As was his habit, after visiting sick congregants in the hospital, he called in to the church office to check his messages. Today, however, he found his secretary in hysterics.

“Where have you been? This phone’s been ringing off the hook all morning!” she exclaimed. “Channel 5 and Channel 3 both called and want to interview you for their six o’clock news. Several radio stations have called and I just got off the line with a writer who works for the Commercial Appeal.”^iv

Don rushed back to the office and filled the rest of his day with news interviews and radio talk shows. “Turn the Television Off Week” was catching on.

When a Memphis correspondent for The Associated Press sent the story out over the newswire, even more calls came in from all across the nation. From Florida to Arizona, Louisiana to Michigan, Wyoming to Delaware, “Pastor Calls for Television Turn-Off” (or some variation on the headline) was all over the place.

Calls and letters poured in. Some curious, most supportive. Moms, dads, and grandparents wrote in. Business executives, teachers, truck drivers, doctors, lawyers, homemakers, and factory workers all wrote in. People from every walk of life were relieved that someone was finally addressing their concerns. The more Don heard from others the more that underlying temptation to think “maybe it’s just me” began to dissipate.

On January 3, 1977, Don announced that he had sent a telegram to President Jimmy Carter, asking him to join the nationwide effort. “He may think I’m a quack,” Don told The Associated Press, “But I hope he will join in with us.”^v Don sent letters to numerous other public officials too, including the governors of all fifty states.^vi Although President Carter never responded, the news stories around Don continued to circulate.

As Don had hoped, other churches began to link arms. The Church of God—America’s oldest Pentecostal denomination—announced their full support of “Turn the Television Off Week.”^vii From Don’s estimates, between 800 and 1,000 churches and civic organizations had joined in the effort by the middle of February.^viii During the week of the campaign, Memphis TV stations reported 1,379 calls from local citizens supporting Don’s efforts.^ix One housewife in Boulder, Colorado announced she was draping her TV in black for the week to acknowledge “the death of decency on the TV airwaves.”^x

“Turn the Television Off Week” wasn’t without its detractors, however. Jackson Sun columnist Delores Ballard wrote a couple of sarcastic missives denigrating Don’s efforts. Rev. Beverly Asbury (Vanderbilt University chaplain) called the campaign “a case of being dramatic.”^xi Dr. Paul Stevens, president of the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission, said he declined to respond to Don’s request to participate because, “I don’t believe in boycotting or cutting off television. I don’t believe it will do any good at all.” Prominent Methodist minister from Fort Worth, Dr. Barry Bailey, went so far as to call the protest itself “a subtle form of violence.”^xii

As far as Don was concerned, by the time February 27^th rolled around, the campaign was already a success. He had grown a private concern from his own den in Southaven, Mississippi to a public talking point that was generating commentary and action nationwide. But it was only a first step.

That’s why, in the middle of “Turn the Television Off Week,” Don announced he would be leaving the pulpit ministry at First Methodist and beginning a new organization that would continue the work the campaign had begun. This new group would deal with television, the rise of pornography on the newsstands and generally “promote decency in our American Society.”^xiii It would be called the National Federation for Decency.

[This is the second part of an on-going series of historical snapshots from the history of AFA. To watch the documentary Culture Warrior: Don Wildmon and the Battle for Decency for FREE, go to culturewarrior.movie