From country preacher to network prophet

Ever since he was 9 years old, Don Wildmon had been convinced God had something special for him to do. He felt it as a youngster at a revival service in Ripley, Mississippi. As Rev. E.R. Smoot preached, the young boy’s conscience was convicted. Don went forward and gave his heart to the Lord that night in 1947.

Then, in 1951, when Billy Graham held a month-long crusade in Memphis, Tennessee, 13-year-old Don Wildmon sat in the sweltering heat of the Fairgrounds Arena and heard the fiery young preacher address the youth.

“If you want a life full of zest, push, adventure, excitement, gaiety, and thrills, let Him have full control as Lord and Master, not only of your soul but of your life as well,” Graham exhorted, according to a Memphis Press-Scimitar article.

Don rededicated his life to the Lord that evening. He was licensed to preach six years later.

A lifelong dedication

Don certainly dedicated his entire life to the Lord’s service. He went to seminary and was ordained in the United Methodist Church. He wrote “Whatsoever Things,” a daily devotional column syndicated in newspapers around the country. He authored over 15 spiritual books to encourage Christians in their walk.

He pastored churches near Atlanta, Georgia, and then around Iuka, Tupelo, and Southaven, Mississippi. He led multiple tours to the Holy Land. He won denominational accolades for his clever approach to evangelistic outreach.

Then, at age 36, Don resigned from the pastorate.

“After much prayer I sensed that the God I had faithfully endeavored to serve as a pastor was calling me to take a step of faith,” Don recalled in his book The Man the Networks Love to Hate. “So, I informed my congregation that I would be leaving them to devote myself full time to the cause of decent television programming.”

He moved his family back to Tupelo after his kids completed the school year, and he locked in fully on his work with the National Federation for Decency (NFD).

A lesson learned

After the first skirmish against NBC and Campbell’s Soup, Don had learned the value of targeting a single product sponsor. (See The Stand, 8/25.) The problem of boycotting NBC for overall violent programming was that it was too wide a target for too vast a cause. The network always had a way of deflecting both the criticism and the impact. Targeting a specific show or episode seemed to be the better approach, but even then, the networks would find all kinds of reasons to explain away the numbers without conceding a victory to the NFD.

For instance, The Atlanta Journal reported a nationwide drop in television viewership during March’s “Turn the Television Off Week.” However, the Nielsen Rating official being interviewed said that there was historically a drop in viewership during that week of the year. He was unwilling to attribute the lower viewership numbers to Don’s campaign.

But there was no denying it. Don’s activism had religious people talking about television’s impact on society. Momentum for a second “Turn the Television Off Week” grew.

A different approach

In advance of the second campaign, scheduled for July 23–30, 1977, Don took a slightly different approach. Rather than sending out a general call to whomever might be listening, the NFD particularly sought to activate Christians in the key cities of Memphis, Birmingham, Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta, Washington, San Diego, and Chicago, according to The Birmingham News. Also, Sunday, July 24 – the first day of the campaign – was dedicated to a time of prayer for network programmers and TV advertisers, The Commercial Appeal explained.

The public discourse about TV violence intensified throughout 1977. Even the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) hosted public hearings to try and find solutions. Don sensed that the networks might respond to the public backlash – but not necessarily with better programming.

“Television shows this fall will be kinkier, more explicit, and more perverted than ever, while violence is going to be down,” Don predicted in a Commercial Appeal article.

A brand-new ABC sitcom proved him right.

ABC’s Soap was intended to be a 30-minute spoof of daytime soap operas – complete with dripping sarcasm, outlandish plots, and lots of promiscuity. Adultery, homosexuality, nymphomania, impotence, and sex-change operations were all advertised as comedic themes that would be featured during the first season, according to TV Guide. Newsweek reported that Soap was going to be “so saturated with sex that it could replace violence as the PTA’s Video Enemy No. 1.”

The public did not see the show until September, but the first two episodes caused quite a stir when previewed for ABC’s affiliate stations. Two of those affiliates immediately refused to carry the program – with several more on the fence about it. Advertisers, on the other hand, were excited.

“Salaciousness has its rewards,” said Bruce Cox, TV programming director at Compton Advertising. “A lot of people are going to jump on this bandwagon,” he told Newsweek.

Don saw what was happening and quickly made Soap a major part of the call to action for July’s “Turn the Television Off Week.” Nearly 5,000 churches and civic groups participated in the campaign, the Memphis Press-Scimitar reported, and Don personally joined the picket line in Chicago in front of WLS-TV, according to The Birmingham News.

“Soap is the product of sick minds who are intent on promoting their sickness,” Don told the newspapers. “It is the most vulgar show ever to be planned by any network.”

Letters to ABC and its affiliates poured in – 22,000 letters of opposition and disgust, reported California’s North County Times. According to the Chicago Tribune, ABC executives put a tight embargo on the series, barring all producers, writers, and cast from speaking to the press about Soap until further notice. It was already the most talked about new series coming that fall. In terms of marketing, ABC let curiosity draw people to watch.

The other networks watched Soap with a different kind of curiosity: They wondered how the public would respond to all the sex.

“If people accept it on a regular basis and don’t mind it, it’s going to make a big difference in future programming,” Van Gordon Sauter, vice president of program practices for CBS, told Chicago’s The Daily Herald.

The TV writer for The Daily Herald added, “If widely accepted by prime-time audiences, [Soap] would pave the way for a new set of standards and practices for all of television.”

A critical mission

Don knew that the corrosive impact of one hit show – especially one pushing the envelope so decisively – could be staggering. If the networks weren’t going to follow the Television Code, then the “public interest” would be defined by ratings – not morals. Pushing back on this was the NFD’s critical mission.

“Television has become a threat to the cultural and moral basis of our society,” Don told The Delta Democrat. “We, as Christians, can remain silent no longer. It is time for us to awaken our people to the seriousness of the situation and call them to action.”

Don had spent his whole life preparing for what God wanted him to do. The boy from Tippah County just never dreamed that monitoring television was going to be his high calling.