Collection ID:

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Council of Churches of Buffalo and Erie County
Abstract:
Since 1954, beginning with the Council of Churches of Buffalo and Erie County, media has played an important role in disseminating the messages of this ecumenical organization with educational, spiritual and informative television and radio broadcasts. There are 31 banker boxes (16 X 12.5 X 11 inches) of TV program recordings created by the Council of Churches and the Network of Religious Communities. They consist of BETA SPs (which have been digitized), DVDs, and VHS formats. The collection also includes several boxes of nationally produced LPs that were used during programming. Content includes local, national and international topics. An inventory of programs (2000-2021) can be found in this finding aid.
Extent:
31 bankers boxes (16 X 12.5 X 11 inches) of BETA SP, VHS and DVD and 100 digitized programs available on the Youtube Channel of the Network of Religious Communities and/or the Vimeo account for the Network of Religious Communities or an internal hard drive
Language:
English

Background

Scope and Content:

These TV programs were designed to highlight local Buffalo religious leaders and their communities discussing a multitude of projects including race, religion, poverty, religious holidays, immigration, healthcare and international events.

Biographical / Historical:

The first locally produced TV program by the Council of Churches of Buffalo and Erie County was in August 1954 with a 15 minute program on the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches. This recording is not part of the current collection. The broad purpose of these initial 15 minute programs was to demonstrate to the public the wide scope of Protestant church activities.

By 1959, the Council had created a Radio/TV Committee and sponsored 5 television programs ("Your Church Invitation" aired on WGR-TV, "Talk Back" aired on WBEN-TV, "Buffalo At Worship", "Search", "This is the Answer". Unfortunately, these recordings are not part of the current collection.

Over the years, the names and length of TV programs varied based on staffing, volunteers, access to time donated by TV stations and other unnamed factors.

"Challenge for the 20th Century", a program about Spirituality and Healthcare, was a successor to other TV programs that preceded it and was shown starting in the 1980's - the 2010s. A select few of these are available in the collection.

"In Process" was also a successor to other programming and was produced and shown between 1989 and 2016. "In Process" was a program about public issues and religious communities.

The program "Kaleidoscope," produced in conjunction with Canisius College Video Institute, is a half hour TV program of and about the religious communities of WNY. It is broadcast during time dedicated to local nonprofit organizations on a local TV channel and repeated now on Spectrum Cable TV. "Kaleidoscope" started in the 1990's and continues to the current time. Archives of recent programs can be found on the NRC Youtube Channel and Vimeo.

Radio programming generally started in the 1940s with regular contacts with the five radio stations in the Buffalo area at that time. The first program mentioned was a boys and girls program called "All Aboard for Adventure." It was a radio series distributed by the Joint Radio Committee of the Congregational Christian, Methodist and Presbyterian USA Church. Additionally, there were one minute prayers at 6 pm Monday through Saturday. These programs are not part of the current collection.

The current radio program is called "Crossroads" and 52 half hour programs have been produced. This program is currently ongoing hosted by seven people representing different religious traditions and perspectives. This enables guests to share their beliefs, practices and journeys with emphasis on how they and their religious community serve our region.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Online content

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

The digitized collection of media can be found in two places: You Tube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JRiKPagn4jzVQ53sji8Lg) and Vimeo: (https://vimeo.com/search?q=Network%20of%20Religious%20Communities). Additional copies of some of the TV programs have been preserved on an internal hard drive but may be available on request. The physical copies of the media can be found at the Network of Religious Communities building and are available upon request from the organization.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted: Http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-Edu/1.0/

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
1272 Delaware Ave
Buffalo, NY 14209, United States
CONTACT:
716-882-4793