2023-05-18 18:45:55
On May 18, 1923, a cult was broadcast for the first time on French-speaking radio. Live from Cointrin, Pastor Raoul Dardet transmits prayers, readings and a sermon using an improvised transmitter.
Only seven months following the creation of Radio Romande, a pastor therefore understands the opportunity offered by this new medium for the Word, with a capital “P”, to be conveyed and transmitted.
Alex Reed of 12:30 p.m. Friday, Mathias Wirz, producer of the cult broadcast every Sunday on Espace 2, was able to immerse himself in these sound archives. Archives which make it possible to retrace a whole section of our history, such as when Pastor André Bovon speaks to Swiss soldiers, a few days following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany: “He is the winner who advances, knowing where he goes, and holding firm in the face of the attacks of the devil, in the face of weariness, in the face of discouragement”, we can then hear him say.
“Historical events bring people together. They create a communion in a fairly broad way and this is also transmitted in worship. It was precisely at this time that Catholics also began to invest in the radio medium, to transmit masses”, explains Mathias Wirz.
>> Reread the large format on the 100 years of radio cults: The Gospel on the Air: 100 Years of Radio Worship (1923-2023)
A fund that remains, means that change
A hundred years later, cults have kept their place on the airwaves, and even seen their audience grow on certain occasions, such as during the coronavirus pandemic.
But if the DNA remains the same, the technical means have changed a lot. “We are no longer in a makeshift studio. For several decades, we have been traveling to different places where assemblies gather to celebrate. It is therefore the choice of live on site to share it with a wider audience than the only ten or hundreds of faithful who gather in the temples”, concludes Mathias Wirz.
Note that this hundredth anniversary will continue to be celebrated on Espace 2 until the summer, with extracts from the archives at the start of the hour, in order to recall some of the key moments of this radio tradition.
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