The WTS had at least 2 radio stations up until the 1950's but only appeared on TV from time to time and had movies shown around convention times.
*** jv chap. 7 p. 80 Advertise the King and the Kingdom! (1919-1941) ***WBBR, in New York, was operated by the Watch Tower Society from 1924 until 1957
*** jv chap. 25 p. 572 Preaching Publicly and From House to House ***Although radio and television broadcasts have been used to spread the Kingdom message, Jehovah’s Witnesses recognize that the personal contact made possible by house-to-house calls is far more effective. It affords better opportunity to answer the questions of individual householders and to search out deserving ones. (Matt. 10:11) That is one of the reasons why, in 1957, the Watch Tower Society sold radio station WBBR in New York.
*** w87 5/1 p. 28 Looking Back Over 93 Years of Living ***Radio and Convention Privileges
I continued serving at the Colporteur Desk until 1926. In the meantime, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society had established on Staten Island its first radio station, WBBR. That was in 1924. I had the joyous privilege of serving on the Society’s programs, not only delivering speeches but also rendering tenor solos, and even playing the mandolin to piano accompaniment. Further, I sang second tenor in our WBBR male quartet. Of course, Brother Rutherford, as the president of the Society, was the featured speaker over WBBR and had a vast listening audience.
*** g84 12/8 pp. 6-7 Modern Inventions Used to Publish the Good News ***Marconi’s InventionTransmits Good News
Guglielmo Marconi received the first wireless signal from across the Atlantic in 1901. But it was not until 1920 that KDKA, the world’s first radio station to operate on a daily schedule, began to broadcast from East Pittsburgh. So what a surprise for many in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware when in April 1922 they heard the voice of J. F. Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, presenting a lecture with the theme “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” The novelty of it all can be seen from the headline in the Philadelphia Record: “Judge Rutherford’s Lecture Broadcasted from Metropolitan Opera House. Talks into Transmitter. Message is Carried Over Miles of Bell Telephone Wires to Howlett’s [Radio] Station.”
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was quick to see the possibilities for rapid transmission of the Kingdom message by radio, which was growing in popularity. Thus in 1922 the Society purchased land on Staten Island, New York City, to build its own radio station. A government license was obtained and the Society’s station was assigned the call letters WBBR. The first broadcast was made on Sunday, February 24, 1924.
This was just the beginning of the Watch Tower Society’s use of radio. By 1925 another radio station, call sign WORD, was broadcasting Bible truth from Batavia, Illinois. Eventually worldwide networks of radio stations were set up to broadcast recorded Bible programs and discourses. By 1933, the peak year, 408 stations were being used to carry the message to six continents!
In 1957, after 33 years of broadcasting, the Society sold WBBR. Why the change of policy? Because there were now many congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the area covered by the station, and they were able to give a more effective person-to-person witness by calling at the homes of the people. (Acts 20:20) Furthermore, the station and programs tied up manpower and money that could be better used in other ways, especially in the missionary field. For similar reasons television has been used sparingly.
