I Heard It First on the Radio — Love Song to My Life

Bill grew up on a farm in a part of Indiana where the land is flat and the corn, hay, soy bean, and wheat fields stretch clear to the horizon. This is the region where the prairie begins, reaching across Illinois and on through Nebraska--the breadbasket of the world.

So many Indiana farm boys like Bill grew up learning to bale hay, thresh wheat, and shuck corn--by machine, of course. Many a midwestern farm boy took over his father’s farm before small farmers were squeezed into oblivion by huge agribusiness investors. Other boys aspired to attend technological schools, hoping to secure management positions in one of the auto-related industries that pumped lifeblood into the midwestern economy.

Bill, however, was something of a mutation. Allergic to the hay fields and not the least bit mechanically inclined, he spent his Saturdays and after-school hours pretending to broadcast to the neighbors out of the upstairs window of the old farmhouse where he grew up. Mornings and evenings, while milking the cows his father raised, he would tune in one of the "clear channel" stations from Nashville, Atlanta, or Memphis on the dust-covered old barn radio. That's where he first heard the rich harmony of the quartets and family groups from the South.

At first it was just the rhythms and the harmonies that captured his heart. But the more he listened, the more the messages began to sink in. The radio became his lifeline to another world, another reality.

Although they didn't completely understand this strange child, his parents encouraged his dreams. When he went to school in the mornings, young William left instructions for his mother to record on their wire recorder (the forerunner of the tape recorder) the gospel music radio shows that came on in the afternoon. If a group he loved came on while he was in the fields helping his dad in the summer; his mother would run across the farm to let him know.

Family vacations became trips to hear these groups in person at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville or the Quartet Convention in Memphis. Never did he miss an opportunity to attend the "singings" at Cadle Tabernacle in Indianapolis when the groups came to Indiana.

Meanwhile, Bill was becoming involved in his local church and teaching his little sister and younger brother to sing harmony. He was learning the words to the songs the best groups sang, words with meaning and content.

Many influences play a part in bringing each of us to a personal encounter with God: pastors, teachers, godly parents, old saints, great writers and communicators who express God's love with passion and compassion. But Bill would probably tell you that the singing groups he heard on the radio were among the most important influences in his young life.

Over the years we have received many letters and e-mails telling us stories of the part radio played in someone else's conversion, encouragement, healing, or enlightenment. New communications technology emerges every day. But for countless thousands like Bill Gaither, it was, and continues to be, radio that carried the message that changed their lives. Only eternity will reveal how many will be assembled around the great white throne because they “heard it first on the radio."

I, too, grew up with great songs that have become a part of my life and experience. In writing the words to this song, I made a list of the songs that have influenced us both. Fitting their content and words into a new poetry was a crossword puzzle of a challenge, but how I love to hear again the texts that have been the themes of or our spiritual journey.

I Heard It First On The Radio

Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so—
And I heard it first on the radio.
This love of God so rich and strong
Shall be the saint's and angel's song
I heard it first on the radio.
Amazing grace-how sweet the sound—
The lost and lonely can be found,
And grace can even save a wretch like me!
No other love could make a way;
No other love my debts could pay,
And I heard it first on the radio.

Needing refuge for my soul
When I had no place to go—
I heard it first on the radio.
From a life of wasted years,
He gave me peace and calmed my fears—
And I heard it first on the radio.
Had I not heard, where would I be
Without this love that lifted me
When I was lost and nothing else would help?
Just as I was without one plea,
Sweet Jesus came and rescued m—
And I heard it first on the radio;
Yes, I heard it first on the radio.

Alas, and did my Savior bleed
That captive spirits could be freed
And I heard it first on the radio.
My soul has found a resting place
Until I meet Him face-to-face,
And I heard it first on the radio.
I love to tell the story true,
And those who know still love it too;
Oh, what a precious Friend we have in Him!
And when in glory saints will tell,
‘Twill be the theme they love so well—
And I heard it first on the radio.
Yes. I heard it first on the radio.

Sign Up