The countdown to the telecast was unnerving, but when the on-the-air light on the camera lit up, William and Virginia Fagal were prepared, ready to greet their viewers with a warm welcome. By the end of the program, the Fagals were both elated and exhausted. In only six weeks they had chosen a name, decided on format and content, arranged for music, and prepared themselves for hosting and starring in a religious program on the relatively new medium of television. In spite of their inexperience and few guidelines to follow, they had succeeded in launching a religious broadcast enterprise for the Seventh-day Adventist church that has continued in various forms for over a half-century.

Fagal, a pastor-evangelist in the New York City area since 1944, had been doing a radio program on Sundays for the past six years. In late 1949, he began a serious discussion with a leader at the General Conference about the value of having a television program, convinced this was a medium with a great future.

The centerpiece of the first program was an interview with Walter Ralls, a history teacher who talked about current events in light of history and his concerns about the future. This conversation led naturally into remarks by Fagal and observations about Daniel 2. Music by the quartet was interspersed throughout the program and at the end, after Virginia had invited listeners to send for a free Bible course.

Because of the rushed start for the East Coast telecast, the quartet singing on the first program was an interim group that included James Littlefield and Norman Round, students from Atlantic Union College, singing first tenor and bass; Walter Isensee, a friend of the Fagals, as second tenor; and a student from Westminster Choir College singing baritone. When school resumed at the end of the summer, the three students left the quartet.

Herbert Hohensee, a music teacher from Union College who was on a graduate study leave at Westminster, joined the quartet as baritone in October on a part-time basis until February, when he was hired to sing full-time. Two non-Adventist professionals were paid to sing during the year until the summer of 1951, when Harold Lickey, first tenor, and Lyle Jewell, bass, were hired to form what is now regarded as the first Faith for Today Quartet. This group remained intact for the next three years.1

Singing in the quartet was demanding and time consuming work. The pressures on the members and their young families, along with the stress of living in or commuting to New York City, led to several quartet personnel changes during its sixteen years of existence. Stan Schleenbaker, who sang in the quartet in its final years, recalled singing in five different quartets in his seven years with the group. Hohensee would become the member with the longest tenure, serving as group leader for thirteen years, until 1963.2

The first organist, Retta Rippey Valerio, was a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and organist in the Washington Avenue SDA Church in Brooklyn, where Fagal was pastor. A friend of the Fagal family, having also worked with them in evangelistic meetings, Valerio, along with Robert Quade, served as organist on Faith for Today in its first two years.

Elaine Giddings joined the FFT staff in 1951. A gifted writer and producer, she helped create and prepare professional quality fifteen-minute dramatic skits, a key part of the program.

The chair refused to declare the vote, asking the group if they indeed did not want a television program sponsored by the church. Fagal was invited to speak and pointed out how God had blessed the program and talked about its successful soul winning efforts. After two other leaders also spoke in defense of continuing the program, another vote was taken. The previous action was repudiated by the same margin that had led to its earlier passage.3

As the program format continued to evolve and the production became more complex, there were some harrowing moments, since the telecast was being presented live. A significant production step was taken in 1955, when filming the program in black and white began, creating what were known as kinescopes. In 1962, filming in color began, an innovative and visionary practice which predated the introduction of color telecasts.

The use of film and audio recordings eased the pressure on the musicians, who until this time were performing live with no margin for error. Numerous audio retakes were possible now and when the program was finally filmed, the quartet sang along with the audio recording, off mike, so that their physical effort in singing looked natural. When a piano was used, the player simply played along on a silent piano to previously recorded music.4

From his first year at FFT, quartet member Hohensee was involved with other aspects of the program. He had established the first in-house offset printing press, helped organize tracking records for those who contributed and requested materials, and was in charge of the audio aspects of mixing and production. In that position, he oversaw post-production work on the show, including the creation of the sound track used with the film.

By the middle of the 1960s, the pressure of this schedule, plus the desire on the part of some of the quartet members to pursue other careers, led to a dissolution of the quartet in the fall of 1966. Fagal was also feeling financial pressures with dramatically increasing production costs at a time when the church was phasing out its financial support of the program. This also became a factor in deciding whether to continue with the quartet. Organist Van Knauss continued until the following spring, when he accepted a music teaching position at Columbia Union College.5

The quartet's final appearance was in June 1966 at the General Conference Session held at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. On this occasion they sang alone as a quartet and jointly with the VOP quartet, the King's Heralds, a collaboration that had happened several times previously.6

The quartet's filmed recordings, along with those of guest soloists, music ensembles, and school groups, which were also recorded ahead of time, were used as needed. This flexibility was facilitated by increasingly sophisticated recording, filming, and production methods.

The day begins for us with worship in the Bible school for everyone at 8:00. After worship we care for miscellaneous responsibilities until 9:00, when we begin to rehearse new songs and prepare a song for recording.

About once every two weeks, we go to the film studio and "shoot" from three to six songs. Make-up is applied to each of us to create evenness of skin tones. We will be illuminated by as much as 50,000 watts. We also sometimes do on-location filming in natural settings.