Religious Series Producer/Director Martin Hoade Has Died

Religious series programmer Martin Hoade died on September 26 at the age of 90. Mr. Hoade was interviewed by Michael Rosen for the Archive of American Television on November 23, 2002.

Martin Hoade on his shows:

Was I interested in religious issues? No, I was just interested in the human condition. As far as religion illuminates or instructs the human condition. Since the vehicle is drama or commentary or conversations, I found that more interesting than the commercial work.... As the dramas progressed, I asked if we could drop the visual identification, The Catholic Hour or The Frontiers of Faith or the The Eternal Light, superimposed over the opening scene of a drama. I felt that if we could do that, what was to follow, the word was in the drama, not in that title and so it was agreed that we would drop the titles over those dramas and only at the end of the program we said this program has been produced "in association with." So those titles were lost early on when we went into the dramas, because it seemed to diminish our access. And that was agreeable, they understood that. Because the faith groups were interested in getting out the word as they saw it contained in that script, which they approved.

Interview description:
Martin Hoade was interviewed for over three hours in New York, NY. Mr. Hoade recalled his early days in television working for NBC, on programs such as newsreels and political conventions. He talked about his move into religious programming as the producer and director of NBC’s Sunday morning religious program wheel, which was comprised of the series Frontiers of Faith, The Catholic Hour, and The Eternal Light. He spoke of the craft involved in producing religious programming as well as the issue of proselytizing and of religious programming in general.

The interview can be viewed at the Television Academy headquarters in North Hollywood, CA. Martin Hoade was also featured as an interviewee in Jeff Kisseloff's The Box: An Oral History of Television 1920-61.