BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAM

• Eucharist is a television ministry, first broadcast on Easter Day, April 22, 1973, to those who are shut-in or otherwise unable to attend church. The program is a production of King Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the the Diocese of Olympia (the Episcopal Church in Western Washington) and the Northwest Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

• The 30-minute program is aired every Sunday at 5:00 A.M. on KONG-TV channel 16, and on cable channel 6. This viewing audience is estimated in access of 4,000 - 5,000 households, and the program is seen in all of western Washington, in the British Columbia lower mainland and Victoria, and in parts of central Washington..

• The focus of this ministry is on the viewer. Based on viewer response, many who watch are non-Episcopalians, with a sizable number being Roman Catholic. Many viewers do not appear to be associated with any particular church.

• A printed service sheet is available to viewers who request it, and an invitation to request copies is included in each broadcast. It is impossible to estimate the number of printed services that have been mailed out since the inception of the program, except to observe that over 80,000 copies have been used in one way or another during this period.

• The program format is the Episcopal Church's Holy Eucharist: Rite II. Music used is pre-taped at Saint Mark's Cathedral. Clergy presiding at the service are recruited from among the diocesan and synod clergy, and each presider is responsible for bringing lectors and acolytes. Preachers include both Lutheran and Episcopal clergy, as well as clergy from other denominations, and in some instances laity.

• The program is pre-taped at the KING studios, Seattle, on alternate Tuesday at 1:30 PM. Two weeks' services are taped consecutively each time.

• KING provides studio time, technical staff, sets, advertising, and broadcast time at no cost. (The FCC-mandated "public service" requirement for television stations was canceled in 1976.) Estimated cost of each taping for studio and station staff is $500, with broadcast time each week estimated at $1,500, for a total annual donated cost of $104,000.

• The Diocese of Olympia pays the stipend of the producer and for production assistance, including expenses for flowers, telephone and mailing. The current diocesan budget total for the program is $16,000. Occasional unsolicited contributions from viewers are placed in a reserve fund of the diocese and used for miscellaneous and non-bugeted expenses.

• Producing the Television Eucharist program since 1982 is Father E. Michael C. Jackson, assisting priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle. The associate producer is Pastor Julie Hutson, pastor, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church (ELCA), Seattle.