50 years ago
President David O. McKay's fireside address on courtship and marriage reached nearly 200,000 youth and their leaders on Jan. 3, 1960, according to the Jan. 9, 1960, Church News.
The fireside originating from the Salt Lake Tabernacle and broadcast via closed-circuit wire launched a series of 12 successive weekly radio-broadcast firesides with General Authorities as speakers.
A congregation estimated at 10,300 overflowed from the Tabernacle and Assembly Hall on Temple Square, according to the article.
It stated: "Then by closed circuit wire or special tape recording, [President McKay's] inspiring message was heard by similar smaller congregations assembled in approximately 170 places.
"The youth and their leaders who composed this great 'audience' came from the 290 stakes of the Church from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic, in Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and New Zealand."
The program in each location included addresses by youth and music by youth choruses along with the broadcast of President McKay's address.
For the radio firesides, young people ages 14-25 gathered in as many as 5,000 small groups under the direction of bishops. The firesides were broadcast over 18 radio stations in the western United States, Canada and Hawaii.
