The large sign that sits upon Uptown Baptists bell tower that reads "Christ Died for our Sins" is something that is familiar to all Uptowners. What might not be as well known is that from within that bell tower once was broadcasted a radio station under the call letters WWPC-We Preach Christ Crucified.
In 1906 the church building was constructed for what was then the North Shore Congregational Church on the intersection of Wilson & Sheridan. It was under the ministry of J.C O'Hare that led to both the withdrawl from the congregational denomination (becoming North Shore Church) and in July of 1924,started radio broadcasting on WDBY (known as "We Delight in Bothering You"). The call letters were changed to WPCC (We Preach Christ Crucified) in Dec. 1, 1925. By 1932 O'Hairs radio program became nationally broadcasted.
"We Delight in Bothering" came from the limits of radio receivers at that time, they would pick up what ever station was broadcasting closest.
A classic anecdote is about a woman who ran a brothel upstairs from a bar her husband owned directly across Wilson Avenue from the church building.
As Jordan (Richard Jordan, the last one to preach from the pulpit of North Shore before building was sold) tells the story, “Every day, at four o’clock in the afternoon, O’Hair came on with his radio broadcast and, well, it kind of messed up the music in the bar and in the brothel. It makes it rough when ‘Nothing but the Blood’ is being sung and the gospel’s being preached.
“One day she got mad enough and determined, ‘I’m going to put that preacher in his place.’ She stormed across the street, went inside and there was Pastor O’Hair, standing behind the glass screen with the microphone and he’s preaching.
“He sees her walk in and sit down, so he turns to her and preaches the gospel directly to her and she sat on that desk and got saved that day. Well, obviously it changed the business across the street. Her husband never got saved, but she did and wound up in the mission fields in South America for almost 50 years!”
-Lisa Leland (www.lisaleland.com)
J.C. O'Hair was the pastor of North Shore Church and continued his radio broadcast until 1958 when he passed away.
