Open Door – a tribute to Bud Frimoth

In the seventies, radio stations had to donate time to public radio shows. Of course the time dedicated to these shows weren’t on busy Friday nights or commuting time. These shows would be on in the early mornings, and other off time people weren’t listening. However, I milked cows from five am to 8 am, and always played the radio when I did so. That is how I found a radio show called Open Door, over almost fifty years ago.

Open Door was a radio show that came from the Presbyterian Church in Portland Oregon. It was the Seventies, when shows such as such as “God Spell” and “Jesus Christ Super Star” were on the airwaves. Open Door saw music as a way to reach American youth with Christianity. There was no “preaching” on the show; it would cover a topic that youth would be interested in, with writings that were sent in by listeners, then read by kids at the Open Door Studio, placed between songs that echoed the same sentiments.

I had loved writing for most of my life, and kept a journal in those days. It seemed easier to write back then because I had a lot of down time, I could mull over words to a poem I was writing while I brought the cows in from the pasture, or was cleaning the dairy parlor. Of course I wrote about transitional themes, figuring out who I was, what it was like to be in love, the difficulties of growing up. At the end of the Open Door program, I listened for the address and sent my writings into the show.

Much to my surprise, I soon received an envelope with a script in it for an Open Door show. My writings had been included in an upcoming show! That was the first of many shows my writings were included in. Each script that came to me would have a warm and supportive note from the head of the program, Bud Frimoth. Bud always signed “warmly” before his name, and his support and confidence in my writing oozed through the sentences. I became one of Open Door’s core writers.

Open Door started in 1970 and ended at the end of December 1991. It won over 40 broadcasting awards, including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, the highest award given in broadcasting. There were hundreds of volunteers throughout its history- as far as those who read narration it was about 200, with many volunteers behind the scenes. At its peak the show was heard on 100 radio stations in the US (Mainly top forty) in every major market, on shortwave radio, out of Quito, Ecuador, the Philippines, Australia, and over heard over 400-500 armed forces radio in Europe.

Open Door was a weekly thirty-minute show, featuring the writings of listeners mixed in with current music of the day and hosted/produced by Bud Frimoth, an ordained Presbyterian pastor out of Portland Oregon. In total there were nearly 900 shows over its 21 years of broadcasting.

I got to know Bud better, I found out that he had grown up in Clinton, Iowa- the town across the river from our farm where my mother had grown up and my grandmother lived. Bud’s sister had gone to high school with my Mom. We were Presbyterian too- a one room rural church that we went to consistently. That made me resonate with Bud too- we had the same brand of Christianity.

I wrote for Open Door all through High School and College. I have Open Door to thank for giving me confidence and experience with writing. It got my words out over the airwaves, and it made me feel like what I wrote had value.

I moved out to Arizona to go to Graduate school at the University of Arizona, and I kept in touch with Bud. After I got a pharmaceutical job and started making some money, I flew up to Portland to meet Bud and the Open Door gang. They had a barbeque for me, and I got to tour the studio. Many of the kids told me they wished Bud and his wife Lenore had been their parents instead of their real ones. I felt jealous that they got to be in the group with Open Door all the time, instead of isolated on a lone dairy farm like I had been.

All these years, Bud and I have exchanged letters. When I found out I could channel Angels, I talked to Bud honestly about what was going on, and he supported me. I cannot tell you how much that support meant, because other “Christians” were breaking off their friendships with me, telling me that “angels” were actually the voice of the devil. The messages I was getting were so loving and pure, I knew that wasn’t true, and it helped me stand strong knowing a Presbyterian Pastor had my back.

I am writing all this because a few months ago, Bud left this physical world. I probably should have written these words while he was still alive, but being a medium, I KNOW Bud is seeing this from heaven. I am so THANKFUL that the Universe put Bud and Open Door in my path. If you have anyone in your life who is like Bud, someone who has been there for you through something difficult, make sure you thank them. The Universe always gives you the people you need to support you. If that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.