Sermonette (i.e., a small

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. E ...

) is a generic term for short, locally produced

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

messages that were aired by many U.S.

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

stations during their

sign-on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio station, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth ...

and sign-off periods. Sermonettes were generally about three to five minutes in length, and featured religious clergy from churches in the local station's coverage area. Reflecting the majority religious faith in the U.S., the clergy involved were almost always

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

(

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

), although in TV markets with a large

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

population, a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

would occasionally be called upon. Similarly, TV markets with a large Muslim population would call upon an

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, se ...

. The segments were pre-taped for airing at their normally scheduled early morning or late night time slots. Articles written for church bulletins are often sermonettes in essence. They contain an introduction, frequently a joke, a body or situation that is being addressed, a biblical equivalent and a wrap-up or point tying the illustration and scripture together in a meaningful way. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, similar short religious programs used to be broadcast at end of schedule, but were called "epilogues" (the BBC's was called ''

The Epilogue ''The Epilogue'' was a feature of BBC radio and later television being the last programme broadcast each Sunday evening lasting five to ten minutes and being based on a non-denominational reflective theme usually delivered by a Christian minister ...

'') rather than "sermonettes" and broadcast on BBC and ITV. "Epilogue" was also the name of sermonettes aired in Australia at the end of each broadcast day.

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

affiliates in several

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

cities aired sermonettes at the beginning or end of each broadcast day.

References

Local television programming in the United States Television terminology Sermons Interstitial television shows Christian television {{Christianity-stub