Photo courtesy of Nathan Scharf John Nolte, a retired professor from Martin Luther College, sits in the office at KNUJ where he produces the Lutheran Chapel Service every week. This Sunday’s will be his last as technical producer after 32 years on the job.

NEW ULM — For 32 years, John Nolte has has been in the booth as technician for the Lutheran Chapel Service, a Lutheran church service broadcast on KNUJ, but this Sunday will be his last with the broadcast. Nolte will be retiring and turning the duties over to MLC professor Rachel Feld.

Nolte first came to New Ulm in 1986. He worked in Martin Luther College’s Music Division. He taught a variety of courses over the years and would later become involved with the college’s Audio/Visual Department. Two years after coming to New Ulm, he became the technician for Lutheran Chapel Service in 1988.

Lutheran Chapel Services first began broadcasting in 1949, shortly after KNUJ launched its radio station. The program has aired weekly ever since on Sunday with special broadcasts at Christmas, Thanksgiving and Good Friday.

Nolte is the longest serving technician in the program’s history, but he was not the first in his family to hold the position. In the 1960s, the program’s technician was Waldemare Nolte, a relative of John’s. When Waldemare retired in 1988, he knew John had a background in recording and recommended him as a successor. This means for the last 50 years a Nolte has served as the technician for the Lutheran Chapel Service program.

Nolte said there are several parts to a service. First, a WELS pastor is recorded reading a sermon. Second, two college faculty members — Jim Pope and Dan Balge — record other parts of the service. Balge reads Bible readings and introduces the choir segments. Pope records an introduction to the service and the closing

On a weekly basis, Nolte would meet with Pope and Balge to record their parts of the service. Then Nolte would take recordings of the college choir and area church choirs for hymns.

“Every Sunday service has two hymns and also a psalm and I paste them into the recording,” Nolte said.

Over the years this process has become easier with advancements in recording technology. Nolte said in the early years, before he took over, the program was recorded live, but by 1988 they were doing reel-to-reel recordings.

This required having several reel-to-reel devices going to make a master recording for the radio station. When they switched to cassette recordings, Nolte said it was a step up. Cassettes would eventually be updated to CDS and now everything is recorded on computers.

Nolte said technology has made his job easier over the years. He was able to remain on top of the changing technology through his involvement with the Audio/Visual department at MLC.

Nolte retired from the college a few years ago, but he stayed on as a technician for the Lutheran Chapel Service.

Nolte’s involvement with the Lutheran Chapel Services cannot be understated. Every week for over 32 years he has worked in the background to assemble the weekly program.

Nathaniel Scharf, a former student of Nolte’s, described him as an unsung hero.

“You think about what he has done as a technician and you think about how he helped communicate the voices of pastors, professors and choirs to the community,” Scharf said “especially during the recent Holy Week.”

With the recent coronavirus pandemic, Nolte’s work has been more vital than ever. For many, the broadcasts of Lutheran Chapel Service were the only way to hear services on Good Friday and Easter.

Nolte said he did enjoy working on the program. He said it was easy to work with people and he enjoyed providing the service to the community. His favorite part was seeing the different pastors every week and working with the other college faculty.

Nolte and his wife are moving to Oshkosh, Wisconsi to be closer to family. His daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter live in the area. He is uncertain if he will pick up other technician work in Oshkosh, but said you never know what opportunities will come up.

MLC professor Rachel Feld will take over as technician for Lutheran Chapel Service. Feld was previously a student at MLC. Nolte said she was a student in several of his classes and she also worked in the Audio/Visual Department. He is confident in Feld’s ability to carry on as technician. Feld will take over as technician for the May 3 broadcast.

The last recording of Lutheran Chapel Services produced by Nolte will air 7:45 a.m. Sunday, April 26 on KNUJ.