Televangelism

American Televangelism

American radio stations were initially resistant to allowing religious programs on the air. When the Federal Communications Commission required national stations to sell airtime to religious groups, stations restricted religious time slots to Sunday-morning Catholic, Jewish, or mainline-Protestant programming. In 1944, a group of evangelicals founded the National Religious Broadcasters to fight for their right to purchase airtime.

In the 1950s, several conservative Christian ministries paid to broadcast their religious messages over local and national television networks. Rex Humbard broadcast his weekly services and built his Cathedral of Tomorrow in Ohio to accommodate his television crews and large audiences. Other pioneers in televangelism included the charismatic preachers Oral Roberts and Billy Graham. Both led numerous Christian revivals throughout the 1950s that were aired on national networks.

In 1960, a Federal Communications Commission ruling stated that paid airtime could count toward the television networks' public service time, which made networks more willing to sell program slots to conservative Christians. Evangelical, fundamentalist, and Pentecostal Protestants eagerly embraced the new opportunities for televangelism and soon became the majority of religious broadcasters. Some conservative Protestants, instead of paying for airtime, began their own religious television networks. In 1961, Pat Robertson started the first independent Christian television station, the Christian Broadcasting Company. The increase of televangelism was considered a major triumph for conservative Protestantism, which had been previously rejected by mainstream media companies. The 1970s and early 1980s became what has been called the “Golden Age” of American televangelism.

Popular televangelist programming showcased various television formats. Some followed Humbard's lead and televised regular religious services. The Old-Time Gospel Hour televised Jerry Falwell's services at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Virginia. His show followed the weekly pattern of a Baptist worship service, with Gospel songs, scripture, and a sermon. Jimmy Swaggart's program showed a traditional Pentecostal service, which included people speaking in tongues, singing Gospel music, shouting prayers, and receiving healings. His service ended with an altar call, during which individuals moved by the Holy Spirit could come forward, experience the laying on of hands, and recite the Sinner's Prayer.

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