Impact The rising stars of American televangelism
during the late 1970’s and 1980’s helped lay the
groundwork for the development of the Christian
media empires that continued to thrive in the early
twenty-first century. The Trinity Broadcasting Net-
work, which calls itself the “world’s largest Christian
television network,” began in 1973 but expanded its
reach during the 1980’s, thanks in part to early work
by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, whosePTL Clubac-
tually debuted there. Pioneers in the field contrib-
uted to both the legitimization of television as a po-
tential medium for spreading Christianity and the
increase in skepticism from those who questioned
televangelists and their motives as well as from fellow
evangelists and other Christian leaders who believed
that the industry lent itself easily to corruption and
greed, even in the hands of otherwise good people.
Further Reading
Jorstad, Erling.The New Christian Right, 1981-1988:
Prospects for the Post-Reagan Decade. Studies in Amer-
ican Religion 25. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen
Press, 1987. Investigates the social and cultural in-
fluences behind the rise and fall of the Religious
Right.
Schmidt, Rosemarie, and Joseph F. Kess.Television
Advertising and Televangelism: Discourse Analysis of
Persuasive Language. Philadelphia: J. Benjamins,
- As the title suggests, this book analyzes tele-
vangelism from a sociolinguistic standpoint.
Schultze, Quentin J.Televangelism and American Cul-
ture: The Business of Popular Religion. Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1991. Analyzes
how televangelist ministries have been corrupted
by power and wealth.
Jennifer Heller
See also Bakker, Jim and Tammy Faye; Falwell,
Jerry; Heritage USA; Moral Majority; Religion and
spirituality in the United States; Robertson, Pat;
Swaggart, Jimmy; Television.
Television
Definition Programs and series, both fictional
and nonfictional, produced for or broadcast on
U.S. television
A transformation in television took place during the 1980’s
as a result of the advent of home video recording devices and
the deregulation of the industr y during the Reagan admin-
istration. Cable and satellite systems soon represented the
demise of free television.
Three major networks—the American Broadcasting
Company (ABC), the Columbia Broadcasting Sys-
tem (CBS), and the National Broadcasting Com-
pany (NBC)—controlled the programming offered
on television from 1940 to 1980. With the introduc-
tion of cable, satellite delivery systems, and home
video, executives began to target shows that cap-
tured smaller niche audiences, often referred to as
narrowcasting. The television industry became a
global business headed by mass conglomerates, and
by the end of the decade pressures to streamline ex-
penses led to fewer programming options. Program-
mers depended on the stability of the economy, and
because cable was based on subscriber services, they
had to offer shows that pleased the majority of the
viewing public. The problem was that such systems
were highly dependent on syndication, airing old
movies, and programs that usually lacked originality
and creativity.
Cable systems could deliver “superstations” such as
WTBS (Atlanta), WGN-TV (Chicago), and WWOR-
TV (New York City) that became widely available
throughout the United States. The three mainstream
networks could no longer maintain a monopoly on
what the American public viewed in their living
rooms. By 1986, 82 percent of the American adults
watched television on an average of seven hours per
day while 88 percent of all households had sub-
scribed to pay cable television networks such as
Home Box Office (HBO), MTV (Music Television),
Nickelodeon, and the Disney Channel. These new
channels were not part of cable systems but satellite-
distributed choices that allowed local cable compa-
nies to offer the channels in programming pack-
ages. This resulted in pricing arrangements in which
subscribers paid more for “premium channels” with
no commercial interruptions, such as HBO, while
Nickelodeon was supported through advertisers;
thus, viewers could get this channel free or for a
nominal fee.
Deregulation and Mergers The decade saw not
only unprecedented technological growth but also
changes that were taking place as conglomerates
began seeking wider diversification. The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) abided by the
antimonopolistic charter clauses that limited theThe Eighties in America Television 951