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The fact that a Robertson is even a potential candidate confirms the extraordinary power and influence amassed in the past decade by the shrewd, colorful headliners of Gospel TV. While impressing some as shallow and vulgar popularizers, they bring real inspiration and solace to others. Their past struggles in low-paid Gospel circuits bespeak a deep commitment, whatever skepticism might be aroused by their present enjoyment of stardom's rewards. They have changed the face of television; they may be gradually altering the very nature of American Christianity.
The Rev. Ben Armstrong, a Presbyterian conservative who has run the N.R.B. during two decades of astounding growth, boasts that his colleagues have "done what Ted Turner tried to do and Rupert Murdoch wants to do--create an alternative fourth network." The video preachers are often bitter competitors behind their on-camera smiles, yet Armstrong contends they constitute a network nonetheless, one defined by a shared viewpoint. To the dismay of more liberal Protestants, not to mention Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders, the people who have seized spiritual control of the tube are unremittingly Evangelical or Fundamentalist. Four of the top stars are part of the Pentecostal movement, which emphasizes the emotive and miraculous aspects of faith. Sunbelt churchianity is ubiquitous, and whenever there is a political tilt to the broadcasts--which is often--it is virtually always to the right.
Broadcasting's Jesus network comprises 200 local TV stations that have religious formats (more than double the figure a year ago), 1,134 radio stations (up 91 from last year), freelance productions that purchase time on general stations, and burgeoning cable and satellite hookups that reach tens of millions of homes. The preachers' fund raising, the stuff of jokes and sometimes of scandal, is prodigious. According to a 1977 estimate by Television/ Radio Age, they spent $500 million to purchase TV and radio time a decade ago; today Armstrong figures the total is $1 billion, possibly $2 billion. That does not count other expenses and the ambitious ancillary enterprises that most have launched.
There is furious debate over just how big the evangelists' combined audience is, as well as where each ranks in the ratings individually. A 1984 University of Pennsylvania survey estimated that 13.3 million people, or 6.2% of the national TV audience, are regular viewers of the various shows. That nearly equals the membership of the United Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches combined. A Nielsen survey last year, designed to add cable data to the broadcast ratings, showed that 21% of the nation's TV households tune in to Christian TV for at least six minutes in a week, and 40% for at least six minutes in a month. This adds up to 61 million Americans with at least minimal exposure. The survey counted viewers of only the ten biggest among 62 nationally syndicated shows. By this measure, Robertson, whose CBN commissioned the survey, is at least briefly onscreen monthly in 16.3 million homes and reaches 27 million Americans.