Televangelism

== History ==
===Radio===
[[Image:S Parkes Cadman.jpg|thumb|upright|[[S. Parkes Cadman]], one of the first ministers to use radio, beginning in 1923]]
Christianity has always emphasized [[Good News (Christianity)|preaching the gospel]] to the whole world, taking as inspiration the [[Great Commission]]. Historically, this was achieved by sending [[Christian missionaries|missionaries]], beginning with the [[Dispersion of the Apostles]], and later, after the invention of the [[printing press]], included the distribution of [[Bibles]] and [[religious tracts]]. Some Christians realized that the rapid uptake of [[radio]] beginning in the 1920s, provided a powerful new tool for this task, and they were amongst the first producers of [[radio programming]]. Radio broadcasts were seen as a complementary activity to traditional missionaries, enabling vast numbers to be reached at relatively low cost, but also enabling Christianity to be preached in countries where this was illegal and missionaries were banned. The aim of Christian radio was to both convert people to Christianity and to provide teaching and support to believers. These activities continue today, particularly in the developing world. [[Shortwave]] radio stations with a Christian format broadcast worldwide, such as [[HCJB]] in [[Quito]], [[Ecuador]], [[Family Radio]]'s [[WYFR]], and the [[Bible Broadcasting Network|Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN)]], among others.

One of the first ministers to use radio extensively was [[S. Parkes Cadman]], beginning in 1923.<ref>{{cite news|title=S. Parkes Cadman dies in coma at 71|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 12, 1936|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/07/13/93523247.pdf|access-date=2009-01-26 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Radio Religion|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time magazine]] | date=January 21, 1946 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934406,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125035819/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934406,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 25, 2008 | access-date=2007-12-16 }}</ref> In 1923, [[Calvary Baptist Church (Manhattan, New York)|Calvary Baptist Church]] in [[New York City]] was the first church to operate its own radio station.<ref>Jaker, Bill; Sulek, Frank and Kanze, Peterr. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0qr_W5B1SAQC&dq=Manhattan+%22Calvary+Baptist+Church%22&pg=PA168 ''The airwaves of New York: illustrated histories of 156 AM stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996''] Page 168. WQAO went on the air 1923. WQAO went on the air 1923. One of the earliest religious broadcasters in New York. Retrieved November 20, 2009.</ref>"Tell It From Calvary" is a radio show that the church still produces weekly; it's heard on WMCA AM570.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Welcome to WMCA 570 AM & 102.3 FM - New York {{!}} The Mission WMCA - New York, NY|url=https://wmca.com/programguidedaily?dayOfWeek=Sunday&timeFilter=0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529232304/https://wmca.com/programguidedaily?dayOfWeek=Sunday&timeFilter=0|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-05-29|date=2020-05-29|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref> By 1928, Cadman had a weekly Sunday afternoon radio broadcast on the [[NBC]] radio network, his powerful oratory reaching a nationwide audience of five million persons.<ref>{{cite magazine | title=Air Worship | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time magazine]] | date= February 9, 1931 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741032,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215030056/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741032,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 15, 2008 | access-date=2007-12-19 }}</ref>

[[Aimee Semple McPherson]] was another pioneering tent-revivalist who soon turned to radio to reach a larger audience. Radio eventually gave her nationwide notoriety in the 1920s and 1930s, and she even built one of the earliest [[Pentecostal]] [[megachurches]].

In the [[United States|U.S.]], the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s saw a resurgence of [[revival meeting|revival-tent]] [[preacher|preaching]] in the [[Midwest]] and [[U.S. Southern states|South]], as itinerant traveling preachers drove from town to town, living off [[donation]]s. Several preachers began radio shows as a result of their popularity.

In the 1930s, a famous radio evangelist of the period was [[Roman Catholic]] priest Father [[Charles Coughlin]], whose strongly [[Anti-communism|anti-Communist]] and [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] radio programs reached millions of listeners. Other early Christian radio programs broadcast nationwide in the U.S. beginning in the 1920s–1930s, include (years of radio broadcast shown): [[Bob Jones, Sr.]] (1927–1962), [[Ralph Washington Sockman|Ralph W. Sockman]] (1928–1962), [[G. E. Lowman]] (1930–1965), ''[[Music and the Spoken Word]]'' (1929–present), ''[[The Lutheran Hour]]'' (1930–present), and [[Charles E. Fuller (Baptist minister)|Charles E. Fuller]] (1937–1968).<ref>
{{cite web | title = Billy Graham Center archives | publisher = [[Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College]] | url = http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/100.htm | access-date = 2007-08-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Thomas H. O'Connor |title=Baltimore Broadcasting from A to Z |year=1985 |publisher=O'Connor Communications |location=Baltimore, Maryland |author-link=Thomas H. O'Connor }}</ref> ''Time'' magazine reported in 1946 that Rev. Ralph Sockman's ''National Radio Pulpit'' on [[NBC]] received 4,000 letters weekly and Roman Catholic archbishop [[Fulton J. Sheen]] received between 3,000 and 6,000 letters weekly. The total radio audience for radio ministers in the U.S. that year was estimated to be 10 million listeners.<ref>{{cite magazine |access-date=2007-12-16|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934406,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125035819/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934406,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 25, 2008|title=Radio Religion|date=January 21, 1946|magazine=Time Magazine}}</ref>

An association of American [[Evangelical Protestant]] religious broadcasters, the [[National Religious Broadcasters]], was founded in 1944.<ref>J. Gordon Melton, Phillip Charles Lucas, Jon R. Stone, ''Prime-time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting'', Oryx Press, USA, 1997, p. 383</ref>

===Television===
[[File:Bishop Fulton J. Sheen 1956.JPG|thumb|[[Archbishop Fulton Sheen]], the first televangelist.]]
[[File:Pat Robertson Paparazzo Photography.jpg|thumb|[[Pat Robertson]], founder of the [[Christian Broadcasting Network]].]]
[[File:Graham at NRB 1977.jpg|thumb|right|Evangelist [[Billy Graham]] speaks at the NRB convention, 1977]]
Although [[television]] also began in the 1930s, it was not used for religious purposes until the early 1950s. [[Jack Wyrtzen]] and [[Percy Crawford]] switched to TV broadcasting in the Spring of 1949. Another television preacher of note was [[Fulton J. Sheen]], who successfully switched to television in 1951 after two decades of popular radio broadcasts and whom ''Time'' called "the first 'televangelist'".<ref name="time19520414">{{cite news|title=Bishop Fulton Sheen|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,857161,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825222406/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,857161,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 25, 2013|access-date=2011-01-21|newspaper=Time|date=1952-04-14}}</ref> Sheen would win numerous [[Emmy Awards]] for his program that ran from the early 1950s, until the late 1960s.

In 1951, producer Dick Ross and [[Baptist]] evangelist [[Billy Graham]] founded the film production company [[World Wide Pictures]], which would make videos of his preaching and Christian films. <ref> John Lyden, ''The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film'', Taylor & Francis, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2009, p. 82 </ref>

[[Image:Joel Osteen Preaching At Lakewood Church.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Televangelist [[Joel Osteen]] at [[Lakewood Church]], a [[megachurch]] in [[Houston]], [[Texas]]]]
After years of radio broadcasting in 1952 [[Rex Humbard]] became the first to have a weekly church service broadcast on television. By 1980, the Rex Humbard programs spanned the globe across 695 stations in 91 languages and to date the largest coverage of any evangelistic program. [[Oral Roberts]]'s broadcast by 1957 reached 80% of the possible television audience through 135 of the possible 500 stations.<ref>David E. Harrell Jr. "Healers and Televengelists After World War II in Vinson Synan," ''The Century of the Holy Spirit: 100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal'' (Nashville: Nelson, 2001) 331</ref> In Uruguay, [[Channel 4 (Uruguay)|Channel 4]] airs the Roman Catholic Church mass since 1961.<ref>[https://icm.org.uy/icmtv-produce-la-misa-canal-4/ ICMtv produce la Misa de Canal 4] - Iglesia Católica Montevideo, 21 September 2017</ref>

[[Christian Broadcasting Network]], the first Christian channel, was founded in 1961, by [[Baptist]] Pastor [[Pat Robertson]].<ref>Randall Herbert Balmer, ''Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition'', Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 157</ref> Its show ''[[The 700 Club]]'', is one of the oldest on the American television scene and was broadcast in 39 languages in 138 countries in 2016.<ref>George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, ''[[Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States]], Volume 5'', Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 469</ref>

The 1960s and early 1970s, saw television replace radio as the primary home entertainment medium, but also corresponded with a further rise in [[Evangelical Christianity]], particularly through the international television and radio ministry of [[Billy Graham (evangelist)|Billy Graham]]. Many well-known televangelists began during this period, most notably [[Oral Roberts]], [[Jimmy Swaggart]], [[Jim and Tammy Faye Ministries|Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker]], [[Jerry Falwell]], and Pat Robertson. Most developed their own media networks, news exposure, and political influence. In the 21st century, some televised church services continue to attract large audiences. In the US, there are [[Joel Osteen]], [[Joyce Meyer]] and [[T. D. Jakes]].<ref>George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, ''Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5'', Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 2275-2276</ref> In Nigeria, there are [[Enoch Adeboye]] and [[Chris Oyakhilome]].<ref>P. Thomas, P. Lee, '' Global and Local Televangelism'', Springer, USA, 2012, p. 182</ref> [[Trinity Broadcasting Network]] is the world's largest religious television network.<ref name = WashPost2013-12-02>{{cite news|title=Paul Crouch dies at 79; founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/paul-crouch-dies-at-79-founder-of-the-trinity-broadcasting-network/2013/12/02/68e1856e-5b6d-11e3-a66d-156b463c78aa_story.html|author=Elaine Woo|date=December 2, 2013|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|quote=He bought more television stations, then piled on cable channels and eventually satellites until he had built the world's largest Christian television system...|access-date=July 6, 2014}}</ref>