een started his television program in the early 1950's, other aspiring televangelists followed. Rex Humbard was the next television preacher to become known in America. In 1953, Humbard began acquiring national fame by "broadcasting his local church service in Akron Ohio" (Hosfield, 1984, p. 9). Oral Roberts, Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell were three other televangelists who became popular during the 1950's.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the televangelism industry became increasingly popular among American viewers. Some of the television preachers tried new gimmicks in order to win the viewers over. For example, Robert Schuller of California began his television ministry by preaching in an abandoned drive-in theater. For Schuller, this tactic was extremely beneficial. This can be seen by the fact that Schuller's television show is now broadcast from a $15-million glass "sanctuary" known as the "Crystal Cathedral" (Horsfield, 1984, p. 26). During the late 1970's, the televangelism industry began attaining to new heights. At that time, Pat Robertson established the first full-time television network for broadcasting religious programming. Robertson's network was named the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Robertson's television program, The 700 Club, became especially popular in the late 1970's and early 1980's, with the rise of satellite and cable TV systems in America (Winzenburg, 1988, p. 240). With the success of Robertson's program and network, Jim Bakker followed suit by developing his own PTL Club show and PTL network. Originally, the initials "PTL" stood for "Praise the Lord." Later, Bakker changed the name so that the initials stood for the phrase "People that Love" (p. 240).
Evangelists are attracted to the television medium because they recognize that it provides a great opportunity for them to spread their message to the American people. This point of view was once expressed by Jim Bakker in his defense f...