‘Jim and Tammy Show’ Held 13th Spot Among Religious Programs

With about 220,000 households tuning in each morning to 126 stations throughout the United States, the “Jim and Tammy Show” ranked 13th among the nation’s most popular religious programs, according to an A. C. Nielsen Co. study conducted in November.

The most popular religious television program is either Robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power” or Jimmy Swaggart’s gospel hour, depending upon the rating service, followed by Oral Roberts’ 30-minute “Expect a Miracle.”

Nielsen says Schuller’s weekly broadcast from his Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove is the No. 1 religious program, seen each week in more than 1.2 million households. Nielsen’s rival, Arbitron Ratings Co., puts the number of television sets tuned into “Hour of Power” at more than 1.7 million, but nevertheless names the 52-year-old Swaggart’s show the most popular. It is seen in more than 2 million homes each week, according to Arbitron.

Either way, those numbers are minuscule compared to the audiences for prime time shows.

Cosby a Bigger Draw

For the week that ended March 22, for example, “The Cosby Show” was seen in about 28.4 million homes, according to Nielsen. Of the 66 rated shows, even CBS’ “Spies”--ranked 66th--was seen in 8 million homes, or four times the audience for either Schuller or Swaggart.

Those associated with “televangelism” said they do not expect the current controversy involving the Bakkers to create a general viewer backlash.

“Our audience has been very supportive of brother Swaggart,” said a spokesman for Baton Rouge-based Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. Telephone calls and letters seem to indicate that his television flock approved of Swaggart’s public criticism of the Bakkers, the spokesman added.

The typical fan of religious programming is an older woman who lives in the Midwestern “Bible Belt” or below the Mason-Dixon Line and who is likely to be a high school dropout.

“It’s a real good generalization,” said Quentin Schultze, a communications professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., who specializes in religious broadcast analysis. This picture is based on at least 50 studies conducted in the last decade on devotional television programming.

Typical Viewers

Swaggart, Jerry Falwell’s “Old Time Gospel Hour” and the “Jim and Tammy Show” (renamed “The PTL Show on Friday) all attract these typical viewers, but Oral Roberts probably attracts the largest such audience. Viewers have grown up with the Tulsa evangelist, who began his video ministry more than 30 years ago, according to Schultze.

Of the top 10 shows, Schultze said, Schuller’s “Hour of Power” attracts a more upscale audience.

“His viewers tend to have a higher income, higher education and are located more in the West and the urban North,” he said.

“We really run a different operation from others in both dollars and style,” said Schuller spokesman Mike Mason. Schuller’s annual budget is $34 million, compared to the much higher budgets of Swaggart, the Bakkers ($129 million) and other media ministers.

Similarly, Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” show also attracts a slightly different audience. Its broadly based viewers are found “all across the country,” the result of a morning news magazine format not unlike “The Today Show” or “Good Morning America.”

Three Ministers on Show

“The World Tomorrow,” the fourth-most popular religious program on the air, has no single charismatic spokesman. Rather, three ministers--David Hulme, David Albert and Richard Ames--serve as rotating hosts from week to week.

A year ago, “The World Tomorrow” was not even in Nielsen’s top 10, said Mike Snyder, assistant public affairs director for the Pasadena-based Worldwide Church of God. Since the death of the church founder Herbert Armstrong in January, 1986, the 30-minute show “started using a ‘MacNeil/Lehrer’ approach, concentrating each show on a single issue that we discuss thoroughly,” Snyder said.

Unlike most of the other top 10 Nielsen programs, “The World Tomorrow” does not solicit funds, Snyder said. Church members, not viewers, pay the production bills, he said.

Most successful programs still rely on a single charismatic spokesman like Swaggart, Roberts or Bakker who can preach, perform well before the camera and persuade viewers to send in regular donations.

In the end, it is not Nielsen ratings but money that explains why religious programming continues to dominate Sunday morning and evening programming in major markets like Los Angeles.

“None of us are proud of these programs,” said one local television executive whose station carries several of them, “but they pay cash on the barrel head.”

TOP TV RELIGION PROGRAMS Jim and Tammy Bakker’s “Jim and Tammy Show” was the nation’s 13th most popular television religion program, as ranked last November by the A. C. Nielsen Co. and Arbitron. Here are the top-rated programs from that “sweeps” period:

A.C. NIELSEN AR EVANGELIST Rating Viewers Rating Robert Schuller, “Hour of Power” 1 1,277,000 2 Garden Grove Jimmy Swaggart, weekly program 2 1,046,000 1 Baton Rouge, La. Oral Roberts, “Expect a Miracle” 3 814,000 3 Tulsa, Okla. “The World Tomorrow”--Worldwide 4 560,000 4 Church of God ministers Pasadena Richard DeHaan, “The Day of Discovery” 5 449,000 5 Grand Rapids, Mich. Jerry Falwell, “Old Time Gospel Hour” 6 438,000 6 Lynchburg, Va. Kenneth Copeland, “Believer’s Voice” 7 367,000 7 Fort Worth, Texas D. James Kennedy, “D. James Kennedy” 8 363,000 8 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Insight”--Paulist Productions 9 315,000 15 Pacific Palisades Pat Robertson, “The 700 Club” 10 309,000 9 Virginia Beach, Va.

BITRON No. TV EVANGELIST Viewers Stations Robert Schuller, “Hour of Power” 1,729,000 172 Garden Grove Jimmy Swaggart, weekly program 2,080,000 287 Baton Rouge, La. Oral Roberts, “Expect a Miracle” 1,116,000 199 Tulsa, Okla. “The World Tomorrow”--Worldwide 1,054,000 236 Church of God ministers Pasadena Richard DeHaan, “The Day of Discovery” 663,000 157 Grand Rapids, Mich. Jerry Falwell, “Old Time Gospel Hour” 547,000 186 Lynchburg, Va. Kenneth Copeland, “Believer’s Voice” 534,000 152 Fort Worth, Texas D. James Kennedy, “D. James Kennedy” 527,000 105 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Insight”--Paulist Productions 273,000 44 Pacific Palisades Pat Robertson, “The 700 Club” 468,000 137 Virginia Beach, Va.

Also among the top 15 programs: George Vandeman, “It Is Written,” of Newbury Park, Calif. , and Fred Price, “Ever Increasing Faith,” of Los Angeles.