TV & VIDEO - Dec. 16, 1987

The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s “Old-Time Gospel Hour” television show has laid off 100 workers because of dwindling donations, a spokesman in Lynchburg, Va., said Tuesday. The workers were laid off from the program’s direct-mail department, which will operate one shift of salaried workers instead of the two or three shifts operated in the past, a spokesman said. Outside vendors will do other direct-mail work. The “Old-Time Gospel Hour” had reported dwindling donations since Falwell’s tenure as head of the PTL ministry following the ouster of Jim Bakker. The program already has been pulled from about 50 television stations.