Trinity Broadcasting’s Cup Runneth Over

When Paul and Jan Crouch started Trinity Broadcasting in Santa Ana in 1973, they had no idea that the then-tiny Christian network would someday stretch nationwide.

But in the intervening 15 years it has done that and more. Today it is an international network, with stations in South Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Central America.

“About two years ago we bought Johnny Carson’s station in Albuquerque, Channel 23,” Paul Crouch said. “I had never really known what the audience of Trinity was because we don’t subscribe to Nielsen or Arbitron or any of the rating services. We don’t sell commercial time, so we don’t really need to know what our audience is, but Carson had the whole library over there, so I looked us up.

“I was shocked. It showed me that 20 million Americans watch at least one hour of Trinity Broadcasting Network a week. I knew we had a pretty good audience out there but I had no idea it was that size.”

So what does Paul Crouch get for Christmas? More stations.

“I just signed on station No. 150 in Dover, Del.,” Crouch exulted, “and the FCC just approved a new station in Portland, Ore. And we still have 30 or 40 applications pending with the FCC.”

TBN has 140 stations in the United States and 10 in foreign countries. With an additional 8 1/2 million cable subscribers in the United States, TBN has access to “about 70% of U.S. households,” he said.

Crouch, president of Trinity, which is now located in Tustin, admits that building new stations is his greatest love. “That’s my whole life,” he said.

The feeling, apparently, is mutual. People are constantly asking him to build more.

Immediately following Christmas, Crouch and some of his staff head for Brazil, where the network has been granted a license to build in Sao Paulo. A station in Belize City (in Belize) will begin broadcasting during the holidays.

Trinity produces about 85% of its programming. The other 15% is produced by various ministries and Christian organizations on a cost-sharing basis. All programming is supported by gifts, or donations, from viewers. (In the Los Angeles area, Trinity Broadcasting programming is carried on KTBN Channel 40.)

“The flagship program is the ‘Praise the Lord’ program and the one we probably put the most effort into,” Crouch said. “We produce about 40 different programs at one time or another and we carry a lot of outside productions from other churches, ministries and organizations.

“Twice a year we have a praise-a-thon and encourage people to make a monthly pledge. Those two weeks out of the year is about all we talk about money. The rest of the year we don’t talk about money. The other (ministries’) productions do, but they have to.”

About 26 denominations are represented on TBN, including Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Church of Christ, United Methodist, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Four-Square Church, Nazarene, Episcopalian and Catholic, among others.

The time between the acquisition of Trinity’s first and second U.S. stations was a lengthy one for the network: four years. It came in 1977 as a result of “concerned Christians” in Phoenix notifying the Crouches that station KPAZ-TV was in financial trouble.

A third station followed in Miami with the purchase of WHET-TV in 1980. Then came those in Oklahoma City, Richmond, Ind., New York City, Seattle/Tacoma and Denver. . . .

What has Crouch most excited, however, is “the way the foreign stations have opened up.”

The first was on the Caribbean island of Nevis-St. Christopher. (A 10-million-watt station, Crouch calls it “the most powerful in the Western Hemisphere.”)

The “big breakthrough” came in the Ciskei homeland of South Africa in 1986, Crouch said. Although Ciskei is considered by some to be a sovereign nation, the Republic of South Africa controls its airwaves. Despite its skepticism, the Republic of South Africa did issue a permit to build a 1-million watt station in Ciskei.

Recently, South Africa President P. W. Botha authorized the South Africa Broadcasting Co. to establish a complete Christian network where TBN will have an allotted portion of time, Crouch said.

In June, TBN began a 15-minute-a-week broadcast on the single network in the People’s Republic of China, where the signal reaches an estimated 600 million viewers.

There is little opportunity to evangelize, however, since China does not allow religious programming. But there are references to Christianity, which Crouch considers significant in a land long-isolated from the Gospel. In turn, TBN airs the Chinese-produced program, “China Today.”

If one includes China and the nations where the TBN programming is received, Crouch estimates that the network has the potential of reaching about “2 billion people with some level of the gospel message.”

The Christian network raised about $44 million from all sources last year.

“In spite of the so-called holy wars (the scandals involving TV evangelists Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart), we were up about $4 million, and ’88 could top $50 million,” Crouch said.

Although TBN and CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), Pat Robertson’s Virginia Beach, Va.-based network, have the same goal, they have different philosophies, Crouch said.

“Robertson’s philosophy has always been to provide a block of secular programming to attract a secular audience and then hit them with the ‘700 Club’ and some other Christian programming,” he said. “I don’t find any fault with that at all. I think he reaches another segment that we probably do not reach.

“At Trinity, the vision the Lord gave us is to fill 24 hours a day with 100% Christian programming.

“Our information indicates that almost 3 million people have phoned in over the last 15 years and have at least prayed the Sinner’s Prayer,” Crouch said.

In spite of the growth of the Trinity, Crouch said his salary is a relatively modest $52,000 a year with “no hidden retirement funds, no private slush funds. . . . Nothing.”

“I have the use of two automobiles in addition to that and that’s it,” he said. “My house only cost $38,500 and it’s paid for now. I don’t need a big salary. Our philosophy has always been to run a tight ship and keep it lean and mean and plow it all back into building stations and get the Gospel out.”