FIRST OFF . . .

Evangelist Jim Bakker said Wednesday his new television ministry will end Jan. 31 if followers don’t give him money to continue. “This is not a threat, it’s economics,” Bakker said at the end of “The Jim and Tammy Show.” “We’ll have to go off the air by the end of the month if we don’t hear from you.” Neither Bakker nor his staff would say how much money has come in since the program began last week. Bakker noted that the show would expand to new markets in the next 10 days, and he believes it will air on 50-100 stations within 90 days. The hourlong program airs in the Los Angeles area at 6 a.m. on KVEA-TV Channel 52. “I wish someone would give us $1 million so we could stay on the air for two months without fund-raising,” he said. Tammy Faye Bakker believes the way the new show is being received, she and her husband may be preaching on more stations than they did during the heyday of PTL, when they appeared on 180 stations. Bakker resigned his PTL ministry in March, 1987, just before his sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn was made public. He currently faces federal fraud charges for the way he raised and spent money at PTL.