LOCAL : $3.2 Million Needed to Keep Him on Air in Several Cities: Schuller

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller said today that without $3.2 million in viewer donations, his religious television program will go off the air in several cities.

Schuller’s “Hour of Power” is the top-rated religious television program in the United States, with an estimated 1.8 million viewers.

Schuller blamed the financial pinch on the soaring cost of commercial air time, which has not been matched by donations. While the production budget for the religious broadcasts has been slashed repeatedly in recent years, the cost of putting the show on the air has jumped from $12 million to $14 million in the last year, he said.

The 63-year-old minister said he will take to the air Sunday to explain the problem and launch a five-week fund-raising drive aimed at keeping the program on the air in 179 cities in the United States.

After the drive, Schuller said, “we’re going to take a hard look at every one of those stations. And if they’re paying their way we keep them. If they’re not we will have to lose them.”

Schuller declined to specify the cities from which donations do not cover air costs, but he said the list includes one of the largest television markets in the nation. That station, he said, has asked for a 30% hike in the cost of air time.