Don’t Count Out Televangelists, Researcher Says : Television: Historically, scandals have had little long-term effect, author says. Many video preachers are now turning to cable channels.

At first glance, scandals that hit the television empires of evangelists Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts and Robert Tilton appeared to have taken their toll on a business that blossomed throughout much of the 1980s.

A.C. Nielsen Co., the overseer of television ratings, says not only have the number of religious shows dropped sharply since 1988, but the number of homes reached by evangelists’ broadcasts has gone down.

But don’t believe that televangelists are a thing of the past, says a communications professor who has extensively studied not only the recent video preachers, but those who go back to the pioneer days of radio.

“One of the characteristics of America is that we’re disinterested in history,” said Quentin Schultze of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and author of “Televangelism and American Culture.” “We tend not to learn the lessons of history as well as we should.”

Evangelists have always carried their share of baggage in the minds of some. Aimee Semple McPherson was accused by critics of staging her own kidnaping in the 1920s. Father Charles Coughlin’s anti-Semitic and anti-New Deal broadcasts were squelched by the Catholic Church during the 1930s.

More recently, Bakker went to federal prison for mishandling his followers’ contributions, Swaggart was connected with prostitutes and sued for defamation by a rival Louisiana evangelist who said that Swaggart was afraid of his planned TV competition, and Roberts turned off many with statements that God would kill him if he didn’t raise enough money.

Last month, Tilton, fighting ABC-TV, the Texas attorney general and numerous unhappy contributors in court, pulled his television shows off the air amid allegations that among other things, requests for prayers were tossed in the trash can after the checks were deposited.

“The fact that Tilton was so successful on the heels of the other scandals shows that people don’t learn anything,” Schultze said.

According to A.C. Nielsen, the number of regularly scheduled religious programs shown on non-cable television dropped from 55 to 39 between 1988 and early 1993. Those carried by at least 100 stations fell from nine to six.

But many televangelists are buying cheaper time on cable television, where they can target a more specific audience. Moreover, Schultze said, Americans love personalities, whether they are entertainers, sports figures or preachers.

Not all religious programs can be painted with the same brush, Schultze said. He cites “Day of Discovery,” a top 10-rated religious show that alternates its hosts.

“They have never asked for money on a single program,” Schultze said. “That defies the logic of these people who assume you have to use hucksterism . . . to raise money.”

Schultze puts evangelist Billy Graham in a class by himself. Graham’s television through the years has been limited to broadcasts of his crusades. “He doesn’t fit the description of a televangelist because he doesn’t have a regularly scheduled program,” Schultze said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s one of the smartest things he ever did.”