Gospel channel reaping praise

NEW YORK -- Only a few thousand families in Tennessee were able to see the Gospel Music Channel when it began less than four years ago.

Now it’s television’s fastest-growing cable network -- available in some 40 million homes, more than a third of the nation.

It reaches a milestone Wednesday when it carries live coverage of the annual Dove Awards for gospel music.

The co-founder of the Gospel Music Channel attributes its success in part to a lesson learned from his father, the late televangelist Rex Humbard.

Humbard embraced inspirational music of all forms -- June Carter and Johnny Cash, Mahalia Jackson, Andrae Crouch and Amy Grant all performed on his show, said Charlie Humbard, co-founder and president of the Gospel Music Channel.

Similarly, the Gospel Music Channel plays the gospel sounds of black churches, edgy Christian rock and rap, mainstream contemporary Christian pop and even Latin gospel music, he said.

Radio station owners typically recoil from presenting so many forms of music, and some in the industry believed the Gospel Music Channel was making a mistake.

Instead, the network has been accepted by fans of all forms of inspirational music, Humbard said.

“We like to say in here, ‘multiple styles, one message,’ ” he said.

Charlie Humbard is a former executive at Discovery, where he worked on networks devoted to particular interests, such as health and aviation. He joined with a former Turner executive, Brad Siegel, to begin the Gospel Music Channel.

Within six months of raising money for the network, they were on the air. That was the easy part.

“You have to have a totally unique programming concept and be able to prove the demand of an audience in order to be able to get in the door and talk to cable operators,” said Siegel. “Cable operators will tell you that they don’t want to watch any more networks.”

Cable systems have limited space to add new networks and are much more interested now in high-definition or on-demand channels, said Jack Myers, editor and publisher of the industry news source Jackmyers.com.

The Gospel Music Channel may be the last of a dying breed.

Siegel doubts that other independent cable channels will be able to establish themselves; the Internet is a more viable option for new ideas.

The success -- especially a deal with DirecTV that made the network available in 16 million more homes last month -- was noticed by the Gospel Music Assn. That extra audience made the Dove Awards interested in moving to the network. In past years, the awards were syndicated and shown later on tape, said John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Assn.

“They have actually surprised me in that it’s better than I expected it would be,” Styll said. “Their on-air look is as professional as anything I’ve seen on television.”

The Gospel Music Channel features a different style of inspirational music each night, like rock and rap on Fridays and soulful gospel on Wednesdays. Each evening has “Faith & Fame,” a biography series, and “Front Row Live,” concerts produced especially for the network. A new concert premieres every Saturday night. The channel has its own “American Idol” knockoff. The third season of “Gospel Dreams” premieres June 1.

Most important, Humbard said the network is family-friendly; it won’t even show movie trailers or commercials that might make for uncomfortable moments for parents.

“I want to know that every time I tune into this channel it’s safe for my 8-year-old to watch,” he said.

The Gospel Music Channel is focused on growth; its founders are targeting Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix and San Diego as potential markets. (Cablevision is the last major cable operator on which it’s not available.)

The channel intentionally doesn’t align itself with one particular denomination. But it does use churches to build its audience. Network representatives contact youth pastors and offer a curriculum for those who want to incorporate it into their religious instruction.

“We have a lot of secret weapons that work very well for us,” he said.