Post by kanyon on Sept 23, 2007 2:07:11 GMT -5
C&P
ATLANTIS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Broadcasting pioneer and the world’s first Televangelist Rex Humbard died today of natural causes. He was 88. Humbard, heralded by U.S. News & World Report as “One of the Top 25 Principle Architects of the American Century,” is noted as America’s first television evangelist. In 1949, Rex Humbard hit the airwaves broadcasting from the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana and the world took notice.
“Today, Rex Humbard has come closer than any other human being in history…to preaching the Gospel in all of the world…more than any other evangelist, he has taken up the challenge,” touted Time Magazine.
By 1952, Rex Humbard was broadcasting weekly to millions of faithful viewers from his 5,400 seat church the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio. His weekly program was carried for nearly three decades by 360 stations across the US and Canada and over 2,000 stations worldwide in 91 languages. His simple storytelling style combined with the best in Gospel music transcended cultures and doctrines, and had broad appeal to believers and non-believers around the world. At the shows peak, weekly Sunday audiences averaged 8 million viewers with the 1976 You Are Loved patriotic special garnering over 30 million viewers. The Saturday Evening Post wrote, “Putting God on Main Street has been the goal of this dedicated preacher for more than 60 years. Now, thanks to the electronic media, his Main Street stretches from Ohio to around the world.”
One of Humbard’s loyal viewers was Elvis Presley, who regularly gathered his...
ATLANTIS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Broadcasting pioneer and the world’s first Televangelist Rex Humbard died today of natural causes. He was 88. Humbard, heralded by U.S. News & World Report as “One of the Top 25 Principle Architects of the American Century,” is noted as America’s first television evangelist. In 1949, Rex Humbard hit the airwaves broadcasting from the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana and the world took notice.
“Today, Rex Humbard has come closer than any other human being in history…to preaching the Gospel in all of the world…more than any other evangelist, he has taken up the challenge,” touted Time Magazine.
By 1952, Rex Humbard was broadcasting weekly to millions of faithful viewers from his 5,400 seat church the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio. His weekly program was carried for nearly three decades by 360 stations across the US and Canada and over 2,000 stations worldwide in 91 languages. His simple storytelling style combined with the best in Gospel music transcended cultures and doctrines, and had broad appeal to believers and non-believers around the world. At the shows peak, weekly Sunday audiences averaged 8 million viewers with the 1976 You Are Loved patriotic special garnering over 30 million viewers. The Saturday Evening Post wrote, “Putting God on Main Street has been the goal of this dedicated preacher for more than 60 years. Now, thanks to the electronic media, his Main Street stretches from Ohio to around the world.”
One of Humbard’s loyal viewers was Elvis Presley, who regularly gathered his...