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ABSTRACT
As religious tent crusades evolved into in-home TV entertainment in the United States, issues surrounding distribution of religious programming arose. Television networks aligned with the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA with the hopes of controlling religious broadcasting. Some religious broadcasters, including Oral Roberts, were denied network TV access. This research reveals that Roberts used an innovative syndication method, the 90-day deal, to bypass the sustaining system and scale distribution of his crusade programs. First-person, ministry executive interviews and primary artifacts contribute new considerations in the relationship between program producers and distributors in U.S. broadcasting history.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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Cristi Eschler-Freudenrich
Cristi A. Eschler-Freudenrich, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Chair of the Communication & Media Department at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her research interests include media history, religious rhetoric, and their influence in society. In 2020, she earned the Broadcast Education Association’s Kenneth Harwood Award for best doctoral dissertation in the field of broadcasting and electronic media.