How Jim Bakker became the Johnny Carson of Christian TV

October 6, 2026 · 5:57 am 4 sources

Image: NPR

Coverage

Wires & papers of record

• Jim Bakker, who built 'PTL Club' televangelism empire, has died at 86
  NPR · October 6, 2026 05:57
  Jim Bakker, along with his first wife Tammy Faye built an evangelical empire around the hugely successful "The PTL Club" TV show, only to lose it all over a sex scandal and financial crimes.
• US televangelist Jim Bakker, ensnared in fraud and sex scandal, dead at 86
  The Guardian · October 6, 2026 08:55
  Bakker spent four and a half years in prison after being convicted in 1989 ​of defrauding followers in a scheme involving holidays at his Christian theme park The US televangelist Jim Bakker, who built a multimillion-dollar empire and lived ⁠in opulence before being disgraced by a sex scandal, a…
• US televangelist Jim Bakker, disgraced from sex scandal and fraud, dies at 86
  BBC News · October 6, 2026 13:31
  US televangelist Jim Bakker co-founded The PTL Club with his then-wife Tammy Faye before being jailed for fraud and conspiracy.

Coverage

• How Jim Bakker became the Johnny Carson of Christian TV
  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. · October 8, 2026 12:10
  Bakker’s ‘PTL Club’ existed at the nexus of evangelical Christianity and American pop culture.