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History In 1961, Robertson bought the license for WTOV, channel 27 in Portsmouth, Virginia. It had gone off the air five years earlier due to poor viewership (the call letters now belong to WTOV-TV Channel 9 in Steubenville, Ohio as a NBC affiliate). The station returned in October as WYAH, broadcasting twelve hours of Christian programming to the Hampton Roads market each day. In 1962, the station suffered financially and almost closed. To keep the station on the air, WYAH decided to produce a special telethon edition of the show. For the telethon, Robertson set a goal of 700 members each contributing $10 a month, which was enough to support the station. Robertson referred to these members as the '700 Club' and the name stuck. The telethon was successful and is still held annually. Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker started on the channel in 1964 as hosts of a children's show, Come On Over, which evolved into a talk show. The couple left WYAH in 1972 to join the Trinity Broadcasting Network where they developed the PTL Club. Some staffers at the station responded by destroying Bakker's sets and puppets before he left.* Robertson adopted the talk show format developed by Bakker (though without the puppets) and transformed the 700 Club from a nightly religious themed telethon to a religious talk show. WYAH 27 was renamed the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), its content similar to a general entertainment station, but with many religious shows, including The 700 Club which aired three times a day. During the 1970s CBN acquired other stations. These stations were sold separately in the 1980s. During this period The 700 Club aired on CBN which became a syndicated cable TV station. The 700 Club now airs on ABC Family, part of a contractual obligation originally made when Robertson's "Family Channel" (another cable TV station) was sold to Fox Broadcasting Company * *. International versions of The 700 Club are Club 700 Hoy, broadcast in Latin America, and The 700 Club With Paul and Fiona, in Great Britain. Begun in October 2004, the latter is co-hosted by Paul Jones and Fiona Hendley Jones. The 700 Club and world leaders The 700 Club has occasionally been the subject of controversy due to political statements made on the show by Pat Robertson. In 2005, Robertson was quoted on the August 22 program saying this towards Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez: "We have the ability to take him out." Two days later, Robertson told his audience "I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP Associated Press, but that happens all the time," Robertson said. Later that day, he issued a statement apologizing for the assassination remark, but still had harsh words for Chávez. However, he had no comment on the matter during the next day's edition of his show. Robertson continues to refer to Chávez as a dictator. Since the incident, ABC Family has run a disclaimer before each show that says "The following CBN telecast does not reflect the views of ABC Family." On January 5, 2006, Robertson commented on the grave condition Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in following a cerebral hemorrhage: "God considers this land to be his...You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine'...Sharon was dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the European Union, the United Nations, or the United States of America." On January 11, 2006, Israel suspended contact with evangelist Pat Robertson for suggesting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.* Israel also removed Robertson from a deal ensuring his involvement in the development of a Christian theme park near the Sea of Galilee. Ultimately, Robertson apologized directly to Sharon's son, who accepted the apology. The 700 Club and intelligent design The 700 Club has strongly defended the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. On the November 10, 2005 broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson made a strongly worded statement about a local school board election for the Dover Area School District in Dover, Pennsylvania earlier that week. The episode aired on the ABC Family Channel with a disclaimer that the program did not reflect the views of that station. In this broadcast, he told the citizens of Dover that they had rejected God by voting members of the school board who supported intelligent design out of office and to not ask him for help in the event of a natural disaster. 700 Club Asia The 700 Club is also shown across Asia, but the hosts of the show are different. Peter Kairuz hosts this program along with Chat Silayan and Dulce. It is seen on ABS-CBN (no relation to Pat Roberson's CBN) and Studio 23 in the Philippines. Controversy The 700 Club, as well as Pat Robertson, have been the target of large controversies. One such controversy is that the 700 Club often advertises that people who view the 700 Club have been healed in a physical or spiritual manner. Claims include people who have suffered from migraines for years, people with near malaria symptoms, and general ailments and serious medical issues. Letters from people who have claimed to have been cured, through what they believe to be a miracle, are often read on the program. These claims are often cited to be unlikely, asserting that by watching the 700 Club on television, one might have a miracle and/or be cured of a serious medical issue requiring the use of modern medicine. In 2003 Robertson underwent surgery to remove his cancerous prostate gland. Some have mocked his decision to use human medicine and science as hypocritical to his rhetoric of faith healing.* Another controversy includes numerous claims made by Pat Robertson on the show. In one such instance, he advertised and endorsed an energy drink that he claimed gave him strength and vitality enough to leg press 2000 lbs.* This assertion is controversial, as the Florida State University record for instance, for a leg press is 1335 lbs., and the person who broke the record (later an NFL player and Navy SEAL) burst the blood vessels in his eyes in his attempt. In addition, no current piece of exercise equipment could support 2,000 lbs. for Robertson to press. * The energy drink was soon removed due to this controversy. | ||||||||||
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