THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020595
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL NOWELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
The Inspirational Network's David Cerullo wants to change the face of religious programming, which he maintains hasn't changed much since Bishop Sheen first preached on the air in TV's early years.
``We want to get away from what we call the `talking heads,' '' he said. ``When the average person thinks about religious programming, they picture a pastor standing in a church or crusade setting.
``We want to broaden the scope to include sports, music and children's programming.''
Cerullo's Charlotte-based INSP cable network is blazing new trails in the genre already.
This fall, the network will broadcast a college football game featuring the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University Flames. And the cable network collaborated with Walt Disney World to provide live coverage of the 1993 ``Night of Joy'' concert from Orlando, Fla.
INSP's current programming still has the traditional format for about half the 24-hour broadcasting day, Cerullo said. His goal over the next several years is to reduce it to about 15 percent.
INSP toyed with an in-home shopping program featuring religious items, cosmetics and health and fitness products. And INSP is reaching out to a younger and more culturally diverse audience with such shows as ``Weekend Jam,'' which highlights Christian rock artists, and ``In the House,'' which features rap music.
``This is so different from any other religious network,'' Cerullo said while giving a tour of INSP's $11 million, 50,000-square-foot production studios.
INSP, an aspiring religious cable network that grew from the ashes of former televangelist Jim Bakker's operation, is trying its best to distance itself from his opulent lifestyle.
``That was them, this is us,'' said Cerullo, INSP's president. ``That was then, and this is now.
``This is a new day,'' said Cerullo, whose televangelist father, Morris Cerullo, purchased the network from bankruptcy court four years ago. He paid $5 million. ``We have new ownership, new plans and new people.''
While the elder Cerullo remains chairman of the board, his son is the hands-on leader. Morris Cerullo originally had purchased Bakker's Heritage USA along with the network, but wound up selling his interest in the park to his former partners. He now travels the world, doing as many as 300 crusades a year.
INSP, which appears on 750 cable systems plugged into 8.5 million homes across the country, differs from the old PTL network in two ways.
First, it does not center on a personality like Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. And viewers never see anyone asking for donations in telethons or other promotions.
INSP also has a subsidiary that produces special video productions for the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.
INSP is located in a business park just a few miles from Heritage USA, the 2,000-acre Christian retreat built by Bakker. The old PTL Club television show used to be taped at the sprawling retreat's studios.
The PTL cable network was in shambles when Cerullo took over on Sept. 26, 1990. There were five employees who were working around the clock to keep the network afloat.
What was once state-of-the-art equipment was falling apart.
``It was losing $85,000 a month,'' Cerullo said. ``They were keeping the equipment together with bubble gum and wire.''
To make matters worse, the network's contract for satellite time was going to expire in five months.
Now, INSP employs 63 people at its production studios and offices, which were completed in 1992.
``It's safe to say we are not where we hope to be,'' said Cerullo, who often interjects Biblical passages into his answers to questions about the network.
One of his favorites comes from the Book of Ecclesiastes. He paraphrases it this way: ``Money is the answer to all things.''
``It's going to take a boatload of money to produce the kind of programming we want to do,'' he said. ``Rather than wait until we get it, we are doing the best we can with what we have. And whatever we make, we plow it back into the network.''
His biggest problem now is the competition. There are five cable programmers for every open station on a local cable company's dial, he said. Even in the network's home city, the cable TV company that serves most of Charlotte does not carry INSP.
Cerullo doesn't want to make the same mistakes Bakker and others have made by trying to grow too fast.
``We can't afford that luxury,'' he said. ``I wish I could sit here and tell you we are using our studios 24 hours a day, around the clock. But you have to crawl before you walk.''
KEYWORDS: RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING by CNB