The Old-Time Gospel Hour

The Old-Time Gospel Hour was a ministry radio and television program broadcast from Thomas Road Baptist Church hosted by minister Jerry Falwell featuring the church's Sunday service.^[1] Started in 1956^[2] by Jerry Falwell, The Old-Time Gospel Hour gained a national following on radio and television.^[3] The series was a major revenue source for Falwell, bringing in more than $90 million during the early 1980s.^[4] The show's popularity continued through the 1990s, during which time it was still broadcast on hundreds of stations across the country.^[5]

The television show ended after Falwell died in 2007. His son, Jonathan Falwell, became the primary minister featured in the Sunday services^[6] and eventually folded the show into the church's online video library and livestream website called Thomas Road On Demand.^[7]

Bono of the band U2 mentions The Old-Time Gospel Hour in the 1988 live version of the song "Bullet the Blue Sky" on the album Rattle and Hum. Toward the end of the song, there is a spoken section where he says "...and I can't tell the difference between ABC News, Hill Street Blues, and a preacher on the Old-Time Gospel Hour stealing money from the sick and the old. Well, the God I believe in isn't short of cash, mister."^[8]