In 1960, Pat Robertson, the son of former U.S. Senator
Absalom Willis Robertson, purchased the license for
WTOV-TV, channel 27 in
Portsmouth, Virginia (unrelated to the current
WTOV-TV in
Steubenville, Ohio), which had ceased operation because of poor viewership. Renamed WYAH-TV (known today as
independent station WGNT), the station began broadcasting Christian programming to the
Hampton Roads area on October 1, 1961. Robertson referred to these members as the "700 Club" and the name stuck. The
telethon was successful and is still held annually. The music was hymns, instrumental pieces, southern gospel music, and urban gospel music. The first permanent host of the program was
Jim Bakker, who, along with his then-wife
Tammy Faye Bakker, also hosted a children's show on WYAH called
Come On Over (later retitled
Jim and Tammy). The couple left CBN in 1972; reportedly, Jim Bakker was fired by Pat Robertson over philosophical differences. The Bakkers then moved on to help launch the
Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) before starting their own television ministry and signature show,
The PTL Club. After the Bakkers left, some staffers at the station reportedly responded by destroying the Bakkers' sets and puppets. Pat Robertson took over as host and evolved his
700 Club by cutting back on music and preaching and heading toward the talk show format developed by Bakker. Robertson transformed the
700 Club from a nightly religious-themed telethon to a Christian talk show.
The 700 Club originally aired only on WYAH-TV and other CBN-owned stations in
Atlanta (
WANX-TV) and
Dallas (
KXTX-TV), and later
Boston (
WXNE-TV). The program entered
national syndication in 1974, as CBN purchased airtime on stations such as
WPIX in
New York City,
KTLA in
Los Angeles,
WPHL-TV in
Philadelphia, and
WDCA in
Washington, D.C., among others. The roster of stations carrying the program grew to over 100 markets by 1976. In some markets, the show aired on multiple stations, choosing between either the full 90-minute version or an edited 60-minute version. In 1977,
The 700 Club received additional exposure nationally on the newly launched
CBN Cable Network where, like CBN's broadcast outlets, it aired three times daily. In 1979,
The 700 Club moved its studios from WYAH's facilities in Portsmouth into CBN's then-new campus in neighboring
Virginia Beach, from where the program continues to originate. During the 1980s, the show evolved into more of a format resembling a magazine show like
Group W's
PM Magazine, with news/opinion and lifestyle segments interspersed with interviews. In some markets,
The 700 Club aired during the morning hours, competing head-to-head with the major network "breakfast television" programs such as NBC's
Today and ABC's
Good Morning America. After CBN sold its group of terrestrial stations later in the decade,
The 700 Club continued to air on CBN Cable as well as many commercial secular stations and Christian stations nationally. CBN was re-branded as The Family Channel in 1988. The Family Channel was packaged as part of a sale of
International Family Entertainment to
News Corporation and television producer
Haim Saban in 1998. The channel was renamed Fox Family Channel, but only three years later Fox Family was sold to
The Walt Disney Company and was subsequently re-branded ABC Family. Disney later rebranded ABC Family as
Freeform on January 12, 2016; Freeform was later
reunited with many of its former corporate siblings from News Corporation in 2019. ,
The 700 Club airs on Freeform three times daily, part of a contractual obligation originally made as part of the Family Channel's sale to News Corporation. As of 2009, the first airing of the show in the morning (only) has been preceded by a half-hour show called
700 Club Interactive, which utilizes Internet user-generated videos and comments by viewers of the show. Longtime host Pat Robertson announced his retirement from
The 700 Club on October 1, 2021. == Political advocacy ==