Daystar / Marcus Lamb

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

As has been reported, the religious broadcaster Marcus Lamb died on Nov. 30 (Mon.) of COVID-19. Lamb was a co-founder of Daystar, the second-largest Christian TV broadcaster in the United States.

 

Aside from proselytizing the "prosperity gospel", Lamb and Daystar have been criticized during the pandemic for spreading misinformation about the virus and vaccines. So it's ironic that Lamb succumbed to the thing he spent so much airtime on his network downplaying. It should be noted that Lamb was a diabetic, and his own vaccination status was unknown. 

 

My reason for the post is this: Watch Daystar, and they are still running programs featuring their now-deceased leader. Other than the official statement on Daystar's website, I have not seen much mention of Lamb's passing on the air. Which, regardless of the circumstances, is extremely tacky.

 

**NOTE: I would not want this thread to devolve into an argument centered around COVID or vaccines.**

[T.L. Hughes 881]

If they haven’t made much mention on-air of Lamb’s passing, that’s pretty unusual, considering he co-founded Daystar. Daystar’s main rival, TBN, by comparison, ran extended tributes to founders Paul and Jan Crouch on the night of their respective deaths (in November 2013 and May 2016, respectively) as well as tribute specials that followed.

 

I wasn’t aware that Marcus Lamb had been advocating against vaccines before reading of his death. (I don’t watch religious networks often, and the only times I have had been mainly for movies that weren’t preachy, so to speak, but I’m aware of who he and his wife, Joni, are in a cursory manner; my late grandmother, who passed in 2010, was much more into religious TV out of those in my family, but the televangelists I know of I first heard of mainly because she used to watch them.) Lamb’s vaccination status, as mentioned, was unknown though his diabetes and the fact he was in his mid-60s did put him in two high-risk categories, whether if unvaccinated or vaccinated but still having a risk of death from COVID because of his immune system vulnerabilities.

[nathannah 2401]

I assume because it was more unexpected than the Crouches (who pretty much had their tribute programming banked and ready as Paul and Jan's health declined), and Daystar is more dependent on selling time to brokered shows than TBN, which mainly has mostly an internal production direction with brokers and films in the dead timeslots. They were caught off-guard as Marcus was still young and Jonathan (their son) definitely is in no position to take over the network at his age.

 

So I think it's more 'we didn't expect this and we're struggling with the future', and now they have to figure out new things unlike TBN, who ended up with management who was able to push away from the Crouch era relatively unscathed (although they've had to beg the scandal-ridden Hillsong to get their name off their network so they can relaunch it as TBN Inspire at the start of the year). Unless Joni also gets sick or is suddenly like 'Finally he's gone! I don't have to do this View rip-off crud with Table Talk any longer!', there won't be major changes to come.

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

At TBN, Paul Crouch was grooming his sons to take over. Then came the "Cain v. Abel" battle between them in which Matthew prevailed and Paul Jr. was cast out, with a little help from his two daughters. Matt and Laurie have modernized TBN, though it wasn't until Jan's death (more unexpected than that of Paul Sr., whose health was declining) that the last vestiges of TBN's first generation finally disappeared from the air. IIRC, on the day Jan died was when TBN went live with the Hillsong Channel, replacing "The Church Channel"–which, like their kids network Smile (of a Child) was Jan's brainchild.

[channel2 977]

Why did they do the Hillsong Channel anyway?

[nathannah 2401]

4 hours ago, channel2 said:

Why did they do the Hillsong Channel anyway?

Hillsong was star-chasing and getting people like Justin Bieber and Vanessa Hudgens in, so it looked like a good proposition at the time to hitch up with them and turn The Church Channel from a dull and neutral, but good network, to the K-Love of TV (the same reason they ended JCTV and put on an all-movie channel in its place). Then all the Hillsong revelations came out, and now they've launched a rebrand with just over a month's notice to their carriage partners.

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

6 hours ago, channel2 said:

Why did they do the Hillsong Channel anyway?

Hillsong is presently rife in scandal, both in the US and its home country of Austraila. Do a Google search on Brian Houston and Carl Lentz and you'll find out more.

 

TBN had to distance themselves from Hillsong and it probably took them this long to get it done from a legal standpoint.

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

8 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

I wasn’t aware that Marcus Lamb had been advocating against vaccines before reading of his death....

From what I've been able to cull together (and I don't watch these channels, nor am I religious but I'm familiar with the principal figures) it wasn't just the Lambs, but others using their airwaves. Kenneth Copeland appears on Daystar, and he has made very grandiose claims that COVID was a hoax. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmental attorney and known anti-vaxxer, appeared on a Daystar program to spread what some may consider vaccine falsehoods, leading to his being banned from Instagram and YouTube. RFK2's hardline stance against vaccines previously caused members of his own family to distance themselves from him.

[mvcg66b3r 100]

8 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

Hillsong was star-chasing and getting people like Justin Bieber and Vanessa Hudgens in, so it looked like a good proposition at the time to hitch up with them and turn The Church Channel from a dull and neutral, but good network, to the K-Love of TV (the same reason they ended JCTV and put on an all-movie channel in its place). Then all the Hillsong revelations came out, and now they've launched a rebrand with just over a month's notice to their carriage partners.

What's going to be their new name?

[nathannah 2401]

Already answered above in my first post. Please read through the thread. 

[channel2 977]

On 12/3/2021 at 5:56 AM, mrschimpf said:

Hillsong was star-chasing and getting people like Justin Bieber and Vanessa Hudgens in, so it looked like a good proposition at the time to hitch up with them and turn The Church Channel from a dull and neutral, but good network, to the K-Love of TV (the same reason they ended JCTV and put on an all-movie channel in its place). Then all the Hillsong revelations came out, and now they've launched a rebrand with just over a month's notice to their carriage partners.

 

So TBN was going Hollywood, then. That makes sense!

[Big Rollo Smokes 260]

1 hour ago, channel2 said:

 

So TBN was going Hollywood, then. That makes sense!

TBN was already Hollywood, both in the literal and physical sense. But in 2016 Hillsong was hot and they wanted to ride the wave.