History
Daystar's roots can be traced back to 1993, when Marcus Lamb and his Word of God Fellowship ministry purchased a formerly defunct UHF station in Dallas called KMPX, broadcasting Christian programming. Marcus is a Georgia native who first began preaching at age 15 and finished Magna Cum Laude from Lee College at age nineteen. In 1982, he married Joni Trammel, and together they began to travel the US, preaching in churches, conventions, and crusades.
In 1984, they moved to Montgomery, Alabama to begin a television station. In less than a year, WMCF-TV 45 became the first full power Christian television station in the state. Marcus and Joni built the station for the next five years. In 1990, Marcus and Joni sold TV 45 to Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and moved to Dallas, Texas, where, in 1993, the Lamb’s launched their first station in the Dallas market. Channel 29 ran for three years. Then, in 1996, with a large contribution from Kenneth Copeland Ministries, they were able to purchase a station in Colorado, officially turning them into a network. In August 1997, the small staff moved into a 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) facility that included production studios. On New Year’s Eve, later that year, Daystar was officially launched. The first broadcast featured Bishop T.D. Jakes from the Potter’s House in Dallas.
Since 1993, Daystar facilities have tripled in size, and their broadcast signal reaches 200 countries and 670 million households globally. In 2010, Daystar became the first full time Christian network to build a TV station in Israel.
Even with monumental growth, Daystar has not escaped the difficulties of the recession. On March 21, 2011, Daystar announced that it planned to downsize its production studios in Ashland, Kentucky; Houston, Texas; and Denver, Colorado, effective the following month; the facilities would continue to be used as transmitters, but not broadcasting centers. The downsizing, with studios run by a limited technical staff, led to layoffs of an unknown number of Daystar employees.
Read more about this topic: Daystar (TV Network)
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