TV & VIDEO - Sept. 19, 1988

From our Wages of Sin File: The Arbitron audience-measuring firm reports that defrocked evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, rocked by an admitted sex scandal that forced his ouster from the Assemblies of God church, has lost almost half his television viewers. The preacher has fallen from the most-watched TV evangelist a year ago to third place overall. In July, 1987, Swaggart could claim 1.69 million TV homes watched his Sunday worship service and daily Bible study programs. Arbitron’s latest ratings, for July, 1988, show Swaggart was seen in 836,000 TV homes. Swaggart tearfully admitted in February that he had committed a “moral sin”--reportedly consorting with a New Orleans prostitute.