Pat Robertson established the Christian Broadcasting Network in January 1960 with a modest budget and a struggling UHF station license in Portsmouth, Virginia. The station, WYAH-TV, named for Yahweh, first went on air October 1, 1961, broadcasting live half hour programs each night with barely enough transmitter power to reach across the Portsmouth city limits.
Robertson built the network on a principle unusual among broadcasters of any kind: he refused paid commercial advertising, choosing instead to fund CBN through direct viewer support. When the fledgling network needed 7,000 dollars a month to cover its budget, CBN held its first telethon in 1963, appealing for 700 viewers willing to contribute 10 dollars a month. The response gave the network both a funding model and a name for the program built around it, The 700 Club, which grew from a fundraising vehicle into CBN's enduring flagship broadcast.
Widely credited as the first Christian television network established in the United States, CBN grew from that single Portsmouth transmitter into a national and international satellite operation, providing both a broadcasting model and, directly, early professional experience for figures including Jim and Tammy Bakker, who worked at CBN before founding Trinity Broadcasting Network and later PTL.