By Mary Fauldsstaff writer
November-December 2010 – Charley Humbard grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, a typical Midwestern town, a suburb of Akron, Ohio. However, his childhood was anything but typical. In 1952, his father, Rex Humbard, was the first evangelist in the U.S. to be seen every week across the country on the new medium called television.
The elder Humbard passed away in 2007, but the son is still using the medium of television to share the Gospel. Young Charley loved to see his dad preach and he loved watching the gospel singers as they worshiped the Lord. He was also fascinated with the inner workings of television, an interest that would draw him into his adult vocation.
“In my younger years I worked for Turner Broadcasting System and also for Discovery,” Humbard told AFA Journal. “I helped launch numerous Discovery networks around the world. After 9-11, I said to my wife that I wanted to do something in the media business that reflected good Christian values and was an alternative to the many things that are on now. Some networks claim to be family friendly, but when you actually sit down to watch them, they are anything but.”
With the help of Brad Siegel, a friend from Turner, Humbard launched the Gospel Music Channel in October 2004. “For me,” said Humbard, “creating the Gospel Music Channel was really bringing together my youth with my experience in the cable industry.”
Responding to viewers
However, what was once a network dedicated to gospel and other styles of Christian music has undergone some big changes. According to Humbard, he began hearing from viewers that they wanted to see more entertainment that upheld Christian and family values.
As the network expanded the programming focus, it simplified its name. “Officially, we now call ourselves GMC,” said Humbard. “The name change also helps people look for us on the programming guide because GMC are the letters they will see.”
Even as it has added television series to the schedule, GMC is still the leading television destination for gospel and Christian music.
“I think the changes in the network are really exciting because we’ve added some really great programming,” he said. “We added Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and other series like Doc and Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye.
To cater to the music end, starting on the specials side, we are the official home of the Dove Awards, for gospel and Christian music. If you are a fan of black gospel, we are the home of the Stellar Awards. We still have music shows on in the mornings, evenings and even late nights for those night owls.”
Humbard said GMC is especially proud to add family friendly movies to the lineup. To him, family friendly does not mean second-rate. “We play Christian movies like Facing the Giants and Fireproof, but we also take the best of secular cinema as well, like The Color Purple. We try to run movies that support our viewers’ values and their faith,” he said.
One of the biggest sources of excitement for Humbard about the revamped GMC is the addition of original full-length movies. GMC’s first such film, The Way Home, debuted October 1. It is a true story about Randy Simpkins, a husband and father who is tested in his faith. (See below for review.) Humbard said that eventually, he hopes to have an original movie premier every month.
Like Walmart and Procter & Gamble’s Family Moments campaign initiated earlier this year with their family-friendly movies, Secrets of the Mountain and The Jensen Project, GMC plans to produce original movies, then release them on DVD to Christian outlets just days after the television premier.
GMC’s family friendly fare is earning the network some significant recognition. For example, Parents Television Council has given GMC its entertainment seal of approval, the only network to be fully certified by the long-time Hollywood watchdog group.
“They have a scale that they measure every show by, and only a few networks in their history have ever had all of their shows recognized by the Parents Television Council as completely family friendly and upholding traditional family values,” Humbard said. “So they have rated all of our shows on the channel, and they give the channel their seal of approval as the only uplifting, family friendly network that they’ve awarded in 2010.”
Humbard noted that providing uplifting family entertainment is not an easy road. While many networks aim to entertain a different audience by downscaling or adding more violence or more sex or other offensive content, Humbard said it is “really great to be recognized by the Parents Television Council, which shares our mission to ensure that families have the kind of programming, [the] kind of entertainment, that they want in their homes that upholds their values.”
Protecting the values
Since GMC is a for-profit network, advertising dollars are always essential, but network personnel use a fine-toothed comb to qualify even commercials and movie trailers to make sure that they will support the values of GMC’s viewers. Humbard said he is grateful that advertisers have not shied away from supporting not just the family friendly programming, but the Christian faith affirming shows as well.
“Our first advertiser that supported us was Ford and Lincoln,” said Humbard. “When we were a small network, they helped put us on the map and they are still one of our biggest supporters today.” Other major advertisers on GMC are GEICO, Allstate and Coca Cola. In all, Humbard said about 150 corporations support the programming of GMC with their advertising dollars. “It is nice when people watch us and know that these advertisers are supporting [family programming] and they can say, ‘I want to support those advertisers,’” he said.
Because GMC sets the programming bar so high, the network is earning high marks from viewers. Beta Research Corporation conducts regular studies on cable networks and their perceived value among subscribers, defined as how much a person would pay for the network if it were offered by itself. GMC stood as the number one network in perceived value among cable and satellite subscribers and the fastest growing network in cable television. The study measured about 45 cable networks.
Along with building viewer support, GMC is working on building their brand. Humbard said he wants to make GMC into something that families will turn to when they are looking for entertainment.
“We want people, when they look at GMC, to know that whatever they are looking for, whether it be TV shows, movies, music, even video games, they can be assured that it is safe for their family and it is faith affirming as well.”
One entertainment genre in Humbard’s list that might stand out to the reader, as it did to this writer, is video games.
“If you look out on our horizon,” Humbard said, “we hope to take the brand onto an international stage to people who love family programming and would love our uplifting entertainment brand. Obviously music would be a part of that, but I think you’ll see us getting more and more into other forms of entertainment for quality, uplifting titles that are family safe.”
This kind of forward thinking reveals that Charley Humbard and GMC are poised and ready to use every avenue available to provide family friendly television based on the values of the Christian faith. 
GMC Reviews
The Way Home, a gripping family drama from Lionsgate, is based on a true story. It opens with Randy Simpkins, a distraught father (played by Dean Cain of Superman fame), searching in the forest for his missing two-year-old son, Joe. He falls to his knees and prays for a sign that his son isn’t dead. Then a flashback takes us to earlier in the day. Joe, the youngest of three Simpkins sons, disappears from the driveway while the parents rush in and out of the house packing the car for a family vacation.
The rest of the movie follows the efforts of the whole community as law officers and volunteers show up in full force to comb the wooded area and neighborhoods around the Simpkins home. Family friends include many of strong Christian faith, and their impact on others is very evident.
GMC aired the world premiere of the inspiring story October 1. When GMC asked AFA to help promote the event, we responded that there was one use of God’s name in vain, so we could not endorse it. GMC acted immediately to edit the phrase out of the version to air on the network.
AFA contacted publicists working with producers of the film to ask if the phrase could be edited from the final version, but production of the DVD had already been completed.
GMC airs Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, an original drama series with a deaf woman as the main character. Produced by brothers Gary and Dave Johnson, the series was inspired by the true story of Sue Thomas, who overcame profound deafness to work surveillance for the F.B.I. Deanne Bray, who portrays Thomas, is herself severely deaf.
In the series, Thomas is a recent college graduate about to begin her FBI career. Disappointed when she is relegated to the tedious task of analyzing fingerprints, she doesn’t remain there for long. Other agents quickly realize that her unique lip reading ability can have great value for the elite surveillance team.
Creators Dave and Gary Johnson are committed Christians who have worked in television for decades. Earlier Johnson series include Doc, High Incident and Against the Grain.
A five-volume DVD set containing 56 episodes of Sue Thomas is available at afastore.net or at 662-844-5036, option 3.
Reviews by Randall Murphree
