Religious services and programs have been a feature of U.S. broadcasting since regularly-scheduled radio began in the 1920s. With the emergence of television, broadcast religion is more pervasive than ever before. It has also become the focus of debate over its role in United States politics. Televangelism is best regarded as a dialogue between communicators and audiences, not a magical tool by which the few manipulate the behavior of the many. This is not an assertion that the video preachers have somehow failed. Rather, their followings suggest that they are succeeding at what the mass media can do best: to engage, through the skillful use of symbols, the inner conflicts and anxieties of large numbers of people, and then to skillfully read and adapt the message to the responses which the audience is constantly transmitting back. (BZ)