tonight on "nightline," prosperity preacher? tv and radio. books and conferences. joyce meyer is a straight-talking christian rock star with a ministry that raises over $100 million a year, and is feeding hungry kids around the world. but what about the private jet? plus, pandora's boombox. it knows what you want to listen to before you do. and 50 million people are tuned in. tonight, we go inside the internet radio phenomenon, pandora. and, overboard? retooling a classic is one thing, but a flop like "real genius?" believe it or not, it's the hot

new hollywood trend. find out why red somebonia, revisited, is tonight's "sign of the times." from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, martin bashir and cynthia mcfadden in new york city, this is "nightline," april 13th, 2010. >> good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with faith and a woman who calls herself one of the world's leading practical bible teachers. she's perhaps the most powerful female. consider the numbers. over $100 million. that's the amount of money her ministry raised last year. 474, that's the number of television stations which broadcast her show. 80. that's the number of books she's written. or one. that's how many private jets it took before critics started a asking questions. i went to st. louis to talk to joyce meyer for our series,

"faith matters." joyce meyer is as close as it comes to a christian rock star. >> we love you! >> reporter: though, she herself says she's an unlikely success story. ♪ we will overcome >> i was told i didn't have a personality. i was told i didn't have the voice. i was told i was a woman. it was like -- god, i'm a woman, he said, "i know." i stand amazed all the time. the bible says god uses the weak and the foolish in the world to confound the wise. >> reporter: she says she was one of the weak and foolish. abused as a child, divorced as a young woman. a thief at one point early in her young life. but now has millions of worldwide foul lores. >> i tell people, i can sit in my garage for a week and that would never make me a car. and you can go sit in church

until your bottom's flat and that's not going to make you a servant of christ. >> reporter: humor is a big part of her appeal. as is her down home advice. and honesty about her own struggles. >> i was in a terrible mess in my childhood. >> reporter: and over the past 30 years, she's turned her troubles and her belief in god into an empire. >> i've been in front of crowds like this thousands and thousands of times. >> reporter: there are the weekend conferences, like this one held recently in north carolina. >> five, four, three -- >> reporter: there is the global television show. and radio. and the books. her 80th, "eat the cookie, buy the shoes," comes out today. >> they have those there because they want me to sign them. god is so holy and we are so messed up. >> reporter: she seems to operate without a filter, and she's turned that into god. >> i don't really have anything

to hide. why not tell the truth? >> reporter: about even the most painful parts of her past. >> sexual abuse, verbal abuse, abandonment. my own father raped me. i know it happened at least 200 times. so, for me to stand here and say i'm of sound mind, i'm whole emotionally, i've been married to the same man 44 years, i have four wonderful children, almost ten grandchildren, and i'm being able to help people all over the world. god has done a lot for me. >> reporter: so, without that horrible childhood, without that continual rape, would we not been sitting here talking about the joyce meyer ministry? >> i'm not sure that we would be. >> reporter: she's told the truth about other shocking events, including the fact that she stole paychecks from a former employer.

decades later, deciding to confess and pay back the money. >> i was petrified, cynthia. i thought, what if i go to jail? >> reporter: and you could have been. >> yeah. but i really felt like it was what god was prompting me to do. that i needed to go make that right. i didn't want to have that between me and god. >> reporter: questions about her handling of the ministry's moneys over the years has dogged her. including debate about her salary. at one time, she was paid $900,000 a year. now it's $250,000. >> most people doing what i'm doing working as long as i have would be way beyond that. so, i'm not robbing the ministry. when i ask people to give, i sknt be on television if they don't. i can't help people. i mean, it takes money. >> reporter: and then, there is the pesky question about the ministry's multimillion dollar private jet. this model's on display at the ministry's headquarters. >> i really could not fly commercial at this stage of my

life and do what i'm doing. i could not endure it physically, if i had to do that. do you know how hard it is to fly commercial now. >> reporter: you don't think it looks unseemly for someone preaching the world of god to have a private jet? >> i don't. why would it be okay for a business executive but not okay for somebody like me? >>. >> reporter: because i think people think, okay, jesus is example of the sort of sack cloth and ashes, he lives in the simplest way. >> i gave up everything. >> reporter: so if jesus were here, he'd have a corporate jet? >> today? maybe they weren't available then. it's like -- why can't you look at the good i'm doing? you know? i mean -- even just say -- somebody says, i think that's excessive, but man, she's helping so many people, you know, we can just allow her that one luxury because man, she's worked hard for 32 years. she's helped a lot of people.

she's given up her privacy. so, it's like -- is there no reward for anybody that's doing what i'm doing? you know, do we only have to just suffer and never have anything so people will be happy? going to come sing in a minute while you prepare your gifts. we want you to be happy. she's going to sing to make you happy. >> reporter: joyful giving is part of her theme. >> i want you to give cheerfully out of your heart because god loves a cheerful giver. i always say, he'll take it from a grouch, but he'd rather you do it cheerfully. >> reporter: she is a very good fund raiser. her ministries raise over $100 million a year. >> i pray lord what they give will come back to them multiplied many times over. >> reporter: so, is she a prosperity preacher? >> you know, to me, that whole thing is just so totally ridiculous. first of all, what is a prosperity preacher? it's like -- it's just this term that people have come up with.

do i believe that god wants to bless us, yes. >> reporter: when you go to the conferences, you ask people to give money -- >> sure. >> reporter: you say, do it cheerfully. because? >> giving is a major part of the whole christian doctrine. >> reporter: but do you believe if someone gives money to the min strips that more will come back to them? >> yes. absolutely. >> reporter: i think that's what they mean by prosperity -- >> yes. >> reporter: do you worry at all that sometimes your message will be heard by someone in the most dire circumstances, sort of roulette wheel, a sort of gamble with god, okay, well, i can't pay the rent, but i'll give it to joyce and see what happens. do you worry -- >> well, no, i don't worry about that. >> reporter: her headquarters is here in a sprawling complex just outside of st. louis. she tells me the whole place was paid for with cash. and offers a tour. >> so, this is dave's. and he's very patriotic.

>> reporter: it is a family affair. >> flags everywhere. >> we had tried to go on television, and really out of gold's timing. >> reporter: her husband, dave, runs the business side of the operation. your marriage, if you came to a sticking point, it would be dave that would make the decision? >> if it came down to that, to where we absolutely could not agree. >> reporter: despite the fact, it's the joyce meyer ministry, not the dave meyer ministry. >> well, that's just a name. >> reporter: both her sons work at the ministry. we talked to david, who runs the international operation, which includes both the foreign television broadcast and their global humanitarian work. he tells us they feed 55,000 children daily and care for more than 1,000 children at 44 homes around the world. >> our budget is $27 million a year. i've got 300 employees worldwide. 18 foreign offices. you know, all that foreign television, which is about half that budget, because we're on in

38 different languages. >> reporter: while their mission work is featured in their annual report, it's worth noting that of the more than 1$100 million raised annually, only about $14 million is spent on aid. about 14% of the annual recei receipts. we asked meyer if the way she spends the ministry's money is appropriate. >> to be honest, i don't really know what all those percentages are. if you got that from. >> dick: >> reporter: that's what your son did. >> we set $27 million aside. >> reporter: when you look at the report, it's filled eed wi those pictures, but do you feel like it's enough? >> well, i can't run the rest of this if -- >> reporter: because -- >> if we give all of it away. >> reporter: people can say, too much spent on television, not enough spent on food and education, that kind of stuff. >> first of all, i'm not on television because i jumped up and decided to be on tv. if i'm not on television, i could no go feed anybody.

>> reporter: but as the butting of the ministry's money is spent on television and other media, many are left wondering if the real business of the ministry is promoting joyce meyer. >> there's no way i would be as widely accepted in the world as i am if god was not giving me favor with people. no way. everybody doesn't have to like me. just -- pray for me and leave me be. >> come on, give god praise. >> just let me do what i feel like god is asking me to do. amen. >> final note, joyce meyer told me she never pressures anyone to give money. her new book "eat the cookie, buy the shoes, giving yourself permission to lighten up" is in stores today. when we come back, don't touch that dial. fans call pandora a better way to find the music you love. see what 50 million people are listening to. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

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that's why i always have totino's pizza rolls. big pizza taste. in a bite size roll. kids can't resist their delicious pizza flavor. totino's pizza rolls. the pizza way to snack. thanks for your help. we turn now to music. every one of us has our own particular taste, and with that in mind, a california company set out to scientifically create a personalized radio station just for you. so, how do they do it? brian rooney opened up pandora's box. >> reporter: it's just a big office with windows over the city of oakland. could be an insurance office, from the look of it. but notice the headphones. ♪

folk. african. opera. they spend their days listening to music. not only listening, but categorizing its essential parts and entering the information into a data base. as if they were dissecting the genetic code of music, this is what they call the music jenome project. >> measuring melody and rhythm and harmony and form and actually measuring it and creating sort of the kind of double helix of musical information. >> reporter: tim is the founder of pandora, a pioneer station of personalized internet radio that has 50 million listen ers. >> what the web allows you to do is deliver individual stations. so you can completely person personalize the experience. >> reporter: create your own. >> exactly. the idea is, you have a favorite style or sound, song or artist, you type that into pandora and it will stream a player radio

that's based on that specific musical interest, just for you. ♪ >> reporter: that's where the genome project comes in they break down each piece of music into 400 attributes. when you pick your first song, pandora searches for music that has similar qualitiequalities. it gets pretty technical. >> 3.5 0. 12-bar. >> bingo. >> we're trying to replicate everybody has this friend that has knowledge, knows their taste well, and the more you learn, the more information you give that friend, the better they are at suggesting music. >> users can create stations for every artist or song. there's close to 1 million songs on the servers. what was the first song?

>> "dancing queen" by abba. ♪ >> reporter: tim himself traveled with a band for years. he started this as a site through which unknown and unsigned musicians could find an audience. pandora has struggled to make a buck, like musicians themselves, for most of the last ten years. many employees are musicians, and some, like the chief, stayed on as the company burned through investment money, and they were not getting paid. >> i just felt like, i want to see where this goes. >> reporter: and you were so poor, it didn't matter -- >> i was living a very lean life lifestyle. >> reporter: it was like that until one little thing made it take off. they got an app on the iphone. led zeppel

led zeppelin -- ♪ in the palm of your hand. ♪ i can fix you babe >> reporter: now, another boost from apple. the new ipad is also pandora's box. able to play music while doing over tasks at the same time. >> play all. >> reporter: and they've made a deal with the ford motor company for a dashboard plug-in. like radio, you have to be available everywhere radio is. >> that was radio's genius. they imbedded themselves in every car and every alarm clock. that's what we want to do. >> reporter: and you can do that? >> absolutely. >> reporter: they already have an array of gadgets that can plug into home stair owe systems and vcrs. like radio, this does have commercials. but the brill yanls of internet radio, from the business standpoint, anyway, is how pree sicily they can target advertising. >> you can say, i just want to reach women in their 30s in phoenix, arizona, on thursday afternoon, that are listening to

country music, and we can do that. >> reporter: and the musicians get paid. 70% of pandora's income goes to pay royalties. if you like a song, you can buy it. the musicians get paid then, too. it's a business that could help save the music business. but the heart of it is listening to music. >> so now it's creating a station, looking at that song's musical dna and creating a playlist. >> reporter: they want music to be yours. don't just listen to a radio. create a soundtrack for our own life. >> music is one of those things that makes life sub blim. there are small number of things in life that do that. when you listen to music, it just takes you somewhere. and i think that's an almost universal experience. >> reporter: this is brian rooney for "nightline" in oakland, california. >> very cool. thanks, brian. when we come back, from music to movies. remaking some of the biggest flops is the in thing, but has hollywood good overboard?

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>> ann >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with cynthia mcfadden. >> to hollywood now, with a trend is under way. remaking classic films is, of course, a time-honored tradition. even though the new version typically pales in comparison to the original. but now, a twist. filmmakers are retooling flops. that's right, movies that failed the first time around are being given a second life. jeremy hubbard explored why in tonight's "sign of the times." >> reporter: it doesn't take a

real genius to realize hollywood has officially run out of ideas. they must have, if they're remaking "real genius," that 1985 val kilmer flop. >> you're the car penter? >> reporter: and remember "overboard?" can't blame you if you don't. that stinker crashed and burned at the box office, but now, it, too, is being refreshed, rehashed and revamped. w >> why would you mess with a classic like that? do your own rich woman amnesia understands poor people story. don't try to ruin "overboard" for me. >> reporter: if a film is campy, corny or just plain crummy the first time around, is it worthy of a remake? >> regardless if a movie is a flop or a hit, it has brand name recognition. >> it's so expensive to market something. you are happy to -- oh, people are heard of "overboard." they remember it sucks, but i don't have to remind people what

it is. >> reporter: there are plenty of retreads said to be in development now, like, "the shadow," which made only $8 million more than it costs back in 1994. and "dune" which cost $45 million to make back in 1984 and brought in less than $30 million. and, "red sonia." in 1985, it made less than $7 million. the studio hopes the new version will do much better. >> reporter: remarking a failure has worked in the past. "gladiator," which won a best picture oscar, was basically a remark of this 1964 flop, "the fall of the roman empire." looks like the remake is sometimes better than the original. and special effects have

certainly freshened up this year's updates of cheesy '80s classics, exposing them to a new generation. >> look at what they are going to do with "tron." i think that's really going to shine. i think it's going to do well. >> now that we have this amazing technology, you can finally tell the story of "overboard." it will make a difference. >> did you tell him? >> reporter: if at first it doesn't succeed, hollywood will try, try again. let's just hope a remake of "from justice to kelly" isn't in the works. ♪ wouldn't want to destroy the sangty of the original. i'm jeremy hubbard for "nightline." >> better to make a bad movie into a good remake. when we come back, will the nuclear summit make the world safer? but first, here's jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next. >> jimmy: thank, cynthia.

join us tonight with zoe saldana, bah

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