Meanwhile, let me bash PBS for a moment, while I’m ranting. Having worked in public television, briefly, I was always pleased that PBS stations try to base their schedule not on popularity, but on the need to serve all audiences, including those under-served by commercial television. In the past, ratings were of little interest to public television programmers, who instead relied on responses during pledge drives and other “interactions” with the station.
One of the best ways to show your support for your favorite program was to pledge money during that show at pledge time. But this is no longer possible.
These days, pledge time means the incessant airing of special programs such as Suze Orman’s interminable chattering about finance, the lamentable “Three ‘Mo Tenors”, and dreary helicopter trips “Over” Washington, Ireland, Italy, or any other spot which looks better from the air than the ground. The biggest problem with this new pledge tactic is that it skews the viewer profile. Stations, such as WETA here in Washington (my former employer and current partner in various projects) tends to pre-empt the normal programs during pledge, replacing them with the aforementioned specials. This means that even though I watch “This Old House” most weekends, it’s not on during pledge so I can’t support it with my membership dollars. The Britcoms I watch are moved around or taken off entirely to make room for moneymakers such as “Doo Wop 50” – which attracts a completely different demographic than “Are You Being Served?” and thus the Britcom audience is not being represented in the pledges. When I make my annual pledge I have to specifically tell the volunteer to indicate that I want my pledge to support XX or YY – not the program that’s currently on.
I’d like to see the regular schedule aired during pledge so that WETA and other PBS stations can actually see who’s watching what.
