What SHOULD PBS show during its pledge drives? What would you schedule?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

For a while back in the early 1990s, they filled their pledge drives with documentaries about the Nazis, then they started showing Ken Burns' The Civil War over and over. For the past couple of years, they've trotted out an assortment of has-been singers, New Age shlock performers, and self-help gurus. When I see those listings in my program guide, I catch up on my videos and my reading.

Now when I lived in Portland, I volunteered for a non-NPR non-profit station that did pledge drives four times a year, but we never suspended our regular programming and kept the begging sessions as short and entertaining as possible. (One announcer came up with a "dog owners" versus "cat owners" contest.) Listeners actually called in and said that they appreciated our short pledge breaks and continuation of regular program.

Now if I were involved in PBS fundraising, I'd set up the pledge drives so that the regular viewers of PBS enjoyed them. First of all, I'd keep the normal schedule but produce either special versions of the standard shows or archival shows from way back, real early Masterpiece Theatres or Novas, for example, or rerun one-time events of the past like the seven-hour gala at the Met in honor of James Levine. Maybe they could show exceptionally good foreign programs, anything except the empty-headed crap that they show in a misguided attempt to attract people who normally wouldn't watch them anyway.

Furthermore, I'd

1) Promise the viewers that the pledge drive would end as soon as the station reached its goal

2) Limit pledge breaks to five minutes per hour, with the threat that they would expand if the calls weren't coming in

3) Do something that I once saw a PBS station in upstate New York do effectively: show previews of the optional programs they were thinking of buying and allowing every pledger the opportunity to pick his or her top three.

What would you do (aside from making PBS a fully-funded, editorially independent entity)?

[nytemare]

1. "Cosmos"

There will never be another science series that has that appeal. Maybe because of the age of cable, folks just aren't as interested. Maybe because there is no one like Sagan.

[The Straight Story]

4. That is worth a kick - damn I loved that show

It could be updated to be sure, but I don't think they will ever be able to replace Sagan.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Cosmos would be a good one

It wouldn't matter if the older shows were outdated (as long as the content was accurate). It would just be fun to see them again.

I'd like to see some of the early Masterpiece Theatres, too, such as the original Forsyte Saga, The First Churchills, or I, Claudius.

[Reciprocity]

21. Danger UXB was what got me hooked on PBS.

The show premise is about a team that defuses unexploded German bombs scattered throughout London during the blitz.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Yes, a retrospective of Masterpiece Theater dramas would draw in viewers,

I'm sure.

Most of them are out on DVD, but those of us who don't want to spend $40+ on DVDs we won't view that often or technophobes who can't figure out how a DVD player works so they don't even rent programs would appreciate having these dramas available for broadcast viewing.

[nytemare]

6. I got the DVD from Ebay.

It is wonderful.

I watch a lot of science programs, and it is amazing how often the major points of COSMOS are still covered in today's programming. Some of the "grabbers" he used to really increase the wonder in the cosmos are used over and over. Such as "there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth".

I was watching "The Universe" on History Channel yesterday, which is a great program, and they were talking about theoretical forms of life floating in the clouds of Jupiter as Sagan spoke on nearly 30 years ago, and they were expounding on it saying how it could be possible.

His ability to make people interested in science will never be matched.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I'd offer the viewers the chance to shut up the fund-raising pitch

by donating more money. That is, I'd say for every $X amount of money donated, we will talk X minutes less.

And I'd show "Red Dwarf" and old "Dr. Who" reruns.

[question everything]

3. Pretty much agree with your ideas

Every time that they keep going on and on with the pledge breaks I wish that they were just a regular station with commercial breaks. At least they are less annoying (except for the Heads on and all the cell phone broken communications).

I don't mind their specials but their specials are broken into with pledge breaks as often as movies are interrupted with commercials on second, or third tier cable channels, so who needs it?

I remember in the late 90s in SoCal, they had a concert of Les Miserables which was wonderful, and then a program with Itzhak Perlman which was great, too.

I actually called in during those programs and pledged. Now I just turn them off.

[cynatnite]

7. Three Tenors and a Conductor is what got me to become a regular donor...

Watched that several years ago during a pledge drive and I loved it so much I donated. Been giving what we could afford every year since then and watch PBS a lot more, too.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. The Three Tenors are actually in the PBS-type programming range

Preempting a documentary on Rudolf Nureyev to show a program on back pain is not.

[sasquatch]

9. Fun or popular historical documenteries

Like the Jack Johnson story, or when I lived closer to Cincinnati during their pleadge week they showed "The History of Kentucky High School Basketball".

[stuntcat]

10. I just wanna say this (and about the Disco pledge show)

How I cannot STAND those self-helpy shows they play for the drives, usually someone telling you how to save your money. I HATE those shows.
The people asking for money aren't that bad just because I know them from helping at the station so much. And commercials are why I can't watch any network tv at all anymore so the pledge drives are just something I have to deal with.

Has anyone here ever seen the disco pledge show they play on weekends sometimes?? Oh God I LOVE that show.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Some of the pop music shows are okay, but

I really don't need to watch PBS to see yoga exercises for my back (that's The Learning Channel territory) or the umpty-ninth rerun of some self-help guru or financial expert standing up in front of an adoring audience telling me how to make my life perfect.

[Digit]

12. Unfortunately, here in NC, most of PBS shows are "commercials" for NC

The last thing I want to watch on PBS are commercials for NC.
I pretty much have stopped watching PBS completely.

However, were it to have programming like in former years with Attenborough shows, The Civil War by Ken Burns, etc, I think I would THEN become a donor.

[mopinko]

13. wttw used to show leo buscaglia

get everybody weeping, and picking up the phone to connect. not sure what it did for the bottom line. it must have worked, they did it for 5-6 years.
i think funny is important for any fundraiser. is there someplace where you are that has a comedy/improv school? i was just looking at classes at second city, and was shocked at the size of their program. i think a pledge drive would be a good showcase for a budding comedian.

[Joe Fields]

14. I am in my fifties, so I tend to be drawn to the boomer stuff...

like when they show eric burdon, or the zombies, or the stone's rock and roll circus, things like that...

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Guess

[Norrin Radd]

16. Red Dwarf and Father Ted.

They used to show them here in Seattle, but no longer.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. They could ask viewers which Britcoms they wanted to see again

or which ones that haven't been shown here they would like to see.

[Norrin Radd]

19. That would be cool.

They only show the same ones, ad infinitum, like Are You Being Served, and As Time Goes By. A Brit friend complained that they never show anything current (apart from My Hero).

[yellowdogintexas]

17. Our PBS used to have celebrity fundraisers. For example

the founder of the La Madeline chain of restaurants lived in Dallas for a long time, and he would come on for a whole evening usually during British Comedies and if you pledged he would donate two things: a gift card to be used at the restaurant (good food too) and match your donation in fresh food to the local food banks. It was always a smash!


I hate hate those self help shows too.

I also would like to see the old Masterpiece Theatre, Great Performances and Mystery shows from the past, that would be fantastic

[AllegroRondo]

20. I remember when PBS in Chicago had Dr Who marathons

for their pledge drive. Wow.

And Monty Python. One year, they had the Pythons standing in the fountain downtown in Gumby outfits, yelling "SUBSCRIBE!!!"

[begin_within]

22. They should show "Upstairs Downstairs" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus"

Those are the two best shows PBS has ever had. KPBS in San Diego shows Andre Rieu over and over again. He's entertaining, but after the 450th repeat of one of his shows it gets a little old. They also show music reunions (50s, 60s, 70s, etc.) which are kind of fun. KPBS is hung up on the music thing at the expense of everything else.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. Those are indeed favorites, but I'd like to see reruns of some more

obscure greats from the past, the ones that never get shown in retrospective.

For example, Masterpiece Theatre remade The Forsyte Saga a year or two ago. Fine and dandy, but PBS's first dramatic hit, the one that everyone talked about and followed, was the original version of The Forsyte Saga, which has never been rebroadcast.

Another poster mentioned Danger UXB. Other popular series from the past were Poldark, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and Lily Langtry.

[begin_within]

27. Another one I watched regularly was "International Animation Festival"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. I'd go for that

Also, international dramas.

In the 1980s, the Minnesota station showed a German dramatic series that followed a family through the twentieth century. It was fascinating (and all too prophetic) to follow a not-very-political family through the 1930s.

I forget what it was called, though.

[Tyler Durden]

24. Porn.

Watching during pledge week makes me want to gore my eyes out with a power drill and speed bore.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Well, maybe if Cinemax were having a pledge drive...

:-)

[EstimatedProphet]

35. Porn would be good

I bet pledges would go up.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

40. Maybe they could bill it as "foreign film" night and show

"I Am Curious Yellow" and "In the Realm of the Senses"--all after midnight, of course. :evilgrin:

The problem would be with the FCC, which is fussy about what's shown on broadcast TV.

[tigereye]

48. that would be cool!

remember when they showed Neptune all night and those other shows about Satellites? (g-rated, but still pretty cool)

[Arkansas Granny]

28. I like your ideas. I rarely watch any more during pledge drives

because they run the same shows over and over and over again. I really get tired of the self-help shows.

[flvegan]

29. PBS Shark Week

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. Uh, no thanks--that one's been thoroughly claimed by the

much deteriorated Discovery Channel.

How about PBS Astronomy Week or PBS World History Week or PBS Drama Week?

[LeftyMom]

42. I would so pay up for that

I have most of the good ones saved on TiVo or on old DVD or VHS copies if you want me to burn/copy/otherwise share.

[ceile]

32. BritComs, Mystery and Masterpiece Theatre

I REALLY hate when I turn my tv on expecting to watch Mystery, etc and it's "Celtic Woman" or some such thing that I've seen 10 times (only during pledge time mind you).

[IndianaJones]

33. frontier family. nt.

[1gobluedem]

34. I run radio station pledge drives

For an NPR affiliate. We never run special programming during pledge drives, figuring that we are asking people to support regular programming so that's what we should have on the air.

Those PBS specials are pre-packaged and include the people pitching and answering phones. So that's why so many stations run them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. That was how the station I volunteered for did it, too

and there's no reason TV couldn't.

For example, as I mentioned in another post, last night, my local PBS station (Twin Cities Public Television) did an unannounced, last minute, extra pledge drive, preempting a show about how people and animals in the Arctic were adjusting to global climate change and a Great Performances segment on Rudolf Nureyev.

The first would have caught the nature lovers, and the second would have caught the dance fans. I bet they could have gotten a lot of pledges during both of those programs, simply by inserting five-minute pledge breaks every 20 minutes.

Instead, they put on three lame pledge week-type shows, unannounced, so that the types who actually watch this sort of drivel wouldn't even know about it, and pissed off their regular viewers.

[1gobluedem]

37. They COULD do it, absolutely

But it means more time and effort and staff on their part; lining up phone volunteers, scheduling people to pitch live, someone to supervise and tally pledge amounts for updates, entering the data, etc. This way it's all wrapped up in one neat package that can be outsourced.

Personally, I hate it. There's no way for viewers to develop a relationship or loyalty to their station. It's so cold blooded.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. Wait a minute, you mean that the phone volunteers who are supposedly

from local businesses are props in pre-made pledge segments?

I know that the "celebrity" endorsements are pre-made ("Hello, I"m Jim Lehrer, and I want you to support Twin Cities Public Television"), but the scenes with the phone volunteers, too?

[1gobluedem]

41. On those fundraising specials?

Yep. Phone call centers. Usually out of state.

Your station might have some local pitch segments where they do use people from the community. But those specials like the folk music one, etc. are packaged to include the people pitching and answering phones. That's why you hear them say "call the number on your screen," not "call this number" and then they say it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

51. Oh, so that's the giveaway!

I'll watch for it and be sure NOT to donate during those times. :evilgrin:

I know from someone who worked for Oregon Public Broadcasting that the fund raising director charted which radio programs brought in the most pledges and determined their fate accordingly. The midday music programs didn't bring in many pledges, so they were eliminated, to a great outcry from listeners.

After all, if you stop and think about it, who is going to call from work and pledge?

[Critters2]

38. Red Dwarf!

Enough with the Andre' Rieu already!!

[triguy46]

43. Anything but the Lawrence Welk marathons that are the mainstay

here in OK. The should re-evaluate their target demographic.

[SoxFan]

44. Suze Ormond being tarred and feathered

NH Public Television runs this bozo non-stop during pledge week.

[LSK]

45. Austin City Limits marathon

[RushIsRot]

46. Non-stop impeachment hearings would be good...

[tigereye]

47. anything but Gary Null, that European violinist, and New Age hucksters

I hate informercials. :grr:


Good old classic, movies,Austin City LImits, cutting edge music, science specials, Sister Wendy, anything!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

49. Let's see...

I liked that Nova episode about surfing, that documentary about the first guys who drove across the U.S., and then in a sort of hybrid of the two, show that documentary about that race in Baja.

[mitchum]

50. "I, Claudius"