GOOD! Next, the squirrels have to move on and IZ Videos needs to return, with a new name. With an emphasis on putting work into it this time!
Unfortunately, that's asking too much of them apparently. But I digress.
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K14RK/ channel 38
- Thread starter 50kguy
- Start date
GOOD! Next, the squirrels have to move on and IZ Videos needs to return, with a new name. With an emphasis on putting work into it this time!
Unfortunately, that's asking too much of them apparently. But I digress.
Every time I see that channel, I'm reminded of the GEICO commercial: "The squirrels are back..."
...funny!Perhaps AQ and his staff need to take a junket up to Sin City and learn how to run an LPTV station. Larry Hunt has a company named King Kong Broadcasting, running a TV station called KGNG-LD. Just right there, one would be expecting fun. Right now, he's running 11 subchannels, mostly with shopping and the lesser-known diginets, and things change as often as the weather, but he's doing it with the kind of panache you'd expect from Vegas.
He recently announced the 11th subchannel, an audio-only subchannel, promising that it would be an audio-only channel playing music by request. (Not unlike what KPHE-LD did back in the analog days before its current ownership, although that was videos and not just audio, but I digress.) Yesterday, he opened that subchannel playing spooky sounds, just in time for Halloween. Cheesy? Probably. Effective? Time will tell. But at least he's putting a little effort into the venture.
Cable will never pick up K14RK, leaving AQ to scramble for that 15-20% of the audience that gets TV OTA. (Actually, I'd venture to say a bit more than 15-20%; I'm sure there are households that have only one or some of their TVs hooked up to cable/satellite, while the rest of the TVs in the household are OTA.) He needs something to generate buzz and PAWS ain't it. He may as well have some fun in the process.
And as to whether or not LPTV owners read these message boards and care what us hobbyists think, I know Hunt does. He even used some of the hobbyists' handles as PSIP while he had vacant subchannels.
He recently announced the 11th subchannel, an audio-only subchannel, promising that it would be an audio-only channel playing music by request. (Not unlike what KPHE-LD did back in the analog days before its current ownership, although that was videos and not just audio, but I digress.) Yesterday, he opened that subchannel playing spooky sounds, just in time for Halloween. Cheesy? Probably. Effective? Time will tell. But at least he's putting a little effort into the venture.
Cable will never pick up K14RK, leaving AQ to scramble for that 15-20% of the audience that gets TV OTA. (Actually, I'd venture to say a bit more than 15-20%; I'm sure there are households that have only one or some of their TVs hooked up to cable/satellite, while the rest of the TVs in the household are OTA.) He needs something to generate buzz and PAWS ain't it. He may as well have some fun in the process.
And as to whether or not LPTV owners read these message boards and care what us hobbyists think, I know Hunt does. He even used some of the hobbyists' handles as PSIP while he had vacant subchannels.
All the comments I read are about how lousy the programming is. These stations are businesses and are there to make money because it costs them money to operate. I don't know if they have deep pockets or the competitive situation but I can tell you the owners are concerned with paying the bills. However that happens doesn't matter to them. Are they TV programmers, likely not. In fact, the only way you afford programming and investing in local presence is by making money or borrowing it. Borrowers are not lending on a chance at it working but rather a sure fire deal that will return their loan with interest. They're much like banks, if you have the money, they'll lend it. If you don't, they won't. Case in point: a new growing business needed $20,000 and the banker said if he put $20,000 in a CD he'd loan it to him.
It's nice to say 'serve the public' but the reality is it takes money to do that and with the investments TV stations have to make from auctions, build-outs and upgrades to digital in recent years, you can bet their numbers are not stellar.
It's nice to say 'serve the public' but the reality is it takes money to do that and with the investments TV stations have to make from auctions, build-outs and upgrades to digital in recent years, you can bet their numbers are not stellar.
Regarding the PAWS channel
rolleyes, if Quinones thinks that his viewers want to see that, he's fooling himself. I don't believe for a minute that he's making any money off that ridiculous idea. And rightly so. Like the Used Car Lot Channel before it, that lasted under 90 days, if that! If the Squirrel Network lasts even that long, I'll be shocked.
It's worth repeating: Ch. 14/38 is nothing more than a springboard for Quinones' true bread-and-butter--- Pitic. For all intents and purposes, that so-called "station" is a side business, and nothing more.
For the record, YES, I believe these message boards are read more frequently than some may realize. Just saying.
I don't entirely disagree with your viewpoint. However, this station has been on-the-air for a decade! And they still haven't made any viable progress. In short order, they're stuck on tier one, and found a way to go below that! It's unbelievable.
Again, it's not due to lack of money either. It's due to lack of business acumen and initiative to make it better. They simply don't want to improve it, in my opinion.
I don't entirely disagree with your viewpoint. However, this station has been on-the-air for a decade! And they still haven't made any viable progress. In short order, they're stuck on tier one, and found a way to go below that! It's unbelievable.
Again, it's not due to lack of money either. It's due to lack of business acumen and initiative to make it better. They simply don't want to improve it, in my opinion.
and who knows, maybe they dont want to improve it. maybe they make enough to pay the bilsl and the rest is gravy and their play thing. its not unheard of
I can agree with that.
It is amazing how many stations are nothing more than infomercials. I talked to a guy in a major market that had a channel leased to an attorney that ran a 60 minute loop 24/7 of his infomercial. Another was leased to a multi-location car dealer (new and used) again a 24/7 infomercial. Not quality programming at all. The best part was the fine looking babe the car dealer utilized.
I wonder how many actually watch some of these channels. I talked to an upstart network (they leased a channel) that sold prime time spots for $5 with a 6 am to Midnight rate of $3 and an off prime rate of $1 in a top 10 market. They failed. Great idea for programming but they just couldn't get more than about 2.5 hours a day of original stuff. Much of the day was any 'carry me free' stuff they could find and a few infomercials including a few very amateurish in house productions. They covered several million with the signal. Their office was a reception area, a room for the boss and one for the employees with the only other room set up as a on air studio/green room/production. I think they were gone in 4 to 6 months.
One I heard of that made some cash was somewhat of a buy/sell/trade channel. I remember watching them about an hour waiting for stuff to repeat but it didn't. The station was like those community announcement channels on cable TV systems.
It is amazing how many stations are nothing more than infomercials. I talked to a guy in a major market that had a channel leased to an attorney that ran a 60 minute loop 24/7 of his infomercial. Another was leased to a multi-location car dealer (new and used) again a 24/7 infomercial. Not quality programming at all. The best part was the fine looking babe the car dealer utilized.
I wonder how many actually watch some of these channels. I talked to an upstart network (they leased a channel) that sold prime time spots for $5 with a 6 am to Midnight rate of $3 and an off prime rate of $1 in a top 10 market. They failed. Great idea for programming but they just couldn't get more than about 2.5 hours a day of original stuff. Much of the day was any 'carry me free' stuff they could find and a few infomercials including a few very amateurish in house productions. They covered several million with the signal. Their office was a reception area, a room for the boss and one for the employees with the only other room set up as a on air studio/green room/production. I think they were gone in 4 to 6 months.
One I heard of that made some cash was somewhat of a buy/sell/trade channel. I remember watching them about an hour waiting for stuff to repeat but it didn't. The station was like those community announcement channels on cable TV systems.
Not exactly new revelation there. I've been around the block enough to know how the world works, and I'm guessing that The Media Observer has too. I think we both have some appreciation for the challenges that an OTA-only channel with no hope of cable carriage faces. (I could rant for a week on how cable has decimated LPTV, especially local channels.)
But knowing all that, we still have the opinion that they could do better. I'm sure that CarCredit TV and PAWS were/are just placeholders until they can get something else - they already got Rev'n back - but dang. Family Channel, Heartland, TCN, Diya, You Too, Action, Universal Sports, Biz TV, News Net - all available. But if you have to have the pot channel, at least give it a virtual channel of 4.20 - show a little creativity!
OK, so if I have to say something positive about them, at least they're not airing the live car dealer commercials where the two female models start feeling each other up on camera!
Well stated d. As an independent station, they have flexibility that they would never have at a corporate-owned station. It's fine if they merely want to be a home for ridiculous informercials. No problem.
However, make no mistake: they have plenty of options to make it better, even within the limitations they have. Like I said, they simply don't want to put the time and work into it. Perfect example: the former IZ Videos. Their most "popular" station, and the owners chose to air...... flashmob videos?! Really?? WTF???
They had a fantastic idea for a subchannel, and they let it go to crap as the years went on. They got LAZY with the playlist, and they refused to put time and effort into getting the word out about their business.
I think it was Eric who said earlier in the thread that it's a privilege to own a broadcast station. It's too bad that's all they care about, the "prestige", if you will. Quality (and common sense promotion) be damned.
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Interesting thought dh. An audio-only music channel would be a great alternative for the former IZ Videos. However, they can easily reinstate the latter at any time--- if they wanted to.
Frankly, Quinones and Herrera should've been building relationships with record labels years ago to acquire more videos. If marketed properly, it had the potential to be a very viable music channel (for LPTV anyway) that viewers would want to tune into.
Once again, Q and H refused to put any work into it, and stupidly believed that flashmob videos (downloaded from YT) would be acceptable. They were wrong!
I remember meeting one of their family members at a club three years ago. Long story short, I asked him point blank if he really believed that viewers were clamoring for flashmob videos alongside Prince, Twisted Sister, Duran Duran, and the like. Needless to say, the look of embarrassment and humiliation on his face was more than enough to know what the answer was. He didn't have to say anything.
UGH!! ...
Hmmm..... now the Weed advocacy channel (14.2) is a black screen. It's been that way for the past four days.
Perhaps the LitLife crew bailed and didn't pay their "lease fee"?...
Perhaps the LitLife crew bailed and didn't pay their "lease fee"?
...You could be right on that d. I channel-surfed this week before I turned in for the night and have only seen a black screen--- since Monday night.
Perhaps it did appear at some point this week. I just didn't notice. I'll stand corrected for now.
Well, it looks like the Squirrel channel is gone rolleyes. What an embarrassment!
The station ID on 38.5 is now CarCredit TV….. againrolleyes! However, they're also showing other informercials 24/7 that aren't used-car related.
It's official: they screwed up big time by ditching IZ Videos. It's the only credible channel they've ever had. What a waste!
Quinones and Herrera should be ashamed of themselves for deliberately lowering the bar for broadcast TV. Three failed subchannels (including the Weed channel) in a four-month period. Unbelievable!
rolleyes. What an embarrassment! The station ID on 38.5 is now CarCredit TV….. again
rolleyes! However, they're also showing other informercials 24/7 that aren't used-car related. It's official: they screwed up big time by ditching IZ Videos. It's the only credible channel they've ever had. What a waste!
Quinones and Herrera should be ashamed of themselves for deliberately lowering the bar for broadcast TV. Three failed subchannels (including the Weed channel) in a four-month period. Unbelievable!
Is it any worse than CTYC-TV was?
I guess it depends on your point of view. CTYC was low quality audio and video, but the content was good if you're a fan, or even tolerant, of Christian gospel music. If you're a person who doesn't believe that religion belongs on the public airwaves, then probably not. In my opinion, however, FliMackie is no better than PAWS on channel 38.
The PAWS channel---- WTF?????. What were Q and H thinking? Just.... WOW!
Can you imagine what their meetings must be like regarding the "content" of their station? It would be great fodder for us here, at the very least!
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