E/I Madness In San Diego

[mjlarochelle]

Not to mention that San Diego is now Midwest Television's only media market (they used to own stations in Central Illinois, but those have long since been sold). You'd think Mom-and-Pop operations would be more responsive to viewers. I know many corporate-owned stations that are better at social media.

If they're operating on a shoestring budget, it may be more understandable.

A social media coordinator wouldn't cost the station that much. I'm sure they could hire one for $15/hour or less, and it wouldn't even have to be full-time work. It could even be an existing person involved in marketing.

In 2013, there is no excuse for any company that uses social media not to have someone on staff who understands social media, no matter the industry. It's not 2007 anymore.

 

[Morgan Wick]

As far as E/I game shows, I would assume (unfortunately) that "Wheel 2000", the CBS weekly version of "Wheel of Fortune" for kids in 1997, would qualify as well. After a puzzle was solved, the host asked "Cyber Lucy" (a computerized Vanna type) to give a little history about whatever the puzzle was (in one instance, L A P T O P C O M P U T E R). A sneaky way to qualify for E/I.

A better way for a children's game show to qualify for "E/I" would be a kids' version of "Jeopardy!" (perhaps called "Junior Jeopardy!"), where answers and the accompanying questions would be geared to children between 10 and 12 years old (and contestants drawn from this age group as well), perhaps competing for college scholarship money. Perhaps the answers and questions can have enough "information" for it to be considered an "educational" show.

Well that was the basis for a show called "Jep!", which was to Jeopardy as Wheel 2k was to WoF. I believe it ran around the same time. I never saw Jep!---not sure if it aired here; maybe it was only on cable.

cd

I think it was on GSN.

 

[azumanga]

As far as E/I game shows, I would assume (unfortunately) that "Wheel 2000", the CBS weekly version of "Wheel of Fortune" for kids in 1997, would qualify as well. After a puzzle was solved, the host asked "Cyber Lucy" (a computerized Vanna type) to give a little history about whatever the puzzle was (in one instance, L A P T O P C O M P U T E R). A sneaky way to qualify for E/I.

A better way for a children's game show to qualify for "E/I" would be a kids' version of "Jeopardy!" (perhaps called "Junior Jeopardy!"), where answers and the accompanying questions would be geared to children between 10 and 12 years old (and contestants drawn from this age group as well), perhaps competing for college scholarship money. Perhaps the answers and questions can have enough "information" for it to be considered an "educational" show.

Well that was the basis for a show called "Jep!", which was to Jeopardy as Wheel 2k was to WoF. I believe it ran around the same time. I never saw Jep!---not sure if it aired here; maybe it was only on cable.

cd

I think it was on GSN.

I believe Jep was seen only on GSN, though Sony could have syndicated the show to stations or a network if they wanted.

Also, in my opinion, the fact that they had to solve puzzles or question answers alone would qualify the shows as being E/I compatible, but I bet the FCC might have tightened the standards to prevent repeats of Wheel or Jeopardy (or even older shows like 'Match Game") from being passed off as E/I material.

 

[michael hagerty]

Not to mention that San Diego is now Midwest Television's only media market (they used to own stations in Central Illinois, but those have long since been sold). You'd think Mom-and-Pop operations would be more responsive to viewers. I know many corporate-owned stations that are better at social media.

If they're operating on a shoestring budget, it may be more understandable.

A social media coordinator wouldn't cost the station that much. I'm sure they could hire one for $15/hour or less, and it wouldn't even have to be full-time work. It could even be an existing person involved in marketing.

In 2013, there is no excuse for any company that uses social media not to have someone on staff who understands social media, no matter the industry. It's not 2007 anymore.

If it's that critical (and I agree that it is), shouldn't it pay better?

We continue to devalue pros who need to make a living, whose services are essential to success in modern business. $31,200 a year is what $15/hr fulltime works out to.

 

[justthenumbers]

If they're operating on a shoestring budget, it may be more understandable.

According to Kantar Media, they were the 2nd highest billing station in San Diego in 2012 (a close #2 to KNSD) so budgeting for a social media champion should not be an issue.

 

[crainbebo]

The show "Click" hosted by a barely-known Ryan Seacrest in the late 1990s was also E/I. Another was called "Peer Pressure". Both were aired on KCPQ here in Seattle, c. 1997-98.

Gladiators 2000 reruns came back for a couple years in the late 2000s due to the new American Gladiators remake on NBC. Of course Seacrest hosted that too...

I mentioned "Go For It" earlier - that was formerly a kids game show (or variety show) produced by HealthSouth during the early 2000s. They would play physical and mental challenges for points - and at the end of a season there was a tournament. Tyniesha Harris and Nikki Brown hosted that show. That seems E/I to me - because the objective was to make kids healthy. After the problems with HealthSouth later in the 2000s, syndicated reruns aired on many stations (including my local CBS station KIRO).

Kids game shows would definitely work for E/I - given it's the right "message." Too many animal and "magazine" E/I shows nowadays.

-crainbebo

 

[Mario500]

Kids game shows would definitely work for E/I - given it's the right "message." Too many animal and "magazine" E/I shows nowadays.  

This part of the previous post brought the various versions of "Double Dare" hosted by Marc Summers to my mind, since they featured physical challenges, obstacle courses, and trivia questions. I wonder if any member of Congress from around the time the Children's Television Act was passed was familiar with any of the versions produced by that time (there was a network version provided by the FOX Broadcasting Company in 1988 called "Family Double Dare" and a syndicated version broadcast by various TV stations in 1988 and 1989 that was simply called "Double Dare" like the original version broadcast by Nickelodeon from 1986 to 1989)? "Double Dare" in its various forms was a good example of the educational and informative programming all ready available and accessible to children.

 

[johnnya2k6]

The show "Click" hosted by a barely-known Ryan Seacrest in the late 1990s was also E/I. Another was called "Peer Pressure". Both were aired on KCPQ here in Seattle, c. 1997-98.

Gladiators 2000 reruns came back for a couple years in the late 2000s due to the new American Gladiators remake on NBC. Of course Seacrest hosted that too...

...with Maria Sansone as his first co-host (she's on "Good Day L.A." on Fox 11 (KTTV) in Los Angeles now)!

Valarie Rae Miller would replace her later in the run; she also hosted Peer Pressure and was Original Cindy in "Dark Angel" (opposite Jessica Alba).

 

[Mario500]

This morning I saw an advertisement broadcast by ThisTV about an "extra helping of E/I" programs scheduled for today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). That was the first time I ever heard a TV announcer refer to programs designated as educational and informative as E/I programs.

 

[michael hagerty]

This morning I saw an advertisement broadcast by ThisTV about an "extra helping of E/I" programs scheduled for today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). That was the first time I ever heard a TV announcer refer to programs designated as educational and informative as E/I programs.

Never happens. Rookie/lazy promo producer/writer who didn't bother to convert industry jargon to language people use (even if that's just saying "educational and information" instead of "E/I").

 

[Mario500]

This morning I saw an advertisement broadcast by ThisTV about an "extra helping of E/I" programs scheduled for today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). That was the first time I ever heard a TV announcer refer to programs designated as educational and informative as E/I programs.

Never happens. Rookie/lazy promo producer/writer who didn't bother to convert industry jargon to language people use (even if that's just saying "educational and information" instead of "E/I").

I realized the announcer actually said "second helping", not "extra helping", during the advertisement.

 

[azumanga]

This morning I saw an advertisement broadcast by ThisTV about an "extra helping of E/I" programs scheduled for today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). That was the first time I ever heard a TV announcer refer to programs designated as educational and informative as E/I programs.

Never happens. Rookie/lazy promo producer/writer who didn't bother to convert industry jargon to language people use (even if that's just saying "educational and information" instead of "E/I").

I realized the announcer actually said "second helping", not "extra helping", during the advertisement.

I wonder if the subchannel services like ThisTV are adding extra E/I programming to accommodate CBS affiliates bumping E/I on their main channels for the college tourneys?

 

[cd637299]

^ That might be optional, because my local This is a sub to our CW network station.

cd

 

[Morgan Wick]

This morning I saw an advertisement broadcast by ThisTV about an "extra helping of E/I" programs scheduled for today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). That was the first time I ever heard a TV announcer refer to programs designated as educational and informative as E/I programs.

Never happens. Rookie/lazy promo producer/writer who didn't bother to convert industry jargon to language people use (even if that's just saying "educational and information" instead of "E/I").

Eh, I think "E/I" might be more familiar to the average viewer than you might think, thanks to the bug on the screen. Probably they hoped people would think that was the name of the block.

 

[michael hagerty]

This morning I saw an advertisement broadcast by ThisTV about an "extra helping of E/I" programs scheduled for today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). That was the first time I ever heard a TV announcer refer to programs designated as educational and informative as E/I programs.

Never happens. Rookie/lazy promo producer/writer who didn't bother to convert industry jargon to language people use (even if that's just saying "educational and information" instead of "E/I").

Eh, I think "E/I" might be more familiar to the average viewer than you might think, thanks to the bug on the screen. Probably they hoped people would think that was the name of the block.

Having programmed television in a large market, I can tell you:

1) More people see the promo than watch the shows.

2) The #1 phone call you get from the people who do watch E/I shows: "What is that E/I on my screen? What does it mean? "Emergency Information"?