Lawrence Welk reruns on PBS affiliates nearing the end?

[tbolt909]

I'm not sure it matters much how many actually watch. A lot of PBS stations are just looking for cheap programming for a weekend evening when the potential audience is fairly low. I bet Lawrence Welk re-runs from 40 years ago are very cheap.

It's likely a combination of cheap programming to get and viewer donations. Many in the over 75 demos vote with their money. They tell their PBS affiliate what they want when they make their contribution. The Icy Hand of Death hasn't come for all the Welk fans (yet).

PBS also airs content aimed at the Woodstock generation as well(Music, Counter Culture, Vietnam, etc..). Nothing wrong with that...

 

[anotherguyTN]

And who could forget Stan Freberg’s parody, “Wun’erful, Wun’erful!”

There was also Robin Williams's imitation of Welk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfQDZBdGwg0&list=OLAK5uy_m5MABBqbn8GPilignUzCURCEw6XlASOfE&index=7

 

[anotherguyTN]

It's likely a combination of cheap programming to get and viewer donations. Many in the over 75 demos vote with their money. They tell their PBS affiliate what they want when they make their contribution. The Icy Hand of Death hasn't come for all the Welk fans (yet).

PBS also airs content aimed at the Woodstock generation as well(Music, Counter Culture, Vietnam, etc..). Nothing wrong with that...

The big problem is that with the music shows it's only during begathon times. They might astually get music from the 70's and 80's, but yo'll never see it again until the next begathon.

 

[crainbebo]

I haven't seen Lawrence Welk on my PBS station in at least 6-8 years. The problem is their current age bracket. Average age of a Welk viewer is what...87 years old now? Half of the audience has gone up to the great venue in the sky. They were all alive in the 1980s and 1990s. Not today.

 

[tbolt909]

I haven't seen Lawrence Welk on my PBS station in at least 6-8 years. The problem is their current age bracket. Average age of a Welk viewer is what...87 years old now? Half of the audience has gone up to the great venue in the sky. They were all alive in the 1980s and 1990s. Not today.

WNED Buffalo - Toronto still airs Welk reruns. Other markets probably still do as well. Buffalo is an old market and the PBS affiliate must be getting donations from Welk die hards. Sponsored by Rigor Mortis and Last Breath Farm...

 

[semoochie]

In most of Arizona, Lawrence Welk has moved to Saturday's at 4 pm on KAET 8,
Arizona PBS. It was from a different era. Perhaps a kinder, gentler time. The
fact it lasted for 40 years, speaks volumes.... and they had plenty of sponsors.
Remember Geritol???

The show started as a summer replacement on ABC in 1955, 64 years ago! It was cancelled due to demographics in 1971 and ran in first-run syndication until 1982.

 

[KeithE4]

The show started as a summer replacement on ABC in 1955, 64 years ago! It was cancelled due to demographics in 1971 and ran in first-run syndication until 1982.

The WW2/Korean War generation was in their 40s and 50s at that time -- still within TV's Sacred Sales Demo. But the WW1 generation was retired and was beginning to die off.

 

[joebtsflk1]

The big problem is that with the music shows it's only during begathon times. They might astually get music from the 70's and 80's, but yo'll never see it again until the next begathon.

The pledge drive formula seems rather cold and cynical. Your observation is on the money.

Back to Lawrence Welk, in recent years OETA has been offering more episodes from the 50s and what I'll call the "lost decade" of TV history, the bulk-erased video taped 1960s. You can tell that the show seemed fresher than the later episodes of the late 70s.

 

[vchimpanzee]

In a lot of markets back in the day, it was Welk vs. Hee Haw. Somehow I've got to think Lawrence has some kind of cult following.

We had more than one TV so I watched "Hee Haw" but if we were in a motel my mother wanted to watch Welk. Although I did like the music.

 

[fybush]

True story: from time to (increasingly rare) time, I get asked to do TV pledge drives in addition to my usual radio gig.

Once, they asked me to pitch during Welk on a Saturday night, back when we still carried it. (At least, I think we dropped it. As I said, I'm primarily on the radio side of the building.)

I called up my grandmother and was all excited to tell her to tune in and she could see me on Lawrence Welk.

"Lawrence Welk? That's for OLD people!"

She was 90 when I started working at the station and was almost 95 when she died ten years ago.

 

[crainbebo]

Only the good die young, y'know...

 

[BDBopper]

My Grandmother introduced me to the show babysitting me. I've been a fan since. I'm 36. It's squeaky clean and good lazy afternoon viewing. Great throwback to a different time worth experiencing. So is Hee Haw. Love them both. Had to discover that myself. Grandma hated it. Both should be required viewing for music and cultural students. My newly born nephew will definitely be exposed to it so it will live on through someone if I can help it.

 

[dhett]

Can't have a Lawrence Welk thread without this. It still brings tears to my eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg

 

[rwells2265]

I think I said this the last time we had a Welk thread, but so be it: I suspect the reason the LW reruns do so well, especially pledge-wise, is because many - myself included (I'm 54) - find comfort in the show, warts and all. It runs on my local PBS (Kentucky's KET), and my DVR captures them every week.

Maybe 10 years ago I stumbled upon Welk on a Saturday night .... before I could grimace, something grabbed me and down went the remote. It made me think of how that show was appointment TV for both sets of grandparents - how it'd be on when I'd visit - and watching it made me a bit sad, but quickly my mood did a 180. For the rest of the hour, I felt those grandparents in the room with me. Yeah, I made fun of the pastels and gooey-ness, and especially the later eps where it did seem like "get-off-my-lawn" television ... at the same time, it made me feel good. I needed that. I couldn't remember the last time a TV program gave me that feeling. (Some of us have no use for reality shows, and besides - since I've aged out of the Sacred Money Demo, I'm already deader than Welk or Geritol to the industry anyway!)

That's my take. And I don't think I'm alone. What other reason would there be that Lawrence Welk episodes are still going and going and going....?

--Russell

 

[FreddyE1977]

The Welk show does give me warm memories of my grandparents, who would involuntarily subject me to
it each week. I never learned to like that music but it does give me nostalgic memories of them.

 

[kevtronics]

And something like 95% of all PBS stations are still airing reruns of Bob Ross's "Joy of Painting", nearly a quarter-century after he passed away. Happy little trees remain timeless and clips of his shows get millions of views on YouTube.

 

[Kemosabe]

Of course, the seeds of those "happy little trees" were planted by Mr. Ross's mentor, Wilhelm "Bill" Alexander. Does anyone know whether the late Mr. Alexander's The Magic of Oil Painting still airs somewhere?

 

[seatownmedia]

I think I said this the last time we had a Welk thread, but so be it: I suspect the reason the LW reruns do so well, especially pledge-wise, is because many - myself included (I'm 54) - find comfort in the show, warts and all. It runs on my local PBS (Kentucky's KET), and my DVR captures them every week.

Maybe 10 years ago I stumbled upon Welk on a Saturday night .... before I could grimace, something grabbed me and down went the remote. It made me think of how that show was appointment TV for both sets of grandparents - how it'd be on when I'd visit - and watching it made me a bit sad, but quickly my mood did a 180. For the rest of the hour, I felt those grandparents in the room with me. Yeah, I made fun of the pastels and gooey-ness, and especially the later eps where it did seem like "get-off-my-lawn" television ... at the same time, it made me feel good. I needed that. I couldn't remember the last time a TV program gave me that feeling. (Some of us have no use for reality shows, and besides - since I've aged out of the Sacred Money Demo, I'm already deader than Welk or Geritol to the industry anyway!)

That's my take. And I don't think I'm alone. What other reason would there be that Lawrence Welk episodes are still going and going and going....?

--Russell

No you are not. Very well stated. Nostalgia doesn’t particularly need to be remembered to be appreciated.

 

[KeithE4]

That, in turn, reminds me of when the leading beautiful music syndicators tried to do a custom instrumental cover of every pop song. I found a version of In-a-gadda-da-vida on a reel when I purchased the EZ Communications library... I don't think anyone aired it, as it did not come across very well with strings.

"And now, before we take you to Lowell Thomas and the News, here's Mantovani and his orchestra with In-a-gadda-da-vida."

 

[davideduardo]

"And now, before we take you to Lowell Thomas and the News, here's Mantovani and his orchestra with In-a-gadda-da-vida."

Back in the early 70's, Heftel's 13-Q in Pittsburgh was sister to "Wish" with a Shulke format.

As Pittsburgh was a top 25 market, Shulke required live announcers who did the "All day, all night, all nice..... Wish.... 99 point seven."

They played the matched flow tapes, and the FM announcer would read or even watch TV while the segments ran.

That was not truly working according to the night jocks on 13-Q, who edited an Iron Butterfly cut into one of the Shulke tapes. The stupefied announcer did not even notice it.