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Pledge time on PBS

V

vchimpanzee

Charlotte has its own PBS station, not connected with the University of North Carolina. They're airing their pledge drives, and I just happened to see a listing for a show hosted by Peter Marshall about the big bands. Nick Clooney and Mr. Marshall (wow, he looked old!) co-hosted the segments where they were, as Mr. Clooney said, "trying to get into your wallets".

They told us "Dream" by The Pied Pipers without Jo Stafford was one of the most beautiful performances ever (not exactly a compliment for Jo Satafford, is it?). Yes, I guess so. I'm almost certain I've heard it somewhere on radio since Timeless Classics became Timeless Favorites.

They played part of Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing" but it was hardly recognizable--the Chips Ahoy commercial music wasn't there at all. I did hear most of this version, or one similar to it, on Charlotte's WAVO.

Lots of good performances. I especially liked Guy Lombardo.
 
Honestly...I'm not being sarcastic...but when I go through my on-screen guide and start seeing a load of "must see" shows on PBS affiliates, I say to myself, "it must be pledge time." So far, I'm always correct.
 
Two other nights had good music. "Irish Eyes Are Smiling" (with such artists as Bing--why do we never hear him except at Christmas?) and an hour and a half, including pledge breaks, with John Denver.
 
The previous and the most recent pledge drives for Maryland Public TV and WITF in Harrisburg, Pa. had the Peter Marshall program I've now seen parts of it four times.
 
The "Chips Ahoy drum /trumpet may come from the 1939 live Concert arrangement and NOT on the original record.

Chimp, to the generation BEFORE Sinatra, Crosby was the idol. What's left of those people are over 90.

Why play Bing (except for True Love duet w/Grace Kelly and Sam's Song duet w/son Gary both from the 50's) or Al Jolson (when there are MANY more on target songs for a younger demographic (like 3 Dog Night, etc) targeting people (like me) around 60?
 
Prais said:
The "Chips Ahoy drum /trumpet may come from the 1939 live Concert arrangement and NOT on the original record.

Chimp, to the generation BEFORE Sinatra, Crosby was the idol. What's left of those people are over 90.

Why play Bing (except for True Love duet w/Grace Kelly and Sam's Song duet w/son Gary both from the 50's) or Al Jolson (when there are MANY more on target songs for a younger demographic (like 3 Dog Night, etc) targeting people (like me) around 60?
Click to expand...
Is "Sam's Song" the one that I heard Sammy Davis and Dean Martin sing on WAVO? Which DOES play Bing other than at Christmas. And Benny Goodman.

$500,000 in Life Insurance Coverage! You MUST have this!!!
 
Back to the original topic: the world must be ending. I'm almost certain the K.C. and the Sunshine Band special aired during pledge time. Let's see ... how do you get viewers to contribute? "With fine programming like THIS ..." ???
 
Prais said:
Why play Bing (except for True Love duet w/Grace Kelly and Sam's Song duet w/son Gary both from the 50's) or Al Jolson (when there are MANY more on target songs for a younger demographic (like 3 Dog Night, etc) targeting people (like me) around 60?
Click to expand...

Good point, but there are enough songs out there that everyone can agree on as being great, so why marginalize the format by adding stuff that is sure to alienate some of your existing listeners? I think 3 Dog could do that.

I suppose you need to decide whether you are an oldies station, aimed at a certain age group, or if you want to be a station that simply plays some of the best music ever recorded, regardless of when it was done.

Either way, it is a good trick to be successful at it.
 
Chuck said, "there are enough songs out there that everyone can agree on as being great"
_____
You think so? I don't. Look at the posts by someone like Chimp who fights over every more modern song. He seems to not realize that it's NOT 1965 any more. They would NEVER get 25-54 ratings using his playlist.

That's what the RESEARCH - YEARS and YEARS of research plus a guy like Chick Watkins (music director of adult standards) who knows what he is doing. accomplishes.

What worked in 1990 or 2000 is NOT as worthy of airplay NOW.

Note that The bigger selling "Sam's Song" is by Bing and Gary Crosby. Standards also used "(When you were young) Maggie" quite frequently.
 
Prais said:
Chuck said, "there are enough songs out there that everyone can agree on as being great"
_____
You think so? I don't.
Click to expand...

Well, I wouldn’t have said it if I thought otherwise. There seems to be a core group of 1200 - 1500 songs that are truly timeless. That does not mean that the station shouldn't include newer music, but it should be something that sounds in keeping with the over-all feel of the station.

Otherwise, you are an "oldies" station. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is a different format. Both formats are a hard sell these days.

One thing worth noting is not everyone who is now 60 or so, liked only rock and roll when we were teenagers. In fact, a lot of people, mostly women, didn't really like rock music at all. Johnny Mathis was much more their speed. Many of those folks are still with us, and become very loyal listeners.
 
Ahhh.....Bing "Bu-bu-bu-boo" Crosby.

Yes, he's REALLY old school. It's tough to even find a dedicated standards station that plays him anymore (except at Christmas.) KBRD 680 is the best place to find his music.

I especially love the fact he was pro-marijuana legalization HALF A CENTURY before it was fashionable (I always wondered WHAT was in that pipe that made him so mellow....)
 
Chuck,
Note people like chimp, who has very restrictive music taste. To him, "being great" differs alot from me, for example.

I LOVE your website. No time yet to sample the station, but I willl soon.
 
Prais said:
Chuck,
Note people like chimp, who has very restrictive music taste. To him, "being great" differs alot from me, for example.

I LOVE your website. No time yet to sample the station, but I willl soon.
Click to expand...

I'm certainly not as restrictive a Chimp, but I understand where he is coming from. My station will never be a ratings leader. That's not the intent. It does have a pretty loyal following in the area, and a respectable number of Internet listeners as well. It is hard to say that the Internet brings much to the table right now, but maybe someday , it will.

Some of our listener loyalty is simply because of our localism. We've even done lost dog announcements. We try hard to be involved in promoting local events and local merchants. Almost all the PSA's you will hear are for local organizations. That creates a lot of good-will, even from people who don't listen very often.

The good news is we have people who actually call us wanting to be sponsors. From a business point of view, that's really all that matters. Having a lot of friends in the community doesn’t hurt either….
 
Bing was the "Elvis/Sinatra before those 2 guys and after Rudy Vallee.

Bing began Ampex (with some other dudes) and pioneered tape recording. A very tough dad, but an astute businessman.
 
The story I've heard is that Bing heard a speech by Hitler in the early morning hours, and at all times of the day. He wondered how could that guy be speaking 24 hours a day. The quality of the sound lead him to know it wasn't on a scratchy record. So he pioneered tape in the U.S., but it had already started elsewhere.

Onto PBS. Some of those "can't miss" shows play like informercials which is not at all appealing to me. If they want to try to get other people to watch, they might want to stop making them primarily nostalgia shows just for people who were young at the time, and make them more historical so as to not chase away other people who might grow an interest.
 
John said, "primarily nostalgia shows just for people who were young at the time,"

John, 40 years from now, when PBS (the pretend broadcasting system-if they are still around) is selling Eminem and Katy Perry, and Bruno Mars you may disagree.

I believe they have found that they way they present this "infotainment," really more like salestainment; it sells.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Back to the original topic: the world must be ending. I'm almost certain the K.C. and the Sunshine Band special aired during pledge time. Let's see ... how do you get viewers to contribute? "With fine programming like THIS ..." ???
Click to expand...
K.C.'s got a home in Chapel Hill, so he's a local celebrity for them to bring in.
Plus, the music RAWKS!
 
quadraphonic said:
vchimpanzee said:
Back to the original topic: the world must be ending. I'm almost certain the K.C. and the Sunshine Band special aired during pledge time. Let's see ... how do you get viewers to contribute? "With fine programming like THIS ..." ???
Click to expand...
K.C.'s got a home in Chapel Hill, so he's a local celebrity for them to bring in.
Plus, the music RAWKS!
Click to expand...
I do like K.C. and the Sunshine Band but he has no business on PBS.
 
Why not?

Dont you think "baby boomers" (who kc would appeal to) are smart enough to watch pbs?

Take all the classical music off of there, then, too.

Chimp is a MUSIC TASTE NAZI!!!!!!
 
Prais said:
Why not?

Dont you think "baby boomers" (who kc would appeal to) are smart enough to watch pbs?

Take all the classical music off of there, then, too.

Chimp is a MUSIC TASTE NAZI!!!!!!
Click to expand...
PBS has a reputation for quality. When has disco ever been quality?
 
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