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Public TV Auctions

W

Wright County Guy

The recent retro-schedule from Eastern Virginia makes me wonder this-- how many areas had (or have) an "auction" type fundraiser for their Public broadcaster?

I remember fondly the KTCA Action Auction in all its cheesiness. My favorite memory (and yes I wish I could find it) is one of the local police or fire chiefs -- a very large, manly-man, auctioning off a brassiere.

Here's a look at the Twin Cities' "Action Auction" (and I should note that the video on the TPT site is not the easiest to scan through)
http://www.mnvideovault.org/index.php?id=7858&select_index=4&popup=yes
 
It was a staple for us at WXXI in Rochester all through the 1970s and early 1980s. Due to limited space at the station's own studios, the auction operated from donated warehouse space in the 1980s, with a complete remote studio setup. The rise of home shopping TV made the broadcast auction redundant, but it lives on for us as an online auction each April. (There's a short on-air preview special, but the rest of the auction's broadcast presence is limited to short promos between shows.)
 
WYIN still runs auctions from time to time. Some of them are live, while others are online. They have to rely on the annual auctions, as they get less pledge dollars than WTTW & WYCC, due to their signal only reaching the southern part of the market. Without the auctions, then they'd be running beg-a-thon programming everyday during regular programming (they already run beg-a-thon programming after 12:30am every night, just to be on the air 24 hours, ot they'd sign off by 1am latest).
 
Scott Fybush said:
It was a staple for us at WXXI in Rochester all through the 1970s and early 1980s. Due to limited space at the station's own studios, the auction operated from donated warehouse space in the 1980s, with a complete remote studio setup. The rise of home shopping TV made the broadcast auction redundant, but it lives on for us as an online auction each April. (There's a short on-air preview special, but the rest of the auction's broadcast presence is limited to short promos between shows.)
Click to expand...

The "live" auctions were enjoyable to watch during the 70's and 80s.

It is a shame that WXXI's management decided to relegate the auction to an online operation.

With the mammoth studios WXXI has built over the years during the renovations of the building there is no excuse (for the lack of space) not to return to airing live auctions.

Personally I get the feeling that management just doesn't want to be bothered with all the preparation it takes to air a live televised auction; thus the online version to them suffices.
 
Following up on Scott's remarks, and in response to Voice of Reason's, a lot of stations are doing what WXXI does--on-air previews, combined with followup programs on the station's digital sub-channels at various times during the auction period, but most of the bidding action and most of the descriptions of items up for bid found on the website. And the financial results are actually MUCH better.

The reason for taking most of the auction action off live broadcast TV is the cost--it costs about three or four times as much to sell the same material through live auctions as it does to do it online. Gross volume on a mostly online auction is about the same as the broadcast version, but the savings on overhead (everything from staff OT to administrative expense) amounts to an auction that may be less entertaining to some viewers or to station volunteers, but three to four times as profitable for the station. And let's face it, auctions are fundraisers designed to raise money to do your regular programming for your core mission...so the more you save, the more air time and money there is in hand for regular cultural and informational programming, the service you're in operation to offer people to begin with.

We all miss the auction, it was fun, but the current setup, even if it's not as exciting, enables us to do more core programming. On balance it's a good trade that serves the audience better IMHO.
 
The point I was trying to make is that the "fun element" is missing from having a live auction versus a sterile internet auction.

Granted it might cost more money to stage a live auction, but that was part of the enjoyment watching these programs. You not only had a bevy of guest auctioneers, but also a studio full of people. This is one reason I prefer watching a TV sit-com taped in front of a live audience versus having laugh-tracts inserted into a program.

Also remember the old adage: "You have to spend money in order to make money".
 
Here is a bit of personal irony.

When I worked at WHAM radio in the mid 1970s I received a phone call from someone at WXXI asking if I would agree to be a guest auctioneer.

My initial reply was that I didn't get out of work until after 1 a.m. and wouldn't that be too late to make an appearance? The person on the other end of the phone said no.

So after work I went down to WXXI's studios. By the time I got to do my part it was after 2 a.m. However the place was still "jumping" with excitement at that hour.

The irony is 11 years later when I went to work for WXXI (where I stayed for 14 years) I was never once asked again to participate in the TV auction. :-\
 
The Voice of Reason said:
The point I was trying to make is that the "fun element" is missing from having a live auction versus a sterile internet auction.

Granted it might cost more money to stage a live auction, but that was part of the enjoyment watching these programs. You not only had a bevy of guest auctioneers, but also a studio full of people. This is one reason I prefer watching a TV sit-com taped in front of a live audience versus having laugh-tracts inserted into a program.

Also remember the old adage: "You have to spend money in order to make money".
Click to expand...

I remember the old WXXI auctions in the early 70s as being entertaining, but only because WXXI was one of only four channels on the dial and on Saturday night after Carol Burnett it was either the auction or the Frightening Flicker. It's funny to recall now how the production values were shoddy and the station only had B&W cameras, yet it got lots of viewers. It couldn't happen that way now.
 
OldNumber7 said:
I remember the old WXXI auctions in the early 70s as being entertaining, but only because WXXI was one of only four channels on the dial and on Saturday night after Carol Burnett it was either the auction or the Frightening Flicker. It's funny to recall now how the production values were shoddy and the station only had B&W cameras, yet it got lots of viewers. It couldn't happen that way now.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right. The auctions were far from what would be considered a professional production, but that added to the enjoyment of watching.

Former General Manager Bill Pearce and his staff put a lot of time, effort, and work into making those televised auctions successful and entertaining.

It didn't take long after Pearce retired that the new regime decided to make changes to the auction to where it currently is now nothing but an after thought.

Some may argue that the internet is the way to go because it cost less money. If that's the case then put those boring fundraisers on line and bring back the live auctions.
 
Hope I'm not beng overly redundant here...but the reason auctions ever hit the air anyplace in America in the first place was because back in 1954 KQED-TV in San Francisco almost went dark before an enterprising staffer decided to go out to the local business community and ask them to donate some of their excess stuff to help them sell it on-airto raise quick cash to cover payroll and pay bills. It succeeded not only in keeping the wolf immediately from the door but building a little cash cushion. KQED survived and thrived to this day although I don't believe they do the auction any more, and other cash-strapped public stations soon emulated their example.

But that was 58 years ago and this is now. What worked in the 50s when an auction was the most immediate and cost-effective way to reach people and generate both excitement and dollars, is now a real cash burner compared to the same kind of auction carried mostly on line, while the station it benefits can continue just doing what it does best on the air without much interruption. That's the same reason radio on-air membership drives, which used to last the better part of a month every season, are now a lot shorter and less frequent but actually attract more memberships as the drives now present not only an on-air but an on-line component.

Having hosted more than a few nights of those old-style TV auctions, I remember what fun they were to do and to watch, and there's part of me that misses that part of it. But times change and it's better to raise the money a more profitable (if less exciting) way, saving the cash we used to spend staging auctions so we can air the news coverage and documentary shows we're now producing out of the same studios with the same people, every day and every week, year round. For the price of the fun we had a couple weeks a year we can now afford to put more public service programming on the air every week and IMHO that's a good trade.
 
Here in Boston, WGBH-2/WGBX-44 began doing an auction in 1966 (WGBX wasn't yet on the air; it signed on in 1967).

If my memory serves me correct, it was held to raise funds for converting WGBH to color; it has been held every year since.

For most of it's history, the WGBH Auction was a week-long event; but for the last few years, they've run half-hour shows previewing and describing items up for bid, and have only done a live-in-studio on-air auction for one day.

This year's live-on-air auction was held yesterday (May 31st).
 
I always enjoyed working Auction! On KAMU/15 in College Station, TX in the late 80s. I have some old tapes with them and just ran across one recently. Auctioneers with a "deer in the headlights" reaction when they were actually on screen (mostly they did voices over the images of the item during the auction itself), camera zooms and pans at the wrong time, missed cues and all of the other "hi-jinx" going on -

My favorite memory is the comment from on of the station on-air personalities saying "if you've already made a bid on an item, call back in and up yours". The staff member being the producer looked at me (I was a student and was switching) and I at him and we both broke out laughing... We held it together - and she couldn't understand what we were laughing at through the IFB...

J
 
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