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Saturday/Sunday morning public affairs shows on local Stations, are they going away?

3

34james

Banned
Just wanted to ask consultants if they think the local specialty shows like home mortgage or public affairs programs on K-earth, KOST, Jack FM or KKGO are going away? I would think with all the streaming options it would dwindle the motivation of these people to even put these shows on-air.
I can see it working 20 or 30 years ago because of no options but with all the options out there now im surprised these stations just dont opt to play music. So with that said what do consultants see 5 years down the road? Will these programs just go podcast only? Or will they contunue on local radio? Just asking.
 
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34james said:
So with that said what do consultants see 5 years down the road? Will these programs just go podcast only? Or will they contunue on local radio? Just asking.
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My view is they will stay. Why? Because the online options require one to actually seek out and find the infomercial, while broadcast listening is accidental.

Push vs. pull media. One requires action, the other really doesn't. Certainly, some who are predisposed to want to hear a lecture about reverse mortgages will download a podcast, just as a small percentage will call the 1-800 number they see on a TV screen. But what these specialty shows are counting on is someone will tune in the station expecting to get their normal format, and will instead get the infomercial.

It's the same thing that's keeping FM radio viable even with all the streaming options. Push vs. pull. You can hear any music you want on the internet, but usually it takes more work, and sometimes some expense, to do it. Most people are satisfied with the options they have.
 
I think 34james is asking about two different types of spoken word shows. A show about home mortgages is an infomercial. Some music stations run infomercials early on a Sunday, figuring most of its audience is still asleep and won't notice it. It brings in a few bucks and is likely not going away.

The second type of show is public affairs programming. I suppose a station can get away with no public affairs programming if it's able to convince the FCC it is fulfilling its obligations to the community in some other way. But most music stations do a half hour public affairs show, interviewing someone from a charity or maybe a political or civic leader. These shows usually are prerecorded during the week and air at 6am Sunday, to show the FCC the station is trying to be responsive. Same thing for doing news. Even on the most youthful of stations, someone does a few news headlines on the morning show on weekdays, usually before 8am.

The FCC allows stations to determine how much news and public affairs they want to do, but they are supposed to do something.
 
Gregg. said:
I think 34james is asking about two different types of spoken word shows. A show about home mortgages is an infomercial.
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... only if it promotes the business of a mortgage lender, broker or related entity. If the show has experts explaining how to go about getting a mortgage, or how people with a poorer credit record can get one and does not promote one lender or broker, then the show is in the public interest and applies as Public Affairs.

The second type of show is public affairs programming. I suppose a station can get away with no public affairs programming if it's able to convince the FCC it is fulfilling its obligations to the community in some other way. But most music stations do a half hour public affairs show, interviewing someone from a charity or maybe a political or civic leader. These shows usually are prerecorded during the week and air at 6am Sunday, to show the FCC the station is trying to be responsive. Same thing for doing news. Even on the most youthful of stations, someone does a few news headlines on the morning show on weekdays, usually before 8am.
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News is not "public affairs". But news analysis and discussion is. Public Affairs is anything related to the public interest in the community such as school policies, government regulations, road construction, energy policy, race relations, women's rights, bond issues, public health, etc.

Not all is run at 6 AM on Sunday. In the 70's and 80's, some contemporary stations ran a feature, sometimes every hour, where a topical question based on current affairs was asked to "folks on the street" and answers were run in 60" capsules. A station might even include in its PA list topics on a morning show that clearly fit the definition, such as a discussion of addiction or teen pregnancy or AIDS.

The FCC allows stations to determine how much news and public affairs they want to do, but they are supposed to do something.
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And there are many ways of satisfying the requirement that can be justified easily.
 
At KBLA Century City Business Radio we charged the Jewish Veterans $2000 a week for a public affairs show hosted by Chuck Ashman. No others clients paid anything near that as we had no listeners and the 50,000 watt station was hard to pick up almost everywhere
 
How do they expect the upcoming talent to get experience if they cut out the local weekend shows?
 
I see the stuff about public affairs airing at 6 am Sundays... my question is, is 6 too early? We currently have our public affairs every weekday for 30 mins at noon. I want to move some to 6 and 630 but I need to be able to sell this plan to the rest of the staff.
 
livingtoolate said:
I see the stuff about public affairs airing at 6 am Sundays... my question is, is 6 too early? We currently have our public affairs every weekday for 30 mins at noon. I want to move some to 6 and 630 but I need to be able to sell this plan to the rest of the staff.
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Wow, sounds like one terrible station?
 
Does anyone remember DuPont Gai, by Chinese for Affirmative Action, hint SF Bay Area?
 
How about "Ask the Professor" which ran on K-EARTH. People loved it!
 
KRTH is (or was) known for its long segments of public affairs programming. Beginning Sunday early morning at 2 or 3am and ending around 9am for many, many years, essentially delaying weekend programming or specials during that time slot. What really comes to mind is hearing a special late Saturday night only to have it "interrupted" for about six hours. But on the other hand, who really listened to music at 4am in 1988? If a station were to do public affairs type shows, early Sunday mornings would be most logical time slot to place them.
 
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