Schicklgruber on PBS

[Mark Giardina]

Why in heck would WXXI television air a locally produced program about the coming of DTV right before a national show about the Nazis looting Europe?

Wouldn't it have been just plain smart programming to air the local DTV show before a program that didn't dreg up unpleasant memories for those who survived the Nazis and fought against them? :

 

[fybush]

There was no good time to do the DTV special - we go into pledge drive mode starting next Monday, we didn't want to do it any later than this Monday because we start getting into Thanksgiving-related vacation time, and by doing it Monday night at 8, we get one of the largest audiences of the week that would normally be tuning in for Antiques Roadshow.

And it was certainly a public service tonight. I don't think anyone at the station (or the engineers from 8, 10 and 31 who were in the house helping answer viewer phone calls) anticipated that we'd light up 15 phone lines full of questions the second the show went on the air - and keep them lit for an hour after we went off the air. There's clearly a lot more public education needed about the DTV transition between now and February, and apparently no bad time to do it.

(Usual disclaimer - I speak only for me and not for WXXI, etc. etc.)

 

[Mark Giardina]

There was no good time to do the DTV special - we go into pledge drive mode starting next Monday, we didn't want to do it any later than this Monday because we start getting into Thanksgiving-related vacation time, and by doing it Monday night at 8, we get one of the largest audiences of the week that would normally be tuning in for Antiques Roadshow.

And it was certainly a public service tonight. I don't think anyone at the station (or the engineers from 8, 10 and 31 who were in the house helping answer viewer phone calls) anticipated that we'd light up 15 phone lines full of questions the second the show went on the air - and keep them lit for an hour after we went off the air. There's clearly a lot more public education needed about the DTV transition between now and February, and apparently no bad time to do it.

(Usual disclaimer - I speak only for me and not for WXXI, etc. etc.)

Why not run this special during your pledge drive? Judging from your posting, the phones were ringing off the hooks with people asking questions. Wouldn't that have been a great time to remind them of the service WXXI performs and how the station needs public support to operate programs like the one that aired Monday night?

How about airing the show during or before the locally-produced Need to Know program? It would boost the general audience for that show.

I know that a few people at WXXI ( perhaps yourself included) think that I posted this item just to take a cheap shot at the station. On the contrary. I just thought that airing such a well produced local public service program, which it was very informative by the way, before a documentary about the Nazis was not well thought out.

WXXI could have tape-delayed and then ran the Antiques Roadshow right after the DTV special then aired the program (in delay) about the looting of art works by the Nazis. Then, at least, there would have been a buffer between both shows.

 

[fybush]

Why not run this special during your pledge drive? Judging from your posting, the phones were ringing off the hooks with people asking questions. Wouldn't that have been a great time to remind them of the service WXXI performs and how the station needs public support to operate programs like the one that aired Monday night?

Interesting idea, but the logistics would be insane - since we were using the same phone bank for DTV questions that we use for pledge, and since the phones were literally nonstop with DTV questions (every time anyone set a phone down, it would ring again within a couple of seconds), there would have been no way to take pledges.

Additionally, the show last night was coordinated with most of our TV colleagues in town. We had the chief engineers from 8, 10 and 31 helping out on the phones - and I don't know that they'd have wanted to volunteer to take pledges in between answering questions about hooking up VCRs.

How about airing the show during or before the locally-produced Need to Know program? It would boost the general audience for that show.

I know that a few people at WXXI ( perhaps yourself included) think that I posted this item just to take a cheap shot at the station. On the contrary. I just thought that airing such a well produced local public service program, which it was very informative by the way, before a documentary about the Nazis was not well thought out.

WXXI could have tape-delayed and then ran the Antiques Roadshow right after the DTV special then aired the program (in delay) about the looting of art works by the Nazis. Then, at least, there would have been a buffer between both shows.

I guess I'm not seeing the issue here...there's always going to be something on before and after anything a station airs. If the documentary had aired at 8, right out of News Hour, would that have been somehow offensive?



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[Mark Giardina]

Ok then run the DTV special BEFORE the start of the pledge drive. Add more phones so that after someone calls in with a technical question, the caller could be asked if they wanted to donate to WXXI. Then a pledge volunteer could take over from there. It would mean more effort and more people, but the impact of generating more money is greater than it will be next week (or when ever the pledge drive takes place) considering it's the holiday season and the economy is in the soup. In other words you already had people on the phones, what's wrong with asking them to support programs like the one that aired last night?

As for airing a pre-recorded program after the DTV special, I don't understand what the problem would have been to just pre-tape the Roadshow and air it afterwards? As you said it's a popular program, and would be a better showcase for the advent of digital television instead of seeing a crisp clear picture of goose-stepping Nazis.

I've just offered a viewers observation of what I thought was wrong and a suggestion to help the station raise money.

 

[fybush]

It's not clear to me that the transition from Antiques Roadshow to the Nazi documentary would have been any less jarring - not to mention the disruption that delaying the prime-time lineup would have caused to the late-night public affairs lineup. But that's not my call, as you well know.

Judging by some of the calls we got last night, the DTV conversion is already going to be a financial burden for some less-affluent viewers. The last thing I'd think any station would want to do is make it sound like they're trying to use the conversion as an opportunity for fundraising. Again, I don't speak for the station, but I'm more comfortable personally keeping those two functions separate.

In any case, I think that old saying, "the perfect is the enemy of the good" applies here. With only 80-some days left to go before shutdown day, and apparently a rather large public demand for much more information and assistance, isn't it better to get something usable on the air now - even if the scheduling isn't ideal - than to wait for a perfect opportunity that might never arrive?

 

[Mark Giardina]

Not to drag this issue out further but all I was trying to do is make a suggestion I thought would be beneficial to the station; not that I have any personal interest anymore.

Like I said earlier, the DTV program was informative and well produced. It is programs like that the station can point to and say this is what we offer the community that other TV stations do not.

Therefore in the future I will just keep my opinions about WXXI and it's programming decisions to myself.

 

[landtuna]

Judging by some of the calls we got last night, the DTV conversion is already going to be a financial burden for some less-affluent viewers.

I can understand this statement if the caller(s) thought they were going to have to replace their current TV sets but not if the complaint was the purchase of a converter box.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I applaud WXXI for presenting the DTV special program on Monday night. While I subscribe to cable TV and thus won't have to worry about digital conversion next February, the concept of having experts on hand to answer questions over the telephone was a stroke of genius.
As for Mr. Giardina's concerns about what followed the show; I have mixed feelings.
I can understand his comments airing a show about the Nazis, but this program carried by PBS was very educational and informative. I don't think it concentrated as much on the horrors of the Nazi regime, rather it centered on the amount of priceless art and other treasure looted by the Nazis.
As for combining both a fundraising drive and a DTV instructional program, I have to side with Mr. Fybush. It would be mass confusion to have both of these events going on at the same time. There is a phrase from a Clint Eastwood movie (Cluster F***) that would best describe such an project.
Again "kudos" to WXXI, and the other TV stations' personnel that were involved in this project to educate the public about DTV.

 

[Red1]

I can understand this statement if the caller(s) thought they were going to have to replace their current TV sets but not if the complaint was the purchase of a converter box.

It's not just the cost of the box...for some people it's the issue of being unable to GET a signal without installing either a new more powerful antenna ($$) or paying the satellite company extra bucks to get local channels.

Personally, I'm still kicking myself for missing the program! :-[

 

[landtuna]

It's not just the cost of the box...for some people it's the issue of being unable to GET a signal without installing either a new more powerful antenna ($$) or paying the satellite company extra bucks to get local channels.

That brings up a good point. Heretofore, if you were not able to receive local TV you could subscribe to either a set of your locals or a national set of network stations. Is all that going to have to be recalculated to permit those people who lose local digital signals? How would people prove they qualify for satellite locals?

 

[fybush]

I can understand this statement if the caller(s) thought they were going to have to replace their current TV sets but not if the complaint was the purchase of a converter box.

It's not just the cost of the box...for some people it's the issue of being unable to GET a signal without installing either a new more powerful antenna ($$) or paying the satellite company extra bucks to get local channels.

Personally, I'm still kicking myself for missing the program! :-[

Fear not...after the reaction we got last night, I'm quite certain we'll be scheduling repeats of that show, or maybe new follow-up shows, before long.

As for the cost issue, there are apparently some people out there for whom even the $20 post-coupon cost of the box, plus another $20 or so for an antenna, is a serious obstacle financially. I'm not sure what the answer is in that case.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Helpin' a Bruther Out...

I can understand this statement if the caller(s) thought they were going to have to replace their current TV sets but not if the complaint was the purchase of a converter box.

It's not just the cost of the box...for some people it's the issue of being unable to GET a signal without installing either a new more powerful antenna ($$) or paying the satellite company extra bucks to get local channels.

As for the cost issue, there are apparently some people out there for whom even the $20 post-coupon cost of the box, plus another $20 or so for an antenna, is a serious obstacle financially. I'm not sure what the answer is in that case.

I think that we need a government program. Something along the lines of "food stamps". Maybe we can get Mr. Giardina to administer it. Let's make it Federal, so he can add the Federal retirement program to his portfolio.

PS - Hey, Mark, if you need an assistant at your "new job", I could use something to boost my "radio retirement plan"...

 

[therealjm12]

I watched the show and thought it was excellent. They explained the digital conversion in a very down to earth manner. As far as the Nazis are concerned, I turned it over to Two & a half Men anyway.
I do see some problems with the digital conversion. I have cable but,also have a box and tried it out. It would be nice to get the WXXI sub channels. I have a pretty decent inside antenna but get pretty much nothing. Putting an outside antenna up is not going to happen. From what I hear, the Greece area is a major reception problem for digital. That has a potential of thousands of viewers not having any TV reception after Feb.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Re: Helpin' a Bruther Out...

Actually I ordered two of those coupons when I was considering getting rid of cable TV. But since my job now requires me to have cable, I gave the coupons to some people I know who don't have cable.

I was reading on another post where one of the big broadcasting companies decided that ALL employees, no matter their seniority, just gets 2 weeks paid vacation. What a crock! :

 

[Mark Giardina]

Re: Helpin' a Bruther Out...

I think that we need a government program. Something along the lines of "food stamps". Maybe we can get Mr. Giardina to administer it. Let's make it Federal, so he can add the Federal retirement program to his portfolio.
PS - Hey, Mark, if you need an assistant at your "new job", I could use something to boost my "radio retirement plan"...

You have a radio retirement plan? Consider yourself fortunate.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Re: Helpin' a Bruther Out...

I think that we need a government program. Something along the lines of "food stamps". Maybe we can get Mr. Giardina to administer it. Let's make it Federal, so he can add the Federal retirement program to his portfolio.
PS - Hey, Mark, if you need an assistant at your "new job", I could use something to boost my "radio retirement plan"...

You have a radio retirement plan? Consider yourself fortunate.

Yeah, which is why I need SOMETHING ELSE ASAP!

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Fear not...after the reaction we got last night, I'm quite certain we'll be scheduling repeats of that show, or maybe new follow-up shows, before long.

Do you know if WXXI plans to air a repeat of this show during it's December fund raising drive with the acknowledgment to viewers that the show is a repeat?

 

[fybush]

Fear not...after the reaction we got last night, I'm quite certain we'll be scheduling repeats of that show, or maybe new follow-up shows, before long.

Do you know if WXXI plans to air a repeat of this show during it's December fund raising drive with the acknowledgment to viewers that the show is a repeat?

I don't know yet...I left town the morning after the show and just got back tonight, so I've been a bit out of touch.

As soon as I hear anything, I'll advise...

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I have seen promos for some documentary on Midtown Plaza, which I'm sure will run during the TV pledge drive.
As for the DTV show, I would suggest that it be run again, especially since the deadline for conversion over to digital is just a few months away.