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The End of an Era in East Texas TV: MDA Telethon moves to KETK.......

S

stdjsb25

As long as I can remember, the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon had always been on KLTV......now I read the Tyler Morning Telegraph today and it has a little insert announcing that KETK has this year's MDA telethon.....it's such a shame and it's a horrible end to an era in East Texas television. Anyone know why KLTV didn't pick it up this year?

(On a side note, this is kinda weird seeing as KETK lost the Children's Miracle Network telethon to KYTX.)
 
Wow, a year without Barry and Pappy (I think that was his name?)....for 56 to let go of the CMN telethon only to take on the big kahuna....it'll take a LOT more resources for 56 to do MDA, and no chances for ad revenue or net programming for nearly 24 hours. AND, the first time that 7 has been able to show network shows since the 60s on Labor Day. Well, good luck to 56...how has 19 done with CMN since they went there??
 
easttxtv said:
Wow, a year without Barry and Pappy (I think that was his name?)....
Click to expand...

You're thinking about Peppy Blount.

I was surprised to see a banner on ketknbc.com announcing the Labor Day Telethon there this year.
 
easttxtv said:
Wow, a year without Barry and Pappy (I think that was his name?)....for 56 to let go of the CMN telethon only to take on the big kahuna....it'll take a LOT more resources for 56 to do MDA, and no chances for ad revenue or net programming for nearly 24 hours. AND, the first time that 7 has been able to show network shows since the 60s on Labor Day. Well, good luck to 56...how has 19 done with CMN since they went there??
Click to expand...

I'm trying to remember if NBC has a Sunday Night Football preseason game scheduled for the night before Labor Day......
 
stdjsb25 said:
easttxtv said:
Wow, a year without Barry and Pappy (I think that was his name?)....for 56 to let go of the CMN telethon only to take on the big kahuna....it'll take a LOT more resources for 56 to do MDA, and no chances for ad revenue or net programming for nearly 24 hours. AND, the first time that 7 has been able to show network shows since the 60s on Labor Day. Well, good luck to 56...how has 19 done with CMN since they went there??
Click to expand...

I'm trying to remember if NBC has a Sunday Night Football preseason game scheduled for the night before Labor Day......
Click to expand...

Uhoh, hadn't thought about that possibility--I'm still trying to get used to NBC having football again that isn't arena-style or run by a wrestling coalition.... :D
 
I'm trying to remember if NBC has a Sunday Night Football preseason game scheduled for the night before Labor Day......
[/quote]

Actually, even better. There's a NASCAR race that night on NBC. I'm guessing there's a possibility that KETK (and many other NBC stations that carry the telethon) will delay the start until after the race.
 
It's not unusual now for stations to take the telethon after the 10 o'clock news on Sunday night. That's what KPRC in Houston has done for the past several years and, if KETK is smart, they will too. No need to tick off viewers AND lose ad revenue at the same time.
 
I was dissapointed several years ago when channel 7 stopped staying on the air live the whole time. In recent years they would sign off and just carry the network MDA coverage during the overnight hours and then come back live with local segments in the morning hours. I always thought it said a lot that these tv anchors would not only give up their Labor Day weekend, but go pretty much without sleep too!

Channel 7 probably wasn't the only station around the country that did that, and I know they probably didn't raise much money during those overnight hours, but it still said a lot to me when they would do it.
 
Obviously word on the change just got out a few days ago, so in addition to "why," the next question relates to "when" the decision was made and whether KLTV itself opted out on carriage.

Telethons are a notable part of Channel 7's history and the previous posts are correct, that it's going to be really strange seeing another station air the MDA fund raiser.
 
Channel 7's general manager, Brad Streit, is quoted in the Longview newspaper as saying KLTV chose not to carry the telethon because it "has not evolved." He also said that viewer choices are now greatly expanded, seemingly indicating and that audience following of the event is down. He commented that the station still has an interest in assisting with the MDA effort but not through the telethon.

KETK sources were quoted in the article as saying they were approached by MDA officials about carrying the telethon and that the station readily signed on to the effort.

Streit said television is a "mass market medium" that needs to reach the largest, most diverse viewer population possible. One supposes this statement could be interpreted to mean the station was losing a lot of audience and commercial time. He said not carrying MDA will mean Channel 7 can carry its regular programming such as Dr. Phil, Oprah, and the network news (no mentionof local news on which stations base a lot of their market presence). [Perhaps he DID mention it but it could have been edited in the writing of the story.]

Bottom line, the change is set.
 
Well, on an interesting note KETK has only chosen to take the telethon from 7AM-6PM on Monday....and on an even more interesting note, KETK's listings in the Tyler Morning Telegraph for Monday (as seen in Friday's Entertainment Showcase) show KETK as having regular programming.
 
So far, KETK has had a good telethon.....except they place their breaks in the worst possible locations, just breaking away at random. I had always thought that the network coverage gave spaces for local cutaways?
 
stdjsb25 said:
I had always thought that the network coverage gave spaces for local cutaways?
Click to expand...

They do -- don't know wht KETK chose to constantly break away before the national breaks.

Out of curiosity, were KETK's breakaways during natural breaks between segments, or were they truly random (as in the middle of performances, presentations, etc.)?
 
STDJSB, alot of the stations around the country, save the CW affiliates who ran the telethon(WGN/KTLA/KWGN), have been bumping the local start of the telethon to 6-7am. From who I spoke to on the issue, they stated that it all comes down to (what else) labor costs and ad dollars.
 
Anyone hear any Tyler-Longview area preliminary reports on how much in donations the telethon may have raised locally. Didn't have an opportunity to see any of the local or even national segments. How did KETK handle them--news anchors and sports, weather people fronting the breaks, and from where did the local break aways originate.
 
According to 56's website, they made more than $439,000; another article there says they did it from the station, not from someplace like a hotel or the Mall. I didn't find anything regarding who 'hosted' the local segments.
 
It did originate from the studios, looks like they did it on the East Texas Live set. As for personalities, mostly their news folks....Neal Barton, Jamie McGriff, etc. did all the hosting on the local end.
 
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