The Morning Report
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Friday, June 27, 2008 | I’m saddened by this news, as a regular but part time listener and viewer. The commercials have become so frequent on commercial channels that, regardless of how you view their politics, and I consider them quite political despite their protestations to the
contrary, they are a welcome respite from the ceaseless selling on
commercial stations.
I have to say their wounds are largely self-inflicted. They’ve done a lousy job of keeping their regular subscriber base. Whenever they have these pledge drives, and they’ve become more frequent, they offer
inducements for new pledges but the same goodies aren’t made available to continuing subscribers. What kind of sense does that make?
They have another resource, archives of old local programs viewers
might want to buy, but they have not promoted it. A few years ago I
wrote them a letter suggesting this and offering an additional gift of
a hundred bucks if they’d run me a copy of a reunion concert of the
old Bob Crosby orchestra, held at the organ pavilion. They promised
to look into it but nothing happened. Someone could go through that
old stuff and offer returning subscribers, who tend to be seniors like
me, a choice from among several archived programs for renewal and
perhaps a 10% increase in their pledge amount.
It’s a real shame, because their local public affairs programs are top
notch, but I’m afraid they’re the next to go. What the whole public
broadcasting network nationally needs is some top notch marketing
talent, but I’m afraid their “public” orientation won’t allow them to
see that. I’ve felt in recent years that the best thing that could
happen to them would be to lose their remaining government funding, so
they could tell their regulars it’s time to put up or they’ll close
down. Their no-commercials format is the strongest thing they have to
offer, and they aren’t really exploiting it.