Why does PBS show the same old music shows during fundraisers?

September 16, 2015 4:11 PM

This is a cranky old lady question from a cranky old lady; whenever PBS has a fund drive, they take off the regular shows that I like and instead show old music specials or documentaries by Ken Burns they have already shown hundreds of times. I really do not want to see great hits of the 50s, Andrea Boccelli, or Simon and Garfunkle , and these substitutions make me less likely to contribute to the station, not more. Does showing these things again and again really get people to give money?
posted by mermayd to Media & Arts (27 answers total)

It's a very straightforward object lesson: donations are what make new programming. No donations, no new shows.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:16 PM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

I don't know for sure, but I suspect the local PBS affiliate pays much less for those repeats than they do for the more contemporary programming. If you are going to interrupt the programs, you don't want to waste money on them.
posted by stowaway at 4:17 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Showing Simon and Garfunkel and endless replays of Les Miz anniversary specials make me, personally, more likely to donate. It's like PBS has a direct circuit to my nostalgia feels. Anecdotes not being data though.
posted by Ruki at 4:28 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

PBS producer here, although not involved in the fund drives. I'll ask the woman who runs the drives at my station but from what I've gleaned, they run those programs because they've been successful at encouraging donations. It's as simple as that.
posted by Kangaroo at 4:40 PM on September 16, 2015 [21 favorites]

Best answer: I always assumed it was a "beatings reruns will continue until morale donations improve" sort of thing.
posted by zeptoweasel at 4:44 PM on September 16, 2015 [17 favorites]

Those are the shows most likely to appeal to the most fruitful donor demographic (Boomers), I'm guessing. Kind of like our local public radio station is suddenly all about the very specific health concerns of Boomers when its pledge drive rolls around. As a mere 37-year-old WCPN member, this enrages me.

I also suspect that their programming options may be limited, since it's not like they're going to get extra This American Life or other popular syndicated stuff just because its pledge time in Cleveland.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 4:44 PM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

I've always assumed that it's because older/more staid type viewers are more likely to donate. And the weird old music shows attract them like elderly flies to boring, boring honey.

(In NYC I always noticed that PBS showed the Burns-affiliated New York documentary at pledge time, as well as other programming designed to make people remember that they have civic pride. I don't watch a lot of Los Angeles PBS, but I wouldn't be surprised to see an uptick in Huell Howser around pledge time.)
posted by Sara C. at 4:49 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

I want them to show reruns of The Prisoner and oldschool Dr. Who like they used to (NYC area PBS). I'll donate if they do that.
posted by gehenna_lion at 4:59 PM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

Lots of the premiums/gifts are also DVD copies of the shows that they're airing. But, I agree, it's frustrating and unappealing.
posted by quince at 4:59 PM on September 16, 2015

You can totally volunteer to go down to the local PBS station during the fund drive and answer phones, and incidentally mention to the local station management that you'd so much rather they showed COOL STUFF during fund drives. It's seriously like three people who make these decisions at my local station.

My local shows a lot of local programming during fund drives -- "Donate and we can create more programs about local history" basically. This appeals to the local PBS demographic.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:06 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's demographics, pure and simple. There's a certain type of Boomer that lives for this stuff. My mother has watched the Newshour (and Greater Boston) every. single. night for the past 40 years. Not sure what'll happen when that generation dies off, perhaps things will change then.
posted by Melismata at 5:06 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

My PBS station says point-blank that Lawrence Welk viewers donate more. So we get a lot of Lawrence Welk.

Which isn't so bad.
posted by kimberussell at 5:09 PM on September 16, 2015 [8 favorites]

I think it's more of a "greatest hits" kind of thing - you know, kind of like the equivalent of how if you went to a Queen concert, it'd be weird if they didn't do "Bohemian Rhapsody." There's also always the chance that there's someone in the crowd who maybe only knows their stuff from the Flash Gordon soundtrack, too, but this concert is how they learn about "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Fat Bottomed Girls" and they're all "how did I not know about those songs this band just got that much more awesome!" and then they get into an orgy of album-buying or t-shirt buying or whatever.

Incidentally, a PBS Pledge Drive is how I was made aware of the existence of the Concert For George, and if your station is showing that WATCH IT SERIOUSLY.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:26 PM on September 16, 2015

Yes.
posted by chasles at 5:58 PM on September 16, 2015

Those are the shows most likely to appeal to the most fruitful donor demographic (Boomers), I'm guessing.

Yes, it's this. I could swear we've discussed this here before, but I can't find it just now. This is the result of thoughtful strategic planning that recognizes that (a) Boomers who like this stuff have the most money available to donate right now (b) Boomers who like this stuff are the most likely to donate right now, and (c) other affinity groups/generations are not as important or viable a source of support at this moment. There are not enough of them, they are not being heard from, they are not as likely to be members, and they are mostly not in a position to become major donors. They are milking their cash cows.

It's a vicious cycle in that, because these strategies turn off younger donors. It partly represents a missed opportunity to build loyalty from younger donors. But most larger-scale nonprofits primarily target Boomers, and that's not for nothing. They are holding on to the largest share of wealth in the county, and they have been loyal supporters of PBS for decades now. In an organization that fundraises, you have to go to the well. There are only two things that will change this situation: the passing of that generation, or the increasing engagement of other generations and affinity groups - which can be generated from within those communities, or from within the public organizations as they begin to think they might be able to depend on those new communities for support. Right now, that hasn't been very promising - partly because models need to change to please new generational style preferences, partly because so many people in other generations are content to remain free riders and haven't gotten more deeply involved in those organizations in a way that would influence their direction.
posted by Miko at 6:31 PM on September 16, 2015 [9 favorites]

LA-based PBS stations ABSOLUTELY pile on the Huell Howser during pledge time. He used to host pledge drives, too, or appear in pledge commercials at the very least. I assumed it was for the local flavor, and also because he's very popular.

It's not like they run California's Gold on any other stations, so it could also be them reminding us that they have unique programming that we can't see anywhere else. I would assume that the specials they also run are PBS-only types of things meant to remind people what they would be missing out on. Personally, I would like to see a sarcastic commercial making unfavorable comparisons between PBS and TLC ("Reality TV is what you get when we have to care more about ratings than culture!!!")

During some important Monty Python anniversary, they ran a lot of MP greatest hits during pledging, the reason being that PBS brought MP to a lot of people in America originally. I would be interested to see how well that year did in terms of pledging.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:56 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Googling around I found this great article on Current.org from 1993 about how PBS was just starting to target Boomers and how they were "passing the torch" from the older generation. I definitely can recall this era (though I thought it started a bit before that), so it's kind of amusing; we're at the tail end of that cycle. There is definitely another adjustment coming where the rest of us are old enough to get the pledge come-ons (although honestly, it could be another 20 years before they really need to diversify support). I just wonder what they'll put on for the Xers and Milennials.
posted by Miko at 7:14 PM on September 16, 2015

Oh here we go. More and More, PBS Rocks its Way to the Bank, from 2007.
posted by Miko at 7:20 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

I also feel like people like the nostalgia/routine. Not sure. This isn't a perfect example but like, they used to have annual Anne of Green Gables fundraisers on PBS back in the day I think, and I'd watch it every year.
posted by hejrat at 7:28 PM on September 16, 2015

Best answer: Recently former public media/on-air fundraiser here.

1) People, on average, don't give their first charitable contribution until age 40. Not regularly--their first.

2) Public television shows are not generally "formatted" for fundraising breaks. That means that someone on staff has to break up Nova, or Frontline, or whatever, if the station wants to use it for fundraising. This is because:

3) "Core" programming doesn't bring in nearly as much money as Suze Orman, all those dubious health/self-help shows, Victor Borge, Lawrence Welk, etc. Why is that? Would you believe that no one really knows? Lots of theories, very little data. Some of it probably has to do with age. Some of it has to do with lack of premiums (thank-you gifts). Some of it is because of subject matter (would you believe that a depressing episode of American Experience doesn't pledge well?) This brings us to:

4) Emotion. Emotion is key to fundraising. Public radio can get away with regular programming primarily because of the feeling of community and connection it engenders it its audience because people tend to listen a lot more than they watch public television. Since public radio-type emotional connection is hard to find in public TV, they have to rely on warm fuzzies, sexy people and shocking drama, music, etc. Self-help stuff also works because it's a total informercial play.

5) So for all these reasons, and because putting on live TV fundraising nights 9-14 nights 3-4 times a year is, frankly, hellish, stations have become increasingly reliant on "virtuals"--the above types of shows, formatted for pledge, with prerecorded fundraising breaks, often using the talent from the program (Hello, Suze Orman! You can now appear on every public TV station in the country several times a year!)

6) Some stations are trying to change this. It's called the core programming initiative. Results have been mixed.

If you hate public TV fundraisers (and who doesn't? Well, I don't--but I'm weird) the single best thing you can do is become a sustaining member of your local public television station.
posted by Automocar at 7:34 PM on September 16, 2015 [14 favorites]

I think Miko has nailed it, but kind of tagging off/expanding/generalizing her answers;

1) I think you are drastically underestimating the extent to which people, in general, like or prefer the known and the tried-and-true when it comes to entertainment. (I suspect this applies more and more the older the target audience is, but I've certainly seen this dynamic at work even in the early-20's crowd.) There's a reason that oldies stations are still on the air, and that literally tens of thousands of bands are out there playing "Mustang Sally" and "Brown Eyed Girl" every Friday and Saturday night. I fully get how "Yanni at the Acropolis" 3 times a year for ten years makes you go "ugh" but for an awful lot of people that's just what the doctor ordered - they know the concert, they like the music, they like knowing that they can watch it again and again on a regular schedule.

2) A large consideration for any sort of public fund-raising event is that you want to attract people who might not be regular attendees/consumers/listeners. So, for example, my local zoo holds a party where something like 18 cover bands are performing all around the zoo, or the local experimental/independent theater throws a party where half of the night's entertainment is a DJ spinning the current hits. Neither of these have much (if anything) to do with the actual core purpose and regular programming of the non-profit org, but they do attract people who don't actually go to the zoo/theater on a regular basis, if at all. By programming *!! Big Name Special Events !!* (Yanni concerts, Simon & Garfunkel concerts, Ken Burns documentaries), the stations are hoping to catch the attention of people who don't watch the station very often - someone scrolling through 1 zillion cable channels notices that Burns' Civil War documentary is on next Thursday, and thinks, "Hey, I've always wanted to see that", and so they tune in and maybe donate or even become regular contributors. IOW, in a lot of ways pledge drives are not aimed at you, the regular PBS watcher, but at the casual/occasional/rare PBS watcher.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:57 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

I worked in programming for Boston PBS affiliate WGBH years ago and the answers above are right.

They largest donations come from people older than 50, so even though it was amazing when we starting broadcasting The Traveling Wilbury's for all of us younger PBS folks, shows like that didn't bring in much money OR viewers. It's even worse nowadays because younger demographics aren't generally loyal to any particular station and they stream whatever they want whenever they want. PBS struggles to get new viewers, pure and simple. They go after the tried and true cash cows.

We had to straddle the line between, "Hey, we're not dinosaurs and we're hip so please watch us" with "Hey, we know you will send money if we air Lawrence Welk." Pretty simple.

It's a longtime PBS struggle to find that perfect balance between getting new viewers and not alienating the moneyed audience.

Also, buying TV programs is EXPENSIVE. So once we get the rights to Lawrence Welk or whatever boring show is on, we're had a tendency to run the hell out of it.
posted by kinetic at 3:29 AM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks all who responded. Sad to say I am in the boomer demographic but always hated it and do not identify with it. Are there really still people alive who like Lawrence Welk? I thought almost all of my parents' generation had passed on, at least those still able to contribute to public TV.

What really got to me was they took off Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries this week in favor of one more of those music shows they have already shown many times which I did not want to watch the first time, Yanni or Boccelli or any of those fellows. Yeah, I loved Simon and Garfunkle as a young girl, but that was many years ago and life moves on.
posted by mermayd at 3:34 AM on September 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Are there really still people alive who like Lawrence Welk?

I think that was in reference to the previous generation who were supporting Public TV before the Traveling Wilburys generation (30something Boomers) got aboard.
posted by Miko at 8:49 AM on September 17, 2015

Apparently in Cleveland, people who want to listen to four-hour prerecorded call-in shows about osteopenia are very generous. But is it cause or effect?
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:57 AM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've always resented the local PBS station when they say 'if you want to see more of this kind of programming, vote with your pledge dollars.'

The problem is that they only air 'this kind of programming' during pledge weeks. How cynical can one be?
posted by DandyRandy at 9:40 AM on September 17, 2015

The problem is that they only air 'this kind of programming' during pledge weeks.

When I was at WGBH, the reason this happens is because when purchasing shows, we were allowed to air them ___ many times, and no more, and PBS checked to ensure we weren't being sneaky. Some shows we were allowed to air a LOT, like kids' programming or when I was there, Red Dwarf. We aired Red Dwarf ALL THE TIME. Some shows were Pledge Only that we contractually couldn't air outside of pledge drives.

Ostensibly, if the station raised enough money, they could acquire licensing to air the show outside of pledge season.
posted by kinetic at 10:32 AM on September 17, 2015