PBS Pledge Drive(s) - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Duane · #1 03-22-2006, 04:13 PM

I've thrown in the towel with the local PBS station in San Diego.Every two months(6 times a year),they have a 3 week pledge drive,resulting in 5 weeks of regurgitated programing.Yes,most of their evening programing is repeat material.It's the same crap every two months.I find it to be flat out insulting.Rant over....

Celt · #2 03-22-2006, 04:59 PM

AETN (Arkansas Educational Television Network), who carries PBS isn't quite that bad, but still...I can relate!

#3 03-23-2006, 02:15 PM

Same here in Dallas--pledge drive 18 weeks per year, or 34.6% of total broadcast time. I've contributed every year for over 10 years, and I get less and less. And now Sunday afternoon is rebroadcast of Lawrence Welk.

OvenMaster · #4 03-23-2006, 05:41 PM

Same here in W. New England. I am so sick of Roy Orbison's Black and White Night and Dr. Wayne Dyer again and again and again, year after year, that I want to scream. This is the programming that the members want to see?! No wonder I don't watch PBS!
Tom

Chad Hauris · #5 03-23-2006, 06:26 PM

I used to work at a public radio/TV station and was one of those hosts on TV trying to get pledges! As I remember PBS would not even feed the regular programming on the satellite during the designated pledge times, you pretty much had to use their designated pledge specials or come up with your own alternatives.
I really don't miss doing that at all!

Andyman · #6 03-23-2006, 06:37 PM

Well, we had "The Grateful Dead Movie" and a film of the current Queen/Paul Rodgers tour over the weekend here. Yeah, Dyer was on too.

FWIW, Paul ain't no Freddy Mercury, but "Can't Get enough" was decent

jerryjg · #7 04-01-2006, 05:30 PM

the stuff thats great was on the history channel. Screw PBS, unless you like Barney or wahtever the hell it is they try to brainwash kids with.

yamahammer · #8 04-02-2006, 12:13 AM

i have seen the moody blues and the pink floyd tribute group (pinkfloyd australia) by donating to my local pbs station in st louis in the last three years money well spent in my opinion

bordeno · #9 04-02-2006, 06:35 AM

I also can't stand the pledge drives. Also I find the phrase that goes something like, "this station gets its support from listeners/viewers like you" rather ironic since the correct statement is viewers unlike me

People that contribute to those stations are not like me.

I get a kick out of PBS selling contributions like they rely on them when they receive their actual support from the US government. In effect you're contributing indirectly.

Not to diss their programming, I like some shows like Nightly Business Report and my 17-month old is enamored with Teletubbies.

Mauro1515 · #10 10-02-2023, 11:40 AM

My local PBS station: KPBS San Diego has to come into our homes as least these 4 times a year and say Support this kind of programming...For instance, During its Festival '77 Membership Campaign (March 1977) in the broadcast of Live From The Met: La Boheme...starting Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto, they replaced the interviews for Membership breaks from the famous KPBS staff like Brad Warner, Gloria Penner, Ken Kramer or Bob Myers or even local San Diego celebrities.

Username1 · #11 10-14-2023, 11:00 AM

.

I have started to really like the drives, I like the ones that are co hosted with music
groups - A few years ago the had KC & The Sunshine Band - Very cool to see them
again. It's also cool to see a drive that incorporates Nature into it. I remember
a Drive during the Hummingbird broadcast where they interviewed the camera
people and talked about all the equipment used to film that episode.

.

colortrakker · #12 10-14-2023, 03:56 PM

Holy Rip Van Winkle! 17 years between posts on this thread.

Anyway: I briefly worked for a PBS station. Pretty much our choices for pledge programming were Celtic Woman, Eastenders marathons or those TJ Lubinsky oldies specials. Man, some of those looked closer to Jerry Lewis telethons than PBS pledge drives. I'll never forget seeing 91-year-old Frankie Laine coming on stage to croak out That's My Desire in sweats and 4 days of stubble. Or seeing Levi Stubbs from the 4 Tops in a wheelchair as he cried through I Believe In You And Me. I hope they were tears of gratitude or joy. I don't know what it was like backstage for either of them, but I didn't feel very good about seeing either of them in their respective conditions and wondering if they were coerced into doing the shows or it was their choice.

On another note, Jimmy Webb's a pretty lucky guy to have married Laura Savini from WLIW 21.

DavGoodlin · #13 10-17-2023, 03:21 PM

Harrisburg's WITF and Philadelphia's WHYY seem to roll out the fun stuff like Fleetwood Mac, Cream, concerts, etc only when they feel they need to tap folks that the normal programming leaves cold, then back to normal. There is no accounting for taste but the usual programming must get enough support because it rarely changes. Nature and History programs are worth supporting anyway.

A "sister station" is the FM counterpart most PBS tv stations are affiliated with. Unfortunately, most of these have dropped music altogether in favor of talk programming. Thier "news" is becoming even more biased than it was 35 years ago.

THAT is why I no longer can support those two, they've gone political!

By contrast, WVIA in Scranton seems take more interest in local history productions, tries to make fundraising less annoying, plays polka on Saturdays, ran gen 1 Star Trek late night for years and the FM station plays classical music unless its feeding Morning or Evening news.