Public television stations around the country are celebrating their first big upswing in pledge results in years, with last week's incomplete gross receipts totals showing a 16 percent increase over March 1992 drive results.
Theories abounded about what made the difference. Some cited an upturn in the economy, the changed political landscape and the public's willingness to give or "sacrifice." Others credited publicity efforts by stations and PBS to "signal value" of their services to viewers' communities.
"There are a lot of global explanations given — 'It's the economy,' 'we had this approach,' or 'we had brand-new talent,'" said Amy Scully, director of development for Georgia PTV. "I don't think all of those things affect less than 10 percent of the total response. It's all the programming."
It's hard to say whether it all came down to the appeal of the pledge specials — especially at this early stage of tabulating totals. But undoubtedly one of the most visible differences in March pledge was the number of programs targeted to baby boomers — a priority audience for PBS.
Of those offerings, "Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too" and "The Moody Blues in Concert at Red Rocks" achieved "blockbuster" status, according to Jim Scalem, PBS v.p. for fundraising programs. Both programs "seemed to work for everybody."
With strong appeal to PTV's big gray-haired audience, "From the Heart: A Tribute to Lawrence Welk ... " also pulled in lots of dollars.
Peter, Paul & Mary and the Moody Blues are musical ensembles that have appeared in public TV pledge specials before. Three such specials featuring the folk trio have aired, Scalem said. "Their shows are just off the meter." Stations also have successfully pledged a musical documentary on the art-rock band of the '70s, "Moody Blues: Legend of a Band," that the American Program Service distributed last year.
"Peter, Paul & Mommy" had "much more emotion" than the other boomer specials, said Mike Seymour, program director for KERA. "There's a lot of pull in there."
To fans it was "really cool""You can see the passing of the torch from one generation to another," said Jackie Cain, broadcast director for KCET, Los Angeles. She praised the Peter, Paul & Mary special's production values and "delicious cut-aways" to children in the audience.
Although viewership of "Moody Blues ... at Red Rocks" was "marginal" in Los Angeles, fans of the band thought it was "really cool," Cain said. To make sure the special reached its audience, KCET ran it twice, and "it performed" as a fundraiser.
Based on stations' past successes with the Moody Blues documentary, PBS's Station Independence Program contributed major production funding to "Moody Blues ... at Red Rocks" in its first co-venture with APS.
Scalem already has put SIP dollars into another joint effort with APS, "Koalas in My Backyard" with Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo, which will be offered for summer pledging. These collaborations are "part of a good, close working relationship with the APS folks that's proving fruitful to the stations," he said.
Reviews for the In the Spotlight specials — the debut episodes of the CPB-funded pop music initiative packaged by WNET, New York, were more mixed. "My sense of it for the entire system is that Dylan has been somewhat disappointing," especially for such a long show, said Andrea Hansen of Connecticut PTV.
"The Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration," which had been offered to cable subscribers on pay-per-view last fall, ran for four hours; many stations scheduled it in two parts.
"It was interesting to be the first to broadcast it after pay-per-view," said Cain, who felt that some performances featured in the show — including that of Dylan himself — were not compelling. "He was almost a parody of himself."
"It worked, but not as a pledge program," Cain said. "Our results bore this out." KCET also chose not to air the Elton John special during pledge. "I wouldn't say it was one of [Elton John's] better performances. ... We'll run it, but not as a pledge vehicle."
Although the Dylan special "didn't do that well as an audience grabber" in Dallas, Seymour said it was a "great event."
Patricia Callahan, KERA development director, characterized the Dylan special's pledge performance — it pulled in $21,000 in two airings — as "pretty good for our market." One reason that the tribute fell short as a pledge vehicle, she said, was that stations didn't have a videotape to offer as premiums.
"'Dylan' was hurt by a lack of program specific premiums," acknowledged Scalem. "Home videos and compact discs that come out of that concert were not set yet, so we couldn't offer them. My biggest disappointment of the drive was not to have those two key items to make available to stations."
"Elton John — Live!", the second In the Spotlight offering, "ultimately did fine ..., but you had to work a little bit harder to make your money," said Seymour. In Georgia, Scully reported "mediocre" performances for both In the Spotlight specials.
Nationally, "Elton John — Live!" and the James Taylor special were successful, according to Scalem. He characterized the pledge performances of American Masters' "Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time" and the Dylan tribute as "not big, big hits, but they didn't do terribly."
Are boomers rolling stones?His preliminary conclusion from March pledge, which marked PBS's first highly promoted effort to attract the 35- to 49-year-old demographic, is that popular music specials "do work for the most part." For future pledges, he plans to go after music performance specials that seem to work for the most stations, and to fund more self-help programs, which also attract a younger demographic. SIP already has purchased rights to rebroadcast a concert program honoring Peter, Paul & Mary's 25th anniversary.
By summer pledge, when In the Spotlight's regular presence in the schedule may have begun to establish itself in viewers' minds, and when Centerstage, a pop-music performance series under production at WTTW, Chicago, comes into the schedule, baby boomers may be more convinced by pledge pitches claiming that "your pledge dollars help us bring you more programs like this."
In the meantime, stations will be scrutinizing how many of the baby boomers actually fulfill their pledges. And the real test, according to Georgia PTV's Scully, will come even later — next March, when all the ones who do send in their checks receive renewal notices.
"The real question we have in development is the whole emphasis on focusing so heavily on these baby boomer programs is the affect on our overall membership file," said Scully. "How are these people going to renew? Will they be members that stick with you, renew longer-term and are generous? Or one-time people who pop in and hit the road?"
Web page posted Jan. 18, 1998
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