Bill Kurtis departs, with regrets
Under looser underwriting rules, producer says New Explorers series could stay
Originally published in Current, July 21, 1997
Bill Kurtis is back in Chicago from the TV critics' press briefings in Pasadena, where he promoted his next season of The New Explorers--on A&E, not PBS. He regrets leaving public TV after seven seasons of producing and hosting the eight-times-a-year science series, especially because he believes the leaving was avoidable.
"I would be at PBS today--we had the money on the table--if we had been able to give 30 seconds."
Kurtis refers to the 30-second credits that many big-city public TV stations give to underwriters--that PBS will not accept on national programs.
The frustrated, back-against-the-wall plaint, coming from noted ex-CBS newsman, provides a bitter new anecdote for pubcasters who argue that public TV's noncommercial definition of itself is too restrictive and perhaps wholly obsolete. Bill McCarter, head of the program's co-producing station, WTTW, and a longtime advocate of marketplace funding, would endorse the view.
The Peabody Award-winning series won't disappear immediately from public TV, and will generally get much more airtime in coming months.
While Kurtis Productions will make the usual eight New Explorers episodes a year, now for A&E, public TV will still have rights to repeats for three more years, and A&E will air a weekly Sunday-night hour of earlier repeats purchased from Kurtis.
As ever, Kurtis will tag along with scientists as they dig, peer, fly and dive into their own specialized mysteries. In the past year, he followed biologists probing the deaths of manatees, anthropologists exploring abandoned pueblo settlement, and climatologists speculating why the island of Trinidad is sinking. His favorite episode of all, last April, took him to Nepal, seeking the model for the fictional perfect valley of Shangri-La.
Until leaving his day job last December, Kurtis had been a CBS newsman for 30 years, mostly as a top anchor at the Chicago station, WBBM, but also on the network's CBS Morning News, 1982-85. He started his production company upon returning to WBBM, and began The New Explorers for PBS in 1990-91.
During his vacations from anchoring, Kurtis went on location with the series. Since then, he has begun anchoring A&E's Investigative Reports and producing six to eight episodes a year, as well as hosting American Justice, also for A&E. Now he's got three gigs for one network.
"I didn't necessarily plan to put all my eggs in one basket," he says. Working with the cable network involves a set of trade-offs for Kurtis. He'll dearly love to have someone else raising the production money: A&E's advertising sales staff. But he'll also lose all ownership of the series. While PBS bought mainly broadcast rights for three years, A&E will own the show in every respect.
The producer is glad A&E became his "life-saver," but beyond the details of business deals, there is a bitter edge to his regret.
"We thought we had earned a place there in the core programming. When you work that hard, your heart is there."
PBS declined to contribute cash to keep the series, he says.
"My reasoning was, for seven years we have given you this program free, and now we need your help. We turn to you as one would turn to a network, for even a pittance. We just needed a little boost."
An offer of help from a group of public TV stations came this summer but was too late, he said.
"A time to be flexible"
Kurtis argues that public TV should adapt itself to the changing needs of corporate sponsors.
"The corporate philanthropy attitude has changed 100 percent in the seven years I've been raising funds," says Kurtis. "Bill McCarter doesn't think it will ever change back."
"The same year Newt made his assault, it was almost like he called every foundation, and they bought into this mentality that PBS is no longer an acceptable recipient of funds."
"What I get from the funders is, you know, 'The PBS that existed 40 years ago, being the quality alternative to the networks, is no longer present. Because of the cable networks. We can now purchase the same kind of quality association, and get commercials.'"
Would-be funders also nix multi-year commitments, Kurtis says.
"I believe it is a time to be flexible," says Kurtis. "I don't see how even 30 seconds of an underwriting credit, which meets all the standards, can affect the noncommercial nature of the content within that program."
The New Explorers could have been funded by a major drug company if Kurtis could have offered 30-second blurbs instead of the 15-second ones that are standard on PBS, Kurtis contends.
The would-be underwriter wanted to associate itself with the program's educational content, but also wanted 30s.
"They think in terms of 30 seconds; they think 15s make it too difficult to get the message across."
The underwriter would even have backed the series in exchange for 15-second spots if PBS had permitted the company's jingle to be included.
Other producing stations recently have boasted signing new underwriters like Chase Manhattan Bank (for Great Performances), the Travelers Group (for Mystery!) and Chef Boyardee (for Puzzle Place and Barney & Friends). But Kurtis dismisses them as "a few isolated heroes."
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