Zesbaugh to lead APS network, Harris moves on

Originally published in Current, Dec. 15, 1997.

By Karen Everhart Bedford

American Program Service's period of transition into a more visible alternative program service for public TV will extend well into next year as the Boston-based organization adjusts to major personnel changes.

President John Porter announced Dec. 3 [1997] that he will retire in April, to be succeeded by Joe Zesbaugh, who joined the company as executive v.p. early this year. The APS Board unanimously elected Zesbaugh to succeed Porter.

Porter plans a continued "yet-to-be-defined" role at APS as a consultant. "Frankly, I'll rely on Joe to ask me for assistance when he needs me."

But he described a rather ambitious to-do list before his official retirement date, April 1. Porter intends to reexamine APS's "whole program endeavor" for ways to build "coherence into it" and new strategies. His board endorsed an assignment to "build new and fresh program leadership as well."

"The company is growing and maturing and needs that."

While Zesbaugh has become a key figure at APS, another attempt to recruit talent has collapsed. Earlier this year, Porter attracted programmer Kevin Harris from KQED, San Francisco, to consult with the company on its major new program initiative, "American Weekend" [earlier article] and to help restructure its Premium Service. But Harris abruptly left APS last month, citing the press of new business in his growing consultancy.

His departure contributed to worries shared among station programmers during APS's annual Fall Marketplace screening in Dallas. Several attendees said the syndication offerings screened there were "less than stellar," as one put it, and the brief, two-offer, Premium Service presentation was especially disconcerting.

Many station programmers had signed on for the new Premium Service, which requires hefty up-front fees, with the understanding that Harris would be running it, said one programmer.

In an interview, Harris said his primary role at APS was to help launch the "American Weekend" block-feed service. "We kicked off the service, and that was the exciting part for me, not maintaining it."

"As far as he was concerned, he wanted to move on to other activities," explained Porter. "There was no real conflict of any sort." Porter said that finding someone to head the Premium Service is a high priority. "It requires the kind of person who's not so easy to find."

APS's American Weekend package for public TV begins gradual rollout

Originally published in Current, Oct. 6, 1997

In November [1997] the American Program Service will launch a new weekend service to public TV stations that it has been planning for more than a year.

"American Weekend" is an upgraded, programmer-friendly service that packages high-profile offerings from the Boston-based distributor into a block-based schedule designed to encourage audience flow from program to program. Stations can carry the feed in its entirety, or just specific blocks; they can time-shift offerings that suit their local needs, or cherry-pick selected programs. The feed is free to stations who participate in APS's existing program services.

APS's primary goal in developing American Weekend is to "create an environment" in which its most popular programs are fed to stations in an organized, user-friendly way, according to Joe Zesbaugh, executive v.p. APS hopes the service will become a "destination" for producers and underwriters, and a "valued tool box of program options" for local programmers, he said in a teleconference last month.

"American Weekend" was modelled on local programming strategies already in use around the system, according to Kevin Harris, APS programming consultant. It features morning blocks of children's shows, followed by cooking and how-to series. In the afternoon, travel programs lead into movie-oriented primetime blocks.

Initially, two large chunks of Saturday and Sunday afternoons will be "under construction" as APS experiments with new, untested offerings, such as a painting series or home-repair show. "We are feeding throughout the entire day," explained Zesbaugh. "We're just not considering those shows part of American Weekend." Once new programs "earn their stripes," the construction signs will go down, and American Weekend will complete its roll out, hopefully sometime next spring. The hard feed schedule will run from 9 p.m. to midnight on Fridays, 7 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays.

APS is particularly excited about its children's blocks, which will feature several brand-new programs in addition to popular shows such as Big Comfy Couch. Most notably, Backyard Safari is a highly produced new series from Lancit Media, producers of Puzzle Place and Reading Rainbow. It received a very positive response from ITV programmers at the annual FirstView screening this summer, according to Zesbaugh. Other new shows include The Slow Norris, a British series for preschoolers that's being reversioned for the U.S., and Salty's Lighthouse, which combines cel and stop-motion animation similar in style to PBS's Theodore Tugboat.

During last month's teleconference, Harris boasted that the kiddie offerings will need no soft premiere. "We'll put our kid's block up against any kid's block on TV--cable or anywhere."

 

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Later story: APS continues to change shape with Porter's retirement, 1998.

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