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 "It's the Audience, Stupid": What PTV Programmers Want by Geneva Collins 
But the cold hard truth is that all but a handful of those hours have already been claimed, either by PBS programs, locally produced shows or firmly entrenched programming conventions that dictate, say, viewers expect to find This Old House on the tube on Saturday afternoons. (And it must be noted that many stations don't broadcast a full 24 hours.) PBS gets the lion's share of most weeknight primetime hours with its signature shows, which have been designated for common carriage. ("Common carriage" refers to the practice of carrying certain programs in certain time slots. For example, PBS expects stations nationwide, with a few exceptions, to air ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre at 9 p.m. Mondays.) For the 2001-02 programming year, PBS could designate up to 450 hours of common carriage programming; that number gets upped to 500 hours for 2002-03. With children's shows airing during the day and the PBS warhorses and specials monopolizing Sunday through Thursday nights (with the odd hole in the schedule here and there), that leaves the late night/early morning hours, Friday nights, all of Saturday and all day Sunday until primetime for programmers to schedule as they choose. By tradition, however, how-to's, children's shows and travelogues dominate Saturday mornings and afternoons, a block of British comedies or a classic movie fill the Saturday evening slot, and public affairs programming occupies a big chunk of Sunday. There's apt to be only a couple of hours per week where that 60-minute documentary has a chance of airing. But this isn't to imply that all public TV stations are cut from the same mold. Every market is different, and every programmer's number one job is to understand the station's viewers and give them what they want. And unlike commercial stations, public television stations operate under a variety of formats. Some are community-run licensees serving the immediate area. Others are state networks that have to answer to state legislatures and provide programming for a wide region and the myriad interests of this large population. University-owned stations have their own strictures; they may be required to air telecourses, for example. "There aren't too many stations that just air what PBS feeds on the satellite," says Keith York, director of television programming for KPBS, the San Diego public television station run by San Diego State University, explaining how stations throughout the system like to differentiate themselves. At KPBS, there is a particularly strong emphasis on children's programming - it airs seven days a week, because that's what viewers want. In San Diego, the weather affects viewing patterns; residents in that year-round temperate city watch less TV than other parts of the country. It's a three-university town with an affluent population; household income and education level of its residents are well above the nation's average. The population is also 20 percent Hispanic. All of these factors are in the back of his mind when York is planning out his monthly schedule. KPBS has a regular showcase for indie work, Viewfinder, that airs 11 p.m. Sundays, and it might air other independent programming in the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. time slot throughout the month. "I'm a big supporter of venues like ITVS and we air a lot of it [independent films]. People complain that a lot of it's on after they go to bed. But if you really want to see it, that's where you'll find it... That's where you'll find stuff that's edgy, controversial, the stuff we don't want to show when kids might be watching." (He recommends diehard indie fans learn how to program their VCRs or invest in TiVo.) Sunday afternoon, in contrast, is when he airs programs that have broader appeal, "nothing that will remotely alter the special relaxed feel of Sunday afternoon." At the New Jersey Network (NJN), Program Director Andre Butts estimates he airs only about five to seven hours per week of non-PBS programming - and that includes three hours of BBC Britcoms on Saturdays. The heritage months - such as African American History Month in February, Women's History Month in March and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May - provide opportunities to include programming that doesn't fit into his existing strands. To fill those slots, he - and every other program director - screens offerings from ITVS, national distributors such as American Public Television and the National Educational Telecommunications Association, additional material from PBS, projects from the CPB-funded Minority Consortia, which include groups like Latino Public Broadcasting and Native American Public Telecommunications, and tapes that show up unsolicited in the mail. Because he is in a state with a significant pharmaceutical presence and a lot of scientists in residence, Butts says he airs a higher-than-average amount of science shows. His viewers also like travel and cultural programming. Trenton-based NJN serves what is considered an overlap market because many viewers also get WNET in New York and/or WHYY in Philadelphia. He concentrates on programs with local interest and leaves the global issues to those bigger stations. "I'm very resistant to putting on traditional documentaries, because no one watches them," says Butts. "I need people to break out of predictable storytelling. That will get it on the air." His advice to independent producers: "They should pay close attention to what's in the PBS long-lead pipeline. If they're making programs that will complement programs being produced for PBS, more stations will pick them up." At Kentucky Educational Television, a much bigger state network, independent productions are more likely to find air space - but not on KET itself. Programming Director Dick Hoffman oversees the lineup for two channels. The main channel, KET, runs the expected PBS fare as well as an impressive roster of local productions in the evenings, such as a bluegrass-oriented music show called Jubilee, and a significant amount of higher education and adult education programming. But on KET2, "that's a schedule we create from scratch. There's no common carriage obligation. We have a lot of flexibility there," Hoffman notes. The second channel, he says, is carried by most cable operators throughout the state. KET2's audience skews younger and more urban than KET. That's where thematic material, such as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in June, airs. Hoffman says he tries to counterprogram the sister channels - if KET is airing public affairs, KET2 might have cultural programming. The state network also supports Kentucky filmmakers through the KET Fund for Independent Production, with money allocated by the state legislature, and it airs the finished projects. One might expect that programming for a state network in a largely rural southern state like Kentucky means catering to conservative tastes, but Hoffman says, "KET wants to give viewers enough variety that we're hitting a lot of interests. Some people want to be challenged. I have to look at all the programming and ask myself, 'do I have an audience for this?'" He adds that "the state legislature has been excellent in not getting involved in programming," even when KET airs controversial series like the recent PBS mini-series evolution which triggered letter-writing campaigns. The large military presence in Norfolk, Virginia, a midsize market, means there is a higher-than-usual interest in international subject matter, says WHRO's program director, Linda Delgado. On her TV grid, independent programming often winds up in a 5 p.m. Sunday time slot devoted to diversity programming as part of a community outreach initiative dubbed "Colors All Our Own." She says she has to be very judicious about WHRO's acquisition money: "We don't have much of it. We use it either to build an audience or for pledge programming." Her most important advice to independent filmmakers: "Keep it to a 60! Producers just fall in love with their product and make it too long." She also suggests that if a producer is tackling a controversial subject, it's useful to provide talking points and responses to viewer complaints. She found these useful when WHRO aired the P.O.V./ITVS co-presentation SCOUT'S HONOR. Garrison Botts prefers the word "challenging" to "controversial." Botts, a senior programmer/producer, is one of three people who fill the schedule at WNET, the public TV station with the largest audience. "It's a responsibility to air challenging programming. Just saying 'controversial' makes it sound sensational. We always look for programs that ask hard questions and don't play it safe. We think it's essential to address whatever the important issues are." WNET's other programmers are Kathy Dobkin, manager of scheduling and acquisitions, and Ana Ramos, also a senior programmer/producer. Botts sifts through a lot of independent work as producer of a local independent series, Reel New York, that airs during the summer. "We get a lot of tapes. We're New York. Everybody wants to be on our air," says Botts, who estimates that he and Ramos screen about 20 to 25 tapes each per month - not including the tapes he screens for Reel New York. He attends film festivals and screenings as well. But the reality is that WNET has the same constraints on its schedule as other public TV stations, and ITVS programming, "unless it's really strong," says Botts, often winds up airing late at night. "I'm hoping that in the new digital universe there might be room for that sort of thing. We're all so squashed right now." "One of the original ideas of public television was to hear from a variety of voices that wouldn't be heard from," says Dan Gaitens, director of programming for Detroit Public Television. "You have to ask yourself in this 500-channel environment, are these voices being heard, or is it just the same 10 channels being duplicated 50 times?" Gaitens also programs a high-definition channel, but there is little in the way of content for it at the moment. Keith York at KPBS does as well, and he encourages up-and-coming filmmakers to make projects in that medium. "It's going to be a high-definition world someday. You might as well start learning about the equipment," says York. A documentary on computer graphics made by a small producer has aired 70 times on his high-definition channel, York cites, to demonstrate how hungry he is for more content. Although they rarely garner the coveted primetime hours, independent productions (unless they slip into the PBS offerings via P.O.V. or other venues) are nonetheless treasured by programmers for their original voices. "I think frequently the more interesting stories come from independent producers... I think it's important to hear individual perspectives. I think you can get blanded-out without it," says Botts. "The essential thing independents provide is passion," says KET's Hoffman. "These independent stories are sometimes quirky, sometimes fun, sometimes heart-rending. That's an element we don't get from PBS much, and can't get too much from our own staff." Geneva Collins is a freelance writer based in the Washington, D.C. area. |
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