I guess this is thread creep...

I don't mind PBS fundraising per se. I wouldn't even mind it so much if they used their most popular acts to showcase during the fundraising efforts.

What I do object to is the manner in which they promote their fundraising. Without fail they will have some local person staring into the camera saying words to the effect of "...wasn't that a wonderful show? It is so great to hear music like that again, and the only place you can hear it is right here on ****, your local viewer supported PBS station."

And what I want to scream back at them is "AND I NEVER GET TO SEE IT EXCEPT WHEN YOUR BEGGING FOR MY MONEY!" They use the "quality programing" of the event I would like to see as a ruse to get me to contribute money to allow them to continue to provide quality programing that is, for all intents and purposes, never shown. That is what I refered to as their sappy, condescending fundraising style.

It's true the networks pull out all the stops during "sweeps" weeks. But, typically, it is just souped up versions of their normal schedules, with maybe a blockbuster special thrown in. Advertisers are smart. They are not going to pay for inflated ratings for shows that only appear 2 or three times a year. They want to know that the daily product of the network is going to continue to draw viewers.

That is all I am asking of PBS. If you use folk music to ask for my money, then give me a regular offering of folk music. If you use concerts as a way to beg for money, give me a regular offering of concerts. If you use documentaries and retrospectives of famous singers and groups, then give me a regular offering that includes more of the same.

Then, when you give me a PP&M concert to get me to contribute, I might be more willing to listen to your "advertisement" of continued quality programing.

And so, Blackcatter, I am sympathetic to your needs, and I do appreciate your feedback. However, someone somewhere (probably at the national level) needs to wake up and realize that if someone is going to tune in to PP&M just once every 4 months, they are not going to contribute to something they ignore the other 9 months of the year. The fact that such programs are good at fundraising might just indicate that the same (or similar) products would be very popular on a regularly scheduled basis.

Thanks, Joe Offer, for the neat insight into Noel Paul Stookey. Little tidbits like that are what makes checking in here so pleasurable.

Freightdawg