DCI on PBS

[Vanguard07]

I saw my first broadcast in 2002 and became instantly hooked, I think it was just one of those 'right place at the right time' kind of deals. My family didn't have cable at the time so I only had 12 channels to choose from and reruns of Will and Grace just weren't doing anything for me. Flipping through the channels I saw Frameworks and I was instantly awestruck. I don't think my introduction would have been as deeply rooted as it was had it been via a magazine or word of mouth. Youtube is nice, but if you don't know what to look for, it's kind of hard to stumble upon.

[perc2100]

I think the point being made about the reach of the internet is a good one but that video gave as an example doesn't really introduce anyone to drum corps.

I agree 100% this video shows almost nothing about what drum corps is, and instead shows what could at best be described as pseudo-Stomp with more drumming than dancing. This is the type of video that obviously has a substantially broader appeal than, say, a video of Blue Devils entire field show performance from DCI Finals. This appeals to the type of average person that was entertained by the Drumline film, and I would suspect that the average DCI field show would not hold the interests of many of those people. There's a reason why Tommy Lee's tweet about Cavaliers 2011 involved arguable the coolest 30 seconds of their production, and not the entire performance.

What would be the harm of getting DCI back on PBS?

There wouldn't necessarily be any harm, per say, but it would seem as though PBS isn't exactly clamoring to put DCI on their network. Also, I imagine it's pretty expensive to put one of those shows together, and probably in this day and age wouldn't yield substantial results. I still think that Fan Network, and other corps' unique online subscription services (like BD's), would be far more beneficial from a financial standpoint. In this age of instant internet gratification (and deliverance of product), DCI utilizing its FN in concert with social networking & other awareness tactics (like small, free snippets on Youtube or other places advertising and hyping drum corps and Fan Network) would potentially have greater impact as a PBS broadcast at a fraction of the expense to DCI (while also making DCI money via FN subscriptions).

[Jeff Ream]

I think it'd take someone underwriting the broadcast for DCI and a short memory on PBS's part to forget all of the drum corps pledges that never paid up. And for Finals to not be on Saturday night.

Mike

best answer on this topic ever

[Jeff Ream]

For some reason i think the Bravo Channel would be an excellent fit.

the thing is, you have to get someone to underwrite it, and provide sponsors willing to advertise. Much as we don't want to admit it, drum corps is not going to bring in the advertisers tv stations want.

face it, reruns of Inside the actors Studio will get higher ratings.

[ashyUechi]

PBS shows a great deal of programs that have a much smaller viewership that DCI. If DCI burned a bridge why not just head back and say sorry? Isn't PBS television to showcase what people are doing and not to make a profit. I understand they need to make money through donations to keep the gears moving. Maybe DCI and DCA can do a joint broadcast?

[MikeN]

PBS shows a great deal of programs that have a much smaller viewership that DCI. If DCI burned a bridge why not just head back and say sorry? Isn't PBS television to showcase what people are doing and not to make a profit. I understand they need to make money through donations to keep the gears moving. Maybe DCI and DCA can do a joint broadcast?

Not so much DCI that burned bridges as it was drum corps fans, who'd call in pledges and then never follow through. Drum corps still carries that reputation around, 20 years later.

PBS doesn't show *that* many shows with smaller reach. And local stations aren't going to bump Saturday night programming (the big weekly draw) for a show that on ESPN got a 0.9 rating. I love drum corps as much as anyone, but eyeballs are eyeballs, and we don't get many.

For better or worse, online is much cheaper and has many, many fewer barriers to reaching a wide audience. And especially important for a youth activity, the audience has grown up online.

Mike

[Rifuarian]

PBS shows a great deal of programs that have a much smaller viewership that DCI.

Not really. Broadcasting DCI isn't worthwhile for PBS . . . and it certainly isn't worthwhile for any of the for-profit networks or channels.

It is a shame. Like many others, it was the PBS broadcast (or rather a replay of it) that got me hooked on drum corps. I saw a few minutes of it, loved it, recorded the rest, and spent the next few years wearing out the tape. It didn't hurt that I lived in rural Kentucky and that PBS was one of the only three channels we could get via antenna (and this was in the mid-90s).

My family now gets hundreds of channels, plus the internet. Stuff on PBS isn't going to catch the attention of many of today's kids. The internet is where it's at. While there are many difficulties involved, I feel DCI should make every effort to give itself a real, official youtube channel with real content, not just lot stuff. The PBS broadcast brought DCI untold benefits . . . the internet could bring even more.

Edited August 22, 2011 by Rifuarian

[byline]

PBS shows a great deal of programs that have a much smaller viewership that DCI. If DCI burned a bridge why not just head back and say sorry? Isn't PBS television to showcase what people are doing and not to make a profit. I understand they need to make money through donations to keep the gears moving. Maybe DCI and DCA can do a joint broadcast?

PBS isn't there to make a profit, but there's a reason why they have targets for pledge drives; it's to pay the bills and keep the affiliates up and running. The problem with the DCI broadcast, from what I understand, is that fans would call in pledges, but then many would never pay up. You can't do that for long and not have somebody assess the situation . . . and no amount of apologies from DCI would fix that basic reality. Do you really think fans would behave any differently now than they did then, especially when there's this growing mentality that everything should be free?

Also, I think you would be surprised at the viewership of the programs that PBS carries. You might not like Lawrence Welk; I'm not crazy about those reruns being part of the PBS lineup. But they pull in a significant viewership from a certain demographic who, more importantly, will pay their pledges to ensure that such broadcasts continue.

[BRASSO]

The PBS broadcast started at four hours live and eventually went to two hours delayed. It also got move around depending on the location. Some cities showed it on Labor Day weekend and some on Thanksgiving. I've spoken with PBS people and the pledge drives they ran with the show were not fruitful. Lots of people pledged, but quite a number didn't follow through on their pledge. That didn't help us much. Bill Cook stepped in a few years to underwrite the program, but no one else (or any group of entities) stepped up to follow him.

Then we were on ESPN2 for awhile, but that was prohibitively expensive as DCI had to purchase the time. (About $750,000.) What DCI was getting out of it wasn't anything compared to what they were putting into it.

Far more people are interested in watching the cheerleading championships. That's a simple fact. I wish it wasn't, but reality is what it is.

In the early years, PBS got solid pledges from audience viewers. This went on for a couple of decades where the pledge receipts came in at sufficient numbers to continue the DCI telecasts. But for whatever reason, the pledges fell off dramatically, and just as you said, the pledges began also to not be honored at sufficient levels for PBS to want to continue the programming. Last week I watched PBS reshow a film made in 1953 where a 55 year old guy is flown by plane into Alaska, dropped off, and he lives there alone with his dog and with his tripod camera for a year and writes his memoirs of what its like to build a log cabin from scratch all by himself, and then live, hunt, fish alone in the wilderness there with his tripod camera showing his daily life. It actually was quite interesting. But while watching him describe and film his life of solitude in the wilderness, I could not help but wish that the current DCI Corps shows were no longer in the TV wilderness these days.

Edited August 22, 2011 by BRASSO

[JimF-LowBari]

Also, I think you would be surprised at the viewership of the programs that PBS carries. You might not like Lawrence Welk; I'm not crazy about those reruns being part of the PBS lineup. But they pull in a significant viewership from a certain demographic who, more importantly, will pay their pledges to ensure that such broadcasts continue.

Best bet to check out the demographics, or at least the PAYING demographics, is to see what is being run during the pledge drives. We've had a few years of 50s doo-wop groups but more recently it's been 60s folk music.