MikeD Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Sure, why not. Although they are already footing an increased cost to participate, so the burden of TV exposure should not be borne out by them. They are also not responsible for the loss of national exposure of the activity via TV in the first place. Thats something the adults in the activity have mishandled, in my view. These performers work their tails off. Like previous generations, they deserve the exposure that only national TV can provide. But it does not appear that this is on the horizon anytime soon, so it appears that ship has sailed as well. Things change.. of course. And this is one of those changes as we have evolved too. Now there is worldwide exposure via the web. As for the TV broadcast on PBS, from acounts here and elsewhere it was the DCI fans who failed to follow through their pledges with actual $$$ that caused PBS to pull away from broacasting DCI. They got more return showing 50's doo-wop than they did from DCI fans. Personally, I'll take the setup today between the theaters and web. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) Now there is worldwide exposure via the web. As for the TV broadcast on PBS, from acounts here and elsewhere it was the DCI fans who failed to follow through their pledges with actual $$$ that caused PBS to pull away from broacasting DCI. . Well to be accurate, PBS apparently got enough money in pledges in the early years to keep the TV broadcast on for close to 2 decades. For many DCI years, there was sufficient pledged and received financial contributions each year from the national audience to keep PBS and DCI happy with the on going yearly relationship. If national audiences increasingly however began to drop off in their pledged contributions to PBS, (in sufficIent numbers for PBS to make the unilateral, internal decision to sever the relationship with DCI), that only begs the question.:.... " why the drop off in the national audience pledged contributions ? " Edited February 25, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I still cant believe that in this day & age with 300+ TV channels that DCI cant get one of them to broadcast Finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Well to be accurate, PBS apparently got enough money in pledges in the early years to keep the TV broadcast on for close to 2 decades. For many DCI years, there was sufficient pledged and received financial contributions each year from the national audience to keep PBS and DCI happy with the on going yearly relationship. If national audiences increasingly however began to drop off in their pledged contributions to PBS, (in sufficIent numbers for PBS to make the unilateral, internal decision to sever the relationship with DCI), that only begs the question.:.... " why the drop off in the national audience pledged contributions ? " WITF screwed up in 1987 by cutting to a begging break before the Cadets were done with their program. The way that lovely Appalachian Spring program was, it was like WITF stole the cherry off a lovely sundae and kicked you out of the restaurant. Fans flipped out of their minds here. My jaw hit the floor, I didn't call, but evidently a lot of fans did, and the WITF guy was about to die on the air while he apologized. Things were never quite the same after that in this area. There are corps fans around here that still want to nuke the WITF studio for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) Now there is worldwide exposure via the web. As for the TV broadcast on PBS, from acounts here and elsewhere it was the DCI fans who failed to follow through their pledges with actual $$$ that caused PBS to pull away from broacasting DCI. They got more return showing 50's doo-wop than they did from DCI fans. Personally, I'll take the setup today between the theaters and web. Even with the deadheads failure to honor, DCI did keep the broadcasts for a number of years. Even had the chopped 2 hour version for years after the live version was dropped. IOW - x amount of pledges were bogus but what did come in has higher than other other things we could run. IMO - drop off of what came in was what forced the switch. Doubt if local station would be dumb enough to drop a top money maker just because of bogus pledges. But then again check Ws post.... My take locally was with changing demographics (like local corps going away) the local PBS station found brodcasts that brought it more money. One or two years members of Sr corps corps were handling the pledge calls and host was actually saying "Pledge in the name of your favorite corps and see who wins". And to follow up on Ws post. One year the PA budget had not been passed (ca 77/78) and the local station went to the live vote during the the DCI Live Cast. To be more precise in the background you could see Crossmen (only PA corps that year in Finals) lining up and just before they went on.... pffftttt..... Edited February 25, 2014 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) I still cant believe that in this day & age with 300+ TV channels that DCI cant get one of them to broadcast Finals. Still have to pay to play..... 300+ channels because they are a profit making entity IOW - it's not "getting" them to broadcast, its how much to PAY them to braodcast. Edited February 25, 2014 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranintothedoor Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 lol... DCI on QVC... no need for merchandise trailers anymore... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alumniof Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 DCI is about DCI. It's not about the public. Neither are the fans, which are band parents, music educators and alumni. It's a closed activity that has no choice but to perform in a public venue. If there was a way out of that, they would. Additionally, band has NEVER been about the public in recent memory EXCEPT FOR on the collegiate level. Other than band parents, nobody cares about the band. It's hot dog and rest room time at football games and band contests are only the kids parents. Shows are not designed to entertain the public. Therefore, music educators and the attitude of the "club" are creating their own death. Because, every time a music conductor stands up to a microphone and says "write your legislatures" - yeah, okay...we ran out of toilet paper, where's that band letter. The Boston Pops will NEVER go away. Your local orchestra playing that hour long symphony - yeah, why would anybody representing the general public sit through that "really technically hard" crap? Same with DCI. The novelty of the uniforms, movement and music outside get's old in the second half of the second corps on. Oh wait, let me wait until Crown comes on because they do this really cool move. Yeah, okay. DCI will not grow and they are such destruction"ists" that they #### off their alumni. Imagine if college football (I would call them successful) F'D' you'd their alumni? How do you think that would go. This is why musicians and musical organizations are poor broke. This is why pop/rap/and other genre's succeed - they PLAY what the music public wants - if it doesn't sell - they bail out on it because IT IS ABOUT THE GENERAL PUBLIC. So, they sell out stadiums (Garth Brooks) while DCI plays with themselves and feels all good about how much they're doing for the world - which is nothing outside of themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Windish Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 alumniof - You have a certain blunt way of making your point, but your points are necessary to consider. I hope you continue, even though I don't fully agree. At some point, the Emperor's New Clothes effect always comes out. It sometimes can help. Usually, the answer is somewhere in the middle, and to have a middle, we need both ends! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 All things being equal... DCI Finals being on TV ( live or tape delay ) is infinitely better for the exposure of the activity than not to be on TV. I think this point should be inarguable it seems to me. Take a poll of all the current marchers in DCI this year, ask them if they'd want DCI to be broadcast on TV or not. Can we agree that over 95% would prefer that DCI be televised on TV than not be televised on TV ?.... As for the costs, the costs can not be absorbed now because the activity does not have the numbers of followers willing to underwrite the costs, and potential corporate sponsors that could easily underwrite the expense, have decided its not a wise investment of their dollars vs. expected return on investment. So there you have it, and thats where we are right now regarding the loss of TV exposure for the DCI Championships that were once in existence for a few decades. it's a matter of $$$, and DCI drew smaller ratings than the NHL did on ESPN. yes, visibility is great, but at what cost? What revenues did DCI make from the exposure? Not nearly enough to justify the cost. Now...do i feel DCI could have done more to gain advertisers to help pay for it? Sure. I still think DCI's marketing reach needs to really look beyond manufactures of drums, horns, uniforms and guard equipment. But that's a different story for a different day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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