You cannot flip through channels without coming across some "reality-based"
program. It has certainly changed the thinking of those who program television
schedules.
Just ask Pat Vanderburg. He is the program coordinator for a television
station.
He and the rest of the staff responsible for putting together the schedule
were faced with a difficult decision. Should the station replace a popular
sitcom that runs at 8 p.m. Thursday with the followup to a popular reality
show?
"That was something we had to mull over," he says. Indeed.
The sitcom, one of the most successful ever, had been running in that time-slot
for years. Replacing it with a new show might be a bit of a gamble. It could
cause a drop in viewership and advertising dollars.
On the other hand, the new show could turn out to be a success, perhaps
even more successful and profitable than the show it would replace.
"As it turns out, one of the other stations that comes into our market
was faced with the same decisions," says Vanderburg. "And once we discovered
what their plans were, we were still able to air the displaced programs, but
an hour earlier."
So the station got the best of both worlds. It was able to air both shows,
while other stations could air only one or the other since the shows originate
from competing networks. But this only became possible when the sales department
found the option of moving the sitcom in the schedule acceptable.
TV programmers have to consider many different opinions and factors when
they put together a schedule. They have to consider several questions: how
much money can the station or network afford to spend on different kinds of
shows? Do the shows fit the mandate and audience of the station?
A food and cooking channel has a different audience than a channel that
runs cartoons 24 hours a day. And public television has a different mandate
than commercial television.
Above all, can the schedule and the shows on it attract viewers, and in
the case of commercial television, advertisers who buy commercials?
Commercial television programmers should never lose sight of this, says
Isme Bennie. She is director of programming and acquisitions for two cable
specialty channels.
"It is not just sitting there and making a pretty schedule and buying nice
programs," she says. "You are running a business. They have got to be programs
that will attract an audience and attract advertisers and get ratings."
Picking shows that generate ratings and revenues is not an exact science.
It's not something for which one can take a course. And television programmers
should put their own tastes aside when they pick shows.
Bennie says you can learn some of the necessary skills over time through
experience. But you either have the ability to pick shows that will be successful
or you don't. It's that simple. "And if you don't have it,
you are never going to be a good programmer," says Bennie.
Programmers in public television do not face the same commercial pressures
as their counterparts in private television. They do not have to make money
through commercials. But they, too, face fiscal frontiers.
"The pressure in the public television world, quite often, has less to
do with commercial questions and more to do with how do we get the best bang
from our budget," says Michele Paris. She is the program manager of a public
television station.
So programming a television station can be rather stressful. It can also
be time-consuming. Eric Maki is the programmer for a public television station.
He says he often has to take work home on weekends. And he thinks about the
schedule even when he is not working.
"It is always in the background of your mind," says Maki.