Public radio and radio, as an industry, have some great Thanksgiving traditions. We mention a few of those traditions and also discuss some public radio "turkeys."
You may recall that Heat was such a spectacular failure that for years afterward when any national network proposed or distributed a new ‘turkey’ it was quickly labeled “ReHeat”.
Another public radio turkey was NPR’s late 70s weekend two-hour arts showcase. I can’t remember the name of the show now, but it was dreary. The host was one of the members of the then-exceptionally-popular Firesign Theatre. I think it was Phil Proctor. Firesign's records had been so funny, so iconic that it seemed like a brilliant idea to have him host an arts showcase. But he was spectacularly unfunny in his new role, and the programming never quite jelled. I remember only one segment, after Leopold Stokowski died. NPR had acquired the rights to a bunch of Stoki’s last concert broadcasts with the BBC. I tuned in because I loved Stoki’s work, but the performances were utterly unremarkable.
The show failed quickly. I’m not sure that it lasted even 13 weeks. But it was clearly the model for Performance Today. And I’ll never forget an early PT feature devoted to sky-writing. On the radio.
That said, NPR in the 1970s produced some incredible programs that have never been equaled: Oscar Brand's Voices in the Wind, Alec Wilder's American Popular Song series, and Options in Education to name a few.
I think its interesting that all your examples are content/programming examples. How about the great on-line auction debacle of the early aughts, where stations invested a ton of effort into an on-line auction with a vendor who ran away with the money? And where are we with the Morning Edition "power hour" where stations attempted to raise all the money for the day in 1 hour? Any fundraising or marketing campaign turkeys out there? Happy Thanksgiving!
For some reason, I always conflated Heat with Noah Adams -- thanks for setting the record straight.
The late Jim Russell said of Heat that the lesson was we shouldn't make significant investments in programming when there's not a lot of people listening.
Weekend America might fit in this category as well. Personally, I observed it from the sidelines -- though I did contribute a non-narrative story to the program which had already aired locally. To that end, it was a way of peeking in to other communities to see what was going on. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure if that was a strong enough reason for people to listen. It wasn't clear why I should take the show over other weekend programs available.
How about Anthem? How exactly was it decided who was considered cool enough to get on the program? And what was the show about?
I loved the notion of At the Opera as a pre-game show, but as we know, opera was a tough sell on a dual format station -- it doesn't matter how cool we try to make the lead-in.
As to the Chris Thile hosting of APHC (then LFH), we were one of the few stations that didn't renew the show after GK retired. From a programming economics standpoint, it was the GK price for a Chris Thile show. And, of course, it wasn't the same show.
Great comments Michael. I think Weekend America is type of program needed today - live and relevant on the weekend.
And Anthem had some great moments but I think was just too costly for it’s time, unfortunately. I also think that it suffered from not knowing exactly what it wanted to be, whereas Wait Wait, which came out at the same time, had a much clearer focus. Although it took some time to catch on too. I remember folks described early editions saying “Wait, wait don’t cancel me!”
Good stuff Tim! I was involved in the Keillor to Theile transition and then Live From Here. You're right, the first transition to Adams failed. And even the Keillor to Thiele thing at first failed. But when the name finally changed to Live from Here, and it became about the music, and we moved the show to NY, say what you want about like or dislike....it was finally breaking even! Then covid. No butts in seats; the end. As to the Pants and Stamburg thing....public radio is almost NEVER funny when it tries to be. I mean it's just a truth. I won't name other show names...but you can all fill them in. Writers trying to be erudite, and witty while somehow maintaining that "lecturing" tone....is just simply bad entertainment. Let's leave it at that. :)
Tim,
You may recall that Heat was such a spectacular failure that for years afterward when any national network proposed or distributed a new ‘turkey’ it was quickly labeled “ReHeat”.
Another public radio turkey was NPR’s late 70s weekend two-hour arts showcase. I can’t remember the name of the show now, but it was dreary. The host was one of the members of the then-exceptionally-popular Firesign Theatre. I think it was Phil Proctor. Firesign's records had been so funny, so iconic that it seemed like a brilliant idea to have him host an arts showcase. But he was spectacularly unfunny in his new role, and the programming never quite jelled. I remember only one segment, after Leopold Stokowski died. NPR had acquired the rights to a bunch of Stoki’s last concert broadcasts with the BBC. I tuned in because I loved Stoki’s work, but the performances were utterly unremarkable.
The show failed quickly. I’m not sure that it lasted even 13 weeks. But it was clearly the model for Performance Today. And I’ll never forget an early PT feature devoted to sky-writing. On the radio.
That said, NPR in the 1970s produced some incredible programs that have never been equaled: Oscar Brand's Voices in the Wind, Alec Wilder's American Popular Song series, and Options in Education to name a few.
I think its interesting that all your examples are content/programming examples. How about the great on-line auction debacle of the early aughts, where stations invested a ton of effort into an on-line auction with a vendor who ran away with the money? And where are we with the Morning Edition "power hour" where stations attempted to raise all the money for the day in 1 hour? Any fundraising or marketing campaign turkeys out there? Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey Tim,
For some reason, I always conflated Heat with Noah Adams -- thanks for setting the record straight.
The late Jim Russell said of Heat that the lesson was we shouldn't make significant investments in programming when there's not a lot of people listening.
Weekend America might fit in this category as well. Personally, I observed it from the sidelines -- though I did contribute a non-narrative story to the program which had already aired locally. To that end, it was a way of peeking in to other communities to see what was going on. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure if that was a strong enough reason for people to listen. It wasn't clear why I should take the show over other weekend programs available.
How about Anthem? How exactly was it decided who was considered cool enough to get on the program? And what was the show about?
I loved the notion of At the Opera as a pre-game show, but as we know, opera was a tough sell on a dual format station -- it doesn't matter how cool we try to make the lead-in.
As to the Chris Thile hosting of APHC (then LFH), we were one of the few stations that didn't renew the show after GK retired. From a programming economics standpoint, it was the GK price for a Chris Thile show. And, of course, it wasn't the same show.
Great comments Michael. I think Weekend America is type of program needed today - live and relevant on the weekend.
And Anthem had some great moments but I think was just too costly for it’s time, unfortunately. I also think that it suffered from not knowing exactly what it wanted to be, whereas Wait Wait, which came out at the same time, had a much clearer focus. Although it took some time to catch on too. I remember folks described early editions saying “Wait, wait don’t cancel me!”
Good stuff Tim! I was involved in the Keillor to Theile transition and then Live From Here. You're right, the first transition to Adams failed. And even the Keillor to Thiele thing at first failed. But when the name finally changed to Live from Here, and it became about the music, and we moved the show to NY, say what you want about like or dislike....it was finally breaking even! Then covid. No butts in seats; the end. As to the Pants and Stamburg thing....public radio is almost NEVER funny when it tries to be. I mean it's just a truth. I won't name other show names...but you can all fill them in. Writers trying to be erudite, and witty while somehow maintaining that "lecturing" tone....is just simply bad entertainment. Let's leave it at that. :)
Totally agree on the industry’s many attempts to be funny. And sad timing for LFH as it was a just hitting its stride.
Always appreciate your insights Tim.
Terrific read, Tim.
Thank you Dick.
Nice edition, Tim.Thanks for the history and context.
Thank you Barbara.